By Enos A. Mills THE SPELL OF THE ROCKIES. Illustrated. WILD LIFE ON THE ROCKIES. Illustrated. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK The Spell of the Rockies [Illustration: THE HOME OF THE WHIRLWIND (p. 78)] The Spell of the Rockies By Enos A. Mills With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author [Illustration] Boston and New York Houghton Mifflin Company The Riverside Press Cambridge 1911 COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY ENOS A. MILLS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED _Published November 1911_ To B. W. Preface Although I have been alone by a camp-fire in every State and Territory in the Union, with the exception of Rhode Island, the matter in this book is drawn almost entirely from my experiences in the Rocky Mountain region. Some of the chapters have already appeared in magazines, and I am indebted to The Curtis Publishing Company, Doubleday, Page and Company, "Suburban Life," and "Recreation" for allowing me to reprint the papers which they have published. "Country Life in America" published "Racing an Avalanche," "Alone with a Landslide," and "A Rainy Day at the Stream's Source,"--the two last under the titles of "Alone with a Crumbling Mountain" and "At the Stream's Source." The "Saturday Evening Post" published "Little Conservationists," "Mountain-Top Weather," "The Forest Fire," "Insects in the Forest," "Doctor Woodpecker," and "The Fate of a Tree Seed." "Suburban Life" published "Rob of the Rockies" and "Little Boy Grizzly"; and "Recreation" "Harvest Time with Beavers." E. A. M. Contents Racing an Avalanche 1 Little Conservationists 17 Harvest Time with Beavers 49 Mountain-Top Weather 69 Rob of the Rockies 91 Sierra Blanca 107 The Wealth of the Woods 121 The Forest Fire 137 Insects in the Forest 171 Dr. Woodpecker, Tree-Surgeon 191 Little Boy Grizzly 205 Alone with a Landslide 221 The Maker of Scenery and Soil 245 A Rainy Day at the Stream's Source 265 The Fate of a Tree Seed 289 In a Mountain Blizzard 307 A Midget in Fur 321 The Estes Park Region 335 Index 351 Illustrations _The Home of the Whirlwind_ (page 78) _Frontispiece_ _Near the top of Long's Peak._ _A Snow-Slide Region_ 6 _Near Telluride, Colorado._ _Mt. Meeker_ 20 _A Beaver House in Winter_ 38 _Lily Lake, Estes Park._