Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-04-06
THE ADVANCEMENT OF ARIZ.
 OEA

THE ADVANCEMENT OF ARIZ- ONA.
 The following spledid editorial is from the Los Angeles Herald and the CITIZEN takes great pleasure in its republication.
 There is growing up to the east of this land of ours-Southern California-s great territory which will soon take its place among the galaxy of states. Though at present insignificant as far as population is concerned, not cnntaing more people within its borders than the city of Los Angeles, Arizona ranks in area with the largest political subdivl- sluns uf the country, containing 113, 900 coo of California. l; is true that much of this area is what is known as desert land, but hen We look at what has been accomplished in Southern Califor- nia in the reclamation of such land when We look st Riverside and Pomona and Ontario, and doz-n other flourish ing cities, the sites of which were called deserts pref twenty years ago, it would be bold man who would say how much of this Arizona desert may not produce abundant crops of agricultural and horticultural products within few years.
 Arizona is today in about the same stage of development as WIS California in the early sixties, when agriculture and horticulture had commenced to loom mp as important rivals of the min ing industry. F rty years ago it would have been considered ridiculous to prophecy that before the end of the cen- tury California would become one of th5 grt atest agricultural states of the union, and 20 years ago man would have been bold who should have predict ed that Arizona would witness such developments in the line of agriculture as have been affected in the valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers, at Phoenix. Tempe, Mesa City, Stafford, Casa Grande, Gila Bend, Arizola, and a dozen otEer points where even ten years ago there was nothing to be seen as far as the eye could reach but sagebrush, cactus and an occasional cIump of mesquite.
 It will not take Arizona so long to de- yelop its agricultural possibilities as it did California. California was the pioneer in this country, of irrigation on large scale. The idea was new one to Americans at that time, and capital ists were 10th to invest their money ID schemes that seemed at that time to be- long to the wildcat order. It was diffi- cult to make them understand that the mere application of water to these for bidding stretches of dry sand would transform the desert into smiling orch ards and gardens and multiply the value of the land hundred fold. The lesson has now been learned, and capital has come to regard this sort of investment as one of the safest and most remunerative that can be made. The only question now Is as to the available supply of water for irrigation and the cost of bringing it to the land. Hence we may reasonably look for developments in Arizona with in the next ten years equal in import ance to those which it has taken Cali fornla more than three times that peri cd to accomplish. Already @ number of projects for large storage reservoirs are under way in the territory, and these are but the precursors of many others that will soon follow.
 The decline in the price of silver, while it has injured Arizona in one way, has done much to advantage it in anoth- CT. It has turned the attention of many enterprising men in the territory from mining to agrlculture. At the same time, the mining industry is by no means dead. Some of the most valu- able copper mines in the country are in Arizona, and these have been doing well, while during the pest few years several promising gold mines have been develop ed and further exploring is going on in this direction with promising results.
 The opening of the north and south railroad from Phoenix to Prescott IS an improvement the importance of which to Arizona cannot be over estimated. Hitherto the only means of going from the southern to the northern portion of the territory has been by long and tedious stage journey, so that in some cases persons who desired to travel from one section to the other made the long trip around by way of Los Angeles, which is about the same thing as If a traveller from Los Angeles to San Francisco should make the trip by way of Denver. The northern part of the territory will now be able to furnish southern Arizona with cheap lumber, while the south will keep northern Arizona people supplied with fresh fruits, hay and other agricul- tural products which are raised in the fertile valleys of Maricopa, Yuma and Pima counties.
 As the headquarters of the southwest, Los Angeles naturally watches with in- terest and sympathy the development of its neighbOr across the Colorado river.