TllK SCIENTIST. 
41 
T liHM' .sai<! this is ;i coinili-} (;f slinrp 
contrasts. -Wt^ ui:ty t i-avel for (l:i\s 
arxl conclude the c Mintrv is an irre- 
cUiimable di sm-l. Durini:.- ilie whole 
liiir^ wo ma y see noiliitig ,i.r( (^ii. Five 
A ears later we max travel t he same 
route. Oceasionary vve will pasf an 
'•inipi-ovenieDt" wliere some ranch- 
nian has settled and lias lead out a 
stream of life- givino: water to his 
grounds. Wluit a change! A small 
piece of desert has bven converted 
into a paradise. Nothing of which we 
could have an earthly conception could 
be more beantiful than &uch a spot in 
tlie hands of a man of industry and 
correct taste. Fig, lemon, orange,, 
olive, date, ])alm and other kinds of 
semi-tropieal trees abound in verdant 
splendor. Grapes and othsr deli- 
cious small fruits are abundant on 
every hand. Stretches of alfalfa, al- 
farc a and other forage plants delight 
the eye, While beautiful flowers ap- 
])cal to the estlietical nature. But 
siep one rod outside of the irrigated 
limit and all is changed. The yellow 
;\n(l brown of the deser'., in their end- 
less monotony, reign supreme. What 
sharp contrasts does nature pres9ut. 
When orie behold the capabiiitias of 
this desert soil, he cannot but regret 
that water is so scarce. 
M.iSt of the mountains are so low 
that they do not condense much uDois- 
ture. There are no springs, no run- 
ning brooks, no shady pools and no 
water, in any form, in the low moun- 
tains, consequently, but little vegeta- 
tion exists. Outside of the upper 
portions of the American valley, be- 
tween the. Black and Mogollon moun- 
tains, the upper portions of the 
Hasyampa, Verdi and Gila rivers in 
Arizona and the valleys of the Magda- 
len a and Naz;ireno mount :ii!is in 
Sonora, there is practically no:ie of 
tlie southwest adapted to gr;;zir!g.' T'he 
grazing lands probably c^ristilute 
about ten jjer c jnt, of the eniii'e area. 
No grass of any consequence, grows 
in the two principal valleys of Arizona. 
These are the Colorado and the (iila. 
Below 'I'ucson, but little grass grows 
in the Gila vaUe}^ 1 never saw any 
place in the entire Colorado valley 
where grass was sultieiently abundant 
for live stock to thrive on it. Betvveen 
Castle Dome mourtain and Laguna, a 
distance of some twenty miles, I saw a 
few hundred head of cattle in January 
1889. The Colorado valley on the Cal- 
ifornia side, between these points, 
widens out to from three to six miles, 
yet throughout all this expanse of val- 
ley, it would take several hundred 
acres to graze one cow. While ex- 
ploring this- valley, our party was 
compelled to carry feed, barley, for 
our seven head of horses and mules. 
We were there in the hight of the oraz- 
iug season at that! 
Possibly artesian w^ells may help to 
reclaim this country. The hundreds 
of these wells that have been sunk in 
southern California have done much 
to irrigate and reclaim that countr3^ 
The Martin well in the middle of the 
Journado del Muerto— Jo.urney of 
Death — in New Mexico, is a fine ex- 
ample of what can be done with artes- 
ian water. Around this well is a 
beautiful oasis. Here the scene of the 
climax to the most beautiful frontier 
story I ever read Is laid. The title of 
the story'is the same as the name of 
the desert, "Journado del Muerto 
The story was written by Capt. J. W, 
Steele, now of Topeka, 
It is true that some of the valleys of 
