USA > Arizona > The resources of Arizona; a description of its mineral, farming, grazing and timber lands; its rivers, mountains, valleys and plains; its cities, towns and mining camps; its climate and productions; with brief sketches of its early history etc > Part 6
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A public school-house, built of brick, and two stories in height, is one of the ornaments of the town, and would be a credit to any eastern city of ten times the population. There is also a. bank, a handsome brick structure two stories high, a good hotel, a fine hall for the use of secret societies, two breweries, a planing mill, some eighteen stores, blacksmith and wagon shops, and
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CITY OF TUCSON.
BANCROFT -UTH - S. R
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numerous saloons. The Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and other secret societies have flourishing lodges here. Three daily papers are published in the town, the Arizona Miner, the Journal, and the Courier, all devoted and untiring in their efforts to give publicity to the vast resources of northern Arizona. The Miner is the pioneer newspaper of the Territory, having been started in 1864. The Methodists, Catholics, Con- gregationalists, Baptists and Presbyterians have handsome houses of worship. Prescott is fifty-two miles south of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, and is the center of an extensive mineral, pastoral, and agricultural region. With a branch to the main line, which is projected and will soon be built, the trade of the town will be greatly increased and a fresh impetus given to all branches of business.
Besides being the seat of the Territorial government, Prescott also enjoys the distinction of having the headquarters of the military department of Arizona located in its immediate vicin- ity. Just one mile from the court-house, Fort Whipple stands on the rolling hills that overlook Granite creck. The buildings are of wood, but tastefully and substantially constructed. Here are located the residences of the general commanding, and the different staff officers, together with the commissary, quarter- master and other storehouses. The town and fort are almost united, the buildings in the former stretching up to the line of the reservation. With its charming situation, superb climate, and the vast undeveloped resources which lie all around it, Pres- cott is always destined to be a place of importance. Its present population is about 2,000.
Cochise county was organized in 1881, from a portion of Pima. It occupies the extreme southeastern corner of the Territory, and is bounded on the south by Sonora, on the east by New Mexico, on the north by Graham, and on the west by Pima county. Its area is 5,925 square miles, and its topography is made up of lofty mountains, wide valleys and grassy plains. The Chiricahua range crosses the eastern part of the county, while the Huachuca, the Whetstone, the Mule and the Dragoon ranges run through it on the west. The mountains are well timbered, while the valleys and foot-hills are covered with fine grasses. The San Pedro is the only running stream in Cochise. It flows through the county from the line of Sonora to the boundary of Pinal. The wonderful mineral wealth of its mountains and mesas have given Cochise a national reputation, while the nutri- tious character of its grasses have drawn within its borders thousands of cattle. One of the smallest, it is one of the richest counties in the Territory, and there are few regions that can show so many varied natural resources.
Although one of the newest of Arizona's political divisions, it has made history at a rapid rate, and can show a record of stir- ring events second to none. The Dragoon range, north of
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Tombstone, was for years the headquarters of the famous Apache chief (who has given his name to the county) and his bloodthirsty band of Chiricahuas. From his cyrie among the crags of the Dragoon Peak, this copper-colored bandit eagerly watched for the coming of his unsuspecting victim on the plains below. Every mile of the road through these rugged mountains has drank the blood of slaughtered men, women and children. No portion of the Territory has suffered so much from Indian deviltry, and nearly every mountain pass, trail and watering- place, has been the scene of massacre and murder.
After the removal of the Indians, the hardy prospector was not long in putting in an appearance, and the marvelous dis- covery of Tombstone was the result of his patient labors. The rush which followed brought with it a great many rough char- acters, and for a time their lawless acts gave Cochise an unenvi- able reputation. Its position on the border, has made of it a kind of debatable land, where the outlaws of both nations, for a time held high carnival. But, happily, those things are over. The Mexican banditti are either killed or captured, the cowboy rides no more, and peace blesses the border-land.
Cochise has entered on an era of prosperity which promises to be lasting. Her wonderful mines are sending forth their treasures, her hills and valleys are being covered with cattle, railroads are penetrating in every direction, and immigration is rapidly pouring in. According to the last census, the popula- tion of the county was 9,640. The total valuation of taxable property is $4,500,000; total indebtedness, $200,000; rate of tax- ation, three cents on each $100.
