No other pine on the Range is so regularly planted as this one, covering moraines that extend along the sides of the high rocky valleys for miles without interruption.

The thin bark is streaked and sprinkled with resin as though it had been showered upon the forest like rain.
Therefore this tree more than any other is subject to destruction by fire.

During strong winds extensive forests are destroyed, the flames leaping from tree to tree in continuous belts that go surging and racing onward above the bending wood like prairie-grass fires.

During the calm season of Indian summer the fire creeps quietly along the ground, feeding on the needles and cones; arriving at the foot of a tree, the resiny bark is ignited and the heated air ascends in a swift current, increasing in velocity and dragging the flames upward.

Then the leaves catch forming an immense column of fire, beautifully spired on the edges and tinted a rose-purple hue.