The Arizona sentinel., 1895-04-06
The Advancement of Arizona,

more people within it's borders thar
 the city of Los Angeles, Arizons
 ranks in area with the largest
 political subdivisions of the country
 containing 113,000 square miles as
 compared with the 158,OOO of Cali
 fornia. It is true that much oi
 this area is what is rnown as desert
 land, but hen we look at what has been accomplished in Southern
 California in the reclamation oi
 such land-when we look at River
 side and Pomona and Ontario, and
 dozen other fourishing cities, the
 sites of which were called deserts a
 brief twenty years ago, it would be 8 bold man who would say how
 much of this Arizona desert may
 not produce abundant crops of agricultural and horticultural pro- ducts within a few years.
 Arizona is today in about the same stage of development as was California in the early sixties, when agriculture and horticulture had commenced to loom up as important rivals of the mining industry. Forty years ago it would have been considered ridiculous to prophecy that before the end of the century California would become one of the greatest agricultural states of the union, and twenty years ago man would have been bold who should have predicted that Arizona would witness such developments in the line of agriculture as have been effected in the valleys of the Salt and Gila rivers, at Peoenix, Tempe, Mesa City, Stafford, Casa Grande, Gila Bend, Arizola and a dozen other 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 clump of mesquite.
 It will not take Arizona so long to develop it's agricultural possi- bilities as it did California. Cali fornia was the pioneer in this country, of irrigation on a large scale. The idea was a new one to Americans at that time, and capi talists were 10th to invest their money in schemes that seemed at that time to belong to the wildcat order. It was difficult to make them understand that the mere ap- plIcation of water to these forbid ding stretches of dry sand would transform the desert into smiling orchards and gardens and multiply the value of the land a 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 remu- nerative that can be made The only question nov is as to the available supply of water for ir- rigation and the cost of bringing 1t to the land. Hence we may req sonable look for developments in Arizoda within the next ten years equal in importance to those which it has taken California more than three times that period to accom- plish. Already a number of pro- jects 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 1t has injured Arizona in one way, has done much to advance it in another. It has turned the at tention of many enterprising men in the Territory from mining to agriculture. At the same time, the mining industry is by no means dead. Some of the most valuable copper mines in the country are in Arizona, and these have been doing well, while during the past few years several promising gold mines have been developed and further is going on in this direc- tion with promising results.
 The opening of the north and south railroad from Phoenix to Prescott is an improvement the lm- portance of which to Arizona can not be oyereshmated. Hitherto the only means of going from the southern to the northern portion of the Territory has been by a long and tidious 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 atraveler 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 fur nish Southern Arizona with cheap lumber, while the south will keep Northern Arizona people supplies with fresh fruits, had and other agricultural products which are raised in the fertile valleys of Mari copa, Yuma and Pima counties.
 As the headquarters of the south. west. Los Angeles naturally watches with interest and sympathy 4 I