Los Angeles herald., 1891-04-20
ARIZONA AS 1T IS.
A BRIEF PRESENTATION BY ONE
OF THE RESIDENTS.
tanned from Trip on the Railroad AL
together Misleading.

"Arizona is country unjustly ma
ligned, her demerits exaggerated
and merits seldom extolled," said
F. J. Peck Of Phoenix to a HERALD re-
porter last evening.
"We have one of the richest terrific
ries and prospectively one of the largest
producing states of the whole union, !"
said the gentleman, continuing. "Only
yesterday heard stranger remark
that Arizona was one of the most if not
the most God-forsaken looking country
he had ever passed through; and that
is just what has given out this bad i'm
preston of Arizona. The Southern Pa
cifica railroad passes through the only
desert OF the territory. A few miles
from that line there lies one of the most
fertile and delightful to look upon little
valleys in the west or anywhere else.
There are thousands of acres of verdant
fields and healthy and prolific fruit
orchards and vineyards, there are
orange orchards where you can see as
fine oranges as are grown in Southern
California. They of course are scarce
as yet, but there are sufficient to demon
strate that they can be grown. This is
the Salt River valley, and in it
is situate what will some day be bold
and independent city. She is now the
capital, and this year entertained the
lawmakers of the territory. These law
makers, by the way, have sown some
seed which Arizona can heartily thank
them for, and which begins already to
fructify. Among these things is the
Af - :nE
local roads from taxation for period of
twenty years. This will encourage the
building of road between Phoenix and
Prescott, and more than probably con-
meet by rail Globe, Florence, Phoenix
and Tucson. With these connections
some of the richest agricultural and min
eral lands in the world will be devel-
oped. There is range of mountains be-
tween Phoenix and Prescott known as
the Bradshaws, which, to use a mining
mans words, are veritable dykes of min
eral. Some very large and rich concerns
are operating in these mountains, now
hauling their ore from sixty to one hun
dred miles by wagon to the railroad,
shipping thence to Ell Paso to smelter
and making money, but there are many
smaller and less rich mines which
cannot be worked under such dis
advantages, but which would pay
handsomely if they had rail-
road facilities for transporta-
ton. The Globe country, too, is
notably rich mineral country, and is
producing enormous amounts of gold,
silver and copper, annually. The coun-
ties of Maricopa, Pinal and Yuma fur
nish the agricultural land of the terri
tory. We have now at Phoenix num-
Der of fruit evaporating concerns, and
last year shipped a considerable guam
tity OF peaches, apricots, apples, raisins,
grapes; we have also one or two wineries
of importance.
In the vicinity of Phoenix there have
been over sixteen hundred acres of
fruits put in this season, and greater in
terest is being now manifested in the
fruit industry than ever before. Another
item which illustrates the spirit of
progress is the organization, within the
past two weeks, of company for the |
purpose of building sugar factory and
to encourage the raising of sugar beets.
This is eminently proper and wise
move, for it will be means of bringing
quick returns, and little cash now will |
help out more than great deal after
while. The land can be set in oranges,
and while the orange trees are growing
can be made to yield an income from
sugar beets.
''I could tell you OF her great canal or
irrigation system, of her now famous
onyx mines, of her lumber interests,
her world-famed scenery, but not famed
as part of Arizona, that is the Grand
cafion of the Colorado, of some of her
celebrated mines now yielding, such as
the great Copper Queen of Bisbee; and
then what field for the scientific. There
are miles and miles of buried cities, the
only evidence left of people that pop
ulated the country before Columbus
ever thought OF discovering America.
We are not very we'll known, but some
of these days we will astonish the
world"