The weekly Arizona miner., 1878-08-30
ARIZONA, TIE WONDER LAND.
wandering in tho L.n.l Of rr.-Hls.erle Race.

fVis.l Ecvening Wisconsin, written by Len | D. Sivyer ready writer, who has been of the New York Sun and other papers for the past two years. Many of his letters bear upon Arizona and speak of her mines and other resources in the most fiattering terms:
 Our ride of sixty miles from Prescott to Wickcnburg was not attended with the Ia tique generally incurred 5y stage travel, owing to the interesting country trayersed, the fact that we were about to visit the most wonderful mine on the continent, all of which tended to arouse our visionary lm- apinstion of golden palaces and land where the very trees produce gems of costly worth. We are at Wickenburg-the town is fast reyiying from several years state of dormaney. If you had Teen here when the mines in the vicinity were uti'lzed, you would have thought this lively place.
 The yuIture mine is to-day one of the richest in the Territory, one can see by the immense ore dumps, and the vast amount oi machinery, that it is pretty we'll developed. The mine was owned by corporation of east ern capitalists, who declared handsome diyi- deuds from its yicldinQ5unti an unscrupu- Ious superintendent appropriated its pro ceeds to his own use, and then after amass- ing a large fortune, rcputed hundreds of thousands of dollars, by misrepresentaslon and fraudul5nt reports, withdrew, leaving the company seriously embarrassed with debt and litigation. During 1876 the 4O- stamp mill was sold for its indebtedness, and the sdump of 5000 tons of " tailings, which are very rich, sold for a large sum of money. Yes, now that Wickenburg is reviving, and the Indians no louger molest the pco- pie, they anticipate rich products from the mines. and comfortable homes in this health 1 ful climate. A drive of sixty miles further south
 brought us to Phenix, " dobyn town of
 about 1,ee0 inhabitants, situated on Salt River.
 The streets are broad and regular. Shade
 trees set out with precision, tend to besuu- fy, and are a praisworthy feature of the place, as they offer striking contrast to the generally barren aspect of the surrounding country.
 The town is growing rapidly, and is des.
 tined eventually torank we'll up among the fourishing cities of Arizona.
 Perhaps the largest trart of land that can
 be cultivated in the territory is that of Salt River Valley. Here the amount of rich tilIable soil is estimated at fully 100000
 acres. It is rich alluvium, capable of pro ducing with irrigation 25 to 90 bushels oi
 wheat, corn or barley to the acre. Pump
 kins, melons, beaDs, sweet potatoes, and
 other roots and vegetables grow and thrive we'll. Hemp, tobacco ard sugar cane are
 successfully cultivated, also peaches, pears apricots, nectarines, and grapes, besides all other kinds of small fruit, such as is raised 1 in Southern California.
 s Leaving Salt River, we continued ouI journey soutkward. Away to the eest WI
 descriei the dim outline of the Pinal noun
 tains, wherein lay the famous Globe mining district, immensely rich in mineral.
 1 Fartber to the west meanders through the bold mountains and into fertile valley, the
 Rio Gila, (Hela) with enchanting scenery, and I thought what a mighty river and glorious sight. will without prevaricatioD give the Gila due credit for its being nc
 mean stream of water, and this brings us to
 feature of Arizona which must ever invest THE GREAT VALLEY OF THE CHA and its tributaries, Salt Silver, Rio Verde
 and othev streams, with unique and sov- ereign interest. All over the vast plain with a few exceptions of small patches which have recently been rc-occupied-now arid and desolate, live trees of a majestic
 and elaborate scheme of artificial irrigation
 not excelled, perhaps, by any in Peru, Cen
 tral Asia, or the famous Nile Valley.
 Canals of great length and breadth. feed ing an intricate checker work of condIits
 once gave fertility to tracts of country
 which, judging from the profuse remains oi ruined cities, ranches, etc, we must con-
 clude supported thousands and perhaps
 millions of human beings.
 That no mean grade of civilization had
 been acquired by these prehistoric dwellers of this now wild and desolate region is
 amply attested by the character of their re mains, such as have been exhumed from
 sepulchres where they have slept for ages and such as are to day found in far state of preservation in the shape of dwellings
 agricultural and mechanical implements al! over the plains of these extensive valleys | Even if we do not accept the theory that | the Zunis--an intelligent tribe of Indians who reside in villages composed. of sub. stantially constructed houses, on the eastern confines of Arizona-are degenerate rem nant of their race, the artistic designs ex- hibited in their ha6:.ss..;;SSas, furnish poteni evidence to verify the advanced state oi civilization these people had attained. A writer on the prehistoric races says
 sswhen the first Spanish expedition reached
 Sonora in 1540 the plain of the Glla had been waste for centuries, and the founders of its cities had no place in the local tradi- tions. These mysterious people, therefore, could not have been tue ancestors of the 1 Aztecs. perhans if was in the basin af the Giia that the Toltecs. Sse.fore their migration southward, gained their sigGsl advance ID the arts of life, and this may have heen the country, according to Chinese chron- icle, which was visited by Buddhist priest in the fifth centuryi These are questions which may not rest unanswered when the wall pictures and other vestiges extant have received tithe of the attention which have been layished on the Nile vslley.n
 More than twenty years since, rich placer diggings were discovered at Gila City, eighteen miles east of Yuma where the river forms confluence with the Colorado, and at one time, mining population of over 5000 were collected at this point, consisting of Mexicans' whites and Indians. Here, for few years> mining was success. and large amounts of precious metal were extracted. aggregsting ss the best informed claim, some two or three millions of dol lars. LEN, D. S.