A NATIONAL FOREST TIMBER SALE AND ITS PURPOSES 



27 



CLIFF CIENAGA, ON THF. WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE INDIAN RESERVATION 

 This is now an unbroken wilderness, but the new town and mill-site will occupy the tract in the back- 

 ground now covered with dense stands of yellow pine. Just beyond lies the Mogollon River, a vertical 

 drop of hundreds of feet, overlooking White River Valley. 



planer, the dry kiln, sheds, commissary and town. The of the dead ancestor, and in time a grove of 

 plant will be set on the brink of the Mogollon rim, look- young, thrifty black jack pine is formed, so called be- 

 ing down into the valley of the White River, with the cause of the blackish color of the bark, which as the 

 roofs of the Fort Apache 

 Military Post glistening forty 

 miles away, and over an un- 

 broken stretch of densely 

 forested rugged mountain 

 slopes, with distant peaks sil- 

 houetted on the skyline ioo 

 miles or more in an air line. 

 A mountain meadow or, in 

 Spanish, cienega, was chosen 

 as the site on account of the 

 abundant flow of pure water 

 from several huge springs, 

 which will supply the town 

 and provide an ample mill 

 pond and water for the boil- 

 ers and engines in excess of 

 all possible demand an im- 

 portant consideration in Ari- 

 zona. A remarkable feature 

 of this timber sale is that the 

 mountain scenery of this re- 

 gion lies south of the rim, 

 while the timber to be cut lies 

 entirely north and back of the rim. The new town will tree grows older takes on the characteristic yellow of 

 have all the advantages of a tourist center, with excel- the species. This grove will slowly thin out by suppres- 

 lent trout streams lying in the valleys to the south, and sion and survival of the fittest until again we have a few 

 an unobstructed view of for- 

 ests which the ax has never 

 touched, yet one has but to 

 turn around, and he will find 

 himself in the midst of one 

 of the largest of modern mill- 

 ing enterprises, conducted on 

 the sound basis of utilizing 

 the mature and over ripe tim- 

 ber without destroying the 

 forest. 



For these forests of west- 

 ern yellow pine present a 

 vivid picture of the wasteful- 

 ness of nature. Over millions 

 of acres they now stand in- 

 terspersed with the bleaching 

 skeletons of dead trees. Trees 

 must die in the course of 

 time, that other trees may 

 take their places. These 

 pines live to be from two to 

 four hundred years old, but 

 sooner or later they fall, one 

 by one, to the ravages of in- 

 sects, the force of the winds, or the shattering stroke old veteran yellow pines awaiting their final fate, 

 of lightning. Soon a dense growth of young pine The modern regulated logging operation on this area, 

 seedlings appear under the snaky outstretched limbs instead of slashing everything right and left, using up 



AN APPARENTLY SUCCESSFUL BRAND OF ITINERANT DOMESTICITY 

 These two forest rangers, shown with their families, are in charge of one of the largest timber sales 

 on the Coconino National Forest, Arizona. Each is provided with a double standard moveable cabin, 

 which can be picked up and transported on log cars whenever the camp is moved in the course of 

 logging. 



