Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-06-04
FROM TUCSON TO PORT LOBOS.
Tho Rich Mining Country About Plomo-Fertre Valleys sUncultivated-stayionN No il-AFr1ghs- ened vinags-want or Mail Facilities ] I,...-. ..r,r .nrrnar.nrlinnt In fhn fald

slnce leaving Tucson, and cart say it
 IS much of a town. It certainly can
 claim no metropolitan proportions. The
 place contains about twenty-five very
 upretentious adobe shanties and has a
 population of about two hundred. The
 place IS not laid ont with any regard to
 mathematical txactness but instead the houses seem to have been put up wher-
 ever the builders thought one was need ed. The mines here are the richest have seen, and only need to be devel-
 oped to make this one of the wealthiest
 mining districts within radius of two
 hundred miles. The hills surrounding
 the village are full of rich ore, but they
 have not been half prospected much less properly worked. There are five ar
 rastras here, three of which are running,
 but each one crush's or grinds only three
 hundred pounds per day. The work is
 all done after the true Mexican fashion,
 that IS, something after the manner in
 which the first sons of the ancient Egyp-
 tiars would have gone at it. Howeve-.
 a California company have recently pur-
 chased oue of the pest mines here and
 are making preparations to work it as 1t
 should be. A party of ten miners ar
 rived to-day and they info ID me that the
 company has lot of the best machineI '
 OF the way. Mr. Thayeris, I believe, to
 be the Superintendent, and understand
 that mills will soon be rut up here.
 It will be long time before the mines
 of Sonora are properly developed if the
 matter is left to the natives, unless they
 procure better machinery and take ad-
 vantage of more convenient facilities than they have utilized in the section
 through which 1 have travelled. The
 absence of the Yankee and his native
 ingenuity is not exceptionable in the | mines alone but may be seen in the rich valleys which instead of being entirely
 uninhabited and barren should be thick | ly dotted with ranches, irrigated fields
 and sleek herds of cattle aud horses. | From Sasabe to this place distance Of
 nearly thirty-five miles ws saw but oue
 habitation and that was deserted adobe | hut situated in a beautiful and fertile
 valley ID which We found a never failing
 well of water.
 It is my opinion that the people Of l Mexico would be much better off if the
 country belonged to the United States and better inducements were offered for it's development. I am joined in this opinion by large majority of the peo- ple of Sonora who believe that their
 present system of government is some
 thing of a failure. The e1orbitant i'm
 port duties are considerably complained
 of by the natives and the system works a great hardship, not only upon the poor class. but upon all.
 Since getting into Sonora we have been fortunate in one respect at least
 For the past few days we have not been charged a cent for water which is in it. self quite a saving-one which amounts to about four dollars day. Still We are liable to be glad to find water, even though price is put upon it, before many days, as I am told that south of [ Is place We will have a stretch of more thirty and probably fifty miles over which there Is no water.
 Plomo Is our eleventh station and is ll2 miles from Tucson ard a little more than ninety miles from our destination. Pot Lobos. We stopped here to-day to kIll beef and take a short rest so that the men may again leave the "set- dement's for the dreary desert some what refreshed. Our arrival here this morning brought about many amusing incidents and to some extent served to inaugurate sort of holiday for the na- lives. The surveying party with their caravan came in about 9 o'clock through l narrow canyon and before the rest | dents had time to enquire of each other | the nature of the invasion little red and l white flags were Tapping in the breeze in every quarter of the little hamlet while the glitter Of the instruments and | the crowd of deet-footed men formed | picture never before looked upon. Men, 1 women and children rushed from the l abobe huts and forming into lumns along our line looked ou with mute astonishment. Some of the children were badly demoralized and the frightened little ones could be heard biWhng in every direction. I don't sup pose half a dozen people il the place ever saw a iailroad. and their con lectures with regard to the appearance and workings of one were of the widest character. Our camp which is in the center of the town-or more properly speaking, the limited aggregation of huts has been the center of attraction and Is constantly surrounded by men, woman and children; even now as I write, in the shade of an adobe hut, | am surrounded by score of little ones, who are so filled with curiosity that they fail to appreciate the excel ence of silence. However, with all their GU iosity and their crude ideas of lIfe, the MeIicans of thIs section are hospitable to degree rarely , 'ound among Americans. I am told that to person in need they are always , lospitable and generous, but they labor under the belief that most Americans i nave plenty Of money, and that it is the [ privilege of the Mexican to sell an 1 lrticle for two prices if he possibly can.
 The people in Mexico SO far all seem ', O rejoice over the probability of the : of the Tucson and Gulf of ( California Railroad aud believe that it ! yIn prove of great advantage to them. ,
 We have a hard time receiving and I orwarding mail matter and have had E m abundance of opportunities to direct 'mphatic epithets at the postal system 2 f Is republic. The only postofIice We V lave passed was at Sasabe custom { lOuse, and that one was established but v title over a month ago. There is DO . here nor no express and we ( ould not even find man in the town c 7ho had a postage stamp. Our only / nance communicating with the ' utside world lies in the slender pro- | ability of meeting some one going to t 'ucson or Sasabe. Last week we T ravelled four days withou. seeing man n IT beast outside of our own outfit, and n his fact will serve to illustrate some of d he incouvenicnces which we have to n