Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-10-13
TIE TEXAS PACIFIC LAND eaAsr.

effect that confirmation of the Texas
 Pacific land grant would have upon
 tlis Territory, aud while me conclusions
 arrived at are sound, the Journal has
 erred in it's statement as to the charsc-
 Ter of the land The Journal says: As
 Tar as the grant in this Territory IS con
 ceTned it consists of long strip of arid
 cesert land, extending from the Cobra
 do river to the southeastern corner of
 The Territory. h it's present condition
 It ls Of absolutely no value to the Terri
 tory, neither offering revenue in the way
 Of taxes 10 the public treasury or being
 capable oi supporting human lie"
 The Journal has greatly erred in
 Is estimates of the value of
 lands m Arizona claimed by the
 Texas Pacific Railroad Company. Be- ! r.aniug at the New Mexico line, it ex-
 tends west to the San Pedro rlver, | through as tiue a grazing country as can | ue f'uud in Arizona. From the San ! Pedro river al Benson, west, the grant
 takes ID all of the San Pedro valley to ! i,s junction with the Gila river, and from l that point west it covers all If ihe Gila valley and rich bottom lands west 10 ! Yuma, embracing the very best
 agricultural lands in the Territory, some
 of which has been settled upon, and al- | ternate sections of a considerable | amount ot il has been taken up under ! The homestead. pre-emption and desert land acts. IL is true as the Journal says,
 hat much Of the land adjoining the Gila
 valley is desert land, and practically of
 ] .lIe value to the government or rail road 1npanIes, but the grazing lands
 of the eastern part of the Territory are
 valuable, and there are many thousands of acres of the finest agricultural lands il Arizona ip the San Pedro and Gila iver valleys. The land embraced in those valleys i- valuable, but outside of
 those valleys the land IS not worth the
 government price of even minimum llud, and with the exception of quar- ter section here and there, where water
 found, will never be purchased at
 I % an acre. But if the prlce should Ds reduced, say to 20 cents an acre,
 II rr nearly of 1t would in time be
 aken of and paid for and it would become taxable property and bring revelue 70 the common wealth of Ari- aona.
 The CITIZEN IS opposed to the grant ing up public lands to railroad corpora lions aud believes that 1t should cease altogether. But ID cons dering the re- sllts b ,t would follow a confirmation pt the Texas Pacific land grant as whole, we cannot help but agree with | ru- conclusions arrived at by the Jour- | iaL The remainder of the article which l appeared ID the Journal reads as fol- lows:
 Tue only way it can be made of | .ny advantage, either to the public or | rb private In nIIvIduIls,is by the inaugura- | lon or Q system of Irrigation, which, | . wIii be long time before private ! inilyIdIal enterprise would undertake I Under the desert land act a private in- | yldual can take up section of land, | sut, without systematic plan of | irrigation. I5 would be of no advantage
 % uim. lu order to inaug1rate this, II GIll, no doubt, require the building of canal tO buug wdt-r from the Colorado -lver c ub alu a sufficient supply to mi -ate tnls immense tract of land. It Is
 rue that portions oft are contiguous to -ue Santa Cruz and Gila rivers and oth- TT streams from wnlca water can be ob- uned Go Irrlgate them.
 Should thls grant revert to the South -rn Pacific railroad, it would immediate l. begin Co yield a revenue to the terri tory lu the way of taxes, as the moment
 l- title passes from the government to
 lem, 1t would become taxable property. 10 th.s way alone the territory would ? cap a benefit from II winch at present md for years 10 come 1t will not.
 Again, the S1uthefu Pacific Railroad Ompany dO's not want n desert tract Of
 .ud, just for the purpose of paying tax -' on It 10 the Ter ItOry. Their object iu Eautlng tO procure this grant IS to make 2 nabitanl-, as by so doing they can increase the traffic on their road ma- '.' A'-AlN A lT 70 vel AtH-OuABlt lEopD- ] .it-Iu r1 conclude that, as soon as they 'D,ain the title for it, they will set about 1y system of irrigation as outlined l Hov-, ,tu make 1t productive. This means ID addition of from 5000 to 75,OOO to he population of this territory, and by l rugaiIuV thelr own lands, they would -ak- all those contiguous to them valua ,.r. By this it will be seen that, outsidt , 't the proposition as a legal one. this 'r-itcry will be greatly benefited by he rrversion ot this grant 10 the South. ru Paelfi, Railroad Company. This l. srift with a full knowledge Of the , '-eJldIce existing against railroads and
 ilroad land grants particularly, in the f, linis Of many. But great deal of ; % outcry against them is devoid oi =ason and not based on fact The very ' er7nns who to-day decry the railroad and grants few years since advocatrd 1. hem as the best method of fully devel- ' ping the vast resources of this coun- ry.