Report on the lands of the arid region of the United States, with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah

by John Wesley Powell; Willis Drummond; Clarence E. Dutton; Grove Karl Gilbert; A. H. Thompson

PASTURAGE LANDS.

The irrigable lands and timber lands constitute but a small fraction of the Arid Region. Between the lowlands on the one hand and the highlands on the other is found a great body of valley, mesa, hill, and low mountain lands. To what extent, and under what conditions can they be utilized? Usually they bear a scanty growth of grasses. These grasses are nutritious and valuable both for summer and winter pasturage. Their value depends upon peculiar climatic conditions; the grasses grow to a great extent in scattered bunches, and mature seeds in larger proportion perhaps than the grasses of the more humid regions. In general the winter aridity is so great that the grasses when touched by the frosts are not washed down by the rains and snows to decay on the moist soil, but stand firmly on the ground all winter long and “cure”, forming a quasi uncut hay. Thus the grass lands are of value both in summer and winter. In a broad way, the greater or lesser abundance of the grasses is dependent on latitude and altitude; the higher the latitude the better are the grasses, and they improve as the altitude increases. In very low altitudes and latitudes the grasses are so scant as to be of no value; here the true deserts are found. These conditions obtain in southern California, southern Nevada, southern Arizona, and southern New Mexico, where broad reaches of land are naked of vegetation, but in ascending to the higher lands the grass steadily improves. Northward the deserts soon disappear, and the grass becomes more and more luxuriant to our northern boundary. In addition to the desert lands mentioned, other large deductions must be made from the area of the pasturage lands. There are many districts in which the “country rock” is composed of incoherent sands and clays; sometimes sediments of ancient Tertiary lakes; elsewhere sediments of more ancient Cretaceous seas. In these districts perennial or intermittent streams have carved deep waterways, and the steep hills are ever washed naked by fierce but infrequent storms, as the incoherent rocks are unable to withstand the beating of the rain. These districts are known as the mauvaises terres or bad lands of the Rocky Mountain Region. In other areas the streams have carved labyrinths of deep gorges and the waters flow at great depths below the general surface. The lands between the streams are beset with towering cliffs, and the landscape is an expanse of naked rock. These are the alcove lands and cañon lands of the Rocky Mountain Region. Still other districts have been the theater of late volcanic activity, and broad sheets of naked lava are found; cinder cones are frequent, and scoria and ashes are scattered over the land. These are the lava-beds of the Rocky Mountain Region. In yet other districts, low broken mountains are found with rugged spurs and craggy crests. Grasses and chaparral grow among the rocks, but such mountains are of little value for pasturage purposes.

After making all the deductions, there yet remain vast areas of valuable pasturage land bearing nutritious but scanty grass. The lands along the creeks and rivers have been relegated to that class which has been described as irrigable, hence the lands under consideration are away from the permanent streams. No rivers sweep over them and no creeks meander among their hills.

Though living water is not abundant, the country is partially supplied by scattered springs, that often feed little brooks whose waters never join the great rivers on their way to the sea, being able to run but a short distance from their fountains, when they spread among the sands to be reëvaporated. These isolated springs and brooks will in many cases furnish the water necessary for the herds that feed on the grasses. When springs are not found wells may be sometimes dug, and where both springs and wells fail reservoirs may be constructed. Wherever grass grows water may be found or saved from the rains in sufficient quantities for all the herds that can live on the pasturage.

PASTURAGE FARMS NEED SMALL TRACTS OF IRRIGABLE LAND.

The men engaged in stock raising need small areas of irrigable lands for gardens and fields where agricultural products can be raised for their own consumption, and where a store of grain and hay may be raised for their herds when pressed by the severe storms by which the country is sometimes visited. In many places the lone springs and streams are sufficient for these purposes. Another and larger source of water for the fertilization of the gardens and fields of the pasturage farms is found in the smaller branches and upper ramifications of the larger irrigating streams. These brooks can be used to better advantage for the pasturage farms as a supply of water for stock gardens and small fields than for farms where agriculture by irrigation is the only industry. The springs and brooks of the permanent drainage can be employed in making farms attractive and profitable where large herds may be raised in many great districts throughout the Rocky Mountain Region.

The conditions under which these pasturage lands can be employed are worthy of consideration.

THE FARM UNIT FOR PASTURAGE LANDS.

The grass is so scanty that the herdsman must have a large area for the support of his stock. In general a quarter section of land alone is of no value to him; the pasturage it affords is entirely inadequate to the wants of a herd that the poorest man needs for his support.

Four square miles may be considered as the minimum amount necessary for a pasturage farm, and a still greater amount is necessary for the larger part of the lands; that is, pasturage farms, to be of any practicable value, must be of at least 2,560 acres, and in many districts they must be much larger.[1]