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Show mbout the Arizona Strip; Should Belong to Ut&h l By J-F gibbs 1 1 I mho seriously believes that bp even ono visible sec-)S sec-)S rand Canyon of the Colo-3j Colo-3j gotist or a lunatic. To (5 rilje it one would have to "2 Jal picture of Buch stu-S stu-S iitudc, of such weird and '31 is and delicate tints, n3 l f descriptive powers of an n the extreme south end 3? liine, which reaches out r?E ieninsula, somo three miles iutli end of tho Kaibab II ftooks out southerly over rt vo miles to the opposite $ ppposito "shore" arc ' owy outlines of buildings io ery brink of the ter-fi ter-fi the earth. Perchance ho taj s small cloud of smoke $ omotivo that runs to and j3 fTillianiB, on the Santa Fo 4 -Grand Canyon. By tho ! asses tho details" of Bright $d other buildings arc dis- V io- J ty one looks downward i ybs that descends almost phi his feot to the river, is fully a milo beneath lum. 4 frcnt appears to be a brook i no michfc easily leap. From 1 ''opposite side of tho (jorge 4 fabovc terrace, like Riant istops of eranite. marble, 5 ndstono, each a thousand ft hd so vanocatcd with M onus and delicate tints as ft' most skillful artist. A mtiblc hazo adds indescrib- &s to Itio gigantic sceno. f. i; the spectator again looks , hto tho heart of tho earth. 2 rrandeur of -tho abyss m-J m-J b liko tho brink of eter-5 eter-5 rich a step would plunge i imfwho, perchance, could 7 a mirror without an adr ib e'at his Apollo-liko form, ink and cont inues to shrink ' imes an animatod atom in to of the mightiest demon- taturo's forces to bo seen j arth. From Bright Angel 'south brink of tho gorgo, y ich drops down almost a P t for every mile of length, J to tho river. !ii Foley's Trail. fcrs ago, President E.t D. tanab conceived tho idea ft itrnil fTom the north brink A point nearly opposite the ' trail, and to install an' By means of which tour-i tour-i i,licr side could cross tho (the rim at the south end Fl Iatean the trail .zig-zags ILf igdown the north side of :? Bmc two miles io the head tjj Jfdl creek a largo stream aps from its marble prison $ plateau. The trail then ac iiirse of the stream which, 4 Idon. leaps and tumbles tj; d ledges, alternately roar- during in its mad descent 351 iwithin a zig-zag channel ik Tg to the point whore its lr is lost in tho murky f Colorado, ooley is an enthusiastic 5' section, and espccinll' TJSiUZ of a "cog'" or tvam-,whe-horth side "of the can- 10 river and up the south ft fight Augcl hotel. Mr. A rB that Bright Angel creek j" iessed and sufficient power S irmovo cars from brink to bat within a few years the S buld pay a handsome divi-fi divi-fi ?iiiveslmcnt. m'B Greatest Need. J( Job of this locality during W&By incrcss and egress in-fe) in-fe) 0 of remoteness from civi-al civi-al to tho visitor, is akin iJN less. But when, like the 1 isnow is piled high on the j(f) en Kanab and Marysvalc, il ;m king howls with glee 3J 5,'tjiat the mercury is shiv- fn zero and fifteen below, sed stranger registers a syer again will he visit SjKintil he can come in and ftPl. But railroads are built 'Jjfct for the convenience of jjBut it is believed that from ftrcondenscd summary of the igfcKauo county and the ajrailroad into this section .Jiod dividend on the invest- Astigjitions being recently ;Epits of the San Pedro, Los Jjialj; Lake railroad of tho 'jSihis region, and more espe-ft espe-ft timber on the Kaibab l0ij confidently expected t hat 'Mwould soon lnijt from 'olKQoprge, to the plateau, i!ov!nltl bring the line within yiMS Kanab. But tho recent 4Btine San Pedro in tho Wjfty "wash hfs no doubt post- ecado tho building of tho A . Iibranch lino, and tho only .aJp.eoplo here is on tho es-;gie es-;gie Dcnvor & Rio Grande road from Marysvalc south to tho Kaibab Kai-bab plateau. Feasible Eoute for Eailroad. Owing to tho north-south trend of tho rangesfin this intermountain region each railroad building wost from the Missouri river, must necessarily encounter encoun-ter high, and often abrupt, divides or mako long detours in order to avoid them. And between tho Missouri river and tho Pacific there is but one direct route botwecu Cannda and Mexico that oilers a lino of least resistance from competing lines, and which, by reason of the north-south trend of tho val-loys val-loys and tho low divides, affords exceptional ex-ceptional advantages in construction and operation. And that route is tho one occupied by the Oregon Short Line north from' Ogdcn, and by tho Denver & Eio Grande from Ogdcn south to Marysvalc. 