Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-09-08
A RAILROAD WANTED
More Reasons Given for the Exfen.
sion of The Prescott and Eastern.

! A correspondent of the Journal
Miner has been writing a series of
| letters, showing up the resources o.
the Verde valley and letting tbs wide
world know the reasons why the P &
E. railroad should be extended tC that
section. An excerpt of his latest leit-
/ ter follows:
! In my last 1 promised you a write
| up on Clear creek and as this is the
third and last Of the main tributary
streams, 1 will ais in tha other two.
commence at the upper part of the set
| Element.
Ranch No. 1, commonly known as
the Bull Pen" is owned by James
thompson and Isaac Jones and is des-
tined to be ona of the largest and best
FRUIT ranches of the Verde valley AMI
all northrn Arizona, as the soil seams
aaapted to fruit, especially apples.
LheSsrS- thompson and Jones have
about 15OO fruit trees. from three to
seven years old, just now beginning
to bear, while most IocalitiSs in north
ern ARIZONA suffered as the result of
Inc unprecedented freeze CT Nav 2.
1899 This orchard was not touched
ana is loaded with fruit. AS their
place Is above the surveyed land and
only held under squatters' rights. l
VIII say they have. about twenty acres
in cultivation, most of it being in fr,1ft
trees. There are perhaps forty ACRES
all told, on the creek that can be Guilt
Vated as their place. a few mills be-
Low them is an Indian settlement az
nICy or sixty Mohave Indians who have
some TOUR or five small bitches and
perhaps 160 acres of land located.
Understand Justine Head, an educated
lndlan, has filed on 160 acres CT land
AS this stream empties into the Verde
river about six miles below Ca1np
Verde and is one of the most nrosn9r-
Gus as well as best imprved Let of land
IN the valley, 1 give the number of
acres flied on and also amount in ct1i-
tivation.
live near this settlement and have
mad occasion to notice the water sup
ply Closer than either of the tributary
streams before mentioned. In the
early sixties when Judge E w. Wells.
Joe SWeatman, Peter Eiche. McSouls,
Charles Yates, Henry Dawson Boblett
and others, most of whom have long
since ceased to roam, took out the first
Hrlgat1ng bitches that were ever used
IN northern Arizona since the days of
the Aztecs, when Clear creek was near
er a lake or series of lakes than tbs
L
today, for the reason that the water
was held in check by a dense growth
OF undeTbrush, large tufts Of grass.
TUES and cat-tail flags, and numerous
beaver dams. But with the disap-
pearan0e Of the beaver, free range fol. |
stock and the eating out of this under F.
growth vegetation, causing the creek |
to concentrate and deepen the channel !
until now there is three or four times !
the amount Of water of TWENTY-FIVE |
years ago, when there was a scarcity |
OF water for only about 200 acres, !
while there is now in actual cultiva- |
ticn and irrigated from six individual !
and two company ditchss 80 acres. |
about $50 acres of which is in alfalfa,
and there is more water for this {
of land now than there was
for the 200 acres twenty-five years
ago. This amount does not include
several small felds and patches Of d
few acres each belonging to a Let CT
Apache and M0haVe Indians living up
in the box canyon On the upper part /
Of the creek. 1 also find there arsi 220
acres, exclusive of the land held by
the Indians, under what is known as
squatte1s rights, there are 2,240 acr.s
either patented or filed on in the
United States land office at Prescott.
l have now given you the amount
of land in actual cultivation en- Oak,
Beaver and Clear creeks, the three
largest tributary streams in what is
known as Verde valley. Also a careful
~ approximate calculation of the
amount CT land already covered by the
various bitches en- these streams thar
: at the present susceptible of cultiva-
Ion under the various bitches air ady
constructed, and will say both Beaver
md Clear creeks already have under
cultivation all the land that the waters
II thesa streams are capable CT water
ng, but by judiciCus and economical
lse OF the water there is plenty of wa
er &c irrigate all the land now covered
~ the various bitches. But on Oak
Te-k there are several thousand acres
# land and water abundant for same, s
,u5 it requires capital or cooperation, {
s all the land now susceptible CT cul- /
iVation. net already located is mesa {
r upland.
In my next letter I will end5avOr to
how up a portion Of the Verde valley
roper, and some Of the many reasons
Why we need d railroad and nsed it
ad. Most any road will do us a great t
God, but taking all in all and for the h
enefit of old YaVaPai, in whose bosom y y
expect some day my bones will be s
tainted we need most Of all a railroad r
o Prescott, our county SCAT and if one 8
5 built from Prescott to the Verde val I
ny by any route it will be many long s.