Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-07-27
FINAL COUNTY
Florence to Be a Competitor to
 Salt River Towns.
Arthur Elliott Refuses a Gold Cup and tho Citizen" Correspondent Buys Fresh Eggs That Hatch
 in Three Hours.

FROM OUR TRAVELLING CORRESPONDENT.
 Casa Grande is not as "Grande' as it used to be, but it "still kicks" as ex- pressed by a resident of that place. The people were kicking about the selection of a teacher. They were about equally divided on sex preferences, and the ad- vocstes of male suffrage seemed to have the slight majority, and if so then Prof. J. H. Rodman will be elected as teach CT. It must not be understood that the Casa Grande people want Prof. Rodman as teacher because he has such a sug- gestive name. for he is not a rodman, nor does he believe much in the rod, out because he is gentleman we'll qualified to teach, and fayorite among the peo- pie.
 MT. Arthur H. Elicit. employed in the office of the s. P. Co, is very sffa- ble and intelligent gentleman. Ale is the | designer of the flag of Arizona, and hopes to see it in the halls of congress, | in the hands O. our representative de- | mading admission to statehood. Mir. ' Elliott IS hrm believer in the future of the mines O. Arizona, particularly the | silver and copper mines He would not want to own a gold mine. In fact he | hates gold bugs so much that he refused | & gold cup which was offered him by | the writer, to substitute perforated | Royal Baking powder can which IS kept | in the freight office near the olla for the | convenience of the public.
 | Mir. F. B. Maldonsdo does the bulk of | the mercan tile business there. | The stage owned by Mir. D. o. Stew ems makes daily trips from Casa Grande | to Florence; distance, 26 miles; time, | five hours. I was much impressed with the conduct of the stage driver; he does rot swear, drink or smoke and IS as -eg- I ular in his habits as he IS in his trips.
 He IS always ou time.
 \ Florence, the county seat of Pinal county, is dull at present, but times
 will be better in the near future. The
 north and south road and the Butte re- servoir, will not only revive business, but will make Florence a competitor of
 the Salt River towns The scarcity of
 water causes the dull times apparent. There had been no water ID the Flor ence canal for nearly two months, but
 on the day 1 reached Florence the peo-
 pie there were made glad by large sup
 ply of water from heavy rains above the
 river.
 II The court house and the public school
 house are very fine buildings. The for
 mer is the best court house in southern Arizona, except the one of Pima. Flor ence people deal mostly with Tucson merchants spd it is one of the very few
 towns visited by the writer where friend
 ly feelings are entertained towards Tue
 son people. The north and south road
 will do much to establish stIll better feeling between Pinsl and Pima.
 | There is good hotel here kept by
 Mir. Robert Williams. Mrs. Williams
 has charge of the dining room and the
 best meals are provided
 This town must be very healthy. On
 visit to the county hospital l found
 snly five patients, all quite old, and it
 oppeared to me that old age was the } only lnfirmi:y that hed taken them to the hospital.
 Florence ought to be a good place to
 sell wiDdmills. Saw only one in the town-a Cyclone windmill, owned by U cycles are also very scarce.
 The public school grounds are made beautiful and comfortable with several huodred ash trees which have grown to l considerable height. Ia the court house l is kept law library for the convenience
 of lawyers who go to Florence to attend
 court. TEe library is under the charge , of Hon. Thomas WeeGen- There is only 5 one element wanting to make Florence a charming and prosperous city-an0 that
 is water.
 From Florence 1 returned to Casa Grsnde and thence to Arizola, three miles south of Casa GraDde. This place
 is q veritable oasis. There are thous-
 ands of acres Of the best land covered with alfalfa, grape vines and fruit trees. :, Mir. ID. s. Thomas is tbe largest lard , owner about this place. He has over 120
 acres in grapes end fruit trees, prlnci-
 pally figs. Grapes sell at that place for ? l15 cents per pound b. large lots, if Dur-
 chaseFs will dn their own picking. Eggs
 are soId for 15 cents per dozen. I
 bought four dczen snd lost ten eggg in
 transit by the condition of the weather
 which matched them ic the short space
 of three hours. Mention is made of
 this fact becauss the eggs are sold as
 fresh-I did pot quite realize then that
 1 was fresh, too.
 | The people of Arizola were divided on
 the school question. Here 1t was about
 the selary. Miss Carrie Jsgermsnn bad just been elected at salary of $40, end
 while some consiGered the salery ample, ] others thought it was an effort to bring the school to the cheap standard
 The prosperity of Arizols IS due to the
 abundance of water from large reser-
 voir. The question of impouEding wa
 ter is the ETea. question, and the good
 results from such investments are plain
 iy seen even in the desert plsins. K.