Tombstone, the leading town of Cochise county, and the min- cral metropolis of Arizona, is built on an elevated mesa where the northern spurs of the Mule mountains lose themselves in the rolling plains that stretch towards the Dragoons, sixteen miles away. The city has a healthy and commanding situation, with excellent facilities for drainage. To the north the rocky peaks of the Dragoons raise their jagged heads; to the west the rolling grassy plain, which stretches to the San Pedro, is bounded by the Whetstone and the dark chain of the Huachucas. Behind the town rises a series of rolling hills, dotted with hoisting works and scarred by cuts and tunnels, while to the cast the rolling plain is bounded by the horizon. Tombstone is in latitude 31' 30' north, and in longitude 110° west of Greenwich. It is nine miles cast of Contention station, on the San Pedro river, and about twenty-eight miles south of Benson, on the Southern Pa- cific railway.
The first house was erected in April, 1879, and now there is here a live, active, energetic population of 6,000. A fire in June, 1881, reduced nearly half the city to ashes; but it had scarcely been rebuilt, when, in May, 1882, a more disastrous visitation de- stroyed nearly all the business portion, and left the city a heap
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of blackened walls and smouldering ruins. But, nothing daunted by these reverses, the indomitable energy of the people asserted itself, and to-day not a vestige of the burnt district is to be seen. Since those fires the buildings erected have been nearly all of adobe, and, except in the suburbs, the city is mostly built of that material. The streets are wide, hard and smooth, and cross each other at right angles. The houses are nearly all of one story, with roomy arcades shading the sidewalks. In the evening, when the hardy miner is off "shift," when the streets are alive with ve- hicles, when the saloons and stores are brilliantly lighted, and when the sidewalks are thronged by the ever-moving crowd, Tombstone has the appearance of the liveliest city in the Terri- tory.
There are some commodious business houses, and many com- fortable private residences. There is a large and well-arranged theatre, two hotels, two banks, and four churches-Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal and Presbyterian. The Methodist place of worship is a tasteful building of sun-dried brick. There is a public school, which is well attended, and a private academy which receives liberal patronage. The new county court-house is a handsome structure of brick, the foundation being of cut stone, and the corners being faced with the same material. It is two stories in height, with an ornamental tower, and cost $50,- 000. The new city hall is a substantial and roomy building of brick and stone. In it are located the offices of the various city officials.
Tombstone can boast the finest water supply in the Territory, and equal to any on the coast. It is brought from the Huachuca mountains, some twenty-one miles distant. A strong dam is built in one of the canyons, which forms a large reservoir. The water is conveyed from this source in iron pipes down the grassy hills, across the San Pedro, and over the rolling country to another large reservoir on the summit of a hill, about one hundred and fifty feet above the city. From this point mains are laid through all the principal streets, and pipes carry the supply to every house. Fire-plugs are at every corner ; a well-appointed and efficient department is always ready, and no fire can ever again do much damage in Tomb- stone. The source of supply is about three hundred and fifty feet above the city, and the force of the water is such, that a stream through on ordinary nozzle will bore a hole through a two foot adobe wall in five minutes. The water is clear, pure and cold.
The Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Red Men, Grand Army of the Republic, Good Templars, and other secret and benevolent orders have flourishing lodges here. Two daily newspapers are published, the Epitaph and the Republican. They are both ably conducted, and have done much to advertise the grand resources of Cochise county.
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
Tombstone is the center of an immense area of rich mineral territory. It has a large and steadily-growing trade with Sonora, and the building of the line from Deming to Fairbanks will place it on the highway between the California Gulf and the Atlantic Ocean. It is a typical mining camp, active, ener- getic and exciting. Its growth has been remarkable, and its bullion yield has astonished the world. Its situation is admir- able, and with through rail connection with Sonora it should become a large supply point for that region. That it will continue for many years to yield those treasures which underlie it, there is hardly a doubt; and the shrill shriek of the whistle, and the dull concussion from the blasts in the tunnels and stopes beneath its streets, will continue to astonish and bewilder the " tender-foot " visitor for many a year to come.