'Aside from the necessity of making slight detours in order to avoid tho Pinto irrigation project (a reservoir now being constructed by the stato), about twelve miles south of Mnrysvalo, and at llalch, whoro tho stato has another reservoir, tho Denver & Rio Grande road would have ninety miles of tho easiest grades to be found west of the Missouri river. The route woitld follow fol-low the Sevier river from MaTysvalo to tho divide known as tho "rim of tho Salt Lako basin," Tho approach to tho divido is surprisingly easy, and the descent from the "nm" to Johnson is equally easy. Tho longth of the road from Marysvalo to Johnson -would bo not over 125 miles, and would bo about twelve miles southeasterly from Kanab. Ovor an easy grade, through House "Rock valley to a point about six miles below Lee's ferry, would bo loss than seventy miles southeasterly from Johnson. John-son. Tho Colorado is less than 400 feet wide and flows between solid rock -walls which furnish substantial abutments for a suspension bridge. From the Colorado Colo-rado river it would be about 120 miles over an easy grade to an intersection with the Santa Fo railroad. Thus, with tho building of about 300 miles of new road, tho Denver & Bio Grande would put all of the intermountain states and wostcru Canada in almost direct communication com-munication with Mexico and intermediate interme-diate points. Twenty miles of road south from Johnson would put the Denver & Bio Grando on the north limit ofthc Kaibab forest, and another fortj' miles through the' center of tho magnificent timber belt would place the pilot of tho locomotive loco-motive directly over the north brink of the Grand Canyon. And tho grade is ono of the easiest on earth. Need of Transportation. "Because of the lack of transportation transporta-tion facilities," said a stockraisor, tho other day, "we are compelled to market the frames of cattle, and thus permit, others to add the flesh and take tho profits." It is a conservative csti male that 50,000 head of cattle and 200,000' sheep would bo shipped from Garfield and Kane counties and from the "strip" oach year were there railroad rail-road transportation. Thero would also bo a million pounds of wool annuallv for export. And tho supply of coal, as before stated, is practically inexhaustible. inex-haustible. A railroad into south-central Utah would infuso new life into tho now almost al-most "dead ones" of this locality. It would encourage the building of the irrigating systems already indicated, and would bring under cultivation tens of thousands of acres of now untitled land in Garfiold, Kane and the "strip." A train hnuling 1,000,000 feet of lumber lum-ber each tweuty-four hours could bo kept busy for all time to como between the Kaibab forest and Salt Lake City, which would make of the latter place the great lumber market of the intermountain inter-mountain region. Nor is the Kaibab forest tho only source from which lumber can be obtained. ob-tained. From Hatch, about seventy-five miles south from Marysvalc, to tho "rim" of the basin there are large forests of yellow pine and other merchantable mer-chantable varieties on cither side of the proposed line of railroad. Ho, for tho Grand Canyon. It is estimated that 50,000 tourists visit the Grand Canyon annually via tho Santa Fc spur from Williams to Bright Angel. The scenic grandeur of the gorge, as viewed from the north sTdo, is far and away ahead of any view within milna of the Bright Angel hotel. And the Kaibab forest would become the great pla.yground of North Amorica. Tenderfoot tourists could sport with the eighty-five buffalo that range on the reserve, and they could amuso themselves with the cougars that daily omerge from below the rim-rock of the canyon. The cowboys down here would be glad to teach tho verdant easterner! how to lasso aud muzzle the cougars, of which about ninety have been thus caught within the last two years. With tho abovoindicated attractions at-tractions a railroad to the Kaibab forest for-est should annually carry at least 75,-000 75,-000 tourists from Salt Lako City and points further north and cast and west. Owing to the topographic, climatic and industrial conditions of Kane county aud that portion of Arizona lying ly-ing north of tho Colorado rivor. designated desig-nated as tho Arizona strip, and tho inter-dependency of the two sections, their interests are identical, nor can any artificial boundary lino over chango Straight Un! Looking Up Bright Angel Creok. Looking South Towards Kivcr from Bright Angel Canyon. (Caught During Thunderstorm.) Below Tramway, Looking Up Kivcr. "Zoroaster" in Distance. thoso conditions. And to that unqualified unquali-fied assertion 1 ho mighty gorge known as tho Grand Canj'on of Die Colorado will forever attest the fact that tho Arizona "strip" is a part of Utah, and will