Owing to the more abrupt
character of the northerly slope of this belt, and its greater humidity,
the forest is more varied by firs and aspens, especially along the
canyons, than is the case further north. Here and there along the upper
tributaries of the Little Colorado, small valleys open out, which are
frequently wooded and contain beautiful mountain parks.
The summit of the elevated plateau country about the headwaters of the
Little Colorado and Black rivers (which is known locally as the "Big
Mesa"), is an extended area of rolling grassy plain, entirely surrounded
by forests and varied irregularly by wooded ridges and points of
timber. This open plain extends in a long sweep from a point a few miles
south of Springerville westward for about fifteen miles along the top of
the divide to the bases of Ord and Thomas peaks. These elevated plains
are separated from those of the Little Colorado to the north by the belt
of forests already described as covering the abrupt northern wall of the
plateau. On the other sides of the "Big Mesa" an unbroken forest
extends away over the undulating mountainous country as far as the eye
can reach.
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