The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1878-06-21
DAILY INTELLICENCER.
Friday, June 81. 1878.

ARiZ)SA, A FAILURE Il . hiiI'iieH
recently arrived in tins city. a'a VINO
has spent the past two years J. ''a'e'-
ing through the Pacific Coast states
ana Terr;torie, for his health gives an
;n,o,.s,;no account of a trip through
,s;rona last Summer and Fall. he
ias. Can Francisco sometime Iii August
e. To, Angeles, where be took the
80 Fort Yuma, the furtherest point
.escbed BIZ rail, in company with three
otber gentlemen. Il was their intention
TO proceed from Yuma to Erensburg by
stage, but they were little late III
procuring tickets, and were conse-
auently ruled out of the crowded stage
coach, and obliged to take less expe-
ditIous means Of conveyance by
steamer up the Cocapaw River. They
were two weeks in making this trip,
the water being low and the steamer
heavily freighted. with large barge
in tow, to boot. In some instances they
only made two miles a day against the
current and over rapids. At Erensburg
they took the stage for Prescott, which
they reached in good time. after stag
ing continuously up hill 10 an extent To
almost lead them to believe they had
reached a cloud-tipped altitude. After
leaving Fort Yuma they passed bat
two towns on the route, miserable little
adobe villages, both Of them, known as
Erensburg and Wigginsburg. Not in
the entire distance did they see soli-
tary wooden shanty, adobe huts being
the only human habitations. and but
precious few of them outside OF the two
villages named. The general aspect of
the country is one Of decay and mono
tonv-a continuous stretch of scar, sun
scorched desert, too barren in many
instances TO support even the most
stunted forms of vegetable life. They
fund Prescott the capital Of and the
largest town Ia the Territory. situated
in the very center of the great II Ari-
IONA mining districts. located among
q range of towering aud sparsely tim
Der clad hills. wooden town with
many neat and comparatively fine look
ing buildings. containing at present
only about 1000 or 1900 inhabitants,
and bearing a deserted and half for
saksn aspect. The principal ard
most valuable mines in the Territory
are Tip-top Mine. situated about sew.
enty-fve miles from Prescott; King
Mine. thirty miles further on; Peck
Mine, and McCraoken Mine in the same
locality. King Mine is the only one
in the Territory that has so far reached
a dividend of 30 cents; though the Nc
Cracken is considered the most vnlua-
BILE. So far as his observations went.
and they were quite extensive, ouI in
formant unhesitatingly pronounces all
Arizona mining operations so far a
complete "fizzle." He found nearly
every citizen and settler in the Terri
tory in q position to wish themselves
only even with the country. and we'll
out of it. As farming country, Ari-
IONA amounts to nothing II is in
much the same fix as Ben Wade found
Colorado. wanting only plenty of
water and good society to make it de-
sirable country To live in. but then III
casting about for an analogy. Ben dis
covered that this was all that was
ting in hell. The only farming
done through the entire Territory
worth mentioning. our informant
states, is done on the Salt and Ella
river bottoms, and here he found q few
very fine ranches. but even in these
favored localities the land must bs irri-
gated. and the valleys abound In
poisonous material. the most of any
district he has ever uisited.