Mohave County miner., 1889-10-26
4 Frsspsstsr. Notes y tAs " =.

Wbile in Phoenix devoted good dsal
Of attention 10 the fruit question. was
for several years engaged In fruit culture
ia California and naturally took great
interest, - believe the immediate future
Of southern Arizona depends on the favor
able solution Of this question 10 large
extent. On leaving ! learned that fruit
trees and vines grew well but old Cali
fornians told me the fruit was not equal
in favor, in fact, found every variety
Of opinion. had several conversations
with . very intelligent Mexican who
owned property in the town, he had been
engaged In fruit raising In Sonora. He
told me that In one Of the revolutions he
had taken the wrong side and had to
skip, losing his property. He went first
to California where he resided for two
years and then came 70 Arizona, coming
70 Phoenix. He told me he thought from
the soil and climate II would be fine
place to grow citrus fruit and that be
had watched with tho greatest interest
every tree planted, but though the trees
grew well the fruit was inferior to that
Of California, he was Of opinion that they
never could grow first-class fruit. think
they are encountering the difficulty ex-
perienced in new countries, they will
have to learn the varieties adapted TO the
peculiarities Of soil and climate, when
they do that they may succeed.
While in Salt river valley paid q visit
to an old friend in Mesa City who took .
team and we visited many Of the ancient
ruins which abound in the valley. There
il remarkable ono about Eve miles from
the town. II must have been at least
four stories high and Of great extent, sur
rounding it was the remains Of a wall,
while in every direction was to be seen
the ruins Of houses. II il evident that at
one time there was q great population in
the valley. We traced the lines Of some
Of the old irrigating bitches, they were Of
great extent, aud what excites astonish-
ment is that they were the work Of a
people who had neither domestic animals
nor metal tools. These houses were
built Of adobe, apparently in q manner
that have seen practised in South
America, frame the thickness Of the
wall was laid and filed with the adobe
clay, when suificie atty dried II was re-
moved and another laid until completed.
1t is evident from the appearance Of the
ruin that the catastrophe that destroyed
these people must have been sudden. !
was told that the Indian had no tradition
Of who these people were nor Of how they
disappeared. So far as the Salt river
valley and the northern part Of Arizona is
concerned this il true, but when on the
Papago reservation learned from
gentleman who had q great intimacy with
that tribe, that they had tradition to
the effect that great drought, the like
Of which had never been known before or
since, that the springs dried up, the game
died or disappeared, the Indians all over
the Territory were starving. The only
provisions were in the Salt river valley,
they demanded share, which, being re-
fused, they attacked them from every
quarter, seized their provisions and totally
exterminated them. OF all the accounts
have read or heard Of this seems the
most plausible, as it is certain that th,ss
who escaped would perish Of famine.
The great want Of the Salt river valley
ia market for their produce. At present
they produce far more than there is de-
mand for. Just think Of hay selling for
g per ton and grain for 80 cts per 100
pounds. bought eggs from the stores
at Is cts, per dozen, butter was high on
account OF hot weather but had been very
cheap. They are talking Of railroad to
the north and ! believe Maricopa county
has offered bonds.to the amount Of n 900
per mile to any company that will build
a road to the north. Such road would
no doubt give them market and in re-
turn they would be supplied with lumber
and potatoes, and have no doubt such .
road would do good business, as there
would no doubt be q great amount Of
travel, people in that hot country would
come north in the hot weather to cool of
and drink good water while in winter
many would 60 south.
A. G. LoNdNoRg.