36 



Sierra Club Bulletin. 



that it would not pay him to " fool " with the wood ? 

 What now, since strings of greasy tanks with blackish 

 oil are winding their way like monstrous snakes over the 

 railways to the furnaces of hoist and reduction-works? 

 What is the rancher going to do for a living? He can- 

 not afford to feed hay to any stock except his working 

 horses. Even if he gets from fifteen to twenty dollars a 

 ton for what he succeeds in marketing, there is very little 

 profit to be made. It takes one hundred and thirty 

 pounds of wheat or one hundred and eighty pounds of 

 barley to sow one acre on fields that are only patches, 

 where stumps and rocks have to be avoided when plow- 

 ing. The only branch of ranching which can be depended 

 upon for a cash income is the raising of cattle, and that 

 pays only as long as large holdings can be acquired under 

 loose land laws. It takes from seven to fifteen acres of 

 such mountainous country to support one head of stock, 

 and a summer range in high altitudes is needed in addi- 

 tion. It, therefore, is plain that additional clearing has 

 to be resorted to to prevent the accumulation of pine 

 needles and thickets of manzanita. How shall we accom- 

 pHsh this at a small cost? 



A tremendous cloud rises against yonder hills. Now 

 black, now red, now white. It is only a few minutes 

 since we noticed it. But hear the roar and sish, the crackle 

 and swish! Now in fury drives the tempest over a 

 stretch of low shrubbery, now it rears in grewsome glory 

 over the thick verdure of these promising young pines, 

 now it spreads over the massive bower of a live-oak with 

 a voracity as if oil and grease Had been hurled in the 

 path of the devouring monster. 



When did this wind arise? What causes this terrific 



