Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-07-20

| rust mas been used to defend the inter-
 est of the county.
 At present there is only one paper alive here, that Is the Sentinel. It ap- pears to the writer that snall tovna should only have one newspaper. and when the inhabitants are about eonallv divided as to politics, that one half of the paper could be republican and ths other democratic.
 TAsy bavS aa excellent scnooi nouse here. and an inspection of the building indicated to me thst they have very competent teachers here, at least in the | matter of keeping the school room in
 good condition. The seats, which have been used for three years, are kept in prime condition, no writing or enQrav- ing of names of pupils or caricstures of pupils and of teachers. MT F. l.. Ev. ing and Mir. Levy, two of the leading merchants of this place, are the trustees. Two new rooms will be added to the
 building this year and trees will be planted oD the school grounds.
 The Philharmonic band furnishes music every Sunday on the public school grounds. The band IS under the lead. ershIp of SenOr Escobar, a thorough music teacher from Guadalaisra. Mex. The sisters of St. Joseph have a large building here used as an academy for yourg ladies.
 The town is under the protection of Company II, First Infantry, consisting of AS men. It's officers are F. s. lngalls. captain; P. T. Aune, first lieutenant. M. Greenleaf, second lieutenant. Captaln Ingalls, informs me that his company take great interest in it's organization. On the 4th of July only two members of the com pany were absent from parade.
 A trip to the farms below Yuma de- monstrated to me that agricultural is still ID its infancy ID thIs county. While there are thousands of acres under cul- tivation at present-yet they are very few compared to what will be deyeloped with capital which is bound to flow this way in the near future. The pumping plants are what are needed hereto make Yuma the leading agricultural county of Arizona. There are several projects under way to bring to plant life thousands of acres more.
 Messrs Moore and Shaw are also ta- king some interest in the pumping busi- ness and feel thst they are going to reach good profits from ther venture.
 The irri. atlDg canal under consider ation which We hope will be reality, is going to revoiutlOnlZe the condition of things here. One of the drawbacks against the prosperity of Yuma now is the unsettled land grant quastion, wEen that is settled, investments will be made. It must be admitted that Yuma has Q bright future, and when the wave of better times reaches ArIzona there is no spot 10 our territory which will offer better investments than Yuma.
 Mo. Blals who hes spent & great deal Uf money iE developing the rsscur- ces of this county, has pumping plant near the $. P. hotel with a capacity of 600 miners inches, eighty feet high. Part of the water IS run into the railroad reservoir where 1t settles and is conveyed to the town. Water Is pumped to Yuma Heights where MT. .Blalsdell has 130 acres in f-uit-in the following propor- tions and kinds: Thirty in lemons, ten ln oranges, thirty ID apricots, twenty in peaches, forty Tn grapes anu figs. The trees are large and healthy. Mir. Blsis- dell is not offering any land for sale, until the experience of farmers shall determine, what particular fruit will do best in the variOuo parts of the coun.
 
 farm Is an experimental farm in a large scale, He feels fnat by reason of being able to raise fruit earlier by at least two weeks then any other place in California or Arizona, Yuma will naturally be the place to which investors will fock when the right inducements are offered.
 A visit to the territorial prison con- vinced the writer that said institution is 0% f4r f,flx T imagine. Through the courtesy of MT. Tbos. Gates, the efficient soperinten- dent | WAS shown the various industrial where the inmates are busily engaged in some industrial occup- ation. What good thing it would be to have such industrial training out of prison.
 The neatness of the building; it's sani- tary condition made so by nature and the indefatIgsb,e efforts of the officials make Yuma penitentisry one of the be lthiest and best regulated institu- tions of the kind in the country.
 The economical management of the institution IS worthy of commendation. But while there has been great saving of money, vet the ir mates have not been deprived of the comforts which few outside persons enjoy, barring the dis grace which brands the unfortunate of this institution. Two places worthy of mention and of the inspection by visitors are the library and the drug store. In the former are kept large number of books of rsre- ment end the standard books and maga- zines.
 The drug store is in charge of Frank Leslie.
 Did not have time to visit the peniten- tsry farm about which much has been said in pro and contra. Time will tell or not, said farm will be 8 suc- cess. k.