Arizona weekly citizen., 1885-09-05
OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORs
A short Cruise on Wheels Tbrop.b
 PInal County.
More About Judge R+ymert's Mountain of
 Silver Ore

panied by T. D. Reymert, started ont
 for short trip through Pinal, cf winch
 county VIC had both been residents in
 former years. A ride of three-quarters
 ot an hour on the railroad brought us
 to Desert Station, postoffice and now
 ticket station on the $. P. under the
 name of Sandair. The passenger for
 Desert formerly had to take a ticket to
 Red Rock. ten miles further east. Post
 master Charles Laberee, hGs a fine well
 at Desert, which supplies water ro trains
 on the road between Tucson and Flor
 ence. Owl Heads. etc. Ee IS fencing in
 garden ID very original manner. with
 sahuaras, now grown to height of
 about four feet.
 At Desert, D. T. Elnore met us with
 buggy, according to previous arrange
 ment. The road from Desert to Owl
 Heads is steady up grade for the
 whole distance of ten miles. Shortly
 after leaving the station, post IS passed
 on the side Of the road, winch marks
 the boundaries of Pima and Piaal coup-
 ties. Bunch grass Is plentiful and the
 country well timbered The Owl Heads.
 which are visible from the railroad, are
 prominent, turret like mountains, so named, not because they resemble owls
 heads, but because they are full of the
 nests of thousands of those solemn birds. Mir. EInore has U pleasant little camp here, enjoying a fine summer climate.
 with cool nights. His five stamp mill adds its regular monthly tribute 10 the
 bullion output of Arizona.
 On the following morning, We started on our trip to Florence, forty-five miles distant. Ten miles out there IS s cattle | ranch. Beyond this there Is no hsbita- 1 tion, nor any water-except tank l about a mile south of the main rOad-i until Florence Is reached. The county | seat of Pinal county looks the same as I ever. Florence never changes. Entow- l cred in its groves of cottOnwOods. its | inhabitants pass their placid unevent- ful existence, unmindful of the great | outer world with its cares and troubles. |
 The soil, climate and water are supe- riOr tO those of Phenix. Some say, when a wide awake, enterprising popu- lation comes Tn, Florence will be the l, most prosperous as well as the most | beautiful town in the Territory. The l project of taking out canal ROove Butte, to itrigate the mesa south of Casa Grande, ls still under discussion, with apparently good chance for sue cess. Should this canal be built, 1t would afford fertile homes for thousands of settlers. 4 good quality of flour is now being made at the Sanford mill, near town. Everything in the shape of fruit and vegetables IS grown to per lection in the valley, which makes their absence from the hotel table the more remarkable to travellers. Proba- bly the natives get so surfelted on fruit. that they imagine everyone mus. feel the same way. A new aud imposing | school buildiag Is just undergoing its finishing touches. Work on the CIla bridge will b. commenced in a few weeks by the San Francisco firm, which has the contract. The cottonwood trees are becoming unpopular m Flor ence and are being largely replaced by oaks and R beautiful tree called the Japanese umbrella" which Is 8s pretty ss a picture and makes growth with such rapidity as to remind one of Jonah's gourds.
 The next morning We left Florence for PInal, about 8 miles distant. Just outside of town Is the place where the Gila river would be but there Is not 6 drop of water in sight. 4 party -ot drummers recently drove from Final to Florence. Having been told they would have to pHss the Gils before reaching the latter place, they inquired, on srriv- ing at the hotel, how far 1t was to Flor Rnce and would hardly be made to un- derstsud that they had already crossed the raging Gila.
 Pinal Is cheerful little mountain town and looked rather more lively than when l last SAW IL, eighteen months ego. Four years ego, wbeu the cond. ten stamps were Hdded to the King mill PinRl experienced quite a ht- tie boom and building went on rather ahead cf the perm Ineut business. Ten more stamps have just been added to the King, making 30 m all, but the people
 have grown wiser by f1per.ence and there IS DO particular boom apperent, although bnsIness Is improving owing chiefly to the work Rt Reymert's mines. At the King mlne, , miles distant, work has not ct been pushed below the 500 level, which point WAS reached over two years ago. There Is vast amount of good ore between this and the 1DO level but tho trouble IS to get 1t out. There is only one shaft, for all purpos,s, and the t!mbers below, Tn the great cham bers winch have been hollowed out, are giving way in many places, making work difficult, or even dangerous. Large quantities of fresh timber 6re being placed Tn the mine, as fast as they can be hauled. Tue Blk has shaft over l. 600 feet deep, JO feet outsIde.of the King line. This they have offered to sell 10 the King Company, but will not accept less than the amount which the shaft cost them.
 On the following morning. accompan. jed by several Pinsl friends, we started out to inspect Judge Reymert's cele- brRted mines, six miles northwest of PinaI. The Continental ledge, ss 1t IS called, IS quite s landmark, cropping out on the summit of the mountain for three miles along side the wagon road from Final to Florence via Mineral hill. Two miles of this ledge-siK contiguous ciaims-be- long to Judge Reymert and have been opened up by over thu nsand feet Of shafts. cuts and tunnels, showing the pay Strcbk lu uO pldOc iOSS bhoH IVY feet in width, and from that to ten and twelve feet. I was surprised to see the amount of work done Tn roads and other since last visited the mines. From one 90 foot shaft nearly S5O.OO0 in bullion has been shipped from the five stamp mill. A walk ot several hours over this immense ledge tired our party out, with the exception of Judge Reymert, who, in spite of his 6i years and more than 200 pounds, skipped over the rocks with the agility of goat, only finally desisting out of pity for our aching The Judge has had a stone cabin built, on one of the highest points of the mountain, whence there is a mag nificent view over the valley, taking in the Gils river, the railroad hnd the mouutsin ranges toward Sonora. On the ledge is an old tunnel, made sppar- ently over a century ago, by Mexicans, also a ten foot shait. sunk hy General S.z-o-onts eoIdiara tha same who after