Arizona silver belt., 1900-01-18
ARIZONA PROGRESS.
some Startling Figures Rapid De-
 velOpmcnt.

The following truthful article ap-
 peared in recent issue of the Los
 Angeles Times, setting forth facts as
 gleaned from an disinterested stahd-
 point:
 ''In common with other sections of
 the union, yet probably in exceptional
 degree, Arizona has known prosperity
 during the year 1899. Thanksgiving
 Day was celebrated without mental
 reservation, and the prospect for l9oO
 Is the brightest ever known to the
 sun-kissed land. This has all been de-
 spite unfavorable natural conditions,
 for the rainfall during the past two
 years has been down to the minimum
 record. Farmers, lumbermen, miners
 and railroads alike have been deprived,
 but have known prosperity such as
 never before came unto them.
 Ut is believed the territory has
 passed it's speculative era, and that 1t
 has entered period wherein steady
 progress will be known, on a basis of
 its known rich natural resources.
 Upon these premises application is now being made for the right of state hood.
 ''In reviewing the progress of the year 1899, the inquirer is struck with the fact that development has been generally ditIuSed throughout all lines, that the prosperity enjoyed has come through many smaller opera tions, and may not bS credited to any conditions have favored throughout. Copper is nearly twice the price It was eighteen months ago. Range cattle sell for $50 head, where Sl2 for the same class of steers was the price in 1898. Sheep are s3 d head; where they were Sl.50, and wool was almost doubled in value. The farmer and or chardist have found quick and prOtita- ble market for all they could produce. And the merchant has prospered with his customers.
 "The industry most active under the changed conditions has been and is, mining. The copper production for the year will reach total valua- tiOn of S22, COG, ,000, of itself two thirds of the territory's taxed valuation on all classes of property. Gold pruduc- tiOn has been'in the vicinity of S,000,- GOO, about a million advance on the previous year. From placer claims has come ahgut S600,O0O. Silver will million ounces, mainly from the mines of Mohave county, with some as a by- product in copper bullion. Lead, Car rying some silver, is mined in south eastern Arizona, usually to be shipped as