The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-07-06

sends fne assortment OF SKINS East
to be made into coats, these skins being
valued at from IS to S12 each. 1t is
curious sight to watch him deftly pack
his five burros with the camp outfit, set
up camp, cook his meals and it is fine
meals the old man knows how to pre-
pare, too)-With but one hand. having
lost the right arm at the elbow in the
Civil War; and when we stop and think
that it is considered no small feat of
craftsmanship to bring down deer,
bear and mountain lions with the use of
two good hands. one must marvel at
and also in the difficult task of Skinning
and dressing animals and curing the
skins for market.
There was much rain here in the
early spring; something unknown in
Arizona for many years, as the rainy
season is usually restricted almost en-
tirely to the months of July and Au-
gust These spring rains have made
Arizona arid zone belle its name, for
| this season. at least, as everywhere it is
green, and in many places where
buffalo grass was apparently killed out
long since, its close curly carpet now
| furnishes excellent grazing for the
thousands of sheep, cattle and ponies
which ofttimes get but scanty subsiSt-
ence in this region. The wild flowers
are a gorgeous sight indeed. | could
not have believed previously that these
barren plains and mountain sides could
be made to blossom forth so luxuriant-
", with a variety of flowers that is
astonishing. Nearly all the flowers
cultivated in eastern gardens are here
| represented in their wild State-ver-
bena, snapdragon, pinks, roses, phlox
and numerous Others.
AS one rides along, there are stretches
of royal purple, again fields of pink,
| white or blue, and in the distance, as
| far as the eye can reach, there are
| brilliant CLEANS of color. Sometimes
many acres are covered by one variety;
| immense stretches of yellow showing
up, resembling field of yellow butter
cups in the East, but on examination
they prove to be species of snap
dragon; while blue, pink and white
morning glories run wild over all the
rocks There is large variety of
| cactus in this country, many of which
are now covered with brilliant hued
| flowers. The immense stalks of the
spanish bayonet, mesquite, and others
are very snowy. One flower stalk of
| last years production we dIled and it
stands in the corner of our sitting room,
reaching the fourteen foot ceiling, and
my husband was obliged to cut off
about four feet to enable us to get it
in the house and place it there, so you
can imagine the plain where it was
gathered dotted with those huge stalks
of milky white bells being a beautiful
sight indeed.
Our quarters and fences-as indeed
are all the staff quarters along the line
are bower OF roses, virginia creeper and
clematis. The roses just now are at the
| height of their glory. The heavy rains,
| though a great benefit for the future OF
! the country, did considerable damage
at the immediate time. There are few
bridges, as the rivers and creeks are
usually shallow enough to ford with
horses. that being the regular mode of
| transit in the west. Those creeks for
nearly two months were swollen into
rushing mountain torrents, in which at
different times many horses and mules
were drowned in attempting to cross.
Our daily mail, brought in on horse
back, was occasionally washed down
stream, the carrier barely escaping with
his life, and reports of quite exciting
adventures and narrow escapes were
brought into the post from different
parts by COW boys and ranchers, the
Mormon freighters having an especial
lv hard time in endeavoring to fulfill
their contract Of delivering freight
Indeed Fort Apache and the Agencies
barely escaped a serious famine, as fol
two months little or no freight could be
got through, and the provision supplies
became SO low they were necessarily
restricted entirely to the use of soldiers
and families, aud the poor Indians who
depended entirely on these places were
turned away. During this time of pri
walton and suffering among them, a
trait so unselfish and noble as to
deserve mention became evident and
excited the admiration and praise
of all Through lack of food sew
eral of the older ones ended their
sutferings by suicide, and whenever
one came into possession of food, no
matter how scantv, they divided it
equally as far as it would go. Their
chief care seemed for the little ones,
and self was forgotten. This was sur
prising to even the ''old timers here, as
no one seemed to think an Apache cap
able of any such noble feelings. TheiI
i troubles came to All end with the rains,
| NlltH cOIllIllSSdIleS dlIlNeu dt tllc PoSs
and agencies, and the hordes of squaws
and papooses. who had daily gathered
around our doors begging for the scraps
of "bun," were considerably diminish
ed That was a time when money was
of little value, when it would not buy
them food. All those who worked
would go from place to place with theil
hands full of silver dollars begging fol
the food we could not spare to all. My
heart was sick within me many times
at having to refuse the pleading, hun
CRY faces, and believe | was as thank
full as they when relief came. Any
/ thing of this nature has not been known
here for many years, as the "rainy sea
son" usually consists of but occasional
: light showers which do not materially
swell the creeks, making the trails i'm
passable.
The weather is simply glorious now
and one can always count on a perfect
day for picnic. You will think il
must be extremely hot when l say the
, thermometer runs from so to 30 de
grees every day, but we never see here
in the mountains what we call in the
, east a hot day, never being without thu
, strong cooling breezes from the old
snow-capped "Baldies," which glisteI
in the brilliant sun like huge frosted
cakes; and the nights are always COO
l ov1A a nyFn M