Arizona weekly citizen., 1884-07-19
ARID ARIZONA.
Climatic Companions Certainly Curious
 and Convincing.

IL has become a common matter te
 speak 1t Arizona as desert region will
 a summer season of unbearable heat
 but compared with other portions of the United States against which nc such accusations are made, neither oI these assertions are true. But a frag ment of Arizona can be properly termed a desert. The vast areas of table or mesa land are termed deserts more from their present uncultIyated condition than from barrenness, and there can be found but small fraction of land In this Territory that will not blossom as the rose if water can be made available for irrigation. It has been demonstrated beyond doubt that an abundance of water can be found by sinking wells, and in many localities astesian water can be obtained. The tiourishIng Mormon colonists of Mesa vile have shown the possibilities of the table lands when irrigated, and their beautiful homes, green fields, grooming orchards and fstted herds, tell a tale that words cannot express.
 In Arizona there are no long months of dreary winter to provide agaiust-a season of suffering and privation. There IS no need of filling up huge barns with feed for the stock, and providing ample cellars with stores against the embargo placed by nature upon the productive ness of the soil. Here the crops grow continuously, and the planted seed at once responds to the potent influences of mysterious creation. Two, three. four, and even five, crops per year are produced in thls desert land, with far less effort than the single crop Is pro. duced m eastern states. The cultiva- ted "desert" lands of Arizona are like those of Southern California were be- fore water for irrigation was developed and, like them, will become very vaiua- ble few years hence
 But the intolerable heat of the sum- mer IS set up as an insurmountable ob- lection to Arizona. The people of the east read of the thermometer ranging from ninety to nearly one hundred and twenty degrees in the shade in this Ter rltory, during three or four months in summer, with horror. This really does seem pretty warm, and yet there are DO cases of sunstroke, although very many people are exposed to the direct rays of the sun. In New York, no later than the second day of July, the inhabitants of the city fled precipitately to the sea- shore, leaving all business to take care of itself, because of the intense heat Such thing has never transpired in Tucson. And yet the thermometer Tn New York did not indicate an extreme of heat. At SIX ln the morning 1t stood at I4 degrees; at nine IL had risen 10 7S; at noon 1t was S6; at hRlf-past three 1t stood at 90; at six in the evening it was 90, and gradually dropped to 7S at mid night. This Is considered a moderate range of temperature in Tucson, where the air Is light and dry, but in the humid atmosphere of New York there was no relief except that obtained by immediate flight to the cool sea shore.
 But there IS a grateful boon within the reach of almost every inhabitant of southern Arizona during the extreme heat of the summer months, that Is not enjoyed everywhere. The mountain ranges which exist at frequent intervals throughout this country afford almost any kind of climate that can be desIred In the Santa Catalnas, the Santa Ritas, the Huachucas, and other ranges, the most delightful summer resorts exist, aud one can choose, between the balmy warmth of the trop.cs and an altitude somewhat below the line of perpetual snow, any degree of temperature that he fancies. Nor will he lack for pas time. The views are sublime; the hunt ing is always good. and while there Is but little Tn the way of fishing, the nov cities of fora and fauna will in a meas ure compensate for the loss of that sport.
 Provided with good hotel accommo- daiions among the baisamic pines of the Santa Cataiinas, there IS no reason why, after a seasons experience of its de lights by some representative tourists, that Arizona should not, as q summer resort, become as famous as 1t ls now derided.