CHAPTER XIX 

 BATTLERS 



THE month that followed our invasion of the Animas 

 is one which I have been trying ever since to for- 

 get. Everything disagreeable that could be imag- 

 ined seemed to occur during this period ; ther6 were 

 no redeeming features to the experience. It was a 

 nightmare and no mistake. To begin with, the coun- 

 try we covered was consistently disheartening to 

 cruise. It was as bad, if not worse, than the sample 

 of the first day. The east slope seemed all of a 

 piece. Eagged, stony, cactus covered ridges, cliffs 

 interminable, a wretched, sun-baked, desolate stretch. 

 There was good timber in the canyons, and cord- 

 wood upon the ridges, but the chief reason why Fra- 

 zer covered this township at all was to get the coun- 

 try mapped so that the Supervisor could use our data 

 in the administration of that district. For the 

 watershed is an important one and the cattle and 

 sheep grazing privileges thereon, as well as the dis- 

 posal of the timber, is handled by the Forest Serv- 

 ice. 



The heat continued and made what might other- 

 wise have been considered merely a case of neces- 

 sary extra exertion a veritable time of torment. 



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