Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-05-07
TUCSON TO PORT LOBOS.
Papsgo Stage Statien--Ths Railroad Station Of Hudson--our Fighting coTeIpondsnt-Sl0E Progress. Scarcely of Water and Plenty Of Snakes
onr cnrr.snond.nt in the Field.

Our correspondent in the Field
 PAPAGo STAGE STATION, April 3O.- To-day, most beautiful Sabbath day
 finds us in camp ct the old, and now
 temporarily deserted Papago Stage Sta.
 tion. on the Tucson and Altar stage road
 thirty-iive miles from Tucson. The old
 hut is built of adobe, cactus, reeds and
 mesquite snags and is about the most
 dilapidated habitation I ever saw. In
 fact the old place is so uncouth tbat
 despite the seorching sun, we deemed
 it more agreeable to stretch our canvass
 outside and leave the smoke-begrimmed
 walls to those little insects which at one
 time followed the American army with
 so much persistency. To the southwest
 of us old Barboquivari Peak looms up
 like a grim sentinel while the crescent
 shaped Barboquivari range of mountains
 form a dull gray streak against the
 western and southern sky. Southeast
 of us the rugged Sierrita mountains lie
 sombre and silent, and the Coyote range
 siruggles n its eiioris to hold np before
 our vision barren, dark streak. In
 this portion of the Barboquivari valley
 we find excellent soil-the best we have
 travelled over since leaving Tucson-but
 it lacks the water and means of irriga-
 ton to make it desirable as agricultural land. However, I believe that before long capital will devise some means for irrigsting all of this valley until upon it can be produced all the cereals adapted to this climate. Water can be found by digging from l50 to 200 feet and in quantities sufficient to irrigste the entire valley and afford plentiful sup ply for stock. The range is excellent and doubtless before many years this | section will be thickly dotted with ex- tensive ranches and inhabited by a | prosperous payple.
 We yesterday laid of depot grounds | for another town and it was named | Hudson in honor of Mr. Charles Hud- son of Tucson, who, I believe, is | treasurer of the Tucson and Gulf of | California Railroad Company. The station is the third one that has been | designated on the line and is exactly | thirty miles from Tucson. It IS situated | in the valley, on the Altar stage road, and near the foot of the Sierrita noun tains. When the surveyors reached the I spot the sun was pouring down its warmest rays, but nevertheless the boys wiped the precipitation from their burn ing foreheads and gave three cheers for Charles Hudson and Hudson station.
 Our party is still discussing the Indian outbreak with a good deal of earnest ness and apprehension, and not having any means of getting reliable informs- tion in regard to the present situation of affairs, are rather 10th to enter uninhab- | Ited portions of Sonora unprepared. Chief Engineer DeLong has made ap- plicstion for military escort but has not as yet ascertained whether or not be will ge. ;t, and, in the meantime, we are gradually getting further along on the uninhabIted plains. However. should | the murderous Apaches take refuge in Mexico and get on our route they will | encounter one of the healthiest and merriest surveying parties they ever un d-rtook to eIact scalp-locks from. As for myself, have no unquenchable de- sire to enter into powder and ball dis cussion with the Apsches, and. besides, do not think it would be right for me to do SO, because I am not acquainted with single member of the tribe andit would be foreign to my accustomed re- tirlng demeanor. Neither do I think it | within the limits of a correspondents duty to shoot passage way through horde of bloodthirsty savages simply for the purpose of writing up my impress ions of a semi-civilized section of coun- try. Therefore If you have another field in which my usefulness can be utilized you may call me in at the earliest oppor- tunity without the slightest risk of offending me. will go over and write | up the agricultural advantages of the | Sandwich Islands, go to Silver Lake and cruise around. in search of the North pole. or go into any other important field of duty without hesitancy in order to escape wrsngle with the Apaches, people whose ideas I am entirely igno- rant of. Still if you insist upon flow of gore, "Barkis IS willin" but I must first be equipped for the campaign. l desire two cannons, seli-cockers, burrO load of shot-guns loaded to the muzzles with scrap-iron, and at least dutch emi- grant carpet-ssck full of double-edged butcher knives.
 We have now struck section of coun- try where we find it very difficult mat ter to get waler. We are now hauling 1t from the Spanish wells, a distance of 12 miles, and the next water station IS Sas- saba, 3S miles from the Spanish wells. Our slow progress on the line makes 1t hard for the teams to keep a supply of water in camp and unfortunately the weather IS and has been for several, days | very warm and sultry. A heavy shower | to-day passed around to the west and south of the Barboquivari range but no portion of 1t reached us.
 The men composing our party are all | in the best of health and spirits and have | been since we left Tucson, except Cave | Couts and your correspondent, who each | had two days tussle with fever, which was brought on, doubtless, by the in- tense heat They are all right now how ever, and can gouge out the interior of a side of bacon with as much alacrity as ever.
 Each day the boys have numerous combats with rattle snakes which seem to grow more numerous as we near the | Mexico line It would, indeed, be q serions mishap should any of the party | be bitten by one of these reptiles for | we have no means of procuring ethe | proper antidotes. While our stock of | staple drugs IS quite complete, the ab- sence of the customary shapely bottle I with its roseate contents-liquid fire me that "snake bite cordial was studiously neglected when the requisition for medicines was made out. Last Sunday the surveyors worked near ly all day, but this morning Mr. De Long called halt at nine o'clock and bade the men take a rest and put in the time as they wished. But there were no sweet chimes of the church bell to remind us that the day was one to be kept holy and nothing but the signing of an occasional breeze Tn the leafess boughs of the mesouit, broke the mon- otonous stiffness that prevailed for miles around us. One does not know nor ap- preciate the sweetness there is in the ringing of church bell until be is far beyond it's sound. Most of the men put |