The Winslow mail., 1925-05-15
Wonder Of Beautiful
Apache Forest Reserve

Off the beaten path, in the White
Mountains of Arizona, stretching
along the New Mexico line from
Springerville to Clifton, lies the
Apache National Forest. For the
most part it is high mountain
country with mountain meadows,
rugged peaks and deep canyons.
The forest lies in the country over
which the Apache Indians at one
time roamed, and from it takes its
name 1t covers gross area of
1,226,42 acres and is administered
from Springerville, Ariz., a small
town on the transcontinental Ma
tional Old Trails highway, about
100 miles southeast of the Santa
Fe railroad at Holbrook.
The timber resources of the
Apache, which have practically not
been touched by an ak, are esti-
mated to consist of 2,400,000,000
board feet of saw timber, of which
rs per cent is yellow pine. The
remainder is made up mostly of
Douglas fir, white fir and spruce.
In addition, the south end of the
forest has extensive stands of
pinon and juniper which contains
100000 cords of wood. Most of the
saw timber is now inaccessible be-
cause of its distance from the rail-
road For this reason, the present
annual cut of about 100000 feet
is confined to the timber needed
for local consumption by small
communities and ranches on or
near the forest. In future years,
the Apache forest may be expected
to occupy an important place in the
timber production of the state.
Within this forest there are
few flat, treeless areas suitable for
the growing of crops. Such lands
have been listed in 215 tracts
which have been settled by home
steaders. Of the lands which have
been retained in public ownership,
none are considered to have suf-
ficient value for agriculture to war
rant alternating them as home
steads
A large live, stock industry has
been developed upon the Apache
forest, and all of the available
range is now used under govern
ment permits. 1t supports total
of $4,000 cattle and $4,000 sheep,
which are owned by 1874 permittees,
most of whom live on or near the
forest Much of this stock spends
only it's summer on the high, cool
mountain ranges of the Apache for
Eest, and is driven to the lower ~
ing country to the north and south
for the winter. In addition, 263
settlers Craze 5000 head of work
and milk stock on the forest free
of charge.
Besides its purely commercial
value, this forest is of immense
Importance because of it's location
on the headwaters of many of the
streams ultimately running into
the Roosevelt reservoir, which sup
plies irrigation water and power
| for the Salt River valley.
In order to make mountain areas
like the Apache forest more Access
sible to travellers, and in order that
fires may be more easily reached,
the forest service is developing
lines of communication. In accord
ance with this policy, 209 miles of
telephone lines. eighty-four miles Of
roads and 160 miles of trails have
been constructed in this forest. A
road from Clifton to Springerville,
running through the heart of the
/ @ IL
Apache forest, is now being built
by the forest service in co-opera-
ton with Apache and Greenlee
counties. This project will allow
travel between northern and south
ern transcontinental routes. Sew
eral other roads which connect
with the transcontinental system