Arizona republican., 1899-03-31

! paired condition of those soils today, ] affords abundant proof that here the 1 fertility of the ground is eYer-rene wed and hence everlasting.
 i Returning to Maric0pa county. i which, after all, is the agricultural cen 1 ter Of the territory, it is seen that ] here, within sight Of the house-tops of i Phoenix, lies d broad garden, almost perfected by the hand of nature alone i Here the broad valley of the Salt, with it's 1,500,000 acres, tempted venture some white settlers to locate, more than thirty years ago. Geologically the Salt River valley region is one of the oldest on the continent. The sur rounding mountains have been eroded by the elements until they are mere knobs in comparison to their former height The decomposed granite re- moved from them by the rains has made a soil twenty feet deep in the valley. The few settlers of a genera tion ago saw this. and saw the surDTic- ing crops that were raised by the crude irrigation methods of the h. dians and their scattering Mexican neighbors. The Americans set about constructing primitive cooperative ditches from the banks of the river, and while their methods Of irrigation
 
 less crude than those of their abOrigi- nal neighbors. thc products of their labors were sufficiently gratifying and surprising to carry the fame of the t43liey across the intervening dosefts Iand mountains, thousands Of miles, to Aae nearest railroad settlements, and thencefOrth settlers struggled in, until the construction Cf the Pacific rail- roads made possible the inflow of inn migrants in a steady stream.
 New canals were constructed to neet. the wants of the growing population, somewhat in the manner that new streets were laid out in the elder cities-tO meet the needs of the mo- ment and the neighborhcod, and with little idea of systematic and econon1i- cal irrigation of the valley. Accord ingly, we find today that some Of the twelve canals which supply water to the quarter of 2. million acres sur rounding Phoenix, should not have been constructed. This wastefUl method Of carrying water in numerous smaller and closely parallel ditches i with the consequent waste from cvap- oTatlOn and seepage, has been greatly ! modified by the construction of the i later and larger canals-notably the i Arizona canal, Cn the north side Of the |
 
 the south side
 The important canals on the north i side Of the river in the territory tribu- ! tary to Phoenix are: The Arizonl the : Grand, the Crosscut the MaricCpa and l the Salt River Valley On the opp3- site side Of the river are the Consoli- | dated system, the Tempe and the High land canals. They represent an actual ', investment Of $1, 1,500,00
 Few Of the first settlers understood l the proper methods of irrigation, and fewer still practised those methods. Consequently, it may be said that it is only within the past ten years that the possibilities of the Salt River valley in the way of diversified products and profits therefrom have become gener- ally recognized. Take the whole list Of semi-trOpic fruits, for example. Few of the original settlers would believe that the local conditions for their &Jwth are perfect, and but little at #npt was made to produce anything r
 tside the conventional fruits of the
 stern states; and those who did be- Eve that the situation warranted the Bort failed to apply the water in q