Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1903-06-13
RANCH IN GRAND CANYON.
A Rich Arizona Pasture in a Chasm
Of This Wonderful Gorge,
AN INTERESTING SUBJECT.

"'iiul NHaSH W the bIdnu canyon OF
the Coiorado is n ranch that would
mold delight for the head of the nation
because of the wonders it could un.
fold Il is given up only to horses and
cattle and COW boys. save for the few
Jewelers. who pass from Utah to Ari-
iona or the other wa. and the post
rider who crosses IL twice ~ week on
probably the lonliesi post route in the
country.
1t Is natural Enclosure about seven
ty.fve miles long and fifty miles wide
M its wild, { point. on which the Kai
bah Cattle company feeds IT'S thou
sands Of cattle aud horses aud bids de.
fianco to the sheep owners who would
invade its rich pasturage OF sage brush
ana prairie grass. saws a Flagstaff
Ariz.. correspondent OF the philadel.
phla Ledger. Nobody can dispute the
possession Of the cattle company. al.
though II owns al best less than 600
acres of all this domain. In that 900
&C es. however. is all the water that
can be obtained in the whole stretch
Of what is known as the House Rock
valley.
Except in the winter. when the snow
Is on the ground. and the cattle and
horses lick 1t up for their supply OF
water. and in the spring when the
snow melts and torrents rush through
the valley TO empty into the Colorado,
there are only FIVE watering places.
Lesson in the Conservation Of Water.
A little spring. whose water Is car.
ried TO hig tan : that store up every
drop of the precious fluid. Is at House
Rock. the company's station at the on.
trance to the valley on the wagon
road. Fifteen miles further on Is an.
other spring that yields no more. and
there are again the big tanks and the
big corral surrounding them TO keep
out all intruders. Fifteen miles fur
hter Is stream called Soap creek.
because its water Is whitlsh with al
Sali-but IL is only OF the breadth OF
the span of mans two hands, and
he company controls the land through
which II flows as II empties out of the
mountains ana then dives into a deep
6oX" canyon. 1'wo other springs lie
Town the valley. and around them are
he company's fences and the tanks
20 take all they supply.
There Is a great lesson in the con.
ervatlon OF water TO be learned from
he company's efforts at these springs
rhe one at House Rock Is merely n
little trickllng. dropping stream that
zones out of the face OF the cliff
There Is scarcely volume enough to Nil
he half.inch pipe that carries II to the
yreat tanks. Yet in the summer. when
he streams out In the valley have
Tried up. 800 head OF cattle and 500
read OF horses find plenty to slake
their thirst from this meager supply.
In the valley itself nature show.
many caprices. II is inclosed on its
three sides between the Buckskin
mountains, another great range of
sandstone mountains hat extends far
Ip into Utah and the Canyon of the
Colorado. Across the Colorado the
valley seems to extend far away but,
although to one who does not know
II seems like an unbroken plain. the
land on the other sita OF tho big can.
vol Is called by another name
House Rock valley slopes east from
the Bright Angel cliffs that overlook
the Colorado canyon. The Colorado
lows west. it breaks out OF the sand.
.fA oil
from its beginning at the point where
the Grand and Green river unite In
Utah-and after flowing along the lev
u for about mile II begins to burrow
into the harder formation OF the Buck
skin. After leaving the sandstone its
FIRST canyon has wars OF beautiful
marble In varied colors. terraced and
buttressed, and as the river goes deep
or and deeper 1t exposes wondrous
formations OF stone that would furnish
life work for a geologis,.
In like fashion the valley Is cut
through Little Soap creek flows out
from a great canyon cut in the sand
stone, with beetling walls rising 10.
hundreds OF feet. in shapes that re-
mind one Of great castles. As soon as
il reaches the valley II begins to delve
TO the level Of the Colorado. II crosses
the wagon road that gives the passage
way from Utah to Arizona, and then
suddenly jumps over a cliff fifty feet
down A little further It falls over
another clifT and half mile from the
sandstone II is so deep In the marble
that the stream cannot he distinguish
ed except when the sun Is right above
the canyon,
story Of Stranger Who Lost His Way
These "box" canyons cut the plain In
every direction. Every stream that
gets life in the spring from the melt
| ing OF the SHOWS has one OF them. The
trails and roads used by the cowboys
wind far out Of their way to find the
places TO cross them.
The story Is told OF a stranger who
started one day to cross the valley
from one OF the company's posts to
another He could see his destination