Salt River herald., 1878-08-10
sIOrmOns lin salt River Valley

will be read with interest.
 MOAN CoPPY, June 2s, 1878. President John Taylor: DEAR BROTHER: Having just re- turned from q trip 10 the Salt River country, thought that few lines in relation to it might not be uninterest- ! to you. The distance from Moan Coppy is about 100 miles. My visit was in quest of some horses that had been taken from the vicinity of the Willow Springs. l found several of our brethren To- cated on that stream. Bros. Chismon, ] Shrine, Pomeroy, Jessie \. Perkins, and several others. The brothers were | busily engaged in conducting the wa ters of Salt River on to a large tract of land situated between the Salt and Gila rivers. This body of land
 SURPRISES ANYTHING
 For extent that I have seen in Arizona. It has the appearance of being ot a good quality. The brethren tell me that water can be obtained by digging | from 40 to 60 feet, of a good quality for culinary purposes. The quality of the soil and the climate is well adapted to the raising of grapes and other fruit, the plantation sugar cane, cotton, sweet potatoes, also the orange and olive. The orange tree in Judge Hayden's orchard looks very promis- ing, also the lime and lemon, and he is sanguine that he will be successful in producing them, as they are raised in Los Angeles, Southern California, the climate being much the same.
 The Breathern have the advantage of an old ditch, called by the oldest settlers, the Montezuma Canal They say this can be traced for some twenty miles, in the direction of the Gila riv- CT, with several branches of consider able length. These ditches seem 10 have, at some ancient date, watered an extensive tract of country, and the traces Of ruins show that the country has been
 DENsELY POPULATED
 By a people far superior to the pres ent aborigines of the country. From the appearance of the heaps of debris that can be traced for miles. their buildings must have been constructed of cement. Where this MOntezuma Canal cuts through the table land : there is a cut some two miles in length, that seems almost marvellous. It will average 50 feet wide on top and some 10 or 12 in depth. This is done in a cobble stoLo and hard Doc fcTT, D. tion. This would be considered a work of no small magnitude in this enlightened age, with the use of aii , our modern appliances. Our people . are utilizing this labor and it is worth thousands of dollars to them. It has been lcvelcd through by a practical engineer. and q great portion of it is down to, and below their level grade without labor, and il will cost co m- paratively small amount of labor , through the entire cut.
 l see a great opening in this country
 for settlement of Latter day Saints
 For quantity and quality of land t thing this has no equal in Arizona or l. New Mexico, and l consider. when E properly developed, it will prove tc , be the
 b GARDEN SPOT OF ARIZONA. }. I sec q great necessity of our people e occupying that country, and at no dis. ' tant day l consider it will be of un - told worth to the Latter-day Saints, tC
 make themselves a self sustaining [. people, with a proper combination O ' labor, that country being the bcs
 adapted for that kind of labor of any |, place l have seen in the West. Brother Dan Jones is located somC ? three miles below the ditch that oul
 other brcthern are taking out IfOunC l. him feeling well and prospering il | his field of labor, which 1 conside
 very extensive. They have raised ; q good crop this season, which wa z. mostly harvested when l left. He Ina.
 a ditch belonging to his company. \
 large number of Pima Indians arr y farming under his supervision an, V watering from his ditch. They havu
 been successful in their farming thi s year, having raised a good crop O V wheat. They have found in Brothc
 Jones a benefactor; he having placed facilities within their reach whicl u will make them
 SELF SUSTAINING IN A sHoRT TIME,
 Which they have not been since thei first acquaintance of the white man 'c Their reservation is situated on tn
 Gila river a short distance above it h. junction with Salt River This cour k try has been occupied for generation.
 and has sustained themselves, an
 would at the present if they had thei $ rights, but of these they have bee lt deprived by Mexicans and American
 settling above and taking out all of th st water that belonged to their land ,n Bro. Jones is great favorite wit
 them through the benefits they hay
 received by being directed conside H. able in their labOrs by him. Som -e- few of the principal men have bee
 b2ptised and seem to be sincere i
 their profession. 1 returned throug - the renowned
 TONTO BASIN.
 Here l found a spendid stock countr 10 with considerable farming land an s'- grass and water, but the country ng very broken, but well adapted to stoc d. raising.