Arizona citizen., 1879-01-18
THE CITIZEN.
SATURDAY, JANUARY IS, 1879
Southern Arizona.

Many of our readers became ac
 uuainted with MT. T. L. Watson, o Connecticut, on his recent visit here
 He has returned to tbe east and is say ing some good words for us. Here are extracts from a letter of his in the New
 York Times :-
 Tucson, the largest town in the Ter
 ritory, has a present population of be tween 5000 and 6000; its buildings are mostly constructed of adobe, and in
 point of architectural beauty or con
 venlence are but little 10 speak of, but
 with the advent of the railroad, and
 the incoming of a large foreign popu-
 lation and capital, which are sure to ]. follow, there will undoubtedly be erect
 ed many new buildings, and 10 the old
 town. two-thirds of the inhabitants of
 which are MeXicans, an addition may
 be expected which will be purely
 American in its character. Tucson already contains many enterprising citizens, who are rapidly acquiring
 property and realizing large profits ! from their business ventures and min- ling investments. As all the southern portion of Arizona Territory and a ! large portiOn of Sonora, one of the richest States of Mexico, derive their
 supplies from and bring their produce
 10 this point, it may be readily credit ! ed that several mercantile houses here do business whose annual figures are
 in the millions. But the great wealth
 of the country is yet to be gathered Tn. The principal mining districts in
 which developments tC any extent have thus far been made are the Arivaca,
 Santa Rita, Patagonia, Orc Blanco and Tombstone. There are several other districts on this southern portion in which valuable properties have been brought to light. and which may gain future prominence Within q few days large number of prOSpectors have started for the Dragons, chain of mountains about sixty milas east of Tucson, where some rich gold mines are said to have been discovered. The mission of the writer to the Territory was 10 supervise, on behalf of some Eastern capitalists, a number of eX aminatiOns that were made of mining properties, and, as one result of his visit, he has asceItained that many of lhe claims presented and sold 10 East ern capitalists have been placed at large advances over the original prices paid here, and that few of the properties
 presented 10 most Eastern speculatprs have been sufficiently developed to justify the amounts asked, and in many instances obtained for them. How ever, there are many rich prospects and quite a number of developed mines that will warrant the outlay of large amounts of capital to develop and work them, which probably will yet
 be heard from as exceeding in rich re- turns any mines of similar character now kn, wn to the public. In making investments il would be judiciOuS for investors to S nd one of their own number 10 examine the claims present ed then, if these decide to buy the property, the next important step Is to employ an interested person, compe- tent and trustworthy, to assume the
 management ueTe, TOT III uo OiLGi line of legitimate business Is success so de pendent upon good business manage ment Arizona is such new country, comparatively, and SD far distant, by. present means of communication, from the business and money center of the country, New York, that very few of our capitalists have ventured here to. personally inspect the opportunities of fered. But the speedy continuation of the Southern Pacific road is evident from the large force of men now al work and the quantities of material that have already been accumulated I am assured by eX-Gpvernor Stafford, of this Territory, lately elected Vice President of the Arizona Division of the road, that the line will be completed to Maricnpa Wells by April next . This will shorten the very tedious and somewhat dangerous stage ride, re- ducing the distance from 300 10 l00' miles, and the time from seventy-twuI to fifteen hours. The business men . and visitors here would be further . greatly accommodated by the cons 1. iruction of a new line of telegraph.