forever be tributary to her. Geographical and Social Blunder. It was an inexcusable geographical blunder to arbitrarily fix a boundary line between Utah and Arizona, when so natural and magnificent a boundary lino as the Colorado river exists less than an average of fifty miles to the south of the resent Utah-Arizona line. It was also a judicial and social blunder blun-der that gave' to Arizona any territory terri-tory on the north side of the Colorado. Kanab, tho county seat of Kane county, is about four miles north of the Utah-Arizona Utah-Arizona lino, whilo Frcdonin, using irrigation ir-rigation water from the same creek, is four miles over tho line in Arizona. Audi excepting a few scattered ranches, Fredouia's 200 inhabitants comprise the sum-total of Arizona's population on (500,000 square miles that ought to belong be-long to "Utah. In order to transact any legal business, busi-ness, civil or criminal, the residents of Fredonia must travel niore than 200 miles over an uninhabited deseri, and cross the Colorado river, in order to roach Flngslaff, tho county seat of Coconino Co-conino county. The .instico of tho peace and const ablo of Fredonia are the solo guardians of a domain qf about thirtv square miles to each inhabitant of the "strip." Any criminal whose offense is beyond tho jurisdiction of tho justice of the peace must be taken .to Flagstaff Flag-staff for trial, and necessarily tho witnesses wit-nesses must make tho same journey. Anyone roinmitting a crime, even murder, mur-der, in Utah can step across the arbitrary arbi-trary line iillo Arizona and defy tho pursuing officer to arrest, him. And it is assorted thn.t, owing to the heavj-cxponsi!, heavj-cxponsi!, the governor of Arizona declines de-clines to issue requisition papers except for murder. Tims it is that the "strip" is a convenient retreat for criminals from Utah. Kanab is a prohibition town, but thoso who so desire can obtain tho most hideous "compounds" called "favorite" "favor-ite" brands ol boozo from tho Arizona side of the boundary. And as the population pop-ulation increases, the "strip" will become be-come an ever-increasing menace to society so-ciety on each side of the boundary lino. This section is on the eve of great development, and the sooner that Utah can mako terms with Arizona, and acquire ac-quire the "strip," the better for Utah And if the people of Utah could be convinced of the importance of this matter thoy would not rest until the deal had been consummated. It is believed be-lieved that Arizona's chief objection to parting with the "strip" is sentimental sentimen-tal tho peoplo object to parting wilt even one-half of the Grand Canyon, upon which they are striving to fasten tho alias of "Grand Canyon of Arizona." Ari-zona." That objection can bo met by making the "rim-rock" on the north side of tho gorge tho boundary line, and which would leave all of the eanj-on in Arizona. ' Was Sandstone Plateau. The country lying between the "rim" of the Salt Lake basin and Iho Colorado river was originally a sandstone sand-stone plateau having an average elevation eleva-tion of about 7500 feet above sea level. Tho valleys, canyons and plains of to-dny to-dny are the result of erosion similar to that which formed Green ftiver valley. Tn the vicinity of Kanab, erosion has torn away about 2500 feet, leaving the altitude 5000 feot above sea level. To tho east, west, anil south of Kanab sandstone cliffs riso vertically to a height of several hundred foot. Tho uneven plaleau which reaches back to the north a distance of about forty miles is deep-cut with a mazo of box-canyons. box-canyons. That, feature is also characteristic charac-teristic of the eastern portion of Kane count v, and of the southern portion of the 'rst.rij)," and all of which drains into tho Colorado river. To the southeast of Kanab. distant some fifteen miles, a dark ridge rises gently from tho sandy, plain and, willi slowly-increasing altitude. reaches out southerly to the Grand Canyon. Apparently Ap-parently it is" just a low, bluish ridge with a smooth, unbroken crest, outlined against tho sky. In reality, it is tho famous Kaibab plateau, otherwise known as tho Buckskin mountain. Agricultural Resources. Of nearly 10,000 square miles in Kane count' and tho Coconino nor tion of the "strip," not moro than 1500 acres t(re Under cultivation. About H6.000 acres of pasture lauds are held in Knno county under United Statos patents, and. including Hie land undor cultivation, has an avcrago taxed valuation val-uation of about $2.25 per acre. The principal products, are fruits and al-,falfa. al-,falfa. But Kauo eouuty and the "strip," especially tho latter, have latent resources that