I have some odds and ends in inventory about bristlecone and
foxtail sites, which I’m going to post up, mostly because I find
the information rather interesting. Most dendrochronologists
assume that the bristlecone/foxtail sites are far too remote to
have experienced direct human effects. As far as I’m concerned,
this is an assumption that needs to be proven. There was
widespread mining activity in the American Southwest in the 19th
century, evidenced now by ghost towns. The mines were nearly all
underground mines, all of which use timber for roof support.
This happens to be something that I know about. I’ll show
examples in a couple of Colorado locations. My hunch is that
many of the roads used by Graybill to reach the bristlecone
sites were originally developed to access small 19th century
mines. I’ll show some examples of this – there are some striking
examples. There’s no special reason for starting with Cirque
Peak. I’m not making big claims about this material, other than
I find it interesting. Cirque P