The Florence tribune., 1898-07-16
THE CASA eRAnDE VALLEY.
information for Those Seeking Homes
 In the Garden Spot ct the West.


  Pinal county was organized in lelS from portions of Pima, Maricopa and Yavapai counties, and contains an area of }, ,5OS square miles, or 3, ,435.520 acres, one-third of when could be made productive by a systematic storage Gf the surplus water now running to sAste, Next to Maricopa it is the most lm- bortant agricultural county ihthe Territory 1t it trayersed from east to west ny the Southern Pacific railroad and prancn 1i the great Santa Fe system IS now approachss ing from the north. The objective point oi this read is a connection with the sonora road of the same system. The Soutnerh Pacific Is Also building in this direction trol. Tenipe. and it Is confidently believed that work will not cease until the beer creeh coal fields are reached and connectlon .s made with another branch or that roau roains ming from Bowie to Globe and now eoinpie' Thus if will be seen that Pinal county Is the theater of railroad building at the pres res ant time and inside of year rlorenco, 'He county seat will be
 RAILROAD CENTER.
 At present 1t contains population or ahnnf lSoU but with the completion of these two railroads and the Butte reservoir nJ city in Arizona can approach It TOT hI hahuiai advantages, land a large increase III poPu.ia tion will follow Florence Is at an eieVntl0h of 1853 feet abeve sea level, situated near the Gila river twenty-siX miles northwest oi the railroad station of Casa Grande, with whlcl it Is connected by an elegantly equippeo s duily stage line. Going and coming stages run by the old Casa Grande ruins, anu messengers are allowed short time 10 ln- spect them. There are many hanosoIne PI PriI- vate residences in Florence, seVeral DI5cn 1 stores, good hotel, an excellent sraueu sr school employing four teachers churches' secret societies, a Commercial Club, news paper (the only one in the county anu @ @tne handsemest court house in tne Lefrr'oI5y fd. t5s district composed of Gila, Graham ana PinaI counties. The streets are lined wlth shade trees, which impart an ar or coihior9 on the warmest days.
 PRODUCTS OF THE VALLEY.
 Unlike the Salt river, the waters ot the ila are fresh and pure the soi snecsIIV adapted to the growth of the. prune, olie, almond. peach, fig, pear, apricot and IrulIs of all kinds, which pay largely on the inves.- ment It is also the natural home Of alfalfa, which grows in the most prollhc manner. The grape does exceptionally well Tn tnis valley, and wine and raisin culture IS destih- ed to become prominent industry. Cltrus fruits have been cultivated to limited extent; there are a number of orange trees in the neighborhood of Florence which bear their gelden fruit each year without pro- tection, and a few date palm trees are also III full bearing. The season Is from six weeks to two months earlier than Southern Callior- nia, which gives fruit growers an appreeiat- ed advantage in
 THE EARLY MARKETS.
 The absence of fogs and nightly dews is ( formidable obstacle to the destructive ant unsightly scale-bug. and the fruits or the valley are all bright and clean. All the asri cultural products of temperate and semi tropic zones are easily grown here, the ioni scasons giving succession of crops tha double or treble the productive value of thu land.
 PRICES OF LAND.
 Improved lands, with government title an' water right can be bought for from $zO U $50 per acre. according 10 ioca.lon ;ehbnr 9nI a,, hood and to the south of the Casa 6rend ruins there are thousands of acres covere with heavy growth of mesquite timber ye open to settlement. These are among tn schoieest in the valley. Water In tnexhaustl .ble quantity is found at a depth or Iroi twenty to thirty feet; in fact, river seem to be flowing underneath here s tsi, splen land with a pumping system or lrrngatiol which is said to be successful on small tract
 However, with the completion of the Butt reservoir, pumping will be thing Of th past, and 1t Is only mentioned here for th purpose of showing what can be done, and [ magnify the further fact that what was one considered
 AN UNISHABITABLR DESERT
 ss s- truth the most productive land on tf globe, and that there is water in abundant So hiring every foot of it under cultivation nnly waiting for the magic wand of eap1t to develop 1t. There is no water-storae scheme on the Pacific coast that has ope-ha the natural advantages and so few engineei ing difficulties as the Butte reservoir. hel nnfure has built the abutments in eVer-lll ing rock and all that is left for man to do to put in the headgate, the bluffs which for the gorge being only separated by paitf 220 feet. A country is drained through tn narrow canyon 200 miles square, representln 4OOOO square miles, or larger than Maine an Massachusetts combined. The rainfall IS SUI ficient to fill the reservoir twice year, an the land to be brought under cultivation practically limitless. This may read like fairy tale, but it Is every word true, and hi been verified time and again.
 CASA CYANIDE RESERVOIR.
 The reservoir of the Casa Grande Valle Canal company is the largest in the territor. Itcoyers a surface of 1600 acres, with an aver age depth of F feet, and contains about elg thousand million gallons of water. IL IS sl' mated fifteen miles southwest Of florenc' A leyee of earth has been thrown up aero. a depression in the plain IA, ,OOO feet in lengtl al25 feet in width at the bottom and 70 feet l width at top. 2 to slope on each side, and a averape height of 9 feet. The waste is regt lated by 3 cast iron pipes feet in dlamete set in solid masonry, regulated by gates an tower. This reservoir cost Sl5000O, and sur plies water for 5000 acres.
 Meteorological Statistics.
 The signal service of the general goyerr Ynent maintained a station at Florence frol is7l to 1882 The reports covering the perio From July. 1880, to April, 1882, gives the follow