will yet bo added to the meager agricultural assets indicated indi-cated above. w In the not distant futuro a diverting divert-ing dam will be built in tho Virgin river at a point just below tho junction junc-tion of the north and south forks of that stream. The dam will be thirty feet long at tho bottom, 250 feet high and 200 feet long at the top. The bottom and sides of the canyon are of solid rock. A tunnel ono milo long will conduct the water into a reservoir reser-voir fourtoen miles long by four and ono-hnlf miles wide, with a depth of more than 100 feet. lt(has been estimated esti-mated by competent engineers that sufficient suf-ficient water can be stored from tho north and south forks to irrigato 100,-000 100,-000 acres' of fine land tn Pipe Springs valley, and that a canal from the reservoir res-ervoir will bring the water on a choice tract of land near Fredonia. It is claimed that the locality, has the best ycar-around climate north of tho Colorado Colo-rado river. Tho Tribune is indebted to Edwin D. Wonley, president of the Kanab stake of Zion, for dala regarding regard-ing the Pipe Spring's valley project. House Hock Valley Project. An entirely feasible irrigation enterprise enter-prise is found in the House Bock valley val-ley where full' 200,000 acres of splendid splen-did fruit aud alfalfa land awaits reclamation recla-mation by the government. House Bock valley is bounded on the oast and south-cast south-cast Ivy the Colorado river; on the north by Vermillion cliffs, at the south rim of the Pahreah plateau; on the west ' by the Kaibab forest reserve, and on the south by tho "breaks", of the Colorado Col-orado river. The soil is gravel and sand intermixed with clay, aud upon which there is a heavy growth of grass, which declines to yield beforo unrestricted grazing. Tho elevation varies from 1500 to 5000 feet abovje sea level. While tho rainfall is sufficient, to maintain a heavy growth of desort vegetation, the snqwfnll is light, and hard, freezing freez-ing weather is unknown. The enterprise embraces a dam in tho Colorado river near the mouth of Pahreah Pah-reah and Glen canyons, and near the crossing at Lee's ferry. It will not re-quiro re-quiro a high dam to develop 200,000 horsepower, or sufficient, to lift enough water to irrigato the entire tract of 200,000 acres. From tho pumping station sta-tion at the northeast corner of the tract a cement-lined canal, or pipe line, -where necessary, will conduct the water westerly west-erly along tho base of Vermillion cliffs to the northwesterly limit of tho laud. A s-stcm of natural reservoirs along the route of the canal can bo used for storage, and the pumping plant can bo thus kept busy during the entire year. After the building of the dam and the installation of the machinory tho maintenance main-tenance cost would bo nominal. Tho enterprise is gigantic, but the increase of population is such that; not many years will elapse beforo the Colorado river will be compelled to do some-thing Aerial Perry over Colorado P.ivor, near mouth of Bright Angel Creek. for humanity aside from its unparalleled unparal-leled scenic attractions. It has been fully demonstrated that in all the depressions where desert vegetation is abundant, wheat and corn can be grown without irrigation. Kif-tcen Kif-tcen to twenty bushels of corn per acre have been harvested near Kanab without irrigation, and with no cultivation cultiva-tion othor than plowing in tho seed. Livestock Industry. Tho assessor's list shows only 7-i2 horses "in sight" in Kauo count-. It is, however, estimated that fully 7000 cquinos are "out of sight" on the desert des-ert ranges. According to the tax list thero arc but 5107 cattle on tho more than 3000 square- milos of rango in Kane county. Six times that number is a conservative estimate. Sheop tn the number of 55,025 have boon overtaken by tho assessor, and thero is no doubt. Mlat twice that number wero too swift for him. Of tho number of animals listed as sheep fully 12,000 are Angora goats. Tt has been proved that tho higher lands of southern Utah arc well adapted to tho r;iisiixr nf Antroras. They are more hardy than sheep, and are better hustlers hus-tlers for food, They are fond of cedar boughs. Coyotes and other varmints fight shy of goats, which reduces the fosses in that respect. Their fleeces 'command good prices, and the 'profit, when losses arc considered, is much larger than that realized in sheep-raising. "Goat" fever, while not a myth, is easily avoided by proper sanitary "conditions in tho vicinity, of the herders' herd-ers' camps. The statements herein made of the livestock industry of Kaue count' as to. number of animals and range conditions