The Phoenix herald., 1879-03-08
ARIZONA.
The Past. Present and Future
FLoLENcE, A. T. Jan. 24

I take the liberty to give them few
 facts through the nledism of youl
 valuable paper
 Arizona is today in embryo tho
 greatest mining domaIn of the Pacif
 ic. I cannot give in this short letter
 a detailed description of the many
 bullion producing mines now ln act
 i've operation, such as the Peck, Tip
 top, Tiger, Silrer King, Stonewall
 Jsckson and many others that arc
 making regular shipments of bullion
 and ore. Heretofore it has been i'm
 possible to work what is termed low grade ores, or ores that will work
 from $50 to $500 DOT ton, on account
 of high transportation and the lack
 of skilled labor, but now these obsia- cles are rapidly disappearing.
 The Southern Pacific railroad is laying track up the Gila valley at the rate of one and half miles per day and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad is rapidly approaching our eastern boundary. Thus, our ter ritory will soon be brought within easy reach of the east and west and
 our mines will then create a greater excitement than California in '49- As yet our mountains are uneXplored /; and many mines now discovered rank as prospects when com ?ared with the deep workings of the COmstock, but as such prospects they vie with any mines now on record, having paid richly from the croppings to the low est level, though sunk in the face of every difficulty, such as high trans portation, Indian wars and scarcity of skilled labor.
 But these difficulties are thing of the past The Indians are al gatheIel on reserves at peace, and we already feel the influence of the in Aux of eastern capital, with cheap and rapid transit.
 As a general thing Arizona miners are shy Of San Francisco capitalists, having been repeatedly swindled by them; for it is an undeniable fact that every Arzona mining property yet placed on the market in San Francis co has been the subject of q stock job blng swindle, and the stock going in to the sherifNs hands for non-payment of labor, while in every instance these mines had proved of merit and should be paying handsome dividends on the capital invested.
 Your correspondent will describe through series of letters the differ ent mining districts of note through out the territory, and will gladly ans wer any inquiries about them, made through the columns of the Record, he having had ten years experience in Arizona, and during that time trav- eled over nearly every portion of the territory y-Cor. Mining Record.
 ANOTHER OPINION
 Salt River valley, whence I write, and of which Phoenix is the business center, constitute, no doubt, the finest farming district i'll Arizona. The farmers raise here, with the hel9 ol excellent crops, and ar getting rich, as they find close at hand good markets for their produce at re price. They are therefor all right. I wish 1 could say as much for the generality of miners in this section of the territory, of whom there arc here great number out of and not few hard up for the means for keeping soul and body together. The newspapers by their constantly blowing about the great mineral wealth of this territory. the fine openings presented for min CTS, etc. have caused more people to come here than can find employment or employ themselves to advantage. The result is, we have lots of good, industrious men willing to work for their board, as many of them are now lolng in this valley, where there is, of course plenty to eat. Another cause of hard times here has been the failure of the McCrackin, the Signal and the Golden Store mining com panies up i n Hualapais district, which after paying of their employees, and other ways pushing into circulation nearly a million dollars of their worthless paper, closed down and left the holders i'll the lurch. Not l the big stories told of the yield of the mines here, the Tip top is, I believe, the only company that pays promptly; while there are several companies here that are doing well, much larger num- per are doing but little. the great ma oritv nothing at all. There are good mines all over this territory, but they have at present, to be worked under SO many disadvantages that it is hard 70 make them pay. When more mills and reduction works have been introduced into the country, and the reaches the mining districts. the mines here can be worked with profit. Until then mining will be an uphill business, with some big sue