Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1922-01-05
THE KAL1BAB FOREST.
Wonderful Reserve in Arizona
Covers Million Acres.

Northward from the Arizona
town of Fredonia rise the great
gray buttresses and the Redeemed
tops of Vermilion cliffs; south
ward blue haze hangs over the
purple sage, and the undulating
hills stretch away toward the hor-
izon until they are lost in the
green crowned top of the Kalibab
forest. which, in it's turn, contin-
ues for 50 miles to the. very brink
of the Grand Canyon of the Colo
rado,. writes Wyman Smith i'll
the Dearborn Independent.
Along the dusty road to the
desert the cacti grow, some OF
tl'em small spiny round balls,
others. stalklike, resemble the
stumps of the old dead trees, and
occasionally may be found the
sharp bristling yucca, or Spanish
bayolat which looks much like
the common century plant, yet
sends upward from it's center n
few stalks bearing seed pods, on
peanut shaped shells. Eventually
ia few cedars begin to appear,
thriving as best they can in soil
that is half powder and half rock,
and only when the slow, even rise
of the plateau begins to make 1T
self felt and the throbbing motor
works harder do they increase in
size and number, for in less than
50 miles the elevation varies near
l> 1000 feet. From the east .
storm sweeps down the last dip.
the rain falls in great sheets, the
rcighboring hills are smothered
in ii bank of cloud, lightning
flashes and cracks, yet although
we are only ten miles away the
great rolling mist tolls westward,
and we arrive within the rainy
area to find only moist earth and
d freshened vegetation. 1t is n
relief to us after the dusk of the
desert and delight undoubtedly
10 the jack rabbits that bolt hith-
cr and thither through the sage
and cedars. The road then AS
ccnds more rapidly, the cedars
grow thicker than ever, scrub
oaks Interfere among them and
the pinon pines also grow along
side, all OF them scenting the air
and, together with the fragrance
OF the manzanita, making the at
mosphere fresh and stimulating.
In such Il place and at an alti-
tude ranging from 1900 to 5000
feet above sea level. Uncle Sam
has reserved the greatest soft
wood forest area in the union and
LAS preserved in it trees that
were already of good growth
when Columbus discovered Amer.
lea. Today these trees tower up
ward of 100 and 200 feet, running
10 fine spindle points at the top,
but measuring two, three and
four feet in diameter at the base
IA base set in the needle mat
tress of the hills and strewn with
cones which have fallen year af-
ter year from the great branches
of the pines and spruceS. 1t is.
the kalibab forest that here COW
ers vast area of | million acres
and grows fast enough to permit
| the utilization of so million board
feet of lumber Il year indefinitely.
or if cut at once would supply
2E billion board feet. enough to
| load u train of cars that would
reach from Boston to Norfolk.
On the fire tower at Jacobs
lake one gains still another con
ception of the great forest re-
source. South. east and west.
every slope and hill top is set with
the needle tops of the trees. Far
toward the eastward lies Horse
rock valley. now dry and carry
ing no water, but far back in ge-
o!ogical time once the basin for
a tributary of the Colorado; and
back over the route we came may
he seen the distant outlines of the
Vcrmiion cliffs. Slightly to the
right is the Nipple, a crater like
mountain rising out of the plat
eau, and still farther northward
appear the termination of the
great rock layers that came down
from the north. but which In dis
tant geological ages have been
swept eff the top of this great
plateau to IA depth of 5000 feet:
while the great Kalibab itself was
] ~ icnl ,,.,tn u ,nnahnI IL