should bo applied to the "strip." Scarcity of water for range stock is tho one great drawback. But that obstacle ob-stacle is being slowly overcome by stock owners, who rango their animals outside out-side of the forest reserves, and by the government within the reserves. Man' of the springs and tanks in the rocks are not accessible to stock. Wherever feasible water is piped down to accessible acces-sible points and husbande'd in pools and troughs. And when the work of water reclamation shall havey been completed the capacity of tho range -will have been easily doubled. Coal and Copper. Of the mineral kingdom, coal and copper arc tho onlv present available representatives. Like Garfield county, Kane has practically inexhaustible fields of coal. It is conservatively estimated that 600,000 tons of copper ore, running run-ning from 2 to GO per cent, is visible in the workings of the Coconino and T'otosky holdings on the Kaibab plateau. The ore is in blanket deposits, one above the other, and is intorbodded with mineralized limestone that carries an average of 2 per cent in the yellow metal. Kaibab Porest Eeservo. John H. Clark, supervisor of tho Kaibab forest reserve, gives the following fol-lowing interesting description of that singular areal division: "The Kaibab Kai-bab plateau rises abruptly from the floor of tho plains to the cast and' wost, beginning at an elevation of 6000 feet above sea level and rising to 9000 feet at its southern descent towards to-wards the Colorado rivor. Tho gentle ascension from north to south is owing to tho fact that the strata descends from the south to the north on an inclination inclina-tion m of about 3 degrees. The south portion of the plateau descends by erosion ero-sion planes to the altitude of 8000 feet boforo dropping by terraces into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. "There arc valleys on tho platouu, but. thoy are nowhere more than a mile wide, and with the exception of two which drain into Warm Spring canyon an Snako gulch they have no general drainage direction. Their floors rise and fall, thus forming small catchment basins ba-sins with no outlets on the surface. Tho east, west and south sides of the plateau aro cut by numerous canyons and gulches which, on the west- and south, break into deep and impassable canyons at an elevation of between 5500 and 7000 foot. "From Kunab Creok canyon on the west tho country rises in terraces of sandstone to an elevation of 4000 feet, thence abruptly 1000 feet to a rolling bench at the base of the plateau proper. This section forms tho main portion of thewintcr range. "Porous sandstone forms the cap of the entiro formation within tho forest. Underneath this is a layer of limestone which collects the surfaco water, which, later on, emerges in seeps and springs in gulches and canyons. In tho breaks to the Colorado river, at such dopths as to mako them useless for anything but power purposes, aro five creeks, to-wit: to-wit: Shinumo, Tapeats, Bright Angel, Dragon and Clear crooks. Their sources aro at points in tho hard limestono and granite, somo 3000 feet below the rim-rock, rim-rock, and they issue in full volume from one to three springs each. The water issues with tremendous force, proving it to bo under great pressure. Forest Area. "Tho only available area of saw timber tim-ber is situated within the confines of the Kaibab forest proper, and is confined con-fined to elevations botwecu 0500 and 9000 feet. Tho exact acreage of timber is not known, but is approximately estimated es-timated at 650.000 acres the country is as yet unsurvcyed". Yellow pine comprises the larger percentage of the stand, with commercial species of fir a close socoud, there being very little of the unmerchantable varieties. "Bough estimates give a stand of 3,900,000,000 feet, board mensure. Yellow Yel-low pino under eighteen inches diam-oter, diam-oter, breast high, and fir under fiffoon inches is omitted from the estimate. This 'first crop' will yield 120,000,000 feel, per yoar, and the timber under fifteen and eighteen inches will make a second cut within a fow years after the larger trees are removed. Mature trees, only, being cut, the forest will continue fo repeat itself through twen-ty-fivo and thirtv-yoar periods for any length of time, narring, of courso, the ravages of fire and insects. Fire is well guarded against by an effective system sys-tem of patrol and telephone lines. "The topography of tho plateau is such that nil -points can bo easily reached by railroads. At no point will it bo necessary to nnpt a grade over 2j per cent. Logging- roads can be fM laid on the ground over much of the forest without preparing tho road- bod." |
