Arizona republican., 1902-08-01

eaten out the grass, often digging it out with their hoofs, literally to the roots, that no more damage could be dcne to the helpless earth. But this was only the beginning. In places where sheep could TO longer find sub sistence on the range, especially on the southern range, the goats came-they are coming yet-beardless. long haired, active Angora goats. The sheep only graZed; the goats both graZed and browsed. They not only ate the grass. but they took the leaves and twigs O; almost every living plant. even nib bling the spiniest of the cacti. Not a thing escapes them; they are burning the land out even closer than the sheep. It seems that man would not be content until he had left the range q desert.'
 NIT. Baker then points to the effect of this destructive policy on the water supply. It is to be borne in mind that the article is dealing with the south west in general but what follows ap- plies particularly to Arizona:
 Grass and trees and weeds are great water holders and conservators. When they were thus swept away-and they had been centuries in gaining a firm foothold-the water rushed down the hills, forming deep, unlovely washes. or cuts in the earth. A wash often be- gan with a single hillside coyv-trail down which trickled in rainy weather a tiny stream Of water. With the next flood the trail became a narrow ravine. with the next it was twenty feet deep and gashing the country for miles. and spreading sand and boulders over acres of good grass country Whole districts in the southwest. especially in the mountain states, are today cut up with these deep washes, where fifteen or twenty years ago there was hardly a ravine. It seems, indeed. as if beth man and the elements had conspired utterly to ruin the range country. Many of the men have been partially punished by the wholesale starvation of their cattle and horses and the ruin ation of once rich ranges. Indeed. if interchangeable nature. always hating waste, had not provided certain new forage plants, many parts of the range
 country. especially in Arizona, would today be wholly uninha bitable. One of | these plants, and the best, is alflerilla. l a low-growing, vine-lil1e plant of the
 SeraniUm family, a determined and persistent pioneer. fearless of dry | weather and hot sunshine, and pushing 1 out everywhere over the hills with re-
 sistless ardor. It's invasion is one of | the marvels Of the range. The first | seeds were brought from California in
 the wool oi a flock of sheep which was | driven across the country some fifteen
 years ago. and from that small begin
 ming it has spread until in some dis l tricts the whole country in spring is
 green and soft with it. Without this
 6lleree,' as he calls it, many a ranger
 would have to go out of the business.
 Vet. with proper laws regulating
 the range and the use of water in irri-
 gating-two great matters HOW being
 brought to the attention of congress
 all these so-cailed arid states and ter
 rtCrieS are destined. without shadow of doubt. to see marvellous improve
 ment, furnishing an outlet for the peo- pie of the rapidly overcrowding east
 The range. now so nearly ruined that it will support oEly a fraction Cf the : cattle and sheep that it once did, will feed an increasing number of cattle, and the peoples food will be cheaper. There is enough water for both ranger
 and irrigator, and enough range for many more cattle. and sheep. if only there existed any rational system of control and distribution.
 "Ies, the new southwesterner is ' coming. and bringing new hope with . him. He is damnling the streams with huge and costly masonry. The water that he thus saves up lie carries down in canals to the plains below, where
 he spreads it out on the desert land and raises fruitful crops.
 Never before was there greater nee, , of patriotic statesmanship at Wash
 ingtCn than there is in dealing witt
 this multitude of complex western 1, questions-irrig2ti ton. the range. the = forest reserves. We have been meet !. iEs these problems half -heartedly, in = eXpertly, harmiully. playing into the
 hands of the wealthy rangers. and b! : vacillation hindering the proper devel-
 opment of the irrigable valleys. Oul II forest reserves, it is true. are much tC , our credit. although they are yet only . half protected. If only some prophe II might arise who could show to the peo. = pie of the country this terrible tragedy :, II of the range in it's true light, the ruil U that now is, the crying necessity fo T. better laws and the rehabilitation O = the western empire, changes migh
 soon be wrought"
 @ The manner in which the democrat
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