1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



943 



covered witli snow in little patches — at 

 least, almost any of us in the North would 

 say so. It is alkali ; and the water here 

 from wells or springs is mostly unfit to 

 drink. The water from the Rio Grande is a 

 little alkaline, but is mostly used. 



Saturday morning, 17th. — I didn't see the 

 sun rise, for it is cloudy, and it rained in 

 the night, and I enjoyed seeing a rain upon 

 the desert. The lirst object that met my 

 wondering eyes, when it was light enough to 

 see, was cacti, as large around and as tall as 

 telegraph-poles. You occasionally see them 

 in greenhouses ; but the sight of them grow- 

 ing right out of the white sand, so tall and 

 majestic, is inspiring. A little more glimpse 

 of daylight revealed also the wonderful ir- 

 rigating canals, constructed by a former 

 race of inhabitants of Arizona. 1 extract 

 the following from the railroad book, " From 

 the Crescent City to the Golden Gate : '' 



It is an ancient field of religious and agricultural 

 and probably mining operations, and presents re- 

 mains of vast irrigating canals, and places of ref- 

 uge for multitudes of people. Here and there 

 throughout the Territory are ruins of what must 

 have once been pretentious dwellings, storehouses, 

 and fortifications. There are ample evidences that 

 what may now seem like sweeps of arid and unpre- 

 possessing country to you, and which we shall pass 

 over this afternoon, especially after leaving Tuc- 

 son, was once beautified by lands which gave 

 nourishment to hundreds of thousands of people. 

 Whether this once prosperous and inviting domain 

 and its inhabitants were swept like a flash from ex- 

 istence by tlood or flame can never be known ; 

 whether they were rained upon by volcanoes, or 

 swallowed by earthquakes, is nowhere engraven on 

 stone or written on paper. But that they were 

 here, and cultivated extensive areas of arable 

 lands, is portrayed in the vast ruins of mansions and 

 canals which exist upon the banks of the Gila and 

 Salt Rivers, several of which I have visited upon 

 many occasions. The remains of Casa Grande, 

 which are a few hours' ride from the station of that 

 name, I once visited while on duty in the Territo. 

 ry; and I saw other ruins which occupied more 

 area— tremendous canals, and acres of pottery and 

 granite implements of agricultural, mechanical, 

 and culinary use. 



We are out on the desert, and the engine 

 is out of water. The passengers are scat- 

 tered out among the queer vegetation. A 

 mountain that 1 guessed was a mile away I 

 was told was fifteen miles. It is in conse- 

 <iuence of the atmosphere of this elevated 

 region ; and now we see the sunlight, 

 through the clouds, on the western summit. 

 The plains here are covered with beautiful 

 gravel, and the "garden stuff" is spaced by 

 Dame Nature, say from 5 to 10 feet apart, 

 with occasionally a clear space of gravel, 

 say a rod square. Among the shrubbery 

 are beatitiful globe cacti in full bloom. If 

 some of our State fairs or expositions could 

 get a quarter of an acre of wild Arizona 

 garden on their grounds it would eclipse 

 allthQ floral halls. Nature also keeps her 

 thousand-acre gardens in beautiful order. 

 No experienced Old-countryman ever weed- 

 ed and raked down smoother beds than we 

 have them here. There are no weeds ; all 

 are thrifty, beautiful plants. 



Just here comes another turn of the ka- 

 leidoscope, in the shape of queer black rocks, 

 say a wheelbarrowful in a place. They are 

 about the size of eggs, some larger,' and 

 are scattered over, say, a rod of the white 

 sand. These stones look like pieces of the 

 black mountains away in the distance. 

 Can they be lava from volcanoes of some 

 former day V Now the stones come in cart- 

 loads, and pretty soon they cover an acre. 

 The conviction forces itself, that they were 

 once like these great black hills, and that 

 the mountains are all breaking in pieces 

 slowly, and being washed out over the plain. 

 Now the black pieces are more finely broken 

 up and leveled down, until only a sllglit 

 elevation shows where the great rock or 

 mountain stood originally. Now. this black 

 gravel, or lava dust, won't grow even cacti, 

 so we have what seems to be vast fields of 

 dark rich land, beautifully rolled, however, 

 and fined up for a crop, but no croj) has 

 ever yet been on it. In many places this 

 black sand is so thinly scattered over the 

 white deaerl sand that a wagon-track or 

 even footprints cut through it so every trail 

 is plainly visible, and will be until the rain 

 and wind smooth it all over again. As if to 

 verify my theory of this land, nature now 

 and then gives an illustration on a small 

 scale. Little gorges form small table lands 

 and grotesque little mountains, none higher 

 than one's head. Truly there are ' books 

 in nmning brooks, sermon.'i in stones, and God 

 in every thing." 



To verify the statements in regard to dis- 

 tances, I looked ahead at a mountain that I 

 should call a mile away, but it took 40 min- 

 utes of pretty fast running to reach it. 

 Judging from this, I feel sure that many 

 peaks in the distance are fully 100 miles 

 away. Just out of Mohawk Summit the 

 beautifully laid-out lines of irrigating canals 

 make one almost feel as if he were near 

 a city. Alas! it is a city— of the dead past. 

 Clouds resting against the summit of a 

 mountain are now m view. The mountain- 

 tops are higher than the clouds. Hello ! 

 just now the clouds are at fault. Instead of 

 doing as orthodox clouds should, some beau- 

 tifully fleecy clouds, a whole bunch of them, 

 came right down and stood a little above the 

 tree-tops and there loafed, doing nothing at 

 all so long as we were in sight. My friend, 

 the porter, says tbey sometimes " make a 

 heap of trouble by bursting and letting all 

 then' water out so as to wash away the 

 track." lie says he doesn't like to see them 

 come down ancl " stand aroimd " that way. 



"Mighty nice, this outdoor air is," said 

 the gentlemanly and courteous porter. " If 

 they were all like you, I would air up a good 

 deal more. Almost all of them want to be 

 shut up tight at night.'' You see, he has 

 enough colored blood to like outdoor air. 

 Om- porters here are nice 6oy.s, and. with 

 education, it seems to me they" might grace 

 a profession. 



On the great Colorado desert we have 

 more sand and less vegetation. The latest 

 wonder is mounds of creamy-white sand, all 

 covered with wavy ripples, that bring forth 

 exclamations of surprise at their beauty. 

 Even if it is the great desert, there are traces 



