Arizona republican., 1907-09-06

scarce and hardly to be had at all. But nature had prepared for this dire
 ful calamity to much extent in supply ing the valleys and mountains with all kinds of wild game, and the min CTS Sways had jerked venisOn and bear meat and the lack of other com
 modities were lost in the thirst for gold. These old creek channels are being worked today as they have ever
 since the haiacon days of the first dis covery. Not so much. however. but there are a few of the old timers that eke out a living by washing the same old dirt and banks over and over again.
 Other pastimes than these are also
 indulged in by the many visitors and
 pleasure seekers. one of these is the getting up a party and going out to
 the mountains and felling wild bee tree and taking the honey. The bee
 tree may have been heard of through some ranchman on whose ground it stands and the party is invited on a certain day and time to come and par ticipate in the amusement. The party
 arriving at the designated ranch when
 all is ready pans, buckets. case knives and axes are procured and the entire party repairs to the tree. when the sturdy licks of two wOOdchoppers. al- ternated with rests from other male members of the party. the big oak or pine tree soon begins to crackle and tremble and then there is great and loud noise and crash and the tree is
 on the ground. raising great cloud of smoke from the ground. This startles
 in fha-r- h i'm the hollow in the big tree trunk and
 they come swarminE out. flying hither and thither in anger. T. is not infre-
 quently the case on these occasions but what member of the party are stung.
 Zip, bee will take some one or more on the neck or face and a gymnasium ensues right there on the ground. But by this time the cotton rags will have been lighted and some one who has
 had more experience than others is at the hole of the tree smoking the bees
 away. A long piece of the tree is then boxed out of the tree at the hole and big and long cakes of.honey is cut from its lining and fastening in the tree with the case knives and laid in the buckets and pans. When the tree is thoroughly robbed of it's store of sweets the party return to the house where he good housewife has been busily engaged the past hour and half in preparing a sumptuous supper for her guests. Among the home viz ands of the table Is one or two big plates of honey to crusting with rich ness and as pure and yellow as gold On the ranch of J. M. Dearing, seven r,aff s,F Der of hives of bees inhabiting the big pine and oak forests that surrounds his home. Many Of the hives are in the low. scrubby oak. they being more susceptible 10 hollowness than pine or timber of other kind. Mir. Dearing and family have honey at all times and whenever they want it. But wild bees and honey are not confined to any one particular locality in the mountains and ranges of Yavapai and throughout the whole length and breadth of the mountain ranges they are found in more or less numbers. It is not in frequently the case that they are found in the great heaps and piles of boulders. having their ingress and eEress through the openings and crev- ices of the rock. These go undisturb-  ed. as the cost of shooting and break ing the rock would amount to much more than the value of the honey found. In these instances where they are found building and living in rock is where trees of the right nature and character are wanting. hOllowness be- ing one of the requisites for this pur- pose.
 But Yavapai county abounGs in many good things for the uses and of man. and its gold sil- yer and copper mines are among the greatest in the world. Again some of the best building stone quarries in the country are to be found in the Vailin- ick of the county. These consist of onyx. red and white granite. and much of it is shipped without to substan- tiate and embellish with beauty and