The Arizona sentinel., 1897-09-18


 any mode of transportation known in the east before the advent of railroads and yet how insignificant they seem when compared with the iron horse on it's bands of steel drawing long trains of cars heavily freighted with the commodities of the east and the west being brought here to exchange for our fruit and hay and grain and cattle and sheep and hogs, yea our silver and our gold.
 Now, fellow citizens, I want to pay tribute to one of your distin- guished citizens. While politics or other causes may for time with hold the need of praise that is due, the time will come when all will acknowledge that MT. Frank M. Murphy has by his energy, bis perseverance, his pluck and great ability done more to develop Ari- zona than any other man. He has built this first class railroad that connects central Arizona with one of the great transcontinental lines ot railway and did it at time when the financial skles were lowering and the portents of financial dis aster were everywhere. It is not fair to say he did it for his own agrandizement. That might have been one of his motives and if 1t was it was a proper one, but 1t was not the only one, and for the grand result, result which has made all property in the Territory or at least in the Salt River valley more valuable-a great deal more val uabIe-we should be duly grateful and not hesitate to award the proper credit. Let us render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars.
 The building of this railroad which gave to the Salt River valley another outlet-a connection with another one of the great continental railway lines, was fraught with deep importance to us; and the people of Phoenix and the Salt River valley feel that they owe debt of gratitude to the man who projected, promoted and built that splendid railroad to their doors. It took rugged courage and sublime faith on the part of the men who furnished the money to build that road; it took great skill in engineer ing because of the character of the country through which 1t must be built, and it took financial ability of the highest order to carry 1t to completion.
 When that brave and intrepid old Persian, Xerxes, marched his army from Thessaly into southern Greece and thence into the country of Attica, less distance than from Ash Fork to Phoenix, he performed the greatest military feat prior to CT since ancient times, yet the famous pass of Thermopylae and all that rough and rugged country through which he passed in going from northern to southern Greece is not to be compared for rough ness, inaccessibility or as noun tainous country with the country \ through which this road was built Now, fellow citizens, this railroad l and all the railroads in the Terri tory are auxiliaries to the building of state and they are appreciated . and welcomed by all good citizens but they are not sufficient. Permit me to repeat what l have said be- fore: We want more railroads; wt want more irrigation canals; wt | want more money to develop onl ? latent resources and uncover oul hidden wealth; we want our public $ affairs managed honestly, wisely and economically and we wan many thousands of industrious honest and worthy people to settl within our borders, and help u build a state, and. above all WI want the right to govern ourselves " All these things will come witt statehood. Let us strive to gain 1t