track was doubtless found to be destroyed throughout the lowlands, and a new course was chosen each year by the first travelers who sought that route.
Thus through all Indian and pioneer history one of the chief qualifications of a guide was the ability to know what trails to use at each season, and to be able to estimate the extent of local storms or floods and know what trails would be affected by each. In winter and during times of floods, the hill trails were undoubtedly the routes to be used and watched. In summer, the lowland trails were broken again for the season's travel. Forest fire was another important factor to be counted by one who was to make his way or guide others through the primeval forests of America. These fires, which so frequently licked up the forests for miles in extent, wiped out also the little ways man and beast had broken open. The fires did least damage on the summits of the hills because here the forest growth was lighter and here a less amount of brush and undergrowth had collected. But forest fires came, usually, like the floods, at certain regular
