Description of the Ray Quadrangle

DESCRIPTION OF THE RAY QUADRANGLE. By F. Li. Kansome. INTRODUCTION. This branch leaves the main line at Tempe, 8 miles southeast some protection can be had from the direct rays of the sun, of Phoenix, runs southeastward to Florence across the plain SITUATION AND ACCESS. and in winter the clear skies and cool nights are thoroughly that here separates Salt and Gila rivers, and then follows the delightful, although a change in temperature of 30° or 40° The Ray quadrangle (see Figs. 1 and 2) is in southeast- Gila up to Ray Junction, the station near Kelvin, in the west may take place between midnight and noon. central Arizona, in the belt of generally linear ranges and ern part of the quadrangle. The distance from Tempe to Ray The vegetation is that which is generally found in a climate valleys that, except for a stretch of about 75 miles in the Junction is 72.8 miles. From Ray Junction the railroad con like that just described throughout this part of the arid South northwestern part of the State, separates the Plateau Province tinues up the Gila for 22 miles to its present terminus near west. The higher, forested part of the Pinal Range lies almost (Colorado Plateaus) on the northeast from the Plains Region Christmas. Ultimately this road will probably be continued entirely in the Globe quadrangle, and the area here described (Sonoran Desert) on the southwest and that from its present eastward to connect at San Carlos with the Bowie-Globe- is generally treeless. A few pines grow, however, on the steep Miami branch of the Arizona Eastern Railroad. From Ray north slope of El Capitan, in the Mescal Range, and sycamores, Junction the railroad of the Ray Consolidated Copper Co. cotton woods, and walnuts grow along the larger streamways provides communication with the' mines near Ray, about 7 and about some of the springs. Scrubby, bushlike oaks, the miles north of the Gila. alligator juniper (Juniperus pachyphloea Torrey) and pos The quadrangle may also be entered from the north by sibly the western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis monosperma stage from Globe over the Pinal Range by way of Pioneer, a Engelmann), the sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri S. Watson), the distance of about 35 miles, or, less conveniently, by stage from datil (Yucca baccata Torrey) and probably other yuccas, the Tucson by way of Mammoth and down San Pedro River to its century plant or maguey (probably Agave parryi Engelmann), confluence with the Gila near Winkelman, just south of the a leafless broomlike shrub (Canotia holacantha Torrey), and quadrangle. The distance from Tucson to Winkelman by this the deer nut (Simondsia califarnica Nuttall) are among the route is about 71 miles. common larger plants on the higher hills. On lower slopes and on the gravelly mesas of Gila conglomerate are found the SETTLEMENT AND INDUSTRIES. green-barked palo verde (Parkinsonia microphytta), the ocotillo The principal industries in the Ray quadrangle are the (Fouquieria splendens Engelmann), a notable plant at any time mining, milling, and smelting of copper ore, particularly that and when decked with its scarlet blossoms well deserving its from the mines in the vicinity of Ray. This town and the specific designation, the imposing giant cactus or sahuaro adjacent settlements, including the large Mexican village of (Carnegiea gigantea), suggestive of huge candelabra, the barrel Sonora, probably contain about 7,200 people. Hayden, a cactus or bisnaga (Echinocactus wislizeni Engelmann), the town built up near the concentrating mill of the Ray Con prickly pear (Opuntia, several species), the formidable cholla solidated Copper Co. and the smelter of the American Smelting (Opuntia mammillata), amid whose keen, glistening, thickset & Refining Co., had a population of 2,508 in 1920. Winkel spines the little cactus wren nests in security, the cane cactus man, a smaller and older settlement a few miles south of Hayden ( Opuntia arborescens Engelmann), and many smaller members on the Gila, opposite the mouth of the San Pedro, is in the of the cactus family. Winkelman quadrangle, which adjoins the Ray quadrangle on Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa Torrey), the catclaw 3 (Acacia the south. Christmas, a still smaller place, is in the quad greggii A. Gray), which makes amends for the sharpness of its rangle of that name, about half a mile east of the Ray curved spines by the delicious perfume of its small yellow quadrangle, nearly in the latitude of Tornado Peak. Kelvin, blossoms, and the palma (Yucca macrocarpa (Torrey) Engel founded by the Ray Copper Mines (Ltd.), an English com mann) are common along some of the dry bottom lands, as in pany, at the confluence of Mineral Creek and the Gila, was a Dripping Spring Valley. FIGURE 1. Index map of southeastern Arizona. place of some importance in 1900, but after the failure of the Although the vegetation is of the desert type it has a distinc The location of the area described in the Ray folio (No. 217) is shown by the darker ruling. Published folios describing other quadrangles, indicated by lighter ruling, are 111, Globe; company the population dwindled, and in 1920 it was only tive beauty that is no less real because it is totally different from 112, Bisbee; 126, Bradshaw Mountains; 129, Clifton. 