The Arizona sentinel., 1897-09-25
picked from the open garden at Christmas .4 IS TIA LAwLEss COUNTRY?


 1sITA 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 tnd 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 be will be apt to 6nd--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 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 if not, try them all. If a mountain region, considerable altitude and comparatively low temperature is desired, Prescott is in a picturesque region, near q great mining districts, and has the social advantage of an army post, whipple Barracks. Flag staff IS still higher, is in region of dense pine forests, and is within 9. hard day s journey of one of the wonders of the world, the Colorado Canyon. Oracle is a pretty mountain nook, embowered ill splendid live oaks, like those of California. and is also near an important mining district. If lower altitude and distinctly semi.
 
 most likely to be considered are Yuma, Tucson and Phoenix. The first is near the sea level; is the warmest and probably the 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 Fe, perhaps the oldest ir the Southwest. Its adobe houses give it a 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 it was formerly the capital. Its elevation being moro than double that of Phoenix, it is somewhat cooler, and as there is next to no 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 the Government Indian School, the Territorial Lanatie Asylum, and other institutions, and is the general focus for the Territory Like Tucson, it has it's occasional wind and sand storms-perhaps not quite so often. At either place visitors who know how tc 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 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 grove: "a country, in fact, as full of promise fol hardy and adventurous men now as Califor mia was in the:ffties. Above all, it has beer their lot to search for health in fal countries, they will revel in the luxury of being in their own land, among their own countrymen, within easy reach of theil friends by telegraph or rail, and in climate as good of it's kind as any in the world.
 LANDS AND SOILS.
 
 bottoms and valleys and the uplands or mesas The bottom ands are moister and slightly mere fertile if, indeed. it is possible to m ke comparisons where all wonderfully productive and prolific The uplands or mesas are warmer and, perhaps lightly for better the cultivation of the citrus fruits Yuma contains a ysriety of soil The valley land of thei Gila and Colorado rivers have for the most part deep sedimentary soil of brownish, gray san1y lo'm, resting, in most places, upon 6 gray clay subsoil at depth of from ten to twenty feet below the surface, The clay subsoil forms a hard pan which is impervious to water These soils have been slowly formed by the decomposition of shales sandstones, mars. limestones, etc., mixed with or ganc and vegetable matter, washed down by the mighty rivers and have been gradually deposited during the course of centuries. The tertilizins brownish mud held In the wat tiof the Colorado and Gila rivers resembles that from the Nile, and its quantity varies from o.1 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 A 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 a trihe less potassa, most phosphoric acid and car bonade Of limestone beds through which the Colo rado pass's. 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 to artessn waters since it is constantly supplying the land with the elements The soil of the valleys is extremely rich in dedomposed vegetable matter and uncombinad carbon, readily absorbing the aerial as-- ''1el ssnecally, as oxygen, which en- teriug the soil, dccomposss tns organic matters 20 that they can be taken uP and nourish Ca. 2laats which may 5e considered leading featurs in its fertility. It also readily takes up and retains while the drmness Of its particles affords every facility for pevcolation and the activity of capillary action. h ts mechanical composition it's