The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1892-02-13
Something OFIhe Resources OF
Yuma County, And a Word
for the Town.

A great deal has been written of
this county, ard more of the town.
Passengers on the trains, stopping
off twenty minutes for meals, have
filled columns in newspaper articles
setting forth their ideas of the
town, and the same passengers in
traversing the county have formed,
to them, the wisest conclusions
concerning the resources Of the
county. In leaving here on its
course East, the railroad bears
steadily away from the agricultural
portion of the county and crosses
mainly the sterile high lands where
the cactus and the lizard predom-
mate. Looking from the car win
dows the traveller, gazing upon this
waste land and basing his calcula-
tons thereon, sagely shakes his
head and gravely jots down in his
note book an arbitrary dictum that
the country is worse than useless.
The result of this thoughtless OBJ
se'vation has been much injurious
animadversion, and both the
county and town have materially
suffered thereby. And yet what a
mistake! There is probably no
section in the United States more
varied in its resources. Having
within it's limits the great valleys of
the Colorado and ella rivers, be-
sides innumerable smaller valleys,
having for water supply those two
rivers and Williams Fork, and be-
ing possessed of a climate unsur-
passed in the world for productive
and sanitary qualities, this great
county has an, astonishing future,
The drawback hitherto can be
mainly charged to the past fictitious
but attractive blooms" in Southern
California, which distracted atten-
ton Of capitalists from this section,
and which, in their disastrous col
lapse, resulted in making capital
timid of investment in lands and
their redemption; but merit will
win in the end, and to-day capital
is pouring in upon US in the forma-
ton and conduct of immense land
and irrigation enterprises of indis-
putable intrinsic worth. 1t has
been practically demonstrated that
for citrus fruits and grapes, this
section is far ahead of Southern
California in quality of product
and time of maturity of fruit.
Grapes, oranges, lemons, lines,
peaches, apricots, etc., ripen weeks
earlier than in the most favored
portions of our neighboring state,
and oranges and lemons earlier
than in Florida, thus ensuring us
the cream as well as the skim
milk of the market. The cereals
grow to perfection, and there is no
product of fruit or cereal raised
in Yuma county ever afflicted by
rust, smut or parasites of any
kind, all of which can be determ-
ined by examination of the gar
dens of the town and adjoining
lands. Among the various irriga-
ton enterprises, now under way in
the county, it may be well to men
ton the largest, as follows: The
Mohawk Canal and Improvement
Company, has some SO miles of
canal constructed, redeeming 49,
900 acres; the Farmers Canal has
about Is miles constructed, re
deeming 10000 acres; the South
ella Canal Company have some IL
miles of branch completed, and
are now actively engaged in the
construction of some 40 miles Of
main canal, which will redeem
fully 10000 acres; and the Yuma
Pumping and Irrigation Company
will redeem 10000 acres. The
canal of this latter company heads
Just below town, and takes its
water from the Colorado river by
means of centrifugal pumps. The
company is composed mainly of
Denver capitalists, and is now
planting out a large area of land in
citrus and other fruits. Several
carloads of oranges, lemons, lines,
grapes and other products have al
ready been set out. Other Denver
capitalists have organized perhaps
the largest irrigation enterprise in