Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1907-07-22
ARIZONA : FOREST LAND
Ten Thousand Square Miles OF
Valuable Woods.
DAMAGE DONE BY SHEEP
These Form the Largest Unbroken
Forest Outside Of Afriea-Abous
$50 Years 600 Ares
Reserveo-certsin Grazing and
Logging Allowed.


be the one which covers 10000 square
miles Of northern Arizona. Other
forests have larger trees, and other
sections have more square miles =
trees. counting ali their forested areas
together. but this great stretch q yei-
low pine, bordered with Juniper and
cedar. has few rivals anywhere
A. great forests go. this one is not
old. The average tree 81 rcck0nsd
20 be about go years old and the bulk
Of the forest Ia counted ripe" that
Il. mature and ready to decline II
vlgor.
The Western yellow pine forms %
per cent. Of the growth. They are
from 50 10 125 feet high. but they Do
not interlace: 80 the sunlight falls
freely on the brown needle sfrewn
ground. Here and there are 0pen
parks. often hiding little lakes n
some depression.
There seems no reason Tor this sud-
den halt in the march ~ the trees--
unless, as the lumber Jacks aay, TIE
yellow pine will not grow on the
richest soil: or. as obseryanf f0resters
believe, these open glades mark the
trail Of long past fires Of extreme vso-
lence. Such fire made parks are found
In the cedar and juniper forests where
their origin Is positively known and
Of comparatively recent date.
Taking the forest from end 90 end.
Il contains the most beautiful scene
~ and most Of the natural wonders
OF Arizona. There are numerous
caves, some Of them ~ unknown ex-
tent. bottOmless pits into which the
food waters Of sudden showers pour
and are lost. and where a stone
dropped falls with no sound Of stop
ping. other caves are filed with ics
that never melts and whose extent
Is undetermined.
In 1898 several tracts Of forest land
around the San Francisco mountains
were set aside in reserves. and IN 1872
these, with intervening tracts. we're
consolidated into the San Francisco
Mountains Forest Reserve Or I.975.g10
acres.
Fire. grazing and numbering. the
three great elements In forest desfrue-
ton, have all had their way. bat only
the second has gone across hte danger
line. Strangely enough. says a writer
in Out West, the destruction from fire
was largely before the coming Of the
whites, a very unusual tale IN forest
history. Many Of the fires Of The
present time are due to lightning
strokes. In some localities fully ha1f
Of the mature pines shcw the long
ragged scars Of the Devastating bolts.
All through the forest empty cabins
mark abandoned stock ranches ET-
cry little spring has its old camp.
with forgotten brands and the names
Of cowboys cut IN the bark Of the
quaking aspens-
The forest region has always been
the best grazing land in Arizona. For
years it teemed with cattle and sheep
Of range and water holes Overstoek-
ing and years OF drought settled the
feud at last with seant arbitration
The cattle died-the sheep died-their
owners turned lumber jacks OF sand
pickers, that Is. farmers
The forest never had a severer ene-
my than the unlimited bands of sheep
that yearly grazed from mountains 20
desert and left a hard beaten track
with broken and upr0oted seeding
trees to mark their passage through
the forest.
In Los there were grazing ca the
forest reserves Of Arizona II .e15 bead
Of cattle. 1882 head Of horses and
21S.000 head Of sheep. AZ a price q
twenty and twenty-five cents a head
for the cattle and horses and fFs
rents each for the sheep.
The same year. s31. $40 feet of Iuu-
Der we're sold. with 1858 cords 81
fuel wood and 200 posts and poles.
In 1906 Arizona received s7.s7sss
revenue from her reserved lands. that
being 10 per cent o. their gross re-
turn 70 the Government.
The rules Of forestry insist that az
trees must Be cut within e11hteen
inches Of the ground. and that the
trunk Of the tree must be used
down 10 eight inches IN diameter.
The branches left must be gathered
and put in small piles away from al
living trees. and later burned 81 rhe
forest officers as a guard against fires
The trees 70 be e1t are selected and
marked BY an officer - the service
and trees under fourteen inches in
diameter, together wlfh a saHcieaf
number Of vigorous mature trees 20
reseed the cut area. are ieft stamina.
II IS estimated that az the present
rate Of logging the Arizona fosezr All
last about fifty years, after whirh
time the areas noW CIT under he
regulations Of the Forest Service @lJ
be ready 10 log again. More tran
half the logging Is On land Win
the reserves. and the private hoiflrzz
Of the Arizona Timber ard L1-eer
Company are logged along thc gszer-
al rules Of the reserved ard