South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-12-07

kOOseFelt dam recently construct
cd by Uncle Sam in Arizona, has
caused the desplsed desert TO bios
som and bloom. The thriving city
Of Phoenix is the hub of this Gar
/ den Of Eden. An eastern remit
tance man" writing from his adopt
I cd home in New Mexico, stated that
I all that was requisite to make that
! section a most desirable place to
/ live was water and good society"
TO which letter his friend replied
chat those two essentials were also
I lacking in perditiOn." Water and
/ excellent society are a prevailing
factor both in and adjacent TO
! Phoenix The reservoir created by
/ Roosevelt dam contains sufficient
! reserve water TO irrigate 100000
acres for three consecutive years,
without rainfall. Once the taran-
/ tulas. centipedes. rattle snakes and
J ella monsters injected pep" and
! preparedness into the cautious cow
boys and sour toughs," who slun1-
/ bered surrounded by hOrsehaiT
iariats. as a precautionary measure.
Nature having created these Objec-
I tiOnable critters" there was placed
on the desert the chaparral bird, or
road runner. the avowed enemy of
the RATHER" This birds work is
most ingenious Finding a rattle
snake asleep. he would construct
from the small spinOus cactus. a
corral closely surrounding the snake.
| giving il no time TO uncoil or jump
/ Neither tarantulas, centipedes or
/ snakes will cross a needed or jag
I ged obstruction (hence the utility Of
I the horsehair lariat.D The rattle
snake will die OF starvation rather
| than essay the cactus fence. A vic
| tim to the ingenuity of his enemy.
executiOner and eliminatOr the
/ chaparraI bird.
Surplus water from the dam has
I created many duck sanctuaries at
/ tracing them in countless numbers.
Hirst lake. located near the conflu-
I ence Of the ella and Aqua rivers,
about 1 Q miles southwest of Phoenix
! covers approximately $50 acres.
many small islands are in evidence.
/ the shoes being set to flag, reeds
/ and tulies. with an abundance of
wild rice and grass nut feed. As
/ the guest of Capt. G. V. Gulley and
Tom Rasmussen Of Phoenix, a brace
| Of all-round outdoor sports and
shooting enthusiasts. mOtored out
over the excellent pixies. skirted by
fields Of Egyptian cotton, orange, fig
and olive groves, also passing fields
Of milu-maize. seductive feeding
ground for quail and the Sonora or
white Winged Pigeon" Indigenous
to Mexico and Arizona.
Passing into the section of sage
and grease brush, we found the
sahura cactus tree with spinous
rows about one inch apart. extend
ing from the root to the top, at
times a height of 80 feet, mute, ST
: lent sentinels of the arid deserts of
the west Many native Mexicans
were gathering the dwarf sahura
cactus. from which the most delici-
\ GUS candy is manufactured. The
maguey cactus or century plant,
exudes from it's punctured leaves a
Juice. from which the Mexican pull
qua (beer) is made When ferment-
ed and distilled. the "mescal" =
substitute for spirits-frumenti, a
fight being guaranteed with every
drink Hirst lake flashed into sight
thousands of ducks were there of
every variety. both "puddlers" and
deem sea divers. Jack Snipe we're
jumping from every depression.
screaming back their defy of Scape!
Scape, Scape, as they zigzagged OF
rail fenced" TO "a more congeniaI
locality 4 shot fired at a caper-
cutting jack put in flight a bank of
II ducks. some making an immediate
getaway. while many more made the
circling flight of investigation. We
pre-empted "a couple Of permanent
shore blinds on points directly OPP
posite. with about 125 yards OF open
water between. We were on di-
rect 7yway where every bunch Of
birds had a blazed aerial trail. usu-
ally presenting q possible shot in
their pilgrimage. Pass shooting
predominated We had every Op-
portunity and angl To test ones
ability as a lead or daylight guess
err" To successfully negotiate with
those birds required post-gradu-
ate course in the correspondence
school OF wing shooting. They
came down wind. circled. volplaned
and caasted. skidded. came like bats
out of perdition and lOafed in over
decoys. curious investigators, they
attempted TO get Chummy with our
\ live deCoys. IL was an afternoons
work ont on diversified shooting
from every angle. height and dis
lance Doubles. singles. ll.ls and
misses. with an occasional eye
wipe" were all recorded and dis
cussed NV shooting pards weigh
ed i'm the scales of workmanship.
were not found wanting. The max
ings OF a western mulligan stew
was our objective the legal limit of
birds were requisite and we answer
ed the roll call for honorable men
tion An afternoon of unalloyed
..r.-....-- e.. g,f1 With "a sol, rof "a n, IL y