The Arizona sentinel., 1897-07-03
picked from the open garden at chrissp.ss

E IT A LATICsS 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. lie will find as many churches as in towns Of corresponding size in Pennsylvania or Ohio; and probably mole schoolhouses. He will find plenty of liQuor-snops. too, and gambling houses, and danoebouses. and yet he will see little disorder unless he hunts late at night for it, and he will be apt to iud-as at Phooai&-a community of ten thousand people requiring in the daytime only one policeman. and hardly requiring aim. Daring my winter there did not see a single disturbance in the streets, or half dozen drunken men, all told Min ing men and an occasional cow boy certainly h&i quagrels, sometimes. in the disorderly quarters at nigat; and there were stories ol the use of the knife among Mexicans; but the visitor who went about his own business had as ii5.Ie trouble as on Board way or Chestnut street. The Pima and Maricopa Indians, who ato encountered everywhere. have been friendly with the whites for generations, and there isn't an Apache within some hundreds of miles.
 WHICH TOWN Is Tile BEST?
 Primarily that is question for the phy- sician, If thera is a physician in tbe case if not, try them all. If a mountain region, considerable altitAde and 8 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 ia 3 region of dense pine forests and is within hard day s journey of one Of the von1ers of the world, the Colorado Canyon. Oracle Is pretty mountain nook, enbowered in splendid i've oaks, like those of California, and is also near ~en important mining district. If lower altitude and distinctly semi i tropical climate ore desired, the three places most likely to l.: considered are Yuma. Tucson and Phoenix The first is near the sea level; IS the warmest and probably the dcieat of the three, has tl.e least population, and the smallest provision for visitors. Fucson is the oldest town in the Territory, aad, after Santa Fe, perhaps the oldest in the Southwest. It, adobe houses give it a 1lsE-uaa look. and are thoroughly comfort able. I5s uarer A2ds.s are of Land5ome 5a.aing stone, found il tLs vicinity. The
 Territorial University is he-e, aud it was formerly the capital Its elevation being more than double that of Phoenix, it IS somewhat cooler, aud as there is next to Ro irrigation near it, the air is little drier
 Phoenix is the centre Of the greatest irrigs- 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 Lunati3 Asylum, aul other institutions, and Is the general focus for the Territory. Like Tucson, it has it's occasional wind and sand perhaps not quite 50 often. At either place yis,5)c5 who know how to adapt themselyss to circumstances can be entirely comic, sable, and in each they will ind an intelligent, orderly, cnterprising and most hospitablo community. They will find a country fall of mines, full of rich agricultural lands, abounding in cattle and hor es, in vineyards and orchards and the l beginnings of very successful orange groves
 -a country, iu fact, as full of promise for hardy and adventurous men now as Califor- niA vas ;n the ffties Above all, it has been their lot 10 search for health in lar coantr:cs, thay will reyel il the luxury of ne.rs ia their ovA land, among their own i coua5ry.nsn, within easy reach of their ! friends by telegraph or rail, and in a clinlate as good of its Kind as any in the world.
 LANDS AN SOILS.
 ! The lands Of Yuma Cola.y comprise the river bottoms and valleys and the upiands or nesas The bottom ands ort noister and slightly mere fertile ! f. indeed it is possible to m Ike comparisons where al aro wonderfully productive and prolific | ihe uPlanjs esas are warmer ana, perhaps, lightly for better te cultivation of the citrus fruits i YUaa oontainSa rarlety of soil The valley land of thei Ciia and Colorado Iive-s have ior tue most i l'arr deep sedinl2utary soil Of brown;sh, gray | sandJ 10 nl, testing, in most places upon gray clay subsou at th Of iron, 5en to twenty feet 1 below si.e surfaco The clay subsOn forms Q hard- pan which is impervous to water. These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition Of shales sandstones, marls. imestones, et-., mixed with or l g1nc and vegetable matter, washed down by the | mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited ! during tke coarse of centuries The fertilizine | brownish mud neid in the wat tIof the Colorado and Cila rivers reser1 J.es that from the Nlo and i-s quantity varies from o.1 to O.5 per cent, though the water Hhen even considerably disc0lor- ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this res rccr tae Missouri river ws5er. 4 chamcal analys:s Of the sediments Of t1o Colorado and Of the Nile exhibits wonderful similarity in the constituent parts Of each. That of the Colorado exhibiting a triGe less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonadc Of limestone beds through which the Colo r5do pass g. Tn other respects the sediment of the Colorado is almost identical with tbat of the Nile ' will be noticed therefore, that when this water is iaei for irrigation it is superior to artesjan waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the ri-hc= Ig clements. The soil of the valleys | is ex remedy rich in Jedomposcd vegetable mat eI and hiaed rbon, readily abso. biug the acri,l J52s s'loh especially, as oxygen, which en :ctir The z,il dccoGlrosos the organic matters so .ha- =' caH be taken up ani noarSh the plants T ir s.sy Ht .o..sderei leading feature in It's tjso readily takes up and retains