Arizona citizen., 1880-04-10
San PedrO.ToEu.

4 correspondent of a Los Angeles pa per thinks that Tucson is the livelieSt town he has seen tor ii long time; and we do as much business in one day as they do in three, and then adds: " It is expected that the road will bc finish ed to San Pedro River where the great town is to be located. Everybody is getting ready to go there" Now this is news in Tucson! "Everybody get ting ready to go ihere!"
 We should like to know where this Los Angeles fellow gets his informal ton. But we are not surprised to hear such talk from Les Angeles man. In this he exercises about the same judg' ment that mOst Los Angeles men did before the Southern Pacific Railroad was built to that place, and because Los Angeles was killed by the rail road, he thinks that it must necessarily follow that Tucson will suffer in like manner. But there is no comparison between the local causes affecting the two towns. Los Angeles has but littlt trade outside of her immediate neigh borhood, which extends but a few miles north or south; the trade Of Tue son extendsfOr hundreds of miles north and south. Los Angeles depended large ly on the trade of Arizona, which was almost wholly destroyed by the build ing of the railroad; Tucson will not lose her trade when the road is extend ed east; she has not, nor ever had, any trade in that direction, save what has grown up in the past year from the Tombstone mines, and Tucson iad at tained almost to her present propnr tions long before the discovery oi these mines. When the railroad is extended to the San Pedro, Tucson will lose large portion of the trade oi Tombstone District, but there are some thirty other districts within radius oi 100 miles of Tucson, which are now and must ever remain tributary to it. Some of these districts promise full as well as Tombstone District, and both mills and smelterS are now on the way to Tucson, and will be put in place for the reduction of their ores at an early day. Tombstone will, no doubt, be- come live camp, with a population of from three to five thousand, in the neal future; but as to that new town-that dark horse on the San Pedro-we never expect to live long enough to see it. There is nothing there to build a town It is an unhealthy location to begin with: has no agriculture to speak of and can never be more than shipping station for the mines, with a precarous population of few hundred. We arc told that the railroad is going to dc wonders for this imaginary town. Now we should like for some one to tell us where railroads have built town. Did the Southern Pacific build town al Sumner? Did It build town at Colton No! but it destr'yed two prosperous towns already built. A railroad com pany may destroy towns, and may aid in building up towns; but it requires the cooperation of an energetic people supplemented ly natural advantages to build up large towns and cities Then again, we are told that San Pc. drO is so near the Sonora line that it will draw 4 large proportion of the S"nOra trade. Yes, it is about fifteen miles nearer the Sonora line than Tue son, and the only outlet to Sonora Is up the San Pedro river via ihe San Jvse Mountains, into a section of coun.
 ry that is but little short of bowling wilderness. Therc are not 2000 people in the entire region of country in So nora reached by this route, and their entire trade ", uld not be equal to 300 Americans. Tucson opens the gate to the rich and popu1ous portion of So nora; her trade connections are made here are old established lines of com munication between Tucson and Altar Magdelana, HermosilIo and all impor tant settlements along the Sonora River. None of these towns or settle menis can be reached from point east of here, and all of this talk about s new town--a rival 10 Tucson-is the merest twaddle. There is no founda tion for it.