1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



149 



of steel for reinforcing and in bridge River to Indian Creek, and also au- 



and canopy. thorizes the Reclamation Service to 



The Secretary of the Interior has complete the work of schedule No. 5 



,. , , , , , the Upper Deer hlat embankment and 



directed that there be a new advertise- diverting works> by orce account un _ 



ment for the work of schedule No. 2, der the supervision of the engineers 



the main south side canal from Boise of the Reclamation Service. 



THE BLACK MESA FOREST RESERVE 



BY 



F. S. BREEN 



Supervisor, Black Mesa Forest Reserve 



THE Black Mesa Forest Reserve of 

 Arizona was created by execu- 

 tive proclamation August 17, 1898, 

 and contains 1,658,880 acres, or 2,786 

 square miles, covering the Mogollon 

 mountain range from a point north of 

 Camp Verde southwest to the New 

 Mexico territorial boundary. 



The main south boundary line is 

 marked mainly by what is locally 

 termed the "rim," an abrupt cliff or 

 wall of rock that leaves a sheer, preci- 

 pitous descent of from 1,000 to 1,500 

 feet for a distance of over 250 miles, 

 with but three places where it is pos- 

 sible to ascend with teams, although 

 there are two or three trails that may 

 be used with pack horses. 



The reserve includes part of Coco- 

 nino, Yavapai, Gila, Navajo, Apache 

 and Graham Counties, and is located 

 in the wildest and most broken part of 

 the territory with very few settlements 

 within its borders. The nearest rail- 

 road points are Flagstaff and Hol- 

 brook on the Santa Fe Railroad, both 

 points being from sixty to seventy 

 miles north by wagon roads. 



The north boundary line of the 

 Apache Indian reservation closes on 

 the south boundary line of the forest 

 reserve for a distance of over 200 

 miles, cutting off something in the 

 neighborhood of a million acres of the 

 best timbered area in Arizona, mainly 

 unused, where large forest fires are 

 numerous each spring, and come 



sweeping to the north onto the forest 

 reserve. 



Recent examinations by the Forest 

 Service were made for the purpose of 

 including additional timbered areas 

 both west and east of the Apache In- 

 dian reservation, in this reserve, 

 though no official action has been 

 taken up to date. 



There are eight small settlements 

 within the reserve, with population 

 ranging from twenty to one hundred 

 people, the Mormon sect predominat- 

 ing in each. These settlements were 

 made during the early history of Ari- 

 zona by pioneer bands of Mormons 

 moving down from Utah by wagon 

 trains over hundreds of miles of desert 

 land and who located on small streams 

 or at natural springs, making a pre- 

 carious livelihood by cultivating small 

 patches of alluvial soil. During 1904 

 a number of these settlements were 

 practically abandoned because of 

 drought for a succession of years. 



Along the western border of the re- 

 serve are several points of scenic in- 

 terest. The Montezuma Castle, a his- 

 toric cliff dweling built in the angle of 

 the cliffs two hundred feet from the 

 ground, of stone and adobe, which in 

 inself is four stories high containing 

 many rooms and on top a breastworks 

 with portholes commanding the upper 

 angles of the cliffs on both sides ; the 

 Montezuma Well, a natural pheno- 

 menon, covering an acre or more filled 



