The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-07-04
FROM The LAND OF APACAES.
A WOMAN's RAMBLES DOWN IN
ARIZONA.
The Patriotic Cowboy In Uncle
Sans Harness-SOme From
tier Experiences.
Especial Correspondence Record-union)
Phoenix, A. T., June 70, 1S0S.

Phoenix, A. T., June 70, lSoS-
The last echo of the bugle call to
arms has died away amid Arlzona's
barren peaks, and the festive cowboys
last whccp is now memory-the last
memento left as they promptly answer
ed to the famous reveille.
Really, they are a lot of brave look
ing fellows. these noted cowboys of the
plain, and to begin with, many had his
tories.
Let not the MISSIONER boy" mislead
you Many of the heads of the cow boys
that l have seen had streaks Of gray
among the dark or blonde locks. Their
careers may have started in Texas,
where they We're invited to cross the
hne for reasons best known to them
selves (and a select few, or they made
mistaken beginnings on other lelds.
Some there are who sought health in
the saddle and found it. as their medi-
cal examinations will testify and
thereafter became welded to the wild
life on the plains.
Others there are who were attract
ed by the free life it afforded, and many
more by the mistaken glamor given the
cowboy in lightest literature. From
whatever source it is to be drawn, all
appear to possess a bit of desperation
that will make most valuable warriors
in the attempt to humble the enemy.
Already the ARABS" on our streets
are humming, to the tune of Yankee
Doodle:
''Teddy's terrors are let loose,
Each upon broncho;
Put flag upon your hat,
For down will come the Dons. or
OF course, California civilization is
some forty years older than this coun-
try, and to have lived there spoils one
for this cline. To live, one should re-
main in California, and but come here
as a last resort. In the last two
months the highest and lowest temper
atures have been respectively 90 and
4S degrees, los and 81 degrees here at
Phoenix.
A few days since l visited Prescott.
80 miles from here. On looking out of
my window the first morning of my ar
rival / beheld veritable little Klon-
dike-snow falling in great flakes, but
no snow on the ground. This town
seems more like California town than
any / have yet seen. And there are
more. men and women of health to be
seen in the town, and not so many in
valids as at Phoenix and Tucson. 1t
may, however, be a case of the sur
vival OF the fittest
Like all Arizona towns, half the bust
ness portion is taken up with saloons
and gambling houses. One whole side
of square is devoted to saloons and
dives and also one-half Of the north
side. / am told there are six faro
gangs running all the time, and it
costs the man who runs each one $50
Per day for wages To run them. That
Is $40 per day. Then. aside from this,
there are some twenty tables of other
games. which cost from $3.50 to so to
run, making an approximate expense to
gamblers of S400 a day
This must all be made out of ranch
ers. miners and few clerks. with a
profit sufficient to keep the gamblers
which, all told in this town-whisky and
either drinks included-would reach
S1,J0o per day, or $4,000 per week.
And this in town of 5000 inhabitants
What think you of this. We who have
been holding up Sacramento as the
Sodom and Gomorrah of our day? A
bad state of affairs, / submit and yet
this state of things exists in about The
same proportion in every town in Ari-
iona. The profits or remuneration to
labor here must necessarily be very
large. or they could not live. Such a
condition in any of the Middle Atlantic
States would reduce the average wage
Garner to a tramp in month or two
California, even, could not stand it.
Hence, it is an obvious case that any
sober. industrious man who will eschew
gambling and drinking can do we'll in
Arizona, and that is the secret of many
a mans success in this territory, where
with the same effort in another place
a failure would have been the newt
able result 1t has been suggested to
me that the presence of the military
post-Whipple-rna have helped out
the gamblers. In that case they will
doubtless feel the loss of a few COM
panies of Uncle Sans soldiers.