The Arizona sentinel., 1886-11-27
STOCK GROWING.

Oh the Territory. Inc country is pc
culiarly adapted for the breeding and
fattening of horned cattle. The eli
mate is as nearly perfect as can be
found in the Union. Stock roam over
the grassy plains and uplands, keeping
in prime condition every month in the
year. Here the steckraiser is not
subject to the yearly loss and expense
which attends the business in less
favored regions. Here no "blizzards,"
'northers" or binding snow storms
decimate his herds, or destroy in a
single night the accumulations of
years of patient industry. Here he is
not compelled to house his stock dur
ing the winter months, and provide
large quantities of food for their main
tainance. In Arizona, day without
its bright sunshine is so rare as to be
remarkable, and losses from severity
of weather are unknown. These favor
able climate conditions make Arizona
the stockman's paradise. The health
of stock is phenomenal. So mild and
genial is the pure bracing air of its
mountains and plains that epidemic
diseases among cattle are unknown.
The natural increase is also something
extraordinary, being from eighty-fve
to ninety per cent, yearly. The losses
from all contingencies do not exceed
three and half per cent. What graz
ing country within the confines of the
Union can make so remarkable show
ingl The same favorable conditions
enable the Arizona cattle-grower to
produce beef at lower figure than
any other pastoral region of the West
Arizona may be called one vast graz
ing field, and its entire area, with the
exception of strip along the Colorado
is carpeted with growth of nutritious
grasses. Of course, it cannot all be
utilized for stock raising, but the low
est estimates concede 10000 square
miles available for this purpose; re-
duced to acres, this grand pasture gives
a total of 8,SOo,O0O, nearly equal to
all of New England.
Good judges estimate that twenty
five acres of wild grass lands are re
quired to keep animal the year round.
On this bases the ranges of the Terri
tory have a capacity for $l,500,000
head But little more than one-half
of this vast area is supplied with liv-
ing water. At present nearly all the
cattle in the Territory are pastured
upon about 100000 acres, adjacent
to streams and springs. Before the
country can be fully stocked the 4ues-
ton of arteslan water must be deter
mined. There are immense stretches
of dry valley, plain and mesa lands,
covered with an abundance of rich
grasses; but until living water is de-
veloped upon them they must remain
solitary wastes. That flowing wells
can be found in nearly all of these
waterless regions is generally believed.
Surrounded as many of them are, and
lying adjacent to mountain ranges,
they are the natural reservoirs for the
snow and rainfall of the winter and
summer months. So long as desirable
ranges with a natural water supply
can be found, cattlemen will not go to
the expense of sinking wells, but the
rush of stock into the Territory VIII
soon make such course imperative
upon those who seek fresh pastures.
The artesian water question can hardly
be called an unsolved problem in Ari-
iona. For three years past eight or
ten wells have been flowing steady in
the Sulpher Spring Valley, east of
Tombstone. These wells supply
large number of cattle and show no
falling off in the volume of their dis
charge. There are scores of places
where the surface conditions are much
more favorable than in this valley.
Until this matter of artesian water is
settled, large stretches of Arizona's
finest feeding grounds cannot be utili
zed.
There are many varieties of grasses
in Arizona, but the black and white
grammua is the most widely distributed
as it is also the most valuable as a
beef producer. When green it is ex-
ceedingly sweet and succulent, and
when dry it seems to loose none of
these desirable qualities. It cures it
self upon the stalk, the process being
as perfect as if done by the labor of
man. During the fall and winter
months stock grace upon this seeming