ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS. 13 



range while free for the use of everybody. Hence I must respectfully urge upon 

 you the importance of impressing the Government officials with the fact that no 

 general improvement of range country can be expected until the land is placed 

 under individual control by lease or otherwise. In a few favored spots where 

 such an arrangement is now secured through local conditions good results might 

 be accomplished, but the greater part of our range country is at present a desert 

 and will steadily become less and less productive, while the present range manage- 

 ment, or rather lack of it, prevails. 



Very respectfully yours, C. H. Bayless. 



1. The San Pedro Valley and southern part of Pinal County. 



2. Fifteen years. 



3. At that time ten animals were kept in good condition where one can now 

 barely exist. However, those ten animals were then rapidly destroying the vege- 

 tation, not making proper use of it. 



5. About twelve years ago the San Pedro Valley consisted of a narrow strip of 

 subirrigated and very fertile lands. Beaver dams checked the flow of water and 

 prevented the cutting of a channel. Trappers exterminated the beavers, and less 

 grass on the hillsides permitted greater erosion, so that within four or tive years 

 a channel varying in depth from S to '20 feet was cut almost the whole length of 

 the river. Every year freshets are carrying away new portions of the bottom 

 lands. At present this valley is a sandy waste from bluff to bluff, while the few 

 fieMs remaining are protected from the river at large and continuous expense. 

 Thus, in addition to curtailing the area of good land, the deep channel has drained 

 the bottoms, leaving the native grass no chance to recover from the effects of 

 close pasturing. It also makes it more difficult to get irrigating water onto the 

 surface of the land. 



7. Of the rich grama grasses that originally covered the country so little now 

 remains that no account can be taken of them. In some parts of the foothills 

 alfilaria furnishes limited but excellent pasture during the spring and early sum- 

 mer. Where stock water is far removed some remnants of perennial grasses can 

 be found. Grasses that grow only from seed sprouted by summer rains are of 

 small and transitory value. The foliage of the mesquite and catsclaw bushes is 

 eaten by most animals, and even the various cacti are attempted by starving cat- 

 tle. However, the thorns and spines of the cacti more than offset the value of the 

 pulp. No better pasture was ever found in any country than that furnished by 

 our native grama grasses, now almost extinct. 



8. The present unproductive conditions are due entirely to overstocking. The 

 laws of nature have not changed. Under similar conditions vegetation would 

 flourish on our ranges to-day as it did fifteen years ago. We are still receiving 

 our average amount of rainfall and sunshine necessary to plant growth. Droughts 

 are not more frequent now than in the past, but mother earth has been stripped 

 of all grass covering. The very roots have been trampled out by the hungry herds 

 constantly wandering to and fro in search of enough food. The bare surface of 

 the ground affords no resistance to the rain that falls upon it and the precious 

 water rushes away in destructive volumes, bearing with it all the lighter and 

 richer particles of the soil. That the sand and rocks left behind are able to sup- 

 port even the scantiest growth of plant life is a remarkable tribute to our marvel- 

 ous climate. Vegetation does not thrive as it once did, not because of drought, 

 but because the seed is gone, the roots are gone, the soil is gone. This is all the 

 direct result of overstocking and can not be prevented on our open range where 

 the land is not subject to private control. 



9. Twelve years ago 40,000 cattle grew fat along a certain portion of the San 



