The Arizona sentinel., 1897-09-04
picked from the open garden at Christmas
IS IT A LAwLEss COUNTRY?

picked from the open garden at Christmas IsITA LAwLEss COUNTRY?
 The man who goes to any considerable Arizona town with the idea of the South, west derived from novels, or from "The Arizona Kicker" will be greatly mysti6ed. He will dnd as manf churches as in towns of corresponding size in Pennsylvania pr Ohjo; and probably more schoolhouses: He will find plenty of liquor-snops. too, and gambling houses. and dancehQuses, and yet he will sec little disorder unless he hunts late at night for it, and he i'll be apt to 6nd---as at Phoenix-a community of ten thousand people requiring in the daytime only one policeman, and hardly requiring him. During my winter there 1 did not see single disturbance in the streets, or half dozen drunken men, all told. Min ing men and an occasional cowboy certainly had quarrels, sometimes, in the disorderly quarters at night; and there were stories of the use of the knife among Mexicans; but the visitor who went about his own business had as little trouble as on Board way or Chestnut street. The Pima and Maricopa Indians, who are encountered everyw here. have been friendly with the whites for generations, aud there isn't an Apache within some hundreds of miles.
 WHICH TOWN IS THe BEST?
 Primarily that is a question for tue phy- sician, if there is physician in the case if not, try them all. If mountain region, considerable altitude and comparatively low temperature is desired, Prescott is in a picturesque region, near great mining districts, and has the social advantage of an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag staff IS still higher, is in region of dense pine forests, and is within a hard day's journey of one of the wonders of the world, the Colorado Canyon. Oracle is a pretty mountain nook, embowered in splendid live oaks, like those of California, and is also near an important mining district. If lower altitude and distinctly semi. tropical climate are desired, the three places most likely to be considered are Yuma, Tucson and Phoenix. The first is near the . sea level; is the warmest and probably the driest of the three, has the least population, and the smallest provision for visitors. Tucson is the oldest town in the Territory, and, after Santa Fe, perhaps the oldest in the Southwest. Its adobe houses give it a | loO { able. Its newer houses are of 8 handsome building stone, found in the vicinity. fhe Territorial University is here, and it was formerly the capital. Its elevation being more than double that of Phoenix, it is somewhat cooler, and as there is next to no irrigation near 1t, the air is a little drier. Phoenix is the centre of the greatest irriga- tion in the Territory. The country for miles around smiles with green fields, cover ed with almost countless herds of cattle, and it is everywhere shut in by low mount aims. It is the Territorial capital, has the Government Indian School. the Territorial Lunatic Asylum, and other institutions, and is the general focus for the Territory Like Tucson, it has its occasional wind and sand stOrms-perhaps not quite so often. At either place visitors who know how to adapt themselves to circumstances can be , entirely comfortable, and in each they will find an intelligent, orderly, enterprising and most hOspitable community. They will find country full of mines, full of rich agricultural lands, abounding in cattle and horses, in vineyards and orchards and the beginnings of very successful orange groves "a country, in fact, as full of promise for hardy and adventurous men now as Califor- mia was in the .ffties. Above all, it has been their lot to search for health in far countries, they will revel in the luxury of being in their own land, among their own countrymen, within easy reach of theil friends by telegraph or rail, and in climate as good of it's kind as any in the world.
 LANDS AND SOILS.
 The lands of Yuma County comprise the river bottoms and valleys and the uplands or mesas The bottom ands moister and slightly mere fertile if, indeed, it is possible to make comparisons where all so wonderfully productive aud prolific The uplands mesas are warmer and perhaps,
 lightly for betterthe cultivation of the citrus fruits Yuma contains vsrlety of soil The valley land of thel Gia and Colorado rivers have for the most part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gray san1y loam, resting, in most places, upon gray claJ subsoil at depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsOil forms a hard isi been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones maIs. limestones, etc., mixed with or ganic and vegetable matter, washed down by the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The fertilizng brownish mud held in the wat tIof the Colorado and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, and its quantity varies from O.I to G.5 per csnt, though the water when considerably discolor- ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this pect the Missouri river water. A chemical analysis of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Nile exhibits wonderful similarity in the constituent parts of each That of the Colorado exhibiting a tride less potassa, most phosphoric acid and ear
 bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo rado passNs. In other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with that of the Nile. It will be noticed therefore, that when this water is used for irrigation it is superior to aresan waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the richestfertlizing elements. The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matter and uncombined carbon readily absorbing the aerial gases, such especially, oxygen, which en- tering the soil, Gecomposes the organic matters so that they can be taken up and nourish the plants which may he considered a leading feature in it's fertility. It also readily takes up and retains