Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 



and attack stock and game so viciously that, as a 

 consequence, the animals are frequently much re- 

 duced in flesh. The Apaches take advantage of this 

 plague to set fire to the forest and lie in wait for 

 the game, which has taken shelter in the smoke to 

 rid itself from the flies. In this way the Indians kill 

 large numbers of breeding deer, and at the same 

 time destroy considerable areas of forest. While on 

 a visit to this district in the summer of 1899 Mr. 

 Pinchot saw the smoke of five forest fires at different 

 places in the mountains, which had been set by hunt- 

 ing parties of Indians for the purpose. The only 

 method by which not only the game but the forest 

 along the western side of this reserve can be success- 

 fully protected will be to have the western border of 

 the forest reserve extended to take in a belt eight to 

 twelve miles wide of the Indian reservation. This 

 would include Ord and Thomas peaks, and would 

 serve efficiently to protect the country about the 

 headwaters of the rivers from these destructive 

 inroads. 



The northern border of this section of the reserve 

 is about one hundred miles by wagon road from the 

 nearest point on the Santa Fe Pacific Railroad. Seven 

 miles from its northern border is the town of Spring- 

 erville, with a few hundred inhabitants in its vicinity 

 engaged in farming, cattle and sheep growing. From 

 Springerville north extends the plains of the Little 

 Colorado to St. Johns, the county seat of Apache 

 county, containing a few hundred people. To the 

 south and east of the reserve there are no towns 

 for some distance, except a few small settlements 



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