good with rather thin bark and scattering their seeds every year as soon as they are ripe they are quickly driven out of fire swept regions when the were melting these hardy trees were probably among the first to arrive on the new soil beds but as the became and fires began to run they were driven up the mountains and into the wet spots and islands where we now find them leaving nearly all the park to the pine which though as thin as they and as easily killed by fire takes pains to store the national park � � up its seeds in firmly closed and holds them from three to nine years so that let the fire come when it may it is ready to die and ready to again in a new generation for when the killing fires have devoured the leaves and thin bark many of the only open as soon as the smoke away the store of seeds is sown on the cleared ground and a new growth immediately springs up triumphant out of the ashes therefore this tree not only holds its ground but extends its farther after every fire thus the and of its growth are accounted for in one part of the forest that i examined the growth was about as close as a the trees were from four to eight inches in one hundred feet high and one hundred and seventy five years old the lower limbs die young and drop off for want of light life with these close planted trees is a race for light more and so they push straight for the sky off ten feet from the top of the forest would make it look like a crowded mass of telegraph poles for only the sunny tops are leafy a ten years old growing in the sunshine has as many leaves as a crowded tree one or two hundred years old as fires are multiplied and the become this wonderful pine bids fair to obtain possession of nearly all the forest ground in the west our national how still the woods seem from here yet how lively a stir the hidden are dig biting eyes shining at and play getting food young through the climbing the rocks solitary tracing the banks of the lakes and streams insect are in th b b� � g in a � a cloud of witnesses telling nature s joy the plants are as busy as the animals every cell in a of enjoyment humming like a hive singing the old new song of creation a few columns and of steam are seen rising above the some near but most of them far off indicating and hot springs and noiseless as clouds softly the reaction going on between the surface and the hot interior from here you see them better than when you are standing beside them frightened and confused regarding them as lawless the and of storms the of waves the of sap in plants each and all tell the orderly love beats of nature s heart turning to the eastward you have the grand and reaches of the river in full view and yonder to the southward lies the great lake the largest and most important of all the high fountains of the and the last to be discovered the national park in the year de with a ro b l of a nt r � � gold and glory and the fountain of youth he found the a few hundred miles above its mouth and made his grave beneath its floods la in after discovering the one of the largest and most beautiful branches of the traced the latter to the sea from the mouth of the through adventures and not easily realized now about the same time and father reached the father of waters by way of the but more than a century passed ere its highest sources in these mountains were seen the advancing stream of civilization has ever followed its guidance toward the west but none of the thousand tribes of indians on its banks could tell the whence it came from those romantic de and la days to these times of and how much has the great river seen and done great as it now is and still growing longer through the ground of its and the of receding at its head it was immensely broader toward the close of the period when the ice mantle of the mountains was melting then with its three hundred thousand miles of branches over the plains and valleys of the continent laden with fertile mud it made the biggest and most generous bed of soil in the world national think of this mighty stream springing in the first in ihe j fl on the on the in hail and snow and rain lingering in many a fountain feeding the trees and grass then gathering its scattered waters gliding from its noble lake and going back home to the sea singing all the way on it sweeps the gates of the mountains across the vast and plains through many a wild gloomy forest cane and sunny from and and pine woods to warm gloves of and palm dancing at its head keeping time with the sea waves at its mouth and nay in in broad gleaming in long silvery reaches swaying now hither now thither whirling bending in huge folds serene majestic overflowing all its and bounds the upon its banks building wasting planting old islands and making new ones taking away fields and towns as if in sport carrying and ships of commerce in the midst of its spoils and drift the continent as one vast farm then ite work done it gladly in ite ocean home welcomed by the waiting waves thus naturally standing here in the midst of its fountains we trace the fortunes of the great river and how much more comes to mind 