The San Francisco Peaks in April. 109 



town, I followed a country road for a couple of hours 

 through sections of Government land timbered with the 

 Coconino pine, and alternate railroad sections that had 

 been sold and all lumbered off. On the remaining tim- 

 bered sections the snow still lay deeply heaped, and 

 demonstrated the influence of forest preservation in the 

 prolonging of the water supply for the agricultural ter- 

 ritory lower down. However, the once-cleared sections 

 had been mostly abandoned after the timber was removed, 

 and since the declaration of the forest reservation had 

 been free from destructive sheep-grazing. Here a vig- 

 orous growth of young pines promised well for the 

 future. 



Twelve miles out I overtook a large herd of cattle 

 being driven by four Mormon cowboys. After a talk 

 with them, and as I followed along, they, on learning 

 my errand, invited me to join them at camp that night, 

 which I did. It was easy to see that they thought it 

 strange that any one should start out alone to climb a 

 mountain, and they were somewhat suspicious lest I 

 were a timber inspector or secret-service man looking up 

 timber depredations or investigating illicit grazing on 

 the reservation, but when reassured they were very cor- 

 dial and hospitable. 



At dusk we made camp near a little stream on the 

 western flank of the mountain hard by the crude log- 

 cabin at the ranch I was seeking, where the brother and 

 sister of one of them were domiciled, waiting for their 

 ranch to dry up for spring plowing. Before retiring I 

 went up to this cabin and met the young woman and her 

 brother. She insisted on my sharing their supper of 

 bacon and eggs, bread, and coffee. She took pleasure in 



