Evening star., 1936-08-16
BY THOMAS r. HENRY,
Staff Correspondent of The Star.

r STAFF Correspondent OF The Star.
~ RANTS, N. Mex, August 15.-
Hill-hurdling, forest-leaping
acres Of white sand, like the
~ tentacles of q titanic octopus,
crushing the life out of Mother Earth
and turning grassy pastures into bar
ren deserts
Great hills Of sand actually jump,
leaving desolation behind them. This
relatively new geological phenomenon
Is giving Department Of Agriculture
soil conservation experts some of their
most perplexing problems in their
efforts to save the fertility of vast
areas of the Southwest. It causes
cumulative destruction. Paradoxically,
the more it rains the more rapidly
the process continues. In the North
west drought is creating a desert.
Here the situation Is almost the op-
posite, so that year Of heavy pre-
cipitation, such as cattlemen pray
for the soil conservation experts say
would be blow from which the land
could not recover for many years.
in spite Of the most rigid control.
Here is the solution of the paradox
The rivers, like the Rio Grande and
the Puecos, rise In the high mountains
of Southern Colorado and Northern
New Mexico. Within the memory OF
old inhabitants they were swift-rln-
ming streams Of blue water flowing
between high, tree-lined banks. The
mountains were wooded. Then came
the lumbermen and the forests were
felled ruthlessly. Then came the
sheepmen and the cattlemen. They
pastured large herds on the hillsides
which cropped the grass close. The
Navajo Indians, whose reservation
covers a considerable portion of the
continental divide in New Mexico and
Arizona, contributed their share to
the destruction as their numbers in
creased and more stock was required.
Needed Roots Missing.
There were no longer tree roots or
grass roots to hold back the waters
from heavy showers or melting snow
These cut great gullies, or aroyas, In
the hillsides as they dashed into the
rivers carrying unbelievable quantities
of silt. The river channels filled up
until the beds were raised so that the
water was almost level with the
banks.
Every year, especially during the
late Summer, came new floods. July
and August are the rainy months in
this normally dryest part of the United
States. Very heavy showers come sud-
denly and last an hour or so, covering
limited areas. Sometimes 20 or 80 of
them can be seen at once from a
mountaintop. The aroyas fill up and
become raging torrents in few min
utes. The rivers are raised to food
stage.
Now, with their channels raised even
with their banks, they cannot carry
off the enormous quantities Of silt de-
posted in them by the freshets. They
food over, depositing this silt in broad
bands along their sides. This long
since has killed all the willows and
other trees which used to line them.
Immediately after a shower comes the
hot afternoon sun and the wind. The
overflow water is quickly evaporated
and the silt left at the mercy of the
winds. The finer material is blown
high in the air and carried all over
the country. This leaves great piles Of
fairly heavy sand which the winds
move more slowly down the hillside,
across mesas and roads, and over level
pastures.
Hurdling Sand Dunes
Hence comes the phenomenon Of the
hurdling sand dunes. At first 1t was