The Arizona sentinel., 1897-08-28
picked from the open garden at Christmas
1s1rA LAwLEss COUNTRY!

Arizona town with the idea of the South west derived from novels, or from ''The Arizona Kicker" will be greatly mystifed. lie will hnd as many churches as in towns of corresponding size in Pennsylvania or Ohio; and probably more schoolhouses. He will lind plenty of liquor-shops. too, and gambling houses, and dancehouses, and yet he will sec little disorder unless he hunts late at night for it, and he will be apt to 6ud--as at Phoenix-a community of ten thousand people requiring in the daytime only one policeman. and hardly requiring him. During my winter there 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 everywhere. have been friendly with the whites for generations, 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 a physician in the case if not. try them all. If a mountain region, considerable altitude and comparatively low temperature is desired, Prescott is in a picturesque region, near great mining an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag staff IS still higher, is in a region of dense pine forests, and Is within 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 Q 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 tht 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 Fs, perhaps the oldest il the Southwest. It's adobe houses give 1t {; Mexican look, and are thoroughly comfort able. Its newer houses are of handsome building stone, found in the vicinity. The Territorial University is here, and 1t wa! formerly the capital. Its elevation being more than double that of Phoenix, it i! somewhat cooler, and as there is next to nc irrigation near it, the air is little drier Phoenix is the centre of the greatest irriga- tion in the Territory. The country fol 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 tn. Government Indian School, the Territoria Lunatie Asylum, and other institutions and is the general focus for the Territory
 
 sand storms-perhaps not quite so often At either place visitors who know how tt adapt themselves to circumstances can bt entirely comfortable, and in each they vii find an intelligent, orderly, enterprising anC most hospitable community. They vii find country full of mines, full of ricl agricultural lands, a5ounding in cattle anc horses, in vineyards and orchards and tht beginnings of very successful orange grove "a country, in fact, as full of promise fo hardy and adventurous men now as Califor mia was in the.ffties. Above all, it ha beer their lot to search for health in ia countries, they will revel in the luxury O being in their own land, among their owr countrymen, within easy reach of thei friends by telegraph or rail, and in climat as good of its kind as any in the world. LANDS AND SOILS.
 The lands of Yuma County comprise the rive bottoms and valleys and the uplands or mesas Tn bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertil,
 
 where all are wonderfully productive and prolif The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps lightly for better the cultivation citrus fruit Yuma contains variety of soil Tho valley lanc of thel Gila and Colorado rivers have for the mos part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gra, sandy losm, resting, in most places, upon graz clay subsoil at a depth of from ten to twenty fee below the surface, The clay subsoil forms hard pan which is impervious to water. These soils hay, been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones, marls. limeStones, etc., mixed with or ganic and vegetable matter, washed down by tn mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The fertiizinj brownish mud held in the wat ,Iof the Colorado and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, anC it's quantity varies from 0.1 to O.5 per cent though the water when even considerably dlscolor ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this pect the Missouri river water. A chemical analysi of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Mill exhibits a wonderful similarity in the constituen parts of each. That of the Colorado exhibiting trihe less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo rado psssos. In other respects the sediment of thu Colorado is almost identical with that of the Nile It will be noticed, therefore, that when this water used for irrigation it is superior to artesien waters since it is constantly supplying the land with tht richest fertilizing clements The soil of the valley is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matter and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing tht aerial gases, such especially, oxygen, which en tering the soil, dccomposes the organic matters that they can be taken up and nourish the plants ,-L,; ob ba i, fertility. It also readily takes up and retains moisture while the 6rmness of its particles affords every facility for percolation and the activity o capillary action In ts mechanical composition it' particles are in a state of very fine division whicE renders 1t more productive than coarser soils Il acquries heat readily in the daytime, and the loss