Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1899-10-04
Verde Valley, Eastern TaVapai County
 Upper Verde.

upper Nefue' EDITOR JOURNAL-MSER:
 When l agreed to write up Verde Valley, l did so ou condition be al lowed space Tor six letters, my reason for making such a request was that We are all one great big section down here divided up into six set dement's, namely: Oak, Beaver and Clear Greeks, Lower, Middle and l Upper Verde. Ou all my visits in the valley l have had kind treat ment and have given matters for publication just as l see them. No doubt some may consider it arTO- gance on my part to write of Upper Verde right at the city of Jerome with three papers published there, but my promise was to write of the valley and give the agricultural possibilities of the valley. In order to furnish or give some idea of the valley with the sole object in view to induce some individual company or corroration ;o build a railroad into Verde Valley. My statements are all based on actual facts and as they exist today and can be fully substantiAted by reference to the U. s. land office aud assessors books of Ysvapai county. As l have spoken of several irrigating ditches that have been surveyed on Lower and Middle Verde and Oak Creek. will also state there is two ditch surveys on Upper Verde that has been, one of which takes in all that nice level country near Cottonwood. some two or three thousand acresI mostly mesa or upper bottom land, all situated on the west side of the river and will take in most all the good land laying between Kirwagen & Haskells and the Cottonwood settlement. The other ditch IS on the east side and covers what IS commonly known as the Munds' fat, about 1000 acres. That there is an abundance of water in Verde river and the tributary streams for every acre of ground, I have in any way enumerated, there IS no ques- tion. But as have heretofore re marked in other letters, the tow bottom lands have all been located and are now under water and ID good state of cultivation. l have spoken of the necessity of co-Opera tion or capital to build these irrigat- ing dItches. The small patches that one man could locate and take out individual ditches to cover have long since ceased to exist m Verde Valley. We need capital or large settlements working harmoniouslY together in order to put water on land here. We do not need popula- tion bad enough tO be misleading, in any statement that hss been 1 written by me for publication l neither do l propose tu offer or say anything about railroads that l can. not show up just as 1 have stated, and during a residence of 3l years heresbouts, have seen Verde | Valley grow from three farms on Lower Verde and three bachelor | ranch owners to several hundred | nice homes with sixteen school die tricts and about 1000 children of school age. Of course this estimate l includes Jerome. My letters have I caused some little surprise Many people have told ne they had DO idea what an amount of land We had already located here and people | who have made this valley their home for ten or twenty years do not | know we had one half as many acres of land under cultivation, or half the number of irIigsting ditches or water appropriations as already l stated ID the JOURNAL MISLR.
 In my next and concluding letter I shall submit in tAbulated form the number of acres of land filed 0n ! or patented in Verde Valley; also ! number and size of ali ditches with ! number of acres in alfalfa and fruit ! trees in each of the six settlements, ! but in order to treat all fair and ! alike, ask that the following list of 1 land on Upper Verde Valley be published. l wish to state in these ! letters that l have not been under | any obligations to anyone in giving them a write up of their places or business. My only object IS to show that such 8 country and all the pos | abilities l have enumerated actu- | ally exist here in Verde Valley, and l feel quite sure We will, in the near future, be connected with the out side world by railroad; and if in my | humble way and through the col umns of the JoURNAL-M MINER, l have helped to bring the matter before the people, engaged in railroad building so as to help the mstte- along or hasten it, 1 shall feel I have been fully paid for all my efforts.
 I find there is 4,0l0 acres of land either filed on or patented on Upper Verde, with l,050 acres in actual cultivation and 1880 acres suscept- ible of cultivation under the present ditches. and 520 acres in alfalfa. l also find there are four company ditches and eight individual ditches. The Upper Verde or Deer Indian Reservation ditch is about twelve feet wide and about 8 miles long. It is one of the oldest and best ditches in the valley. G. W. H.
 Upper Verde Land Statistics.
 The following table shows the acreage of cultivated, how irrigated, together with the owners and the