Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-08
FLAGSTAFF HAS
MANY BEAUTIES
U. S. T0P0GRAPHERS SURVEY
PLATEAU IN ARIZONA
GEOLOGICAL DEPARTMENT is
GATHERING DATA
One of the Highest Points in Territory
Is to Be Exploited by PAM
phIet Showing Physical
Features

| The region around Flagstaff, Ariz.,
one of the highest points on the Santa
Fe route to the Land of Sunshine" on
the Pacific coast, has been under sur
Vey during the past season by a party
| OF United States topOgrapherS
FIagSton town, however, is not high
! as compared with much of the country
| covered by the government surveyors.
Flagstaff'S altitude is 6907 feet, but to
| the north the San Francisco peaks. a
| group Of titanic sentinelS, rise above
the sea level 1900 to $1,000 feet, stand
ing forth in bold and majestic relief.
| Within their shadows, in a very pretty
situation, lies Flagstaff, a thriving little
| place of 5000 habitants and a dis
| tr1butlng point for a large numbering
and grazing section.
| The name Flagstaff was given to this
point long before there was any town.
| The early travellers in this almost arid
region discovered a beautiful spring
bubbling to the surface at a point lust
within the limits of the present town.
| and this was a favorite camping place
In the old days. Once when some SOL
diers were encamped there one Of them
trimmed the branches from a tall,
| straight pine tree and fastened a United
| States flag to the top. From that time
the place has been known as Flagstaff.
0OuInSGn f7dH a Plateau
! The southern half of the Flagstaff
quadrangle is a high plateau which
slopes off on the east to Little Colorado
| river and on the south to Verdi river.
This plateau is very deeply eroded by
three main canyons and their numerous
! tr1butar1es-Walnut canyon draining to
| to east and Oak Creek canyon and
Sycamore canyon draining to the south
Sycamore canyon is the deepest of the
three and the most picturesque. 1t car
ries no permanent stream but supports
| several good springs on the east side
just under the rim. Big game, such as
| bear, deer and Wildcats, are found in
the region, and it is a favorite resort
for hunters in the late fall.
Walnut canyon is of special interest
because it contains prehistoric cliff
| dwellings, still in a very fair state of
preservation. It carries no water. and
as no large springs flow into it and any
surface storm water soon disappears in
| crevfces in the limestone rock, flowing
| off by underground passages
Oak Creek canyon is deep and pic
turesque gorge, the cliffs in some places
rising 1000 feet above the creek, a fine
stream of water, which was soon found
! by the surveyors to abound in trout.
In several places the bed of the canyon
widens considerably and affords oppor-
tunity for number Of prosperous little
fruit ranches which in season become
summer resorts for people from the
southern part of the territory.
Timber Is Plentiful
''The region generally is covered by
q fine growth of pine timber, with the
exception of those sections which were
numbered over few years ago, and it
may be noted that they were stripped
very bare indeed" said T. Foster
Slaughter, i'm charge of the survey
party. Il have been told that this TIM
Der belt is the largest area; in the world
which is covered by one species of pine
| alone, the pinus pondorosa. This tim
Der land furnishes fine grazing for
horses, cattle and sheep, and the stock
seen was of high grade and in good
condition"
The Flagstaff sheet when engraved
and printed (some time next year) will
show the location of all roads. rail
roads, houses lakes, streams, noun
talnS and hillS-in fact, all the physical
features of the region, as well as the
works of man. To accomplish this a
line of primary levels has been run
over all the principal roads, and per-
| manent benchmarkS in the shape of
aluminium tablets or iron posts with
an elevation stamped thereon, were set
every three miles. From these bench
marks vertical angles were taken to the
principal mountain peaks and then other
angles were taken from these peaks 10
other prominent points, which were To-
Gated by the plane table method. Ira
verse lines were run over all the roaIs
and vertical angles were carried on
them to furnish elevations for sketch
ing the contours. In addition, lines
were run through the timber by means
of stadia wherever the detail of the
| country required, and vertical angles
were carried on these also.
The survey party consisted of T. Fos-
ter Slaughter, assisted by M T. Noyes.
traverseman; Glenn Jones and I. c.
Roberts, rodmen; w. L. Carpenter.
teamster, and Jesse I. Bushnell, camp
COOK. The quadrangle is located be-
tween parallels So degrees and az de-
grees 30 minutes north latitude. and
meridian 112 degrees and 112 degrees
80 minutes west longitude.