Arizona republican., 1899-12-24
THE VALLEY AROUSED
Protest Against MT. Wilson's
 Destructive Measure.
Earnest Meetings of Agriculturists Held Yesterday in Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa-Diferent Instructions to Arizona's Delegate.

interest Tn the saving Of the northern
 forests is growing rapidly People l were talking about the water supply | yesterday who never talked about it before. They were not aware of any
 new danger, but they had never before ! adequately realized the danger of the
 old one. They had never understood
 that an organized effort was being
 made in the north to destroy the for i ests and thereby curtail. if not abso-
 lutely destroy the water supply of i the Salt River valley.
 1 Meetings called by the Forest Re i serve Protective association were held
 in Phoenix, Tempe. Mesa and probably
 in Glendale and Peoria. The Phoenix
 meeting intended to be held in l O'Neill hall, was adjourned to the board of trade room. It was called to ] order by Chairman James Bark, and ] addresses were made by Messrs. s. J. { Holsinger, special agent of the interior | department; w. J. Murphy, R. E. ! Daggs, J. R. Norton and others. ! MT Holsinger called attention to the
 northern forests, which were great
 natural reservoirs. A fact that had ! been overlooked, while the people of the valley were casting about and de- vising means for establishing really | less useful artificial reservoirs. He i showed how the usefulness of the ar | tificial reservoirs would be impaired by 1 the greater accumulation of silt one of 1 the many evil conditions that would ! follow the invasion of the forests by | the sheep herds. Regarding a state
 ment by Delegate Wilson in his letter l to H. F. Ashurst, that the commiS- ] sioner of the general land office had 1 said that he would exclude all stock i from the reserves, MT. Holsinger said | he believed MT. Wilson had not under stood the commissioner. It had been shown that the presence of cattle and
 horses in the forests was not injurious
 to them. Cattlemen, however, are not disposed to oppose that part of the proposed order of exclusion.
 | Mir Daggs described the effect of the
 grazing of sheep on forests, their abso- lute destruction of all undergrowth
 and grass to the roots, leaving the re- gions where they most congregate as
 barren as a macadamized street, but cut with paths which became gullies
 and the almost certain liability of large
 areas of timber to destruction by fires
 kindled by irresponsible herders. Mil | lions of feet of valuable pines, he said, had been so destroyed in the San ! Francisco forest alone. The impor- tance of action was urged, for while the interior department was disposed 1 to preserve the forests, and would al
 most certainly do so, the passage Of
 the bill introduced by Delegate Wilson | would take the whole matter out of the department. The bill would no doubt be supported by powerful | lobby backed by money, for not the | sheepmen alone were interested in an | invasion of the reserves.
 The meeting decided to arrange conference with Commissioner Her mann, who is expected to arrive in the city tomorrow, and the following reso- | lution was adopted:
 Resolved. That the farmers of the Salt River valley and all persons in terested in irrigation, do request our | delegate in congress to withdraw the bill introduced by him in congress for the protection of the stock industry of the territory and we earnestly request our said delegate to use his influence ] in the protection of the forests of the l territory, particularly the forest re- l serves, knowing that the protection of { the said forests are of vital importance to the water supply of our agricultu-
 ral districts and every other enterprise dependent upon the supply and use of
 water. and we particularly request our | said delegate to use every influence in l his power to have the forest reserves closed to the grazing of stock and herds. inasmuch as we believe the grazing of flocks and herds thereon will | destroy said forests and the supply of
 water in our streams will be decreased ! in proportion to the destruction of the said forests.
 JERRY MILLAY, "President executive committee. | HI. NJ. CHAPMAN,
 Secretary"
 | During the progress of the meeting
 a telephone message was received from Tempe saying that an enthusiastic
 meeting had just been held there and 1 that strong resolutions were adopted. Another message was received from
 Mesa, saying that action would be
 taken there last night. Nothing was
 heard from Glendale and Peoria.