Arizona republican., 1900-11-07

grassy plains are said by those who | first came to this country to have been rarely beautiful to the eye, and even 1 vet in remote districts comparatively | unchanged by the operat ations of cattle men. evidence of the truth of these statements is to be found. In the swales and valleys of this country and wherever water was more abundant, | the great bunch grasses grew 1uxuri- antly Sacaton and the galleta covered the groundr thlcl1ly, affording an abun- dance of native hay in the dry seasons and quickly freshening up into green forage after a rain. In the same situ- | ations. also, were to be found bewild- ering variety of quick growing water grasses which afforded most nutritious feed while they remained green. On 1 the knolls and in the drier places the crow-foot grama. and the six-weeks | grasses. so called supplemented in the rainy season the more abundant for ! age of the lower levels. When 1t rained upon these grass covered plains. the water, being obstructed in its ! downward courses by the abundant vegetation, much of it sank largely into the ground and very slowly made i it's way into the underflow of the great valleys. and finally to the Gila river. | In so doing much of it was utilized by | growing vegetation, while the residue, l gradually joining the main water courses. insured a constant flow of water. When severe storms occurred. l with their resulting floods of water, the abundant bunch grasses at the lower levels obstructed the flow to such an extent that the water, in its down. ward course. was spread laterally over | great areas and it's force disSipated. | At the same time, the silt brought down from the higher levels. including great quantities of fertiliZing material, was deposited in these places, with the result that, ultimately, the bottoms of | the valleys were leveled and enriched 1 and made the scene of an ever increas- ing grOWith of beautiful and luXuriant grasses.
 It was into these lovely wild pastures that the cattlemen, from twenty five to thirty years ago. began to drive his herds. Although Arizona has been in- habited by the Mexican people for two hundred years and more, the cattle in dustry was never developed for the reason that the hostile Indians made the maintenance of herds upon the open range impossible. It i was not until 1872 that General O. O. Howard made a treaty with the Apaches by which they were to receive rations from the government and in re- turn were to confine themselves to a designated reservation. One of the items of the treaty was that the In dians were to receive a double ration of beef. necessitating a large supply of cattle to the government for the purpose of furnishing the military and interior departments in southern Ari- l Zona with beef. Here follows a :, length the history of the growth of she
 cattle interests, later tie drought and scarcity of grass which forced cattle to | make deep trails in their travels from l feed to water and eventually the nat
 ural destruction of the range. |" The water, collecting in the cattle trails i from the barred and devastated
 surface of the country f:ll swift ly to the lower levels. gully
 ing the trails as t- ran. and col lected in great destructive freshets in the larger valleys. The bunch grasses. having been depleted by the starving | cattle, were no longer able to with stand the rush of the floods, and the gullying process began on a large scale | through the very heart of what were | formerly the most luXuriantly grassy regions of the country. These chan nels once established through given district, the water is thereafter des- tined to flow through them. no longer spreading out over the level bottoms and no longer being available for the growth of the bunch grasses which for
 merly throve in these situations. In this way, when a country has once been so gullied as to carry the water in streams, instead of spreading it out in broad floods, the very existence of the richest grazing districts is ren- dered impossible.
 About three weeks ago, being inter- ested in these observations, l walked and rode up the San Simon valley from Solomonville to Bowie a distance of some thirty-five miles, arriving at my destination with feet less blistered than were my sensibilities; for all that day I had travelled through a scene of deso- latiOn which, to me, was more mourn full than the ruined splendors of great city. For a great city. if there be com mercial reason, will soon be rebuilt
 upon firmer foundations than before {; but a ruined desert country whose res toration is expensive far beyond re
 turns to be expected from it, is ruined forever. and the history of the San Si- , mon country. not only as learned from the narratives of cattlemen, but as shown from existing evidences. is that of a once beautiful district which has been despCiled and hopelessly ruined within the short space of some fifteen years. At Solomonville. the great bar ranca which has cut its way down the valley is about fifty feet across and
 from ten to twelve feet in depth. From this point I am told that it extends for ) sixty or seventy miles to the mouth. with tributary washes and barrancas
 branching out to a yearly increasing distance on either side.
 Midway between Solomonville and | Bowie I stopped to talk with an old , cattleman who still fingered at ranch house which was formerly the head