Benson is situated about half a mile from the San Pedro and at the junction of the Arizona and New Mexican railway with the Southern Facific. It is a railroad town, built along the south side of the track of the Southern Pacific for over a quarter of a mile, and containing several stores, saloons, restaurants, and other business houses. Before the building of the Sonora branch it was the shipping point for Tombstone, and done a large business with that lively camp. Here are located the works of the "Benson Smelting and Refining Co," who have erected large and substantial buildings and are doing a prosperous business. The company have two water-jacket furnaces with a daily capacity of seventy-five tons, and are pre- pared to work all varieties of gold, silver, copper, and lead ores. The works are connected by side tracks with both railroads, and bring ores from different points in the Territory, as well as from Sonora and New Mexico. Fine fire-clay is found only six miles from the works, and coke is shipped from Wales, and Trinidad, Colorado. Heretofore the bullion produced has been shipped with its base surroundings, but refining works are now in course of erection, and the product will be separated on the ground. About sixty men are employed and the yield since the first of the present year has been over 1,500 tons. The population of Benson is about 600. A weekly newspaper called the Herald has lately been started here, and is doing effective work to ad- vance the interests of the town.
Bisbee is situated in a narrow gorge of the Mule mountains, and is a live, bustling mining camp, with a steady growth. The town is made up of one narrow street, above which the moun- tains on the south side tower to the height of over 1,000 feet, covered to their summits with a heavy growth of black and white oak, cedar and juniper. Bisbee has three stores, several restaurants, saloons, and the usual appendages of a live mining camp. The reduction works of the Copper Queen company are situated here, and rich deposits of silver and copper surround the town in every direction. The Queen Company have opened a
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fine road over the mountains to Tombstone, thirty miles distant, and also to Fairbanks, on the Arizona and New Mexico rail- way, over which they ship their bullion and receive their sup- plies. Bisbee is destined to become an important and populous camp. The mines that surround it are large and rich, it has every facility for ore reduction, and is blessed with a charming situation and a delightful climate. Present population about 500.
Charleston, another busy town of Cochise, is situated on the San Pedro river, about nine miles west of Tombstone. The re- duction works of the Tombstone Milling and Mining company are situated here, The town has a pleasant location in the river bottom, and has four stores, a hotel, restaurants, saloons, etc. It lies on the main highway to Sonora, and does a thriving trade with that State. The houses are mostly one-story adobes, and the weather during the summer months is a trifle sultry. The population is put at 400.
Maricopa county embraces the extensive valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers, and occupies nearly a central situation in the Territory. The western portion of the county is made up of wide plains, crossed by detached mountains, and covered by coarse grasses, with grease wood and palo verde growing in many places. The northern and eastern divisions are crossed by rugged mountains, and intersected by spurs from the Mazatzal, the Verde, and the Bradshaw ranges. The central portion is com- posed of rich and fertile valleys, bordering the Salt and the Gila. Maricopa is bounded on the north by Yavapai, on the east by Gila and Pinal, on the south by Pinal and Pima, and on the west by Yuma. It embraces an area of 9,354 square miles, and had a population in 1882, of 6,408.
The history of Maricopa county dates from 1868, when the first settlements were made in the Salt river valley, at that time a barren and uninviting waste. Since then its annals have been quiet and uneventful. Slowly but surely it has advanced on the road of prosperity, and its growth has demonstrated to the world the grand agricultural possibilities of Arizona.
For years its early pioneers battled bravely against obstacles which would have discouraged less determined men. But they held on and the fruits of their toils and privations is seen to-day in the beautiful valley, which will ever remain a monument to their enterprise and foresight. Besides its grand agricultural resources, Maricopa contains rich mineral deposits of gold, silver and copper, many of which are being worked successfully. The county is one of the most prosperous in the Territory. Popula- tion is steadily growing, and property values increasing. Most of the settlers who are finding their way to this region, come with the intention of making permanent homes. There is none of the feverish fluctuations seen in a mining camp. While, per- haps, business is not so active, it is more steady and lasting.
