reamed that some Alaska Indians told me this legend:--

Long, long ago, Kinnikinick was a small tree with brown berries and
broad leaves which dropped to the ground in autumn. One year a great
snow came while the leaves were still on, and all trees were flattened
upon the ground by the weight of the clinging snow. All broad-leaved
trees except Kinnikinick died. When the snow melted, Kinnikinick was
still alive, but pressed out upon the ground, crushed so that it could
not rise. It started to grow, however, and spread out its limbs on the
surface very like a root growth. The Great Spirit was so pleased with
Kinnikinick's efforts that he decided to let it live on in its new
form, and also that he would send it to colonize many places where it
had never been. He changed its berries from brown to red, so that the
birds could see its fruit and scatter its seeds far and wide. Its
leaves were reduced in size and made permanently green, so that
Kinnikinick, like the pines it loves and helps, could wear green
all the time.

Whenever I see a place that has been made barren and ugly by the
thoughtlessness of man, I like to think of Kinnikinick, for I know
it will beautify these places if given a chance to do so. There are
on earth millions of acres now almost desert that may some time be
changed and beautified by this cheerful, modest plant. Some time many
bald and barren places in the Rockies will be plumed with pines,
bannered with flowers, have brooks, butterflies, and singing
birds,--all of these, and homes, too, around which children will
play,--because of the reclaiming work which will be done by charming
Kinnikinick.

The Lodge-Pole Pine

The trappers gave the Lodge-Pole Pine (_Pinus contorta_, var.
_Murrayana_) its popular name on account of its general use by Indians
of the West for lodge or wigwam poles. It is a tree with an unusually
interesting life-story, and is worth knowing for the triumphant
struggle which it makes for existence, and also for the commercial
importance which, at an early date, it seems destined to have. Perhaps
its most interesting and advantageous characteristic is its habit of
holding or hoarding its seed-harvests.

Lodge-pole is also variously called Tamarack, Murray, and Two-leaved
Pine. Its yellow-green needles are in twos, and are from one to three
inches in length. Its cones are about one inch in diameter at the base
and from one to two inches long. Its light-gray or cinnamon-gr