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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



of well-to-do travelers now desert the 

 comfortable Pullmans to motor along the 

 borderland trails, following the old stage 

 route past historic Tombstone and San 

 Xavier. Most motor tourists, however, 

 use the Santa Fe trail via the Petrified 

 Forest, Flagstaff, and Needles. These 

 motor trails are fairly well maintained 

 and are amply marked with sign-boards 

 as to direction, distances, and the prox- 

 imity of water and gasoline. 



BEEF IS EVERYWHERE 



No feature of the trip along this border 

 from El Paso to Nogales is more amaz- 

 ing than the vast numbers of meat-bear- 

 ing animals to be observed. 



Besides introducing the horse, the 

 provident Spaniard also brought cattle, 

 sheep, and goats ; and it is probably to 

 Juan de Onate, who reached the South- 

 west about 1598, that we owe our present 

 wealth of mutton and beef. 



As the country was settled, cattle- 

 raising grew as an industry, and. there 

 being no fences, the herder or cowboy 

 was developed. From these Mexican or 

 Spanish vaqueros we learned the use of 

 the "rope." or lariat — corrupted from La 

 Riata. From them. too. we learned to 

 "cut" an animal from a herd, and to 

 brand for identification. 



However, due to Indian raids, it was 

 years after Americans entered this region 

 before the cattle industry was safe enough 

 to be profitable. 



After Kit Carson rounded up the 

 Navajos at Bosque Redondo. and after 

 Crook gave the Apaches a final walloping 

 at Hell's Hip Pocket (near Fish Creek 

 Hill, on the modern Apache motor road 

 past Roosevelt Dam), the cowman's trade 

 was easier. Then the rise of the cattle 

 baron began. Might was law. and the 

 sheepman and farmer were out of luck. 



Of course, law ami order long ago in- 

 tervened, and the cow and sheep men no 

 longer "draw" on sight and start shoot- 

 ing. But the cowpuncher still has his own 

 opinion of any man who keeps a sheep ! 



Feuds between rival cow camps are 

 no more ; it is no longer good form to 

 brand the other fellow's calves, even if 

 you can "get away with it." Border cat- 

 tlemen now have associations organized 

 to secure better freight rates, protective 

 laws, and cooperation in marketing cat- 



lmmigrants 



gone 



tie. Many cowmen run herds on both 

 sides of the line. 



But you can still tell a Texas cowman 

 from his brother in Arizona. The Texas 

 hat, saddle, cinch, bit — even the Texas 

 talk and mental attitude — are quite dif- 

 ferent from the Arizona article. 



At Yuma, where the Southern Pacific 

 now bridges the Colorado, thousands of 

 were ferried over in days 

 by, and Yuma Indians once slew 

 the ferryman and many other whites. 



South of Yuma, for a short distance, 

 the Colorado River forms the boundary 

 between the United States and Mexico, 

 the line here running almost north and 

 south. Below the railroad bridge it quits 

 the river, and strikes due west across the 

 Imperial Valley Canal (running into 

 Mexico here), and thence into the sand 

 hills and on to the Imperial Valley. 



No other part of the United States is 

 so hot as this. Often the thermometer 

 stands at more than a hundred at mid- 

 night ; day shade temperatures of 125 

 Fahrenheit are common. Sahara-like 

 sand-storms blow, so that even stretches 

 of the plank auto road west of Yuma are 

 soon lost in the dunes, and have to be 

 excavated when the storm has passed. 



CATTLE SUFFOCATED BY SAXD 



A tale is told of one poor Arizona cow- 

 man who was driving his small herd to 

 the California market. He had just com- 

 pleted the journey across the desert when 

 night overtook his outfit. With it came 

 a sand-storm. The cattle, lying down 

 thirsty and jaded, were actually covered 

 with the drifting sand, being too tired to 

 stir and keep above it. 



When dawn came the desert about was 

 covered with mounds and dusty shapes, 

 with here and there a pair of horns pro- 

 truding. The cattle had suffocated. 



Curiously enough, too, steamboats once 

 ran from San Francisco to Arizona ! 

 During a period following our Civil War. 

 steamers plied the California coast, came 

 around the peninsula of Lower California 

 into the Gulf, and thence up the Colorado 

 River to Yuma. For many years the 

 main bulk of supplies for the Arizona 

 miners came in this way. 



Above Yuma the government's great 

 Laguna Dam proiect is built, and all 

 about the city fertile farms are developed. 



