Salt River herald., 1879-01-29
Letter from Florence.

been unusually quiet for the past few days on account of the activity of the ranchers in the valley utilizing all the available labor in preparing and planting their ground. There wflI be far greater acreage of grain sown this year than there has been in any of the previous years, and the whole valley from the Pima reserve to Round valley, 12 miles cast of Florence, is teeming with life and activity.
 The supply of water for irrigating purposes will greatly exceed this year, for the mountains east and southeast are still capped with snow.
 The business outlook here is very promising The firms of Guindani & Co., Collinwood & Co.,, Backalew & Ochoa and NJ. Calisher are con, stantly receiving and filling large orders for goods from the numerous mining camps and are constantly re. plenishing their stock by large in voices from San Francisco. and the East. rfrsfl D.
 The court house is now rapidly approaching state of completion and will be when finished as fine public building as there is in the Territory, and reflects great credit on the architects, Messrs Adams & Co.,
 The recent rains made the repair ing of several of our streets an ap parent necessity, and immediate measures were taken to put them in firstclass condition aiat2
 The Arizona and Louisiana mining company are making preparations to commence the development of their property and put it on a dividend paying basis, and intend making this place their base of supplies. Their property, the American Flag series of mines, is situated in the Santa Catalena mountains, 50 miles south east from Florence and is second to none in the Territory in richness and quantity of ore as far as prospected.
 The establishment of the new statfopr Adonde, made quite 8 change in the time Of arrival of the eastern mail, It now arrives some eight hours earlier than before. The coaches come in loaded with passen- gers and express, while nearly all of tie western bound stages are eeAa- parativefy empty, which speaks we'll for this section, as nearly all the new corners find ready employment or active business pursuits, which bring quick and Fieh returns on the capital invested.
 Dr. S. B. Chapin, analytical chem ist and assayer, IS kept constantly at work analizing and assaying the mining specimens of ore brought in from the new discoveries fn the mountains to the east and south. These mines are within a rad1us of fifteen miles of Florence and bid fair to prove of great value, thereby making Florence a great mining center as we'll as an agricultural one, and the basis of supplies for the upper Gila.
 We understand that some of our prominent citizens and merchants are taking active measures to con- ssruet a road from Florence to the Santa Catalena mountains. This project will be. comparatively easy, for the country Intervening is level and quite free from underbrush. This road will open up three large mining regions and the large timber belt of the Santa Cohalena mountains. This timber belt, which consists of pine, spruce, cedar and hemlock, is the largest and finest in Southern Arizona, snd IS in sufficient quantity to supply the southern portion of the Territory for years. Your correspondent leaves for a trip over the pro- posed line Of this new road, and will describe more fully on his return these three mentioned mining re- gions.. Until then adieu.
 KILN.