ific Railroad, to the military post at Camp
Apache, on the White Mountain Indian Reservation, passes through this
strip by way of Show Low. The old trails through Sunset Pass to Camp
Verde and across "The Rim" into Tonto Basin traverse the northern part
of the reserve, and are used by stockmen and others at short intervals,
except in midwinter.

The climate of this section of the reserve is rather arid in summer, the
rainfall being much more uncertain than in the more elevated areas about
the San Francisco Mountains to the northwest and the White Mountains to
the southeast. The summers are usually hot and dry, the temperature
being modified, however, by the altitude. Rains sometimes occur during
July and August, but are more common in the autumn, when they are often
followed by abundant snowfall. During some seasons snow falls to a depth
of three or more feet on a level in the yellow pine forests, and remains
until spring. During other seasons, however, the snowfall is
insignificant, and much of the ground remains bare during the winter,
especially on southern exposures. As a matter of course, the lower slope
of the pinon belt and the grassy plains of the Little Colorado, both of
which lie outside of the reserve, have less and less snow, according to
the altitude, and it never remains for any very considerable time. On
the southern exposure, facing Tonto Basin, the snow is still less
permanent. The winter in the yellow pine belt extends from November to
April.

LARGE GAME IN THE NORTHERN PART OF THE BLACK MESA RESERVE.

Black-tailed deer, antelope, black and silver tipped bears and mountain
lions are the larger game animals which frequent the yellow pine forests
in summer. Wild turkeys are also common.

The black-tailed deer are still common and generally distributed. In
winter the heavy snow drives them to a lower range in the pinon belt
toward the Little Colorado and also down the slope of Tonto Basin, both
of these areas lying outside the reserve. The Arizona white-tailed deer
is resident throughout the year in comparatively small numbers on the
brushy slopes of Tonto Basin, and sometimes strays up in summer into the
border of the pine forest. Antelope were once plentiful on the plains
of the Little Colorado, and in summer ranged through the open yellow
pine forest now included in the reserve. They still occur, in very
limited numbers, in this forest during the summer, and at the first
snowfall descend to t