The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-07-05

found along this frontier 1t Is not al
ways conveniently available for irri-
gaifon purposes. For example, the
San Pedro river, which crosses the
boundary midway between Douglas
and Nogales. Ariz.. has cut so deeply
into the soil that the bed Of the fifteen
foot stream is now far below the sur
rounding land, making gravity irriga-
ton impossible.
THE Santa Cruz river, further west,
crosses the boundary twice, rising
north Of the line, flowing south for a
distance Of fifteen miles into Mexico,
returning to Arizona and finally dis
appearing in the sands north Of Tue
SON about seyenty-lyc miles from the
border.
Desert Region.
Beyond the Santa Cruz the boun-
Diary line crosses desert region
where the intelligent, pcacc-loying
Papagos Indians lead a strange cXis-
tence, concentrating all their agricul-
ural activities in the three or four
rainy-season months when the land
becomes an intcnsiye-culture garden
Of great fertility. With the first clouds
Of June the natives rush TO their
'tempcrales, small tracts Of land in
the vicinity Of natural or artificial
water holes, where the shallow irri-
cation bitches are dug and where
qulckly-mauring beans, pumpkins,
melons and Indian corn are planted
one Of the chief articles Of food in This
region is the fruit of a giant cactus
which ripens in June and July. 1t is
eaten fresh is dried for winter, boiled
and preserved, and made into syrup,
while n considerable portion OF the
annual yield is converted into much
priced intoxicating beverage After
the summer harvest the Papagos mi
CRATE to the mountains where they
gather acorns for food. In lean years
they subsist largely on mesquite
beans and certain varieties OF grass
seed.
These Indians are constantly sus-
tanned in their hard battle for eXis-
,cncc by the belief that their Messiah,
whom they call "Moctezuma, Will
come some day to correct all abuses
and make the desert his garden OF
paradise. The entrance to their adobe
huts face the east so that the great
benefactor will find all doors open
when he comes with the rising sun.
"Thc heat in the desert regions dur
ing the summer months is oyerpower-
ing. Government surveying parties
have had to endure is degrees, Fab
renheit. in the shade, while the grada-
lions of the ordinary thermometer are
rot sufficiently high to record the
terrific heat in the sun, which has been
known to reach 1850 degrees.
Curious Reservoirs.
"On the eastern slope OF the Sierra
de Tinajas Atlas, three miles north of
the boundary line, there is an extern
sive seml-circular amphitheater in the
midst of which is series Of curious
reservoirs. Here seven great natural
tanks have been carved from the rocks
in the course Of centuries by water
tumhling down a narrow gorge during
the rainy season These tanks have
a capacity of from $1,000 to 10000 gal
Ions and the water which they catch
h summer is protected from eyap-
o. ton by overhanging cliffs.
Some OF tnese tanks can be reach
ed only after n difficult climb, and the
Imaginative traveller can readily pic
ture the many Tantalus tragedies
which occurred here during the great
gold rushes of the 'ffties' and the
sixties. Numerous crosses Of stone
in the vicinity mark the graves of
those pcrishing prospectors who
reached the great reservoirs but who
had not sufficient reserve strength to
scale the rocks and place their parch-
ed lips to the rim of these giant beak-
ers of life-giving water.
"The heat and dryness Of the at
mosphcrc in this desert land induce
such proiuse pcrspiration that both
men and horses require an abnormal
quantity Of water, the average for men
being seven quarts a day and for mules
and horses twenty gallons"