The Florence tribune., 1899-09-16
THE CASA eRANDE VALLEY.
Information for Those Seeking Homes
 In the Garden Spot of the West.

portions of Pima. MariCopa and 1aYapal | and contains an area of 5Ss8 square 1 miles, or 3 s35,5 ,52O acres one-third of which l could be made productive by systematic storage Cf the surplus water now runnlng to waste. Next to Maricopn it is the most lm- portant agricultural county in the Territory. It it traversed from east to west by the Southern Pacific railroad, and branch of the great Santa Fe system Is now approach. ing from the north. The objective point Of this read is connection with the Sonora road, of the same system. The southern Pacific is also building in this direction from Tempe, and it is confidently believed that work will not cease until the Deer Creek coal fields are reached and connection IS made with another branch of that road run ming from Bowie 10 Globe and now eompiet- ed to Fort Thomas.
 Thus it will be seen that Pinal county is the theeter of railroad building at the pres ent time, and inside of a year Florence, the county seat, will be
 RAILROAD CENTER.
 At present it contains a population Of aboct I500 but with the completion Of these two railroads md the Butte reservoir no city in Arizona can approach it for natural advantages, and large increase III populh- tion will follow. Florence is at an elevation of loos feet above sea level situa1eu esf f the the railroad station of Casa Grande, with whlen it is connected by an elegantly equipped deily stage line. Going and coming stages run by the old Casa Grande ruins, and passengers are allowed n short time to ln- spect them. There are many handsome pri- vate residences in Florence, several pricK
 school employing four teachers, churches,
 secret societies, Commercial Clup, news
 paper (the only one in the countyl. and the
 handsomest court house n tHe nsrr1''ag, fn1 sfs
 district composed of Gila. Graham ana
 Pinal counties. The streets are lined with
 shade trees, which iInpart an air ot comfort
 on the warmest days.
 PRODUCES OF THE VALLEY.
 Unlike the Salt river, the waters of the
 .iIla are fresh and pure the soil contains no 4lxali is a deep, rich gray ash, especially
 adapted to the growth of the prune, oiiye, almond peach, fig, pear, apricot and fruits of all kinds, which pay largely on the invest ment. It is also the natural home Of a1aifa,
 which grows in the most prolific manner The grape does exceptionally weH m t9is valley and wine and raisin culture Is oestln- ed to become prominent industry. Citrus fr,lits have been cultivated to a limited extent; there are number of orange trees in the neighborhood of Florence which bear their golden fruit each year without pro lection and few date palm trees are also ln 1 full bearing. The season is from SIX weeks to two months earller than Southern CaItor- mia, which gives fruit growers an appreciat- ed advantage in
 THE EARLY MARKETS.
 The absence of fogs and nightly dews is Q 1 formidable obstacle to the destructive and ! unsightly scale-bug, and the fruits Of the valley are all bright and clean. All the agri- ] cultural products of temperate and semI- | tropie zones are easily grown here, the long 1 seasons giving succession of crops that
 double or treble the productive value or the | land.
 Improved lands with government title and ! water right can be bought for from go to l $50 per acre. according to location and iIn- proveInents. In the immediate nefghbor- 1 hood and to the south of the Casa Grande | ruins there are thousands of acres covered | with a heavy growth of mesquite timber yet | open to settlement. These are among the | choicest i'll the valley. Water in lnexhansti- l ble quantity is found at a depth of from twenty to thirty feet; in fact, river seems
 to be flowing underneath. Here is splen- did opportunity to take up and improve 1 land with a pumping system of irrigation, l which is said to be successful on small tracts. l However, with the completion of the Butte
 reservoir, pumping will be thing of the l past, and it is only mentioned here for the purpose of showing what can be done, and to
 magnify the further fact that what was once
 considered
 AN UNIEHABITABLE DESERT
 | Is in truth the most productive land on the | globe, and that there is water in abundance to bring every foot of it under cultivation, i only waiting for the magic wand of capital 1 to develop it. There is no water-storage scheme on the Pacific coast that has one half l the natural advantages and so few engineer | ing difficulties as the Butte reservoir. Here nature has built the abutments in ever-iiy- l ing rock, and all that is left for man to do IS l to put in the headgate, the bluffs which form | the gorge being only separated by paltry | 220 feet. A country is drained through this
 narrow canyon 200 miles square, representing | 40e00 square miles. or larger than Maine and Massachusetts combined. The rainfall is suf-
 ficient to fill the reservoir twice year, and
 the land to be brought under cultivation is i practically limitless. This may read like a | fairy tale, but it is every word true, and has | been verified time and again.
 CASA GRAEDE RESERVOIR.
 The reservoir of the Casa Grande Valley Canal company is the largest in the territory. | It covers surface of 160O acres, with an ayer- | age depth of F feet, and contains about eight | thousand million gallons of water. It is sit uated fifteen miles southwest of Florence. l A levee of earth has been thrown up across
 depression in the plain Il, ,00O feet in length, | 125 feet in width at the bottom and p feet in width at top, to 1 slope on each side, and an l average height of 9 feet. The waste is regu-
 lated by 3 east iron pipes feet in diameter, l set in solid masonry, regulated by gates and l tower. This reservoir cost Sls9G30, and sup ! plies water for 6,001 acres.
 Meteorological Statistics. The signal service of the general govern
 ment maintained station at Florence from | 1874 to 1882. The reports covering the period