Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-12-22
A GROWING TERRITORY
ARIZONA AWAKENING TO 4 NEW
 AND VIGOROUS LIFE.
Its Marvellous Soil For Fruit Bearing and
 Its Fine Agricultural Possibilities.
Denver fiepublieal)


 Peaches, fresh figs, oranges and grapes lay upon the dressing-case and table of the room at the Windsor, occupied by Thomas E. Parish, com missioner of immigration of Arizona, yesterday, piled up i'll tropical profus- ion.
 "These grew in my neighbor's gar den," said he, "and hastily gathered them as l was preparing for an unex- pected departure to Denver, in re sponse to a telegram to meet Major Powell, chief of the Bureau of Geo logical Survey, tomorrow. They are not exceptionally good-only fair sample of what we can raise in the Salt river valley. Of which Phenix IS the commercial center.
 "Arizona," he went on to say, lis emerging from cloud of prejudice. In the early days of its organization 1t started on career under difficult ties that would discourage the most sanguine settler. It was, indeed dark and bloody ground For years a con tlnued story of Indian warfare blast ed the name of the territory. But the days of trouble from the Indians are over, and we are now commencing to show the world what we have and what we can produce
 "Our soil Is of 8 sandy loam in the Salt river valley. It Is capable of the most prolific fruit growing of any sec tion of the United States, with the aid of irrigation. It has been shown by the recent developments made by Lieutenant Frank Cushing, under au- tholi,y of the Smithsonian Institute and the patronage of Mrs. fleming way of Boston, that in the eighth and ninth centuries th1s same valley con tained and supported a population o 100000. It could the more easily dc so again owing to the improved know | ledge of the cultivation of the soil anC irrigation. We have 100 miles % ditches i'll this valley alone, covering 300,0O0 acres. In constructing thes, ditches we have found many of tn, waterways of these extinct people.
 On this land we grow peaches, ap ricots, oranges, figs, dates and tho best grapes in the world. We hay, fruit the year round. Tn Januar, come the figs, which have also beer l plucked for three growths before, iron June. In February and March tn raspberries and strawberries ripen The apricots come in April and May In April the figs and in May tn peaches appear and then the dat , and oranges through the succeeding months. 90 politically does tn fruit grow that with our present facili ties of reaching markets 1t cannot b disposed Cf From 20 acres of fruit $5,00O could be realized each year.
 ''This productiveness of soil is no confined to the Salt river valley" Il continued, but ali through the va leys of the Colorado, the Gila (prC nounced Heela,) the San Pedro, Sar ia Cruz and Verde rivers are as ric bodies of bottom land as can be foun in the world. Ditches are now bein taken out on the Gila river which wi irrigate many hundreds of thousand of acres and in the whole territor not less than 100000 acres are su, ceptible to ltivation-cereals, veg, tables and the harder fruits in tn north and the tropical fruits an grapes of the south-for which W want market, and to grow which " want water.
 Arizona is a territory of great COT trasts. The world does not know
 but there are 16000 to 10000 soual miles of pine and juniper on the mom tains, and black walnut, white oak an wild cherry in the canyons, that is ; valuable timber as can be found in Il country. While at Prescott, with a altitude of 5,750 feet, blankets are a ! ways comfortable at night, at Pheni , with an altitude of ,400 feet, and on 116 miles south, we have no snow no winter, and the face of nature
 only a change of verdure In Il ,, Salt river valley we raise five crops !, alfalfa a year. Already 10000 head ] beef cattle are being fattened, and b fore spring there will be $50,000 hes there getting in shape for market.
 It would pay the Rio Grande Cor pany to construct road from Dura
 go to Phenix The distance is abol 600 miles. The road would traver new country of rare productivenes
 It would connect our finest fields wi the markets not only of Colorado, b1 of the east. We ask no protecti'
 tariff, but only chance to get ol
 frl1itS tO the world
 It is to ascertain from Major Powe 2 his views rega4 ding the storage of W s ter along our streams, the chances f
 artesian wells, and how best to co n duct our irrigation that I am here; B well, also to impart to him all u : information possess concerning A zona."