The Arizona sentinel., 1897-10-16
picked from the open garden at Christmas
 IS IT A LAWLESS COUNTRY!

picked from the open garden at ChrlsGnlas IT 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 lind 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
 ind-as at Phoenix-a community of ten
 thousand people requiring in the daytime
 only one policeman, and hardly requiring
 him. During my winter there I 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 2 business had as little trouble as on Board } way or Chestnut street. The Pima and ) Maricopa Indians, who are encountered l 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 a question for the phy q sician, if there is a physician in the case if not, try them all. If mountain region, q considerable altitude and comparatively low temperature is desired Prescott is in : picturesque region, near a great mining . districts, and has the social advantage of e an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag e staff IS still higher, is in region of dense o pine forests, and is within 9. hard day ,. journey of one of the wonders of the world, = the Colorado Canyon. Oracle is pretty t mountain nook, embowered in splendid IS also near an important mining district ,s If lower altitude and distinctly semi J. tropical climate are desired, the three place; e most likely to be considered are Yuma le Tucson and Phoenix. The first is near the ,r sea level; is the warmest and probably tht
 driest of the three, has the least population
 and the smallest provision for visitors re Tucson is the oldest town in the Territory r; and, after Santa Fe, perhaps the oldest il m the Southwest. Its adobe houses give it ,e Mexican look, and are thoroughly comfort IS able. Its newer houses are of a handsom' is building stone, found in the vicinity. Th
 Territorial University is here, and it wa
 formerly the capital. Its elevation bein;
 more than double that of Phoenix, it i y somewhat cooler, and as there is next to nt h irrigation near it, the air is little drier 'i Phoenix is the centre of the greatest irriga y tion in the Territory. The country fo IL miles around smiles with green fields, cover /" ed with almost countless herds of cattle and it is everywhere shut in by low mount 'O ains It is the Territorial capital, has tn 'n Government Indian School, the Territoria III Lunatie Asylum, and other institutions E. and is the general focus for the Territory pr Like Tucson, it has it's occasional wind ant O' sand storms-perhaps not quite so often
 At either place visitors who know how t
 adapt themselves to circumstances can b q entirely comfortable, and in each they vii f. find an intelligent, orderly, enterprising an ar most hospitable community. They wi e. find country full of mines, full of ric As agricultural lands, abounding in cattle an or horses, in vineyards and orchards and tn or beginnings of very successful orange grove ts "a country, in fact, as full of promise fo ,e hardy and adventurous men now as Califol in nia was in the:ffties. Above all, it ha ,e been their lot to search for health in ia ,t countries, they will revel in the luxury o " being in their own land, among their owl . countrymen, within easy reach of thei ,o friends by telegraph or rail, and in climat f as good of it's kind as any in the world. LANDS AND SOILS.
 ic The lands of Yuma County comprise the rive ,L bottoms and valleys and the uplands mesas Tn
 bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertil Ol if, indeed, it is possible to make comparison where all so wonderfully productive and prof
 
 lightly for better the cultivation the citrus fruit o. Yuma contains variety of soil The valley Ian
 of the Gila and Colorado rivers have for the mos '0 part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, grs y sandy loam, resting, in most places, upon gra ne clay subsoil at depth of from ten to twenty fee ts below the surface, The clay subsoil forms harC
 pan which is impervious to water. These soils hay
 been slowly formed by the decomposition of shalet V sandstones, mars. limestones, etc., mixed with ol at g glnic and vegetable matter, washed down by tn or mighty rivers and have been gradually deposite n, during the course of centuries. The fertiizin , brownish mud held in the wat CIof the Colorad " and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, an H. its quantity varies from 0.1 to 0.5 per cent. Id though the water when considerably dscolor ir ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this
 pect the Missouri river water. chemical analyst of the sediments of the Colorado and of the Nil y exhibits wonderful similarity in the consttuen 'n parts of each That of the Colorado exhibiting CT tre less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car Ia bonade of limestone beds through which the Colo
 rado passes In other respects the sediment of tn
 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 artesian water since it is constantly supplying the land with tn
 richest ferizing elements. The soil of the valley " is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matte Io and uncombined carbon, readily absorbing tn K aerial gases, such especially, oxygen which pr tering the soi decomposes the organic matters s ,s that they can be taken up and nourish the plant
 which may be considered leading feature in it.