24 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



January, 



BRUSH I.ANDS OF THE DESERT IN ARIZONA. 



antelope, and also to rout or vanquish 

 the enemy. It cleared their mountain 

 trail and destroyed the cover in which 

 their quarry took refuge. 



In the North, nature was quick to 

 heal the ravages of fire, and the damage 

 to forest growth was reduced to the 

 minimum. In the dry and more arid 

 regions nature recviperated slowly, and 

 the relentless flames left everywhere an 

 indelible mark. In Chaco Canon, where 

 a deep arroyo or wash has cut to the 

 depth of thirty feet through a sedimen- 

 tary formation, distinct strata of earth, 

 impregnated with charcoal, from fifteen 

 to twenty feet from the surface, may be 

 traced over an area of man}' thousands 

 of acres. Elsewhere the alluvial and 

 silt deposits and forest trees have re- 

 corded the unmistakable evidence of 

 numerous and extensive forest fires 

 which have occurred at intervals during 

 many centuries. 



How far the occupancy of the prehis- 



tween vegetation and the 

 unfriendly elements was 

 and is now fiercest. These 

 areas form the boundary 

 between the forest and 

 the desert. Vegetation is 

 here dwarfed, but strug- 

 gling to enlarge its do- 

 main. Were it not for 

 the long Indian occu- 

 pancy and the ravages 

 of fire incident to their 

 habitanc}-, vast territories 

 now barren desert wastes 

 might be covered with a 

 forest growth, at least 

 such as is indigenous to 

 arid regions. Irrigation 

 would have reclaimed 

 mail}' hundreds of acres 

 now hopelessly barren. 



When the countr}' was 

 invaded and occupied by 

 the white settler, though 

 marked changes were inaugurated, the 

 forest conditions were not improved. 

 From a forest standpoint, a comparison 

 drawn between the condition during In- 

 dian occupancy, with no domestic ani- 

 mals, and that with the civilized race, 

 with its flocks and herds, would be de- 

 cidedly to the credit of the former. 

 Under the latter the destruction by fire 

 was reduced ; annual fires were replaced 

 by accidental fires of less f requeue}', 

 but more damaging. Wasteful methods 

 of lumbering and the introduction of 

 herds increased the sum total of forest 

 devastation. 



In Arizona you will find no young 

 forests of any considerable extent ante- 

 dating a period of forty years, and 

 almost all of the regrowth has sprung 

 up during the last quarter of a century. 

 A single exception may be noted in the 

 White Mountains, which have been oc- 

 cupied for a couple of centuries by the 

 Apache Indians. These forests show, 

 in certain localities, all classes of re- 



toric and historic tribes has retarded the 



progress of foresting it is impossible to growth, and are in marked contrast to 



say, but it must have been no small the mountain countr}^ occupied by the 



factor. These areas that is, those 

 most frequented by the cliff, caveta, and 

 pueblo builders were then and are now 

 of great importance, because in the re- 

 gion inhabited by them the battle be- 



Navajo Indians in the northeastern por- 

 tion of the territor}'. The Navajos 

 have possessed sheep and goats and fol- 

 lowed pastoral pursuits for over two 

 centuries. The forests occupied by 