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
There is no county in the Territory with a brighter future. Its prosperity rests on that solid foundation, which, in all ages, has been the corner-stone of wealth and power-land. The total valuation of taxable property in the county, is $2,000,000; total indebtedness, $50,000; rate of taxation, three dollars on each one hundred dollars of valuation.
Phoenix, the county seat of Maricopa county, is situated near the center of the great Salt River Valley, about two miles north of the stream and twenty-eight miles north of Maricopa station, on the Southern Pacific railroad. Approaching the place over the dry and dreary wastes of level plain which surround the town beyond the line of vegetation, the eye is relicved by the masses of green, and the refreshing shade in which it sits embowered. So dense is the foliage that the houses are almost hidden from view, and the traveler does not realize that he is in the heart of the town until the coach pulls up before the hotel. The streets are broad and level, shaded on either side by rows of cottonwood and willow, and cooled by streams which give life and verdure to trees and shrubbery. The houses are built of adobe, brick and wood. The former material predominates, and is best adapted to this climate. The traffic of the town is principally confined to one main street, which shows many large and hand- some business houses. Several of these are of brick, two stories in height, and present a solid and attractive appearance. The Catholics and the Methodists have erected churches, and the Baptists are also represented by a neat place of worship.
The public school-house is one of the finest in the Territory. It is of brick, two stories in height, surrounded by beautiful play- grounds, shaded by a dense cottonwood grove. The new county court-house, now in course of erection, will be one of the hand- somest buildings in the Territory. It will be of brick, with a stone foundation, and is modeled after the Cochise county court- house. Two plazas have been laid out in the town, and present a charming appearance, with their rows of cooling cottonwoods and shady walks. In one of these plazas the new building will stand.
The secret societies are well represented in Phoenix. The : Odd Fellows, Masons, Red Men, United Order of Workingmen, Knights of Pythias and Good Templars have flourishing organ- izations here. Two newspapers, the Gazette and the Herald, arc published daily and weekly. They are well-conducted, newsy journals, and able exponents of the grand resources of the Salt River Valley. There is a flouring-mill, with a capacity of 125 barrels in twenty-four hours. It produces an excellent qual- ity of flour from Arizona wheat, and turned out in 1882 2,200,- 000 pounds. The present year its product is expected to reach 4,000,000 pounds.
The town does a large trade with the surrounding valley, and has also a steadily increasing business with the adjacent mining
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camps, north, east and west, and for which it is the natural sup- ply point. Many handsome structures are being erected, and many permanent improvements made. Real estate within the city limits is rapidly advancing in price, and desirable lots on the business streets command fancy prices. Within the past year the town has taken a fresh start, and is growing rapidly. Confidence in its brilliant future is being strengthened daily by the investment of capital and the improvements going on in every direction.
Phoenix contains the most beautiful homes of any city or town in the Territory; surrounded by shady groves, ornamented with choice shrubbery and inviting grassy lawns, and em- bowered in a wealth of clinging vines, evergreens, and rose- bushes. From shady arbor and porch hang bunches of luscious grapes, while the orchard trees are bending beneath their loads of peach, pear, apple, poniegranate, fig, plum and fifty other varieties. The ripple of laughing waters is heard on all sides, and the air is heavy with the perfume from flower, and tree, and shrub. The stranger, who had imagined Arizona a desert waste, while strolling by the pleasant homes of Phoenix with the beams of a summer moon glinting with its silver sheen the murmuring acequias, and casting a mellow radiance over grove and garden and orchard, will swcar that no more charm- ing scene of quiet beauty has rarely met his eye in older and more populous lands.
The population of Phenix is put at 2,000, but it is rapidly increasing, and it is yet destined to be second to no town in Arizona. Situated near the center of the Territory, and in the midst of its finest body of farming land ; with rich mines in the mountain ranges which surround it, its situation as a trade center is unsurpassed by any city within its borders. A branch railroad to the Southern Pacific will soon open a larger and more remunerative market for its products, and give a fresh impetus to its advancement. Rich in abundance of water; rich in a soil of wonderful fertility; rich in a superb climate; rich in fine farms, beautiful gardens, happy homes, and all the elements of permanent prosperity, Phoenix may well rest secure in its brilliant future.
