Arizona weekly citizen., 1888-08-25
St. David.
A Thriving Mormon Settlement on the
 San Pedro


 San Pedro
 This is the name of @ small town in which sm a. presen. living. I, deriy- ed its name from a prominent nm by the name of David W. Paiten, the S., be- Ing added because of him being devout Christian. The town IS lOc ted ou the San Pedro River, ID Cochise county. Ari- zous. about thirty miles north Of the lIne of Mexico snd IS in about 3l0 west loD- gitude from Washington. and g." north latitude.
 The climate ss general rule Is mild, although the thermometOs h8s wi1a range. being from about 10 deg. to ll0 deg. fam, The rainfall IS considerable, but do not know 1t exactly. We have shat we call the rainy seef on every snm- mer lasting from sbout the last of June 10 the first of October. There is seldom any snow fsl!s, Deves enough to cover the ground.
 We are here surrounded by She seve- rsl mountain ranges. On the southwest is the Hus,hu range, being noted for it's broken and wild Rp 1esrshne sad grand scenery. Al the foot and 1ear the north end is situated Fort HuRcbucB, a very large Military Post of the U. s. Army. There are several other very rough and rugged mountains surround ing our valley. sn of which contain more or less mineral deposits.
 About eighteen miles southwest is Tombstone, situated on some low noun tains snd containing some very Tlcb gold silver and copper mines. We have two railroads iD our valley one the Southern Pacific, running east and west about five miles north from bere, cur nearest station on that road from here, being Benson. The Sonora line, a branch of the A. T. & s. F. runs from Benson up our valley and over to Gueymss ID Sonora. Our nearest station on that is C4ossteo about one and half miles west. From this we get our msil.
 There are no I1dIsns in our vicinity, only during the outbreak of the Ansches
 Our productions are sil agricultural, being mostly hay, wheat, barley. os and vegetables with 8 very few fruits. These are not raised 10 ve9y great Rbun- depoe, and most of the grsin Is made in- to hay snd sod ID the msrkets of Tomb stone and For. Huschuca.
 Stock raising IS the leading pursuit Of the people. There are thOussads of heads of cattle raised 0n our ranges every year, The beef Is mostly shipped to the eastern and western markets.
 Tue date of the first settlement. of tbis town was on the 18th. of November 1877 by P. O, Merrill, Sen. with four other families numbering 10 sll thirty three souls.
 There are DO very prominsnt buildings, the largest is an old school house which WAS destroyed by tho recent eBIthquske, but hss sipce been fixed up and IS used tor general meeting and church purposes. | It IS built of adobe and iE abont 36 by by 50 feet in size. We now have a very nest little frame school house about 24 ! by 36 feet in size. Mos. Of ihe dwelling | houses are Of frame or adobe. The people all belong to the Church of Jesua Christ of Latter Day Saint. The eldest male inhsoitBut is Phiie- man O. Merrill, Sen. He passed through thIs country in 1S46 in the hormon Bat taliop, a com pasy of volunteers ia the late MeIican war He was born Sovem- Der l2t5. 1920. in Byron, New York. Ills occupation is farming. He IS now draw ing s United Ststes Pension from the Goverr ment in consequence of en injury received in the Mexican vsr.
 The native wIld animals are the bear. deer, antelope, mountain lion, and wolf. | Domestic animals are horses, cattle, mules, burros or donkeys and a few sheep snd goats.
 The birds are small but in great vsrie- ty. the most important beng .he duck. quail, owl, hawk, mockingbIri noted fof singing with great many other besuii- ful singers.
 | There is but one variety of fish and | that is of tne sucker family. For reptiles we have the rattle snake, centipede, scorpion, tsrsutuls, Izzsrds, horned tosds, snd gils monster. We have a very late account ot one earthquake which secured CD the 3th. of may 1887 and was generally felt through out this country. It destroyed or in- iured pesrly all the adobe buildings ID | town. thereby csusing much dGmage, but killing no one. slight shock were fel: after that up till sb5ut chrIstmsn snd a few have been reported since thst time | THos. E. WILLIAMS.