The Arizona sentinel., 1897-07-10
licked from the open garden at christDlaa
IS IT A LAwLEss COUNTRY?

Is IT A 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 dnd as many churches as in towns ot corresponding size in Pennsylvania pr Ohio; and probably more schoolhouses. He will find plenty of liquor-snops. too, and gambling houses. and dancehouses. and vet he will sec little disorder unless he hunts late at night for it, and he will be ant to hnd-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 Q 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 l 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 physician in the case 1 if not, try them all. If a mountain region. considerable altitude and comparatively l low temperature is desired, Prescott is in 8 picturesque region, near great mining 1 districts, and has the aocial advantage of an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag staff Is still higher. is in region of dense | pine forests, and is within hard days 1 journey of one of the wonders of the world, the Colorado Canyon. Oracle is a pretty mountain nook, embowered i'll splendid live oaks, like those of California. and is also near an important mining district. 1 If lower altitude and distinctly semi tropical climate are desired, the three places most likely to bc considered are Yuma, Tucson and Phoenix The first is near the sea level; is the warlnest and probably the driost of the three, has the least population, and the smallest provision for visitors. I Tucson is the oldest town in the Territory, and, after Santa Fe, perhaps the oldest in the Southwest. Its adobe houses give it a 1 Mexican look, and are thoroughly comfort able. It's newer houses are of a handsome building stone, found in the vicinity. The Territorial University is here, and it was formerly the capital. It's elevation being more than double that of Phoenix, 1t is somewhat cooler, and as there is next to no irrigation near 1t, the air is 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 ains. It is the Territorial capital, has the Government Indian School, the Territorial Lunatie Asylum, and other institutions, and Is the general focus for the Territory. | Like Tucson, 1t has it's 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 a 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- nia was in the: :ffties. Above all it has beer 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 their friends by telegraph or rail, and in a 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 are moister and slightly mere fertile if, indeed, it is possible to n ke comparisons where all are wonderfully productive and prolific The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps,
 lightly for better the cultivation of the citrus fruits Yuma containsa variety of soil Tie valley land of thel Gila and Colorado Iivers have for the most part deep sedimentary soil of brewnsh, gray sanfy loHm, resting, in most places upon a gray clay slbsoil at depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoi forms hard pan which is impervieus to water These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones, mars. imestones, 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 fertiizin2 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 O.5 per cent
 though the water when even considerably discolor- ed by mud is good to drink, resembling in this res- pect the Missouri river water 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 trihe less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonadc of limestone beds through which the Colo rado passs. 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 artesian waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the richest iersilihng elements. The soil of the valleys IS extremely rich in dedompOsed vegetable matter and unco. bined carbon, readily absorbing the aerial gases, such especially, oxygen, which en- tering the soil, 3ecomPoses the organic matters so that they can be taken up and noarish the plants which may be considered a leading featur, in its fertility. It also readily takes up and retains moisture, while the frmness of it's particles affords