The Arizona sentinel., 1897-01-30

ains and deserts. The man who looks for either the beauty or the seductive excite ment of Monte Carlo will not ind it. As little will he find the historic remains or the cosmopolitan attractions of Egypt; nor could he reasonable expect the amusements and luxuries of our own Eastern cities. The people of Arizona are still chiefly busy in the pioneer work of subduing it to the residence and uses of civilized man. But it has two transcontinental lines Of railw ay with numerous feeders; it has fast mails, and rival telegraph lines, and is tfrobbing with the intense life of the splendid Vest
 The two principal towns in the south ern portion, chiefly sought for their climatic advantages, are Phoenix and Tucson. Each of them has ten thousand inhabitants or more. They have the electric light, tele- phones, trolley cars, plenty of hotels, banks, bookstores, good schools, churches, an occasional theatrical performance, some- times lecture or & circus, often horse race, and, in the spring, a thoroughly curious and interesting "iesta." For the cest, people must take their amusements with them. Good horses are abundant and cheap, and there are plenty of cow boys-the genuine article-to show what horses cah do. The driving for fifteen or twenty miles in almost any direction from Phoenix, is nearly always easy. The roads are apt to be dusty; but there Is one we'll sprinkled drive of six or eight miles; and since the winds are quite regular in their direction, it is rarely difficult to choose a route on which the dust will Be largely carried away from you. The unbroken desert itself is often as easy to drive over as an Eastern highway, and the whole valley is paradise for bicyclers, or eques- trains.
 CAN ONE LIVE COMFORTABLY?
 That again depends on what you expect. You cannot have the luxuries of our New York houses out there, unless you build one; or the variety of our New York markets, unless you -charater refrigerator car. But there are hotels with almost as much frontage as the Waldorf; and, like everything else in the Territory excepting the mountains and deserts, they are new. There are boarding houses of more kinds than one; and brick cottages of eight or ten rooms can occasinally by rented. Bet ter than any of them, for the man with the energy and the pluck to take it, is to tent on the desert; and he who knows how to ''camp out" with comfort through Septem- Der in the Adirondacks can camp out in Arizona through the winter.
 As to food, there is plenty, and it is good-if you can get it well cooked. The alfalfa fields of the Salt River Valley are the fattening ground for the great cattle ranges of the Territory. From there the markets of Los Angeles and even of Denver are largely supplied, Good beef, mutton and poultry are plenty and cheap. Quail, ducks and venison from the vicinity can also be had. Vegetables and fruits are abundant in their season, and sometimes the season is a long one. It is the one country have lived in where strawberries ripen in the open air ten months in the year. I have had them on my table, fresh 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 mystifed. He will find as many churches as in towns of corresponding size in Pennsylvania or Ohio; and probably more schoolhouses' He will find plenty of liquor-shOps. too, and gambling houses, and dancehouses, and yet he will see little disorder unless he hunts late at night for it, and he will 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 l did not see a 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 everywhere. have been friendly with the whites forigenerations, and there isn't an Apache within some hundreds of miles.
 WHICH TOWN IS THe BEST?
 Primarily that is question for the phy- sician, if there is physician in the case if not, try them all. If mountain region, considerable altitude and a comparatively low temperature is desired, Prescott is in picturesque region, near great mining districts, and has the social advantage of an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag staff IS still higher, is in a region of dense pine forests, and is within a hard days 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 L l.