214 THE FOREISTS AND DESERTS OF ARIZONA 



Water is to be found in springs only at rare intervals, and 

 hence camping places must be known ; 3'et the few wells which 

 have been dug here and there, furnishing deliciously cool and 

 good water, suggest that the development of water resources 

 could be extended. 



As we become familiar with the woods and observe hoAV the 

 trees always stand in groups with open spaces between, and how 

 the young gi'owths, from the seedling to the sapling, also occur 

 onl}^ in groups and patches ; and as we lie in our tentless bed in 

 an open spot, where neither cones nqr caterpillars can drop on 

 us, and ponder over the reasons for this aspect of tree distribu- 

 tion, we come to the conclusion that water conditions or soil 

 conditions affected by drainage must account for it. Those 

 portions of the rocky and unevenly disintegrated soil which 

 permit a temporary storage of sufficient moisture at the proper 

 season will alone reproduce and permit the young growth to 

 thrive. Another interesting observation regarding these pine 

 forests is that young growth seems to appear only in irregular 

 periods, from three to ten years intervening between the groups 

 of young trees. After a fortnight's progress of the rainy season? 

 millions of little seedlings spririg up all through the wood, car- 

 rying their seed shells in characteristic manner above ground, 

 a rich promise of a dense, j^'oung aftergrowth, yet probably all 

 doomed to perish from frost, because the short season does not 

 permit the ripening of their wood. The reproduction, to be per- 

 manent, must take place in the spring, induced by a wet winter 

 and spring season, which occurs only at considerable intervals- 



The farther south we progress on our journey the denser, state- 

 lier, and more valuable grows the pine forest, undisturbed as 

 yet b}'- the hand of man. Presently we emerge from its shady 

 recesses, and as we pass the last pines a candelabrum of flaming 

 red and yellow lights — a century plant in bloom, messenger of 

 warmer climes, that has found its way up along a canon from 

 the lower levels — tells us that soon we shall be in the region qf 

 cactus, yucca, and catsclaw. 



If we had time we would visit those picturesque red rocks 

 which loom up in the west, forming the canons of Oak creek, the 

 perennial daughter of San Francisco mountains, the clearest 

 mountain stream in this entire region, in its upper part famed 

 for beautiful trout pools. In its middle part, hardly known 

 to even the nearest neighbors and not at all to the outside world, 

 it affords the most romantic and most picturesque rock country 



