CHAPTER XIX 
RATTLERS 
Tux month that followed our invasion of the Animas 
is one which I have been trying ever since to for- 
get. Everything disagreeable that could be imag- 
ined seemed to occur during this period; there were 
no redeeming features to the experience. It was a 
nightmare and no mistake. To begin with, the coun- 
try we covered was consistently disheartening to 
eruise. It was as bad, if not worse, than the sample 
of the first day. The east slope seemed all of a 
piece. Ragged, stony, cactus covered ridges, cliffs 
interminable, a wretched, sun-baked, desolate stretch. 
There was good timber in the canyons, and cord- 
wood upon the ridges, but the chief reason why Fra- 
zer covered this township at all was to get the coun- 
try mapped so that the Supervisor could use our data 
in the administration of that district. For the 
watershed is an important one and the cattle and 
sheep grazing privileges thereon, as well as the dis- 
posal of the timber, is handled by the Forest Serv- 
ice. 
The heat continued and made what might other- 
wise have been considered merely a case of neces- 
sary extra exertion a veritable time of torment. 
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