Throughout, the profile of a "watchdog" as part of the mountain is a visual statement -- as if the mountain itself offered nature and man protection from total devastation.

The story about the beaver is especially touching as we learn how Indian children made pets of young beaver who played in their villages. In the chapter that begins with the question "Who can own a tree?" we learn why "Ben Sims hated trees" -- and why so many men tore them down. But trees teach Ben a moral lesson that changes him.

In chapters on the fire and the flood (there were many fires and floods in these mountains) the reader can trace the path of a fire, follow the sparks and the wind that carries a blaze and watch with their imaginations as animals had their fur singed and scurried to and fro or buried themselves; or, follow the motions of a flood down eroded mountainsides and learn how certain trees offered leaf and needle carpet cover to hold the water, how otherwise it tumbles in unfettered response to the pull of the Earth's gravity.

Again and again, the the author paints his beautiful word pictures of the "mountain's living coat."