Arizona silver belt. [volume] (Globe City, Pinal County, Ariz.) 1878-19??, 1883-06-30
Railway Screcd No. Il.
Grazing.

The object Of these railway articles
ia to show, to some extent, the re-
sources of the country through which
the Arizona Mineral Belt railroad will
pass. In our estimates We are careful
not to ovcrstate single point, so that
when the infallible arbitration of fig
ures is brought to bear there can be
no appeal, There can be no doubt but
grazing and sheep raising will form
important sources of revenue for the
above named railroad, The country
that would be tributary to this road
would be embraced in the land lying
between the thirty-ffth parallel and
Jay 40 miles south of Globe, north
and south, and from the Mazatzals to
White Mountains; an area of about
220xC0 miles, or 13,2O0 square miles
Deducting from this 5000 for the tim
bor, it leaves $500 square miles or
3,32S,000 acres of land, nearly all of
which is known to be as good grazing
ground as the world can produce.
Some of this is barren of course, or
taken up by dry arroyo beds or
gulches; allow twenty per cent. for
that and there are still 2,66O,4OO acres
left. 1t is estimated that FIVE acres
will feed an animal an ordinarily good
year; allow that it takes fifteen acres,
it would still afford subsistence to
177,360 head of cattle. The annual
increase in this section of country is
never less that so per cent, and it is
more nearly 80 per cent; the losses do
not exceed Il per cent. With the
country stocked to the extent mer-
toned the annual increase, losses de-
Quoted, would be 115,24S head. The
narrowing area of cattle land in Tex
as, Kansas, California and Nebraska
must inevitably develope Arizona's s
possibilities in that direction, and open
the markets of the near east and Cali.
fornia to us. The 115,248 head of
cattle our ranchers would have to sell
would take, at fourteen head to car,
twenty-five cars daily for their moving
In the estimates that were made by
the projectors of the A. M. B. Co., and
upon which Eastern people were
asked to assist in the building of the
road, it was shown that with the de-
velopment of the copper interests and
very meagre local and passenger
traffic the interest on the bonds of the
Construction Co., at six per cent, and
the working expenses, could be paid,
with the immense timber traffic and
the business which the grazing inter-
est offers, the stock of the Construction
Co. itself would soon be worth every
cent of its face value. In any esti.
mate of the cattle raising industry Of
Arizona, there are several considera,
tions worth noticing as proofs that ii
will not be subject to the same
changes that have come to it in other
States and Territories--it is not likely
to be narrowed, because the foothills
and mesas cannot be used for any.
thing else; none of the ranges over
which cattle have thus far ran show a
diminution of feed or a deterioration
in the quality of the grasses; the herds
will not be of great extent, as no large
grants are held to the exclusion Of
small owners; no diseases that are
epidemic exist, and the climate is un,
surpassed for salubrity and the natu'
raj preservation of wild grasses. We
submit this article to the readers Of
the BELT and ask them and all Others
interested in the construction of the
A. M. B. railroad, to submit it to q
careful analysis, confident that every
assertion will be endorsed.
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