Morning journal and courier., 1889-09-12
ON THE PACIFIC COAST.

ON THE PACIFIC COAST. Mount Arrowhead and It's Great Km-
 blematic Rlgure-NIt. San Bernafdln0
 seven Glover Crops Yearly-The Mo-
 fare Dssert-A Flying Trip to Arizona
 -MyriaAs of Cattle-A Blackboard
 Drive Of Sixty Miles-Prof. W. P.
 Blake Of New Haven.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 Before leaving San Bernardino we must call attention to one or two subjects which may be new to some of your readers. An object of much interest is Mt. Arrowhead, which is distinctly visible from the railway of gigantic Indian arrowhead, 1900 feet in length and 75 feet broad at It's base. It points downward and is said to have been made by the Indians that the tribes in their wanderings might the more readily find the healing waters, which flow from the springs near the foot of the mountain. This is now a summer resort with hotel, resident physi- oians and baths, also mud baths for the treatment of rheumatism. Mt. San Bernar- dino marks the government meridian, the base line being roadway straight as an ar- row, which intersects the meridian at right angles, and from these bases have been made the geographical divisions of California. It may be of interest to your farming friends ian clover, here yields seven crops year, averaging from @ ton to ton and half per acre with sufficient pasturage for cattle fo the rest of tho year. Alfalfa has brought as high es $20 per ton and from that down to $7.
 We leave San Bernardino by the Califor- mia Southern railway and are soon climbing Csjon Pass through the Aojare desert to
 Barstow. Here the Pacific time changes an hour to mountain time, and we take the Att lsntio and Pacific railroad to Prescott Juno" tion, Arizona. Again we change to the Arizona and Prescott railroad and reach Prescott, 6 distance of seventy-four miles, in four and half hours. How would your readers enjoy being that length of time get ting from New Haven to New York, about the same number of miless For more than | half the way we run through plains where there are many cattle, which seem to resent the intrusion of the railroad upon their do- main, for we slow up often to drive them from the track, and our speed recalls Mark Twain's story of putting the cow-catcher on the rear of the train to keep the COWS from getting on board. The railroad fare Is ten cents per mile, $7.40 to Prescott as against | q. 50 from New Haven to New York. The railroad has been fnished but about year ! and is doing pioneer work in opening up | this rich mining country.
 At Prescott we speedily secure blackboard, | pair of horses and driver, for we have before ! us sixty miles of the toughest kind of noun \ tain roads among the mines. In another ! hour we start, for we have 35 miles to go be- | fore we stop for the night. For about eight miles we mount upward through the pine
 trees, then down winding road on the op- posite side of the face of the mountain to Copper Basin where the copper mine is work. | ing day and night. Here we make brief halt, to water and rest the horses. Then on again up a dry water course, over stones and \ through underbrush with in many places
 hardly to our eyes, q vestige of road and al g o'clock at night we reach the place where we are to sleep. Next morning we start early, and while getting lunch at little sta. ton couple of gentlemen drive up, one oi ! whom proves to be Prof. William F. Blake of New Haven. and chat about home follows es matter of course. We have yet eighteen miles to go, but about 3 p. m. we accom-. plish it, and hearty welcome and a good | dinner does much towards resting us. Then | we don miners suit and are shown through tunnels and slopes, where the light of our | candles falls upon lodges of glittering, | sparkling gold in great quantities, it seems ! to us. Afterwards we go through the build- ings, examining ore crushers, stamps, con- l centrators and the varied machinery of mod l ern mining. Our explorations and examina- tions have taken aeveIal hours and we are | again tired and hungry, and the call to sup, per is welcome one. Then we light our cigars and sit out in the cool moonlight at abont LOGO feet above sea level and absorb sll the mining knowledge we can, giving in exchange the latest news from the outer world, for here in these lonely mountains, though but a few hundred miles from San Francisco, it takes week to get the sought. We retire early, but before doing so our host tells us if we hear . fusilade of shots in the night not to be alarmed, for oc- cdsionally @ wildcat gets in the hen roost. Az the outside doors are all left open, we care fully close the door of our room so as not to be mistaken in the darkness for a chicken but we slept soundly and undisturbed, and
 looking out of window in the morning dis cover one of the cats playing with a centi- pede, which she soon kills and eats. We are told, however, that this kind, though poison ous, is not fatal, but are shown one of the deadly varieties preserved in bottle. After breakfast we bid our entertainers and in- structors good bye, are given rich specimens of ore and start on our return drive. In the tired horses and ourselves. Again we drive on. In the gathering twilight jack rabbits and quail dart into the bushes and through
 the grey dusk oayote vanishes
 like a ghost. The young moon sf- lords us a fine light as we ascend
 the mountain side from Copper Bsisin, but the ride of eight miles in the starlight down the other side to Prescott makes us
 ache yet to remember. All we could do was
 to hang on with both hands, and If oul
 wagon failed to hit stump or a stone 1t wsi
 only because of the multitude of them. We
 reach the hotel @ little past midnight, find | the door open, no clerk about, 50 go to the
 room in which we left our trunks and mAk
 ourselves at home. Through the still night
 air is borne to our ears the sound of music from some dance hall, and nearer by the rat
 blsrs. Still, there is less lawlessness hert
 than in former years, and stage robberies are
 less frequent. However, we preferred thu
 more expensive way of reaching the minel
 instead of taking the stage, and chose oul | route and horses with reference to . safe re
 turn. Our driver was we'll armed, but doubt
 less could have made no defence had we | been "held up."
 What is needed for the safety of life ant
 property and the development of the many
 mines through this region is the extension O
 the railroad from Prescott to Phosnix the
 present capital of Arizona. For the bette
 working of mines, the storage of water is es
 sential, as about four months in tho yea
 most of the streams are dry. Much of thu
 land in the far west can be made highly pro
 ductive if but little irrigation is made possi
 ble, and the investigations of the congres
 sional arid land commission at present pur
 suing their duties in California should prov ! very valuable. Next afternoon we leav
 Prescott by means of its rapid transit C
 railway, and ct the junction again take th Atlantic and Pacific railroad eastward. w propose to rest and snooze most of the tim for the next day in the train before writinl you further. OBSERVER. \ Drowned.
 ! Wells Corwin, thirteen years old, of An sonia, son of Deacon w. H. Corwin, wa