The mountains of Colorado were, till a comparatively recent date, richly clothed with forest; but owing partly to natural causes, and still more to the lavish consumption and reckless destruction of the early settlers, the quantity of growing timber in the State is exceedingly small, and before long, if restorative measures are not adopted, the Colorado demand for wood will require to be supplied from without. Whole mountain sides often present the appearance of monstrous cheavaux-de-frise, the dead trunks of the wind-thrown pines being tossed about in all directions.