Weekly Phoenix herald., 1883-07-19

southeast. Here the Pima Indians raised a superior quality of wheat. A MT. White was running small flour mill at the Pima village, and Henry Morgan. afterwards one of the first merchants in Phoenix, had small trading post in tke same vici- nity, buying wheat from the Indians and furnishing them with other ne- cessaries of life At Maricopa Wells, i stage station near bJ-, Grinell 6 Co. had small store. Flour brought Sl2.00 per hundred, and wheat was eight cents per pound. As there was rapidl y growing demand tor these staples at Wicken> burg, 1t Is 10. strange that some of the more enterprisi1g citizens com
 nenced looking about them for chance to turn an honest peEny by
 furnishing the required articles. Salt river valley WAS in those days almost unknown. Tho road
 from Wlckenburg to Maricopa l Wells, came down the Hassayam ps 10 the White Tank mountains, and
 from that P int struck straight to
 the Giia 8, it's confluence with Suit
 riyer. The only road through the
 valley, was made by J. '. T Smith,
 who had the government hay cor-
 tract ct Fort Mcdowell, on the Yer
 de river, and had established In t4e
 spring of '87 hay cslnp on Salt
 river, four miles above tiie present
 city of Phceaix. Here he had some
 Mexicaus at work cutting tue yasletG
 hay, whi-h grew in profusion along the river banks. Here he also had
 a small band of cattle roaming over . the unclaimed wastes; and his only neighbors were the antelope, the coyote and the rabbit. The rattle- r snake i,issed at the passing traveller, , and the lOa,hsome turkey buzzard circIed in silent curves overhead Tbere was no shade except from 5 s few struggling c,ottonwoods along l the rlver channel, and on either side a stretched desert covered with mes , quite, palo rerde and sage brush . sloping gradually towards the foos> 6 hills of the barren mountain ranges, e which enclose the valley to tue uortt e and south.
 V Mr.y. Y.T. Smith was thus ti' : first white sojourner in this ov 9 populous section, although the pres
 ence of old adobe ruins, and numer
 ous channels of ancient canals, show
 that q numerous people who hav e left no history, have Gs some far dis a tant epoch, inh&bited ard cultivated . these fertile lands
 Whether they were Toltecs o
 Aztecs, or what they were, is E. rlys'
 tery that the ages refuse te reveal
 Implements and utensils Of ston
 arc found iu the ruins, but no trac
 Of any metal sool or ornament ha ' ever been discovered. This is thei
 known history; let them rest
 In 1867 the Apache Indians wh
 infested the mountains were hos il st and dangerous, but seldom venturec '. into the valley, as tho Pimas on th F. Gila river, although they wer Is peaceable farming Indians, kneV r. very we'll now to take care Of theH ,e selves snd d..ferd their homes. l l> every engagement the ApAches wer' j. invariably worsted. until at last thu fl blood-thirsty tribe came to the con d clusion that the mountain air Va ct healthier than that of the valley
 and ceased their murderous raids.
 It was in September, 1867, that J h W. Swiling, more familisrly know < as@J Jack Swilling, Id tjlnnF H |.| . 1 dtenis of Ari - n stop at J. smith ; c1t1b for E s few days While there he nnriced n the lay of the land anl considered , the feasibility nf bridging watei 2 upon i; Or his return to " exon :, burg, by his reports oa the ferii it. t of the soil and tf,e ease with wh cf 6 it conli be irrigated, he sooa ia' , duccd others n join aim in gitat:ng g the qles.I of organizing j'in Q stock company to taze out ditch il
 that secti,,n. Is result of these eff
 forts a meeting wss held on the 16ti e day of September, 1887. a whic'i , Q stock com pany was forme |, calling , itself the "Swilliug Irriga ing Can sl Company" with nominal capi' a tai of $1O.O0o, consisting of fifty shares, at 900 each.
 Following are the names of the
 first original stockholders in tii company, as taken from the minute of the first meeting:
 . Aaron Barnett, William Bloom, F
 NJ. Chapman, C. c. Ciusker, Frank Cosgrove. Darrel Dupper. J. Den , slinger, Ger. E. Freeman,F. Franci Frd Henry. Thos. Hogue, L. I. r
 Jager, J. Jun ,t, c. Kenyon, Johr
 Larsen, T. R. Latimer, Jas. Lee, ]
 McMullcn. M McGrs,h. T McGpld
 rick, F. Metzler, J. W. Swilling. J
 Smith, S. Sawyer. (Frenchy) M. $
 Underwood. L. Vaniemark, Rober
 Ward, Henry Wickenburg. G. A '. Wilson, D. D. Ward, J. Walters