The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-08-28
PIXIES PEAK CHANGES,
Face Is Being Reforested-v4,57S Acres
Are Newly Planted.

hic NCWAy Itdhlcu'
Tourists of the next few years will
not be able to recognize Pixies Peak
when they call upon him. The old peak
is one hundred years old, white mans
reckoning, for it was July Ia, 1920, the
white man first conquered the peak by
climbing it although it was in 1906
when Gen Zebulon Pike first saw the
mountain. But how old is the peak on
the Indians reekoningt DR.. Edwin
Jones, the geologist, was the first to
get to the top. General Pike never
went very close to the mountain and
said no one could make the ascent.
The climb is now easy for almost
every tourist Once trail pointed the
way. In 1919, an airplane, piloted by
Alexander Lendrum of Colorado
Springs, made successful flight over
the peak. On the top the government
maintains a weather bureau station.
Major Stephen Hartman Long com
manded the expedition sent out by the
government to make detailed surveys
Of portions Of the far west. DIR. James,
member of the party was only %
years old when he climbed the noun
tain on this trip.
They are planting trees over the face
OF the famous mountain and the Amer
lean Forestry association of Washing
ton estimates that ut of the 100 bill.
lion odd acres of national forests there
are seven and half million acres in
need of such planting or selling to re-
establish tree growth The yearly loss.
to the nation in forest products from
lands suited only for the production of
timber and now idle is said to be SIS
million dollars Ma large sums have
been made available by Congress to re-
forest the denuded lands within the
national forests, so that the acreage
planted each year has been nominal
and the work of an experimental char
acter.
Selections of areas in the national
forest for planting included the slopes
of Pixies Peak and the fire denuded
portions of those watersheds from
which several towns, including Colo
RADIO Springs and Manitou, secure mu-
nicipal water.
In addition TO the forest products.
which can be produced from the land
and the value OF the tree growth as
water conseryer, there is the high value
Of stablishing trees TO heal the ghast-
Iy fire scars upon the mountain slorr
so the American Forestry ASSOCIATION
points out.
Uneven distribution of moisture, high
Try winds of spring and summer and
also in winter when the temperatures
are low, the lack of soil over much Of
he area and the movement of the soil
IN the sleeper slopes made planting
conditions difficult. The soil, composed !
IF large particles OF gravel comes from
he decomposition of coarse grained |
granite, which forms the mountain I
masses of the Pixies Peak group
OF this field planting, a study is
made and a map completed showing
he extent of the types which should /
,e planted with the different species of /
rees which grew originally upon the .
treas. The first experiments were
made at the lower attitudes with vel.
ow pine and Douglas fir. In the more i
eeent years the production of Engel.
nan spruce and timber pine for the
Ugh planting types has been taken up.
The low percentage of survival in the
arlier paintings showed the need OF
he most vigorous transplants that
ould be produced. and this was Sc
ured in the 2-l plant. as leaving the
rec two years in the seed bed gave
liant easily handled in transplanting,
While the one year in the transplant
ad produced. well developed tree
nth clustered root system made up
I fine rootlets of much greater area
han that Of tree crown or evaporating
lrface,
Some ass acres have been planted
n the Pike national forest, for the
lost part in the Colorado Springs re-