Tempe, situated about nine miles up the river from Phoenix, is a beautiful village, which is fast assuming the proportions of a good-sized town. It contains several stores, a lumber yard, blacksmith's shop, and saloons. A large flouring mill, driven by water power, is located here, and the village has grown up around it. This mill manufactured during the year 1882, 2,750,000 pounds of flour, 50,000 pounds of cracked wheat, 50,000 pounds of corn meal, and 1,000,000 pounds of cracked barley. The village is built at the foot of a rocky bluff which overlooks the river. The streets arc shaded with trees and cooled by running water, and the valley, in its charming beauty,
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has not been inaptly named after that lovely Grecian vale, famous in song and story.
Yuma county comprises the southwestern portion of the Territory, and is bounded on the west by the Colorado river, on the north by Mohave county, on the east by Maricopa and Pima, and on the south by Sonora. It is one of the four counties into which the first legislature divided the Territory. Its area is 10,138 square miles, and its population in 1882, 3,922.
That portion of the county lying along the Colorado is traversed from north to south by parallel ranges of rugged mountains, al- most devoid of vegetation but rich in gold, silver and copper. The eastern part is a high table-land, covered with a fine growth of grass and crossed in every direction by detached spurs, rocky and barren, and destitute of wood and water. The Gila river flows through the county for nearly 100 miles, forming, in its course, a rich and fertile valley. The Colorado washes its west- ern boundary, and has large bodies of arable lands, which will be described in another place. Yuma county has rich mines and large tracts of agricultural land. Besides the railroad, it has the advantages of a navigable stream, which must ultimately develope and bring into prominence its great natural resources. The total valuation of the county is $805,000; total indebtedness, $80,000
Yuma, the county seat, is situated on the Colorado, just below the junction of the Gila. The old town, and the fort on the other side of the river, from which it takes its name, have had rather a stirring history. In 1771, the Spanish fathers established a mis- sion here which was destroyed by the Indians a few years later. The first permanent settlement on the site where Yuma now stands, was made by a Dr. Lincoln and others, in 1849. They established a ferry to accommodate the thousands who flocked to the gold regions of California, over the southern route. The Indians who at first professed peace, soon rose against the stran- gers and only three of the whites escaped with their lives. In 1850 the ferry was again started by Don Diego Jaeger, who still resides on a ranch near the town and is as full of life and energy as he was a quarter of a century ago. Jaeger's party was attacked by the Indians in 1851, compelled to retreat to California, and the enterprise was again abandoned.
In 1852, Colonels Heintzelman and Stoneman, both of whom afterwards rose to high distinction in the civil war-the last- named being now Governor of California-marched across the Colorado desert with a detachment of troops and established Fort Yuma. The ferry was again started and maintained until the Southern Pacific railroad threw a bridge over the Colorado, and forever put an end to its usefulness, In 1864, Yuma was made the distributing point for all the military posts in the Ter- ritory, and advanced rapidly in population and business. It was also the shipping point for Tucson and all the camps and settle-
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ments in Southern Arizona. It was then a live, bustling frontier town, where business was prosperous, gambling and drinking the most popular avocations, and where "a man for breakfast," was looked upon as a very ordinary incident.
The opening of the railroad destroyed Yuma's forwarding business, but it has yet quite a brisk trade with the surrounding country. It has several stores with large stocks of goods, a hotel, (built by the railroad company), a large wagon manufactory which turns out vehicles especially adapted to this dry climate, saloons, restaurants, etc. The Sisters of Charity maintain a school here which is largely attended; there is also a public school open all the year. On a rocky bluff between the town and the river, stands the Territorial prison. It is a secure and roomy structure built of stone quarried from the bluff, and dressed and laid by prison labor. The present number in confinement is about 100. The railroad company have repair shops at Yuma and give employment to a large number of men. The Arizona Sentinel, a weekly newspaper, is published here and is unceasing in its efforts to bring to notice the many resources and advan- tages of Yuma county. The population of the town is about 1,000.
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