The Arizona sentinel., 1898-11-05
THE VILLAGE OF YUMA.

THE VILLAGE OF YUMA.
 Although the town of Yuma is the second
 oldest community in the Territory of Ari-
 zona, it is astonishing how little its re- sources are known to the world at large, and
 how slightly developed is the natural wealth of the county This is owing partly to
 Yuma s reputation for unbearabie heat, and
 partly to the fact that, lying next to Cali f,rnia. is has been assumed that the county has been thoroughly prospected for mineral wealth, and prospectors have, in the main, kept the travelled highways in crossing its Territory. As a matter of fact one suffers | less from the heat here than in almost all of the settled communities of the east. owing to the dryness of the atmosphere, and there l is no healthier climate on Gods footstool.
 People labor out of door from the rising to the setting of the sun, and suffer no in convenience. There has never been known, in this section of country, an authentic case of sunstroke Our climate, taken in time, never fails to cure pulmonary complail' '7 of any description. Disease such as smalitcx, cholera, etc rarely visit us, and then oT-ly in very mild farm, and are never fati.l ex- cept through the perversity of patients. Contrary to the belief of the uninformed,
 the dry heat of the summer months i es- pecially conducive to good health and ex-
 ceptional vigor, acting naturally upon the
 human system with the same effect a. the
 artificial result of Turkish bath-purefy-
 ing and renovating it. As further matter
 of fact, this county has never been even
 superfcially suspected, and it is only now that people are beginning to search its hills
 with any degree of systematic enthusiasm for the mineral wealth hidden there Ow- ing to the falling of in the price of silver, deposits of gold only are being sought for; and the present result is little short of mar
 vicious. In all sections of the county from $ the Sonora line to Williams Fork discoveries
 are daily being made, and the greater the develooment the greater the wealth dis. pLS'JOu' hAOl0N0i Ub0 plOSPeCIoI plan Vs his foot, lodges of gold confront him or are s brought to light by the intestlg gating strokes 2 of his pick.
 t Portions of the country traver8ed fol q years by commonly travelled trails are devel. , oping into rich storehouses of golden wealth T New and rich placers are constantly being
 discovered, and shipments of placer gold = from this point through Wells Fargo & r Co., Express, are steadily increasing in $ valus From a mining standpoint Yuma s County is rapidly leading the Territory, and l yet as far as that industry is concerned, } this section has received but little recoc- - nltion.
 I Agriculturally the country is vastly i'm s proving. Enterprises that have lain dor mant the last two years, owing to the gen. s eral financial depression and consequent
 dearth of money for investment purposes, are waking up to new life and vigor. Money } Is being attracted in this direction, and on ? all sides can be distinguished that indefn-
 able stir which is the precursor of an indus t trial awakening. Even within these last two years of financial stringency and de- i pression there has been steady if slow in- - crease in agricultural development and i wealth greater area of old farms has Q been put under cultivation, and new lands
 have been inclosed and new fields started. t A large section of Baisdell Heights has been , planted to fruit trees; field of cereals and alfalfa have been added to the cultivated ? area on the Colorado river below town; the lands lying under the Mohawk and Farmers canals have been made to yield heavy crops
 of every variety of agricultural products, as S ill other sections of the Gila valley, and the s gardens of Yuma have been added to and } beautifed in fruits, flowers and shubbery to a moYe than appreciable extent. Altogether 5 we may feel proud of our progress during , these last moaths of business depression and
 Encouragement. It speaks well fol the in dustry and pluck of our people, and the
 showing made constitutes the best evidence of the merits of our soil and climate and the
 richness of our mineral resources. Nature
 has done everything for our county, and all
 that is needed is a touch of the wand of cap
 ital to have our hills and valleys spring into
 an active life of remunerative industry that
 will last and endure forever.
 Some three years ago, through the energy
 of H. w. Blaisdell, the Yuma Water and
 Light Company was incorporated, and by
 means of its large pumping plant, at the
 foot of A, iu street, the town is abundantly
 supplied with water at reasonable rates, and
 there have grown into existence new and
 large gardens and orchards,