Douglas Daily Dispatch

Deserts Are Turned Into Swamps While Drought Grips Other Sections.

While the entire nation views with alarm the terrible extent of the drought which prevails over almost all of the United States, Cochise county rural residents view with alarm the prospect of having to construct boats in which to move from one place to another across a country often spoken of as a desert.

One desert city is being dug out and pumped dry following on the most serious floods in history of the southwest and the rain gauge at the Copper Queen smelter here shows that since July 1, the total rainfall in this area has been 8.40 inches.

The month of July contributed 5.78 inches in slow, drizzles and little showers and the past two days have yielded the rest of a record-breaking precipitation in two cloudbursts each of which appears to have been merely a continuation of the other and likely to be continued further unless the appearance of the sky is a deception.

The results of all this unexpected moisture are mostly beneficial to the greater part of Cochise county if not to all of it. Cattle men face a rosy prospect in so far as the grazing situation is concerned. Those who make prairie hay each summer can make more in one year off an acre than in some years off 20 acres.

The entire country is given over to a vast growth of grass that is from a few inches to several feet tall and still growing.

Newly hatched toads were found yesterday in puddles in the residence district where the water has lingered over a sufficient period to make incubation possible. One may hear the happy croak of many toads and perhaps a few frogs in almost any section and in outlying districts where there are good size depressions, filled with water the chorus is deafening. Some years there is not enough rain to soften the earth so that the hibernating toads can break through to the surface. This year it is safe to say that they have all been able to get out to water.