Arizona republican., 1905-05-06
The Flood Disaster In Apache and
 Navajo Counties.


 losses from the flood fin Apache and
 Navajo counties will reach hundreds
 of thousands of dollars. the disaster is
 relatively large. The breaking of the irrigation dams is a grave misfortune
 for the little farming communities
 that are affected and whatever the losses of personal property may prove not afford them.
 There is but a small area of culti- vated land in either county. but prac- tically all of 1t was in the track of the late flood. In Apache county there are 2,64O acres of cultivated land, and in Navajo 2.S79. The assessed value of the cultivated land in Apache coun- ty was $3S.O00 last year, and in Ma vajo it was almost exactly the same. or $33,1S7.20. The assessed value of the improvements on cultivated land in Apache county greatly exceeded that of Navajo. however. In Apache the Improvements were assessed at s226, 6,425.25. while in Navajo they were but $15.74s.sS.
 All of this land is cultivated from irrigation. and the restricted area Is due to the limited water supply and the limited acreage to which water can be applied.
 The ranches are owned mainly by Mormons. who were the pioneers. They are an honest. thrifty and hard work ing people. There is also a considera- ble population of Mexicans of the bet ter class. There are several sites available for the storage of water. and fin time there will be many thousand acres under irrigation in both Apache and Navajo counties. Irrigation is carried on under the cooperative system. The dams, always necessa- rily of cheap construction, have been washed out from time to time, the losses being burdensome on each oc- casion. This weeks flood seems to have been the worst in the history of that region. and was caused by rains and suddenly melting snows
 The interior of Navajo and Apache counties is almost a terra incognita to the remainder Of Arizona. Apache county is entirely without railroads St. Johns, the county seat, Is seventy miles south of the Santa Fe railway. and the principal farming district of Navajo Is some thirty miles south of the railroad. It is only when that part of the territory furnishes news of im- portance to the outside world that the remoteness of the region from the commercial and industrial centers of the territory is appreciated.
 But 1t is by no means an uninter- esting section of Arizona. Apache. the extreme northeastern county of the territory, extends 4S miles east and west. and 24o miles north and south. Within its boundaries are located DOT tions of the Navajo and White Noun tain Indian reservations, the former covering the northern end of the coun- ty and comprising about one-t third of the total area In the southern end the White Mountain region attains an elevation of more than 1000 feet, and approximates an area of 500 square miles. It Is there that the headwaters of the Salt river are found-one of the main sources of the water supply for the Salt River valley All of the farming land is drained by the Little Colorado river. which flows northwes- terly, through Navajo county to HoI- brook, on the Santa Fe From Hol- brook the Little Colorado follows the railroad to Winslow. and thence it flows to the northwest into the Colo rado. Upon this river and its tribu- taries. the Nutrioso. Coulter and Coy ote creeks. in Apache county, and on the Showlow and Silver creeks in Ma vajo, the ranches are situated Navajo county, which was formed in 1895 from the western protion of Apache. Is 240 miles long. from north to south, and comprises an area of e,826 square miles. More than one-half of the coun- ty. or 5,415 square miles is appropri- ated to the Indians, the Moqui and Navajo Indian reservations extending into the southern portion.
 For the greater part the two coun- ties form a high plateau, with an ele- Vation Of 5000 feet or more, on the average, and the summer climate is perfection. Large game abounds in the mountains, bear and deer being plentiful and the streams afford the finest trout fishing in the west The little towns of Greer, Concho, Eagar, Springerville, Tule and St. Johns in Apache county. and Snowflake Taylor, Woodruff, St. Joseph and Showlow in