[1]THIS BOOKLET DESCRIBES MAMMALS OF THE SOUTHWEST WHICH LIVE IN THE LIFE ZONES ABOVE THE LOW DESERT. SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MOUNTAINS FOR PLANTS OF THESE ZONES. [2]SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST MESAS FOR PLANTS OF THIS ZONE. [3]SEE MAMMALS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS FOR MAMMALS OF THESE ZONES. SEE FLOWERS OF THE SOUTHWEST DESERTS FOR PLANTS OF THIS ZONE.
INTRODUCTION
Geographic Limitations
The only point in the United States at which four states adjoin is where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico come together. With adjacent portions of California, Nevada, and Texas, they contain all of our Southwestern Desert. Arizona and New Mexico especially, are known as desert States and for the most part deserve that appellation. Scattered over this desert country as though carelessly strewn by some giant hand are some of the highest and most beautiful mountains in our Nation. They may occur as isolated peaks magnificent in their loneliness, or as short ranges that continue but a little way before sinking to the level of the desert. On the other hand it is in Colorado that the Rocky Mountains reach their greatest height before merging with the high country in New Mexico, and all of the States mentioned have at least one range of major size.
Two great highways cross this area from East to West. U.S. 66, “Mainstreet of America,” goes by way of Albuquerque and Flagstaff to Los Angeles; farther north U.S. 50 winds through the mountains from Pueblo to Salt Lake City and terminates at San Francisco. Significantly, they meet at St. Louis on their eastward course, and here for the moment we digress from geography to history.
Westward Ho
St. Louis in 1800 was a brawling frontier town. Strategically located at the point where the Missouri River meets the Mississippi, it was the jumping off place for those hardy souls adventurous enough to forsake the comforts of civilization for the unknown perils of the West. Already St. Louis was one of the fur centers of the world. Fashions of the day decreed that top hats be worn by men. The finest hats were made of beaver fur and no self-respecting dandy could be content with less. Trapping parties ascended the Missouri River as far as the mountains of Montana in search of pelts with which to supply the demand. When the animals became scarce in more accessible areas, trappers turned their attention to the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado. Hardships of the overland route, coupled with danger of attack by hostile Indians, discouraged all but the most hardy of a rugged breed. These “Mountain Men” as they became known, traveled in small parties with all the stealth and cunning of the Indians themselves. Gaunt from weeks of travel across the plains, they could rest in the Spanish settlement of Santa Fe for a few days before vanishing into the mountains. On the return trip they might again visit the Spanish pueblo or, eager for the night life of St. Louis, strike directly eastward across the prairies. Today’s highways, while not following their trails directly, certainly parallel them to a great degree.
Little is known today of these early adventurers. A few written accounts have been printed, meager records of their catches have been noted, and here and there crude initials and dates carved on isolated canyon walls attest their passing. Their conquest of the West has faded into oblivion but it must be regarded as the opening wedge of American progress into the Southwest.
Mountains as Wildlife Reservoirs
Today’s traveler spans in hours distances across these same routes that took weary weeks of heartbreaking toil a century ago. As he rides in cushioned ease he seldom pauses to reflect on the changes that have taken place since those early days. The great herds of bison with their attendant packs of wolves have vanished and in their place white-faced cattle graze on the level prairies. In the foothills the pronghorns have taken their last stand. Cities have sprung up on the camping sites of nomadic tribes that roamed the whole area between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Only the mountains seem the same.