Arizona weekly citizen., 1894-10-20
The G1la Valley fs a Beauty.
(Continusd d from CITIZEN of Oct. 1O)

(Contlnusd from CITIZEN of Oct. 1O).
 The Gils valley is a beauty. From Solomonvllle through to Thomas, and further, farms adjoin, fence to fence. And farms they are, too, with crops such ss would mas 8 the nouth b of the eastern farmer water. Here they never grow less than thirty bushels to the acre of small grains. 1 be decidaous fruit grown here Is of flavor such as would make glad any epIcurs. The stock are the fattest. The houses are usually of brick. Well made and hOmelike. The people well 1 must have a separate paragraph to tell of the people.
 They are Arcadians. Their valley is modern Arcadia. They do not have spinning wheels, nor talk through their noses, they read the papers, land fa- vorIte is the CITIzEN), they are hon. est people, living simply.
 Their life IS homelIke above every. thing. They live more directly from the soil than anywhere in the territory. Their bread IS home made, and from wheat gro@ D in their own fields. Their butter is of their own churning, the genuine dairy butter mighty seids m found in the market. lbey have on Lheir table fresh eggs, and Tucsonites, used as they are to Kansas eggs, should try the Gils valley eggs to know it's pro- duct in it's glory of freshness palaiabIli- ty. Fresh milk Is served with their meals. 1 didn't intend to bring my self ID, but can't help saying that since I came to this valley l have been living on the fat of the land.
 The houses have on their floors hon. est, old fashioned rag carpets, such as Tucson does not that l know boast of t Q first one. These Carpets have straw under them. Ire be ds have feather or straw tick, and the pillows are such ss ones head is lost in. Good old fashion- ed steel knives and forks and in making away with the good food served with them.
 The people, as said. are largely Nor. mons. In intell genc- they rank above the average farming people. l don't know where Mir. Skinner got that idea of his that not more than one person in SIX reads newspapers; certainly not in | the valley where he comes from. l only found one man who did not take aDy papers in the valley, and he is noE a reader of the CITIZEN. About the ght average for the GIls valley IS SIX papers for every man. The later element of ] the Mormons arriving here from Utah in the last two or three years have sort of stirred things up here. They now have amateur theatrIcals iD ths valley every week or two, new play being put on monthly. I attended the product,on | of "The Mountain Waif" at Thatcher a few nights ago, and was indeed sur prised 1t the excellence of the perform anca. Ths parts were carried through very commercially. Profession als have given performances of less merit ID Tue son. than was 70 be seen ID ths unpre- tending Arlzona Dramatic company. They play in all the towns of the valley and believe have appeared at Globe and Clifton.
 The valley people are sociaole, and dances are of least weekly occur euce.
 The dizzy, dreamy waltz and the trip pety trip polka has come to super ede to great extent the quadriIles th at had complete sway in the days of the earlier settlers here. P. H.
 THATCHER, October 1.