300. As a consequence of the construction of the concentrat that of the more humid regions in which most of us live. diversified relief has been called the Mountain Region (Mexi ing mill of the Ray Hercules Copper Co. near Kelvin, that Grasses spring up after the rains, and in the spring nearly all can Highland). 1 The Mountain Region and the Plains place may regain some of its former prosperity, although a the cactuses bear flowers of clear and brilliant color. Many of Region are here regarded as divisions of the Basin and Range new settlement, known as Belgravia, appears to have been the shrubs also are flowering and when in bloom brighten the Province, which extends from Arizona into Nevada, California, established still nearer to the mill. landscape with their massed color and exhale their delicate and Mexico. The quadrangle lies between meridians 110° 45' Outside of the settlements mentioned, the quadrangle is perfumes into the desert air. inhabited only by a few prospectors and ranchmen. Much of it is a lonely wilderness, whose only obvious usefulness to man SURFACE FORMS AND DRAINAGE. is to supply scanty grass at certain seasons to wide-roaming cattle. There is some arable land along the Gila and a few The most prominent features of the surface of the Ray quad small patches along Mineral Creek. A large part of the best rangle are three mountain ranges that trend generally south land near the river, however, has been turned into dumping eastward and two intervening broad, gravel-filled valleys. ground for the tailings from the Hayden concentrator. These features, enumerated from northeast to southwest, are (1) the Mescal Range; (2) the Dripping Spring (or Disap CLIMATE AND VEGETATION. pointment) Valley; (3) the Dripping Spring Range; (4) the The climate of the Ray quadrangle closely resembles that of valley of the Gila, and (5) the Tortilla Range. The valleys the adjoining Globe quadrangle, to the north, but as the region are similar in their topography and in the general character of here described is generally lower than that adjacent to Globe their filling, which consists of the Gila conglomerate. Though the mean annual temperature is higher. The town of Ray, all these mountain ranges are carved from materials that are in hemmed in by hills, is decidedly hotter in summer than Globe large part identical, each displays distinctive features of struc or Miami. ture and topography. So far as known, no continuous weather records have been The elevation of the quadrangle ranges from 1,750 feet in kept within the Ray quadrangle, but the conditions at the the gorge of the Gila west of Ray Junction to 6,564 feet on Weather Bureau station 8 miles south of Dudleyville, on the the summit of El Capitan, in the Mescal Range. The bottom San Pedro, are, fairly representative of those at Hayden, lands along the Gila attain an elevation of 1,900 feet above sea Kelvin, and Ray. According to records, 2 between 1891 and level in the southeast corner of the quadrangle, and those in 1903 the annual mean temperature at Dudleyville is 65°, the Dripping Spring Valley reach about 3,000 feet between Troy absolute maximum 114°, and the absolute minimum 14°. and Walnut Spring. The mountain ranges rise in general June is usually the hottest month. The annual mean precipi from 1,500 to 4,200 feet above the bottoms of the main tation is 12 inches. The precipitation in the driest year within valleys. As a whole the surface of the quadrangle slopes from the period of record was 8.4 inches and of the wettest year northeast to southwest. The Mescal Range, which occupies the northeast corner of FIGURE 2. Map of Arizona showing the principal physiographic divisions 15.9 inches. May and June are the driest months and are of the State. followed by the principal rainy season, in July and August, .the quadrangle, in spite of having a local name of its own, is The Ray quadrangle is shown by shading. but part of the rain comes in winter. Much of the rain falls in a broad topographic sense merely the southeastern continua and 111° and parallels 33° and 33° 15'. Its area, which is in violent local showers, which in a few minutes change dry tion of the Pinal Range, which is the principal orographic 249.76 square miles, is nearly equally divided between Gila arroyos into torrents.

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