Forest Reserves as Game Preserves 



Mountain lions also wander over all parts of the 

 reserve, but are common only in the rough country 

 along the Blue. Wildcats are rather common and 

 widely distributed, but are far more numerous on 

 the Black and the Blue rivers. Timber wolves were 

 once rather common, but are now nearly extinct, 

 owing to their persecution by owners of sheep and 

 cattle. Coyotes occur in this district occasionally in 

 summer. Wild turkeys are found more or less gen- 

 erally throughout this section of the reserve, retreat- 

 ing in winter to the warmer country along the breaks 

 of the Blue and the canon of Black River, where they 

 sometimes gather in very large flocks. 



NOTES ON SETTLEMENTS, ROADS AND OTHER MATTERS. 



The greater part of this section of the Black Mesa 

 Reserve is unsettled, but the northeastern corner, 

 along Nutrioso Creek and the head of San Francisco 

 River, is traversed by a wagon road leading to 

 Springerville. Within the limits of the reservation 

 on this road are two small farming villages of 

 Nutrioso and Alpine. The owners of the small 

 farms along the valleys of these streams also raise a 

 limited number of cattle and horses on the surround- 

 ing hills. A few claims are also held at scattered 

 points along the extreme northern edge of the reserve 

 between Springerville and Nutrioso. Between 1883 

 and 1895 several herds of cattle were grazed on the 

 head of Black River, and ranged in winter down on 

 the breaks of the Blue and the canons of Black 

 River ; but I understand that these ranges have since 

 been abandoned by the cattle men. For some years 



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