Page 20 - Wood Plenty, Grass Good, Water None

Figure 6. 1871 .Grassland east of present Truxton, Arizona. Photograph by Timothy O'Sullivan. This photograph was taken near the route traversed by Sitgreaves in 1851.
Figure 7. 1995 repeat of Figure 6. Little change is apparent in grassland structure 124 years later. Photograph by Raymond M. Turner.
Whippleexploredanddescribedamuchlargerportion oftheVerdeRiverwatershedthanhemighthavehadhe found a river running straight to the Colorado.
On December 30, 1853 Whipple, along with Bigelow, Campbell, White, Leroux, and Tidball trav eled through ponderosa pine forests and camped that nightinGovernmentPrairie,probablynearthebaseof Klostermeyer Hill.
ForDecember31,Whipple'sentryis:
"We continued our march through the long prairie that we crossed yesterday. It is sur rounded by pine forests, and nearly enclosed by volcanic hills. The snow being from three to eight inches in depth, and covered with a hard crust, our mules, for several hours, made slow progress. Afterwards we entered a forest of pines and dwarf oaks, with large cedar trees bearing sweet berries.The snow becoming soft and less deep, we progressed more rapidly, and at 2 1/2 P. M. bivouaced upon a hillside,
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USDAForestServiceRMRS-GTR-177.
2006.