Arizona silver belt., 1885-09-12
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LAs vrsAs. N. NJ, Sept. sa

2 til the mothihg following my arrival
 there, so I had q good nights rest and
 resumed my journey Tuesday morn
 ing greatly refreshed
 Camp Thomas is almost deserted only very flow oooonp soldiers 10.
 naming and they strut around ih
 their uniforms as though Ito. the man or born,' Tho post is picturcsquely
 situated in tue valley of the Gila. To
 the east is tho river, beyond which
 stretches broken mesa5 running up in-
 to the foothills of the Gila mountains,
 a a long and broken range that forms
 the eastern watershed of the valley. 1 To the west Mt. Turnhull and t6 the
 south Graham, two of the highest
 mountains in the Territory, rise ma Iiestieally, while 10 the southeast l stretches the broad valley of Che Gila
 with it's fields of grain and the river
 winding it's serpentine course, and as l beheld it, gleaming brightly in the 1 morning sunshine. Just as we were ! pulling out of Thomas, I met J B,
 Collins, one of your subscribers. The insurance companies paid him S1o0o9 fer his losses sustained by tic burn ing of his store. He is now replacing 1t with a slightly and substantial
 structure. Collins is . live business
 man and when his new building is
 completed he will have one, of the
 largest establishments in the valley. i
 Ho has tue contract for supplying the 1 military posts of Thomas, Grant end | San Carlos with grain.
 To the person viewing for the first 1 time the large tracts of fertile land | which have been brought under culti- vation, the impression received is enc of agreeable surprise and yet the pos sibilit.es of the valley arc by no means developed, There are still thousands of acres which can and will, eventual ly, be reclaimed by the hushandman and made to yield bountoously. I'm proved lands with water rights are ! st'N very cheap prices ranging from SC to SID per acre. Speaking of re- claiming lands reminds me of an at- tempt the military made in tbis line below Camp Thomas. They took oua an expensive ditch several miles in length and were surprised by the dis ,overy that water would not run up nIh. The project was finally aban- ioned and the government out of pocket a considerable sum. Grain iu he valley this season did not yield 7cry well, only about a two-thirds' rop. Considerable corn was planted md is locking well
 Pima, Stafford and SolomouvilIe are ' villages, Stafford by far tho ! ,est locking of the three. l shook { lands with our old friend J. c. Glasby { f the prosperous firm of CElasby { | jams, controlling q large business. ! is was just going so court to appear IS a witness ia some civil spih They l re eternaliy having at safford Al Ij 'olomourille We stepped for dinner nd were well fed. 1t is a poor look az town to be the county seat, but hey say money got it away from Saf. ord. The Mcxicans largely ounum- er the white population and the ouses are mostly adobe. The court ouse is a fair looking building but is varied by ex-sheriF George Stevens nposiug residence. It is the biggest hing in the town. l. E solomon is he most important man in the berg. Ie is well otI in worldly riches and au laueutiaFmau in county politics. It
 said that he expected to again se- are the contract for supplying the arious military posts with gram and ith that view bought about two mi. q, on pounds ofbarley and is now at <, .ss what to do with #.
 The ride from SoIomonyine to Bowie 5 trough the upper San simon valley Y. uninteresting. There ara only two ' ' aces in the distance of thirgy.gcyen lies that living thing is seen, al Tt u eSican sheep hsrders hata 2 few miles N on solomonyille and Baileys wells station where they change horses. N. his part of the valley is wilderness /" wing to their beng no water any- here except at the wells where t 7s struck at depth of f2o feet py le stage reached Bowie at half past pe o'clock, and was compelled to er, 7 over until 3;80 the next afternoon. tb, net Mr, WiekersharB of tie firm of l,a lomon, Wickersham < Go. forwards sta 2 agents and dealers in general rner- l,of andise, They have the government 1tract fnr forwarding supplies to lie rious posts tributary to Bowie 'ich while tho sierra Madre cam on ign lasts is big thing. The gro- md 'ies and supplies III Arizona aro now fac ng slipped from San Francesca to all wie by Express q cost of $1lO0 to of '00per caE
 two soldiers from Fort Bowie, who been in Mexico and had seca N <. ato loss than four weeks ago, told Yi'
 that there was nothing in tbe re- Fse