Daily Los Angeles herald., 1882-05-28
inele Copies of the Herald. 5 Cents.
Arizona.

By all accounts Arizona is just now at
q stand-still. This is due to q variety of
causes. In the first place, there has
been enough of border ruffianism and
Apache outrages to discourage any peo-
pie on the footstool. In the second
place, the system under which Arizona
has been developed has not been favor
able to the "booms" and excitements
which attract the adventurous element.
Whatever may be said against the sys-
tenn under which the Comstock lode has
been managed it must be admitted that
it had tendency to encourage settle
ment and develop bonanzas, with at
least temporary enormous resultant
benefits to San Francisco. The assess
ments which have been raised ON the
Comstock lode during the last four years
would, if they had been expended in
Arizona, or if that portion which was
not stolen outright had been so expend-
cd, in all probability have advanced Ari-
zona to the premier station of the
States and Territories which pro-
duce the precious metals. Within the
last four years at least thirty millions of
dollars must have been raised in assess
ments on the Comstock lode, the only
thing which has encouraged the stock
holders to pay them being occasional
little deals" with apparently nothing
of merit behind them. On the other
hand, during the same period, Arizona
has been a prolific producer of the pre-
cious metals. Tombstone alone has
yielded enough treasure to have fur
nished the basis for dozen honest
deals during that period. There is
this difference between the quite legiti
mate deals which might have been
made in Arizona and those which were
witnessed on the Comstock, viz, there
would have been an ample accompani-
mont of dividends in the former, which
would have stimulated development and
populated the Territory. That the con-
ditions of development exist in Arizona
to an unusual degree is fact now gener-
ally conceded by mining men. At the
same time that the in many respects vici-
Gus Nevada system of assessments and
" deals would have furnished the ma
chinery fol. developing these consider
able deposits, Los Angeles would have
profited under such system in Arizona
very much as San Francisco did for
years from the Comstock. The day
could not have been long postponed
which would have seen this city the
center of most of the mining operations
of that territory. The method in which
Arizona has been developed was cau-
tious in the extreme. Absorbed in the
Comstock lode, the capitalists of San
Francisco allowed the control of the
most promising properties in Arizona to
pass into the hands of Eastern men,
who have worked them in spirit of
profound timidity, making few ,outlays
that could be avoided and having regard
strictly to the temporary profits which
would be amassed. As result, very
few of the Arizona mines have been
opened up with anything like the COM
pleteness which has always character
lied operations on the Comstock lode.
The timbering has been defective; and,
in the main, these novices in quartz
mining have shown little confidence in
the permanence of their deposits.
Such methods have had the natural
result of producing distrust, and Ari-
zona, for some months past, has been at
a standstill. This is the uniform testi-
mony of those who have reached Los
Angeles from Tombstone and other
mining centers. 1t is hardly reasona-
Bile to suppose that this state of things
will continue much longer. There is
one pleasant thing about Arizona, and
that is that all the anticipations which
have been INDUCED in as incidents of
the extension of the Southern Pacific
Railway have, thus far, been more than
realized. Five or six years ago one
could hear great deal about the Vul-
ture and Tiger mines and about few
other claims which have since cut no
considerable figure in the mining world.
The Silver King and the Tombstone
mines shot across the mining heavens
like blaze of lightning from clear
sky. They were absolutely unheralded,
and impressed the mining world with
all the force of discoveries. Had they
been manipulated after the manner of
the Comstock lode, they could have
been made the instruments for phe-
nomenal development in Arizona. That
many other deposits of similar magni-
tuds will be discovered during the pro-
gress of railway development cannot be
doubted. The standstill in our neigh
boring territory cannot be lasting.
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