Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1897-10-23

civilized man its unbridled series OF
fantastic and blood-curdllng delights
The absolute monarchies of despotlsm's
darkest reign, or isolated bnrbarism Of
outlnndish lands, have yielded no
atrocities as deeply dyed In hendish
guile as those associated in the public
mind for generations past with the
name of Arizona. The Apache horrors
made modern warfare, or Spanish in
QUESTION tortures and Protestant per
secution. appear to encounter hosts
as merry pastime in comparison. This
very land to strangers everywhere mas
seemed to exude the presidential dews
of the Valley OF Death, and its noun
tain and forests to stand as everlasting
monuments to barrenness and petrih-
cation. For when the tide OF empire
began TO turn toward the setting sun,
bursting beyond the narrow bounds of
the Atlantic shore, sweeping slowly but
irresistably through the western land
toward the fields of gold. nothing APP
peared in view to light up the seeming
waste and rloomy solitude, as each
succeeding ripple of the human tide
passed on, more than the cleaning
bones Of Inflated men who had gone
on before. Murder, raplne, starvation
and maddening thirst were the pic
tured impressions indelibly painted on
the observers minds, and from them
reflected and reproduced with grue-
some vividness through every channel
of communication. The impressions
thus formed grew more intense with
the succeeding years and grosser ex-
aggerations, until the region now
known rs Arizona had become, and in
many places is still believed TO be.
synonymous with crudest barbarism
and deathly barrenness. Because of
this. In great degree, the flow of i'm
migration through later years swept
around the boundary line and carried
its life and energy to other parts
And, so, much that was true, and a
great deal more that was untrue, re-
strlcted the growth and development
of this interesting region for many
years. 1t was true that recollections
the old overland trail, the stories
Of men perishing from maddening
stage robberies in the mountain passes,
all tended to rear n barrier against
further investigation; but such occur
rences did take place and cannot be
denied. Civilization, however, with its
mighty arm of law and order, could
not forever brook this state of affairs,
and with the advent of the iron horse
in 1880 and 1888 across the southern
and northern regions of the territory,
respectively, a new condition of things
supplanted the old. New blood was In
fused in the scarcely settled parts; I'M
migration Increased apnce; rustlers
and highwaymen were brought to JUS
tice: the Apnches were placed ON res
eryatious and warlikc bands which
broke away were hunted down and
killed: the mountains, rich In precious
ores, were made to re-echo the sounds
of the stamp mill and the miner $
pick; the sngehrush plains were turned
Into waving fields of grain ana or
chards of golden fruit, and no place
exists today where human life Is held
more sacred or where crimes are less
frequent than here.
The most interesting, as well as the
Oldest. settlement in this Amos
unknown land is the quaint
quiet town OF Tucson, the coun
ty seat OF Pima county I'm
der the influences of our moderi
civilization many OF the ancient land
morphosed into monuments OF moderi
progress. The old adobe walls thai
formed battlements of the ancient
pueblo have almost entirely crunblet
away. and in their place have arlser
the habitations of another "e. Th'
city. however, Is not without the rem
nants of by-gone age, for some ol
the identical walls Is stlll remaining
and the general aspect of the city, III
narrow, irregular streets, with tins
crumbling walls of the Oldest adobe
dwellings, difuse an air impregnatet
with musty memories and vivid con
trasts. 1t Is the city of ages, ana not
withstanding its years, has been i'm
bued with the spirit of robust youth.
Ever since the morn of It's inclpiency
when Indian chants alone blended viii
the gentle 2ephyrs of the skies ant
the daily siesta was unbroken in tn
sunny silence, IL has watched the pass
ing OF the uneventful years with list
less gaze Bound around with mud
built walls its healthful expansion wa
prevented for centuries; its dusty in
habtants reveled in the luxury u
semi idleness and drew their dream
intoNication from the balmy ozone o
the skies. Save when the ordeals o
hostile Indian assaults bestirred to ac
ton the encumpassed deniZens, n
vigor OF life or enterprise DISTURBED
the even tenor of their way. And II
late as fifty years ago the semblanc
of the town was but little changei
from what 1t had been in It's carlies
days.
Its survival is one OF the ouriositie
of this land OF ancient marvels-a Liant
pregnant with the relies of a civillza
ton long since passed away. Its his
tory is principally entombed in III
caverns OF the earth. buried by seis
mic process of unwritten years, ant
shrouded By the debris OF accumulate,