Arizona weekly citizen., 1895-07-27
UTAH TO CALIFORNIA.
TI3e Proposed Railroad will Open Up
 R New Empire Of Wealth.

New Empire of Wealth.
 The proposition to build a railroad down the Colorado river from the great
 coal and iron fields at Edgar City, l Utah, to Yuma and thence on to San 1 Diego, has aroused the interest felt in l taat portion of Arizona ss never before.
 The vast mines of silver and gold at Castle Dome, Eureka, Potholes, Pica- cho. Silver district, reIberg and La Paz have brought that region into note in the past, and now comes in the great
 Yuma irrigatlng canal, which Engineer l George W. Norton is locating and which
 will soon be built, as it brings into use l 100000 acres of the richest lands in the southwest at cost not to exceed $1O | per acre and puts the lower Gila valley
 under a system of water supply, inde- ] pendent of the Glla river; and to help this important project still further comes 1 Tn another assistant, that of setting all the valleys along the Colorado liver to l Yuma up that stream to the Grand can-
 yoD. The plan is this, to put ten, twelve | or more families into each valley, where they can unite their means and put in | crude petroleum burning engines and | centrifugal pumps to lift the water out | of the river on to the land. These
 pumps, engines and the necessary pipe l and fixtures wIli cost from S100G to $500 | each. The expense of running them | here, when there are scoree of thsm, is 1 less thau half cent per horse power
 per hour, or Sl per day for 20 horse | power for ten hours. These farmers
 propose to start in, lay out small town
 plat Of say forty or fifty lots, with a 1 plaza in the center, Mexican style, then surveying the land around the town into
 five acre lots, then outside of these into 1 ten and twenty acre lots, each family l having portion Of each, or as many as 1 they can cultivate. At first they TO- l pose to start ID and put out certain ots ! to grain, grasses and vea etables for the | support Of their families, others into
 l mes, lemons and grapes for raisins and : the finest wines.
 1 ILls l. we'll known fact that the tenn perature along the Colorado above Yuma ! is From three to five degrees warmer l than it Is at Yuma, hence these people
 r. ason that they can raise just IS fine 1 fruits and just as early as they can 1T
 t1at section, while the lands are D well l protected ggaipet the high WIT that | he trees and vines will not sUH As ! these farmers l. crease tn IF iai1s or i lots under cultivation, they will crease ! the capacity CT number ot their pump- Ing plants.
 1 The usrtes interested in this project aTe p!sin, we'll to do practical farmers | and fruit growers for years, wno are ! looking forward to the tune when tte ! section slong the Colorado will become 1 one os the richest m the southwest By | the time the railroad is built thei' ! orange, lemOo and lime groves and vine- | ysrds uiil be ready to ship hundreds if ! not thousands of carloads of fruit. The men at tbe head of tbis important irri ! cation and settlement project are thor cugh going we-tern farmers and fruit 1 growers. They have tried the coast but are sRrisGed that Arizona offers them ] better advantages for producing the { earliest and the best fruits, and propose l to be m tbe field in time to secure the l best locations and lands. They have 1 proved the oil engines and pumps aud hence are not obliged to try any costly ! experiments in this regard. Parties are ready 70 put on small steamers, swift enough and large enough to do the work required until the Colorado river rail- road ia buiIt. CITIZEN.
 SAN DIEGo, Cal, July IS, 1895.