Douglas daily dispatch., 1928-03-18
WATER HOLES SWALLOW CATTLE
WHEN THEY COME FOR A DRINK:
/ ANIMALS SENSE THE DANGER
WaterOgged Sands of Aqua Prieta Treacherous Spots
for Both Man and Beast; Strange Condition With
Sparkling Water Proves Occasional Trap for Stock
Suffering From Thirst.

over the disappearance of few head
OF cattle that have never been
traced to any rustlers' camp. It
has come. to the attention OF Off
GERS in Douglas recently that the
earth has been known to swallow
cattle and other stock and even
human beings and proof is forth
coming that some Of the stock that
has disappeared near this city has
been actually swallowed by the
earth.
That this has been going on for
hundreds Of years is the belief Of
the Investigators and that before
the first herds of cattle were driven
into the Sulphur Springs valley
from Texas perhaps deer and buff
falo were swallowed up in the
same manner, The answer to the
puzzle is quick sand Quick sand
in the middle OF country in
Witch the earliest settlers often
famished for lack of water and
which was described by government
agents bat a few years ago as an
arid desert.
Perhaps few of the inhabitants
OF Douglas know that within two
or three miles of the city, in the
deep, winding. bed of the Aqua
Prieta river, there is quick sand,
treacherous, terrible and deadly
Where the river runs down be-
tween the Smelters there seems to
be hard-surfaced floor to the
stream, but north, up the valley
known as Sulphur Springs, the
river is a thing of mystery and to
the man or beast that has felt the
sliSsly, sucking. cold and insistent
grasp of the quick sands it is a
place of horror.
Bottomless, TrackIess Sands
One must have lived along that
river, must have ridden through
the valley and tracked cattle adown
the winding trails from the grass
lands to. the water holes to know
OF this thing, for one never hears
II talked of along the sunny streets.
The dangerous quick sands are not
miles away from Douglas but no
farther than just back of the barns
at the County hospital.
Perhaps there are places even
much nearer the city where the
deep, waterlogged sands lie, dry
atop but saturated with water be-
meath, in great beds that have once
been deep places, in the stream.
The floods wash out these deep
holes and the sitting sands, washed
down by the waters, gather there
and form trap from which man
nor beast is safe and that have been
known to swallow up an automobile
and leave no trace.
TO one who knows, the story is'
plain. One rides valley-bred
horse down to the river Even
on cold day a sweat will rise on
the animal if one persists in riding
along the bed of the stream for any
distance. There is always water
In the river 1t does not always
run but it stands there in pools of
varying sizes and runs. most Of the
year, in little rifles between the
POOLS.
Formed Like Grand Canyon
The Aqua Prieta has dug deep
into the earth for it's channel. The
walls of the river bed are from
III 10 SO feet high as the stream
winds from the city pumping plant
sbOve the Smelters. There Are few
p;dces where Oas c;un scramble NJ
or down those walls and while
there are beach ), al along the
bottom of the watts except in lines
Of flood, there are stretches where
tho pools OF 'e.,ier ex;rrd clear
ac:.OAs from wall to wall.
These are the dangerous places.
ordinarily. Almost invariably the
observer will notn strip Of fine,
dry sand at one end or the other
of these pools. This sand is dark,
almost black. 1t looks solid. One
might almost imagine that it is
sand ROCK. One reared in the
valley also notices that there are
no tracks leading from the real
rocks onto this black sand.
sA Natural Trap Laid in River
There is natural trap in the
river just at one Of the great
bends which it makes not far north
OF the County hospital. On the
Z west side of the river there is a
rolling hilly formation rising from
y the river and sweeping up to the
general level of the valley and
not a hundred feet from the waters
edge there is scrub oak and a rocky
hillside. The river banks or walls
at this point are very high. The
bed of the stgeamafis about IS feet
wide. uS 8ai
On the east side the bank rises
to a level. gully-ribbed mesa. On
each side OF the river at this point
there are ranehers who have in
years past maintained herds of fine
dairy stock cowboy riding. down
to the river from the west side viii
note that the. cattle drink. not
spreading out side by side fanwise
and wading into the river, but one
at time, each in turn and stand
ing where the, path leads down tc
the waters edge.
The COW horse bred in the valley
will step confidently into the
stream at the drinking place bu
he will step quickly and will wall
hurriedlv in straight line to {
point where the path resumes OF
the other side of the water anC
climbs the east bank to the grazini
land of the mesa.
Gfpauoa Gfock Meet Doom