THE FIRST DAY'S WORK 19 



assessment work on some of the claims, and Jack- 

 son, the Forest Ranger, who made the place his head- 

 quarters for administering the ranger district of 

 which he was in charge. 



We stayed over a day to find an established sec- 

 tion corner and to frame a plan of campaign with 

 Jackson, who of course knew thoroughly the coun- 

 try we were to work. He was able on this account 

 to give Frazer information which later proved of 

 great value. For the region we were entering is 

 conceded to be as consistently rough a country as 

 can be found in the Southwest, and an accurate 

 knowledge of possible camp sites, springs, and trails 

 was a very necessary prerequisite to our actual in- 

 vasion of its strongholds. 



The Black Range is physiographically a division 

 of the Arizona Highlands System. As such it ex- 

 tends a considerable distance north into the Datil 

 National Forest. But locally and for the purposes 

 of this chronicle the name is applied to that high 

 main ridge, with its timbered watersheds, which runs 

 due south from the Datil line forty miles to the 

 lower boundary of the Gila National Forest, where 

 it sinks gradually to the level of the surrounding 

 practically treeless country. The width of the tim- 

 ber bearing area varies from five to twenty miles, 

 so that we had to plan to cover a tract of some four 

 hundred square miles in the speediest and most 

 economical manner compatible with thoroughness. 



The chief matter for decision was the course of a 



