this is somewhat relieved by the fact that, either by accident or design, the fire has been there and swept through it all, leaving nothing but blackened and smouldering emblems of its prior greatness.  In this case, however, only the lighter part of the refuse has been destroyed.  The great stumps of fir and cedar are there still, blackened and perhaps with their dead hearts burned out.  Great and small decaying logs are there, some too wet to burn, some with the bark alone burned off, and some with the dead centers burned out, scattered about or piled in crisscross masses as they had fallen during the ages of the forest’s growth.  In either case it looks different from the smooth surface of the sagebrush plains about to be converted into irrigated farms or the clean face of the prairie lands covered with grass and ready and longing for the plow.  But with all their forbidding aspects, black with a portentous cloud of hard labor and long waiting, their known hidden wealth lures on the hardy pioneer to the task.  He throws off his coat, rolls up his sleeves, gathers together his tools, and with the indomitable courage of the Anglo-Saxon [Page 35] tackles the problem, works and fights and rests by turns till within a few years he finds himself triumphant.  Eventually, beneath his own orchard trees laden with fruit, and in the comfort and delight of his big home fireplace, he contemplates the rewards of his struggle, as he sees his cows complacently chewing their cuds in his green pastures and listens to the neigh of his fat horses, and at his table, laden with all the bounty of his rich lands, thanks his Maker for the successful completion of a hard struggle and the enjoyment it has brought to him and his family.

MODERN METHODS.

Having thus presented the picture in perspective, we will now work out some of the details which help to rob it of its difficulty and add to its attractiveness.  If the lands have not been burned off, and in many instances where this has been done, the rancher will find a lot of cedar logs, perhaps partially burned, and possibly long black stubs that it will be wise to save.  Cut into proper lengths and put into piles for preservation, they will make his raw material for fencing, barns, etc.  The cedar is straight-grained, splits easy, and true, and to the rancher is very valuable, taking the place of sawed lumber for a great many farm purposes.  Having carefully saved the cedar, the rancher will fire his clearing, thus getting rid of a large share of the logger’s waste with practically no labor.  To the task of disposing of the remaining logs and stumps he will bring modern tools and methods into action.  The axe and shovel and hand lever have given place to gunpowder, the donkey engine, derrick and winch.  Stump powder puts all the big stumps into pieces easily.  The modern stump-puller lifts out the smaller stumps with ease.  The donkey engine and derrick pull together and pile the stumps