Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-11-27
RIVERSIDE.
Beautiful Settlement in Plnsl County
 Mineral and Agricultural Resources
IPinal Drn.l

[Pinal Drilll
 This beautiful place Is situated lmiAe-
 diatelv on the Gla river, on the south
 bank. where the brothers Putnam have their commolious hotel and store. The
 town site is about one mile above thei,
 function of the Mineral creek and GilaI
 river. and fifteen miles below the mouth
 of the San Pedro. There is also the
 Riverside postoflice. The Gila is here beautiful, wide, clear stream, fully entl-
 tied to the name of rive-, running rap
 idly. with solid banks on both sides.
 There is twenty-one feet of fall n the river m about a mile and hall from | Riverside up stream, and about twenty | feet for the next mile below. A dtch -9 about to be constructed for water power | and irrigating purposes, commencing | about three miles above the settieLneht'
 at a cost of about 5000, which wlli iur-
 nish ample water power for the PennsyI-
 vania Mining Co.,, whose works VIII Oe | erected about a quarter of mlle aDoNe l the postoiiice. The future city Of hlYer- | side will thus have an unlimited supply | of water for its gardens and surrounding | fields. Riverside Is surrounded by a
 mining country, in all directions, oI ln- | calculable wealth. Copper, silver, gold' | lead. zine and iron abound in masses, ID Fall directions, and in one days tramp
 one can see more mineral than enough
 to pav our National debt. The landscape
 Is magnificent, the fantastically shaped
 cones, pyramids, raYnines, canyons and
 preclplces- Euld afford heiC ~lS loi ;i.S :l1,
 most,aiented artist, amidst all of Wll.es' the pastoral slopes on the Glla form marked contrast. The pasturage is abundant all around, springs and creeks are plentiful, game abounds, wild geese, ducks, quail and pigeons are frequently seen. and deer are plentiful, some of the most delicious venison having been en- loved by us at the mining camps. Wood for all purposes exists along the river and in the canyons as well as on the mountains. Crops of every description, are raised along the river and mp tGe San Pedro. We saw some beautiful lnulan corn. and amongst the rest the Egyptian corn, or desert maize, which grows here in abundance and yields enormously. | The Drill last year advocated the intro duction of this species of grain, and took much trouble in distributing seed, which
 We have the pleasure of seeing produce a thousand fold in several directions. The large heads of Egyptian corn, suspended in the Putnam hotel as specimens of tine production of this country, are really wonderful. As a food for cattle, horses and poultry, as well as men, no cereal can supersede this corn, which has the advantage over all other kinds, or ac- qiiring perfection even amidst prolonged -droughts.
 Riverside is situated half way between | Florence and Globe. The enterprlslng | proprietors of Riverside are entitled to | the greatest credit, for having pioneered | and constructed the mountain road to Globe. first as a toll road, but now owned by Pinal county. There Is daily mall | over the route, although the rains oi the | past season have seriously impaired the | road in the mountains. The San Pedro l Valley, above and within Pinal county, | has now about seventy ranches, and the | population Is increasing rapidly. The | land Is rich, and well adapted to agrlcul- | tural purposes, but cattle raising Is the | principal industry. The want of a market
 Is severely felt, and, and they all look to | Pinal, as Pinai looks to San Pedro, for | communication by the contemplated | road The proposed road to Riverside | from Pinal passes Bauman mine SIX | miles from Pinal, Walnut Grove nine | miles, Mineral Creek twelve miles, and | Riverside eighteen miles. The road Is over level ground and side hills, with the | exception of about two miles of mount am road. We have a ready cash market at Pinal for all that San Pedro and the | Gila Valley can produce, and every day
 which Is lost, by delay in constructing | the new road, IS a serious drawback to | the entire county. Pinal now gets its | supply from Phenix exclusively, and the | industrious Mormons are hauling away | bags full of our silver dollars every day, | in exchange for their hay, fruit, vegeta-
 bles, flour and grain; while We cannot | get half enough produce from them. We | therefore urge 1t earnestly upon River | side. Mineral Creek, and San Pedro
 especially, not to lose any time in | pushing the road projected ahead, nor | can our merchants of Pinal, Silver King
 and Queen City be too active, in exert | ing themselves for the accomplishment
 of thls important enterprise. Final has
 so far alone been alive in this matter. | The road viewers are now in the field, | and their report may be expected ln d | few days. There Is plentyDOI money III
 the hands of the Supervisors to build
 this road wlthngtdelay, and roads are of
 much mlSTe importance III this county
 than are court houses and jaIls or any ! ngfer thing the county can spend its l money for The road fund has been plundered heretofore by the SupervIs-
 ors, and the steal has been legalIzed,
 but now We have over $500 of road | money in the treasury which can be ap- piled to build the road, and then this | tax-ridden county would at least have l trihe of benefit to show for the many | thousands collected from the people
 year after year, Of which there Is now no 1 trace to be seen. The people interested
 in this project may well understand that they have to arise in their might and thunder before the deaf ears Of the
 Florence Board of Supervisors, for every
 dollar of their own money they will ever
 get for the5imprOvement of the county
 outside of a court house and jail, which | former is only now slowly looming up, in order to perpetuate the county seat
 at Florence, to the detrlment Of the en-
 tire county. IT San Pedro and River
 side had a good wagon road to Pnal, | Riverside would count a thousand Ill.,
 habitants in less than two years. As
 center for agricultural industry, mining operations, manufacturing purposes and delightful, healthy homes no place Is more inviting than Riverside, or can
 look a smiling immediate future of
 wealth and prosperity more squarely m
 the face. With the growth of Riverside,
 the copper camp a mile below, with fine
 water powers on the river, and a beauti- | ful plateau for q town near the mouth
 Mineral Creek where the Pinal Copper Company has its works, cannot be held
 back. The Gila river here, and for
 miles above, Is a cOnstantly-ilowlng, | large stream. and no one can fail to Ob-
 serve the vast natural advantages of Xiv erside and vicinity, which require only to be known to the outside world to at | tract large and immediate influx of an
 industrious and enterprising popula- 1 tion We shall glve a description from
 a personal inspection of the mines lm-
 mediately surrounding Riverside, which
 are situated amidst the ranges of noun | tains that shine and bristle with miner | al croppings, so prominent and abun- | dant, that the traveller cannot fail to
 wonder at the apparently endless min eral deposits that seem to have lmpreg- mated the whole country, and which ap
 pear and meet the eye in all directions.