The mountain lions are always most numerous on the rugged slopes of
Tonto Basin, especially during winter, when sheep and game have left the
elevated forest.
From the foregoing notes it is apparent that the northwestern and middle
portions of the Black Mesa Reserve are without proper winter range for
game within its limits, and that the conditions are otherwise
unfavorable for their use as game preserves.
THE SOUTHEASTERN SECTION OF THE BLACK MESA RESERVE.
The southeastern portion of the reserve remains to be considered. The
map shows this to be a rectangular area, about thirty by fifty miles in
extent, lying between the White Mountain Indian Reservation and the
western border of New Mexico, and covering the adjacent parts of Apache
and Graham counties. It includes the eastern part of the White
Mountains, which culminate in Ord and Thomas peaks, rising respectively
to 10,266 feet and to 11,496 feet, on the White Mountain Indian
Reservation, just off the western border of the Forest Reserve. This
section of the reserve is strikingly more varied in physical conditions
than the northern portion, as will be shown by the following
description:
The northwestern part of this section, next to the peaks just mentioned,
is an elevated mountainous plateau country forming the watershed between
the extreme headwaters of the Little Colorado on the north and the Black
and San Francisco rivers, tributaries of the Gila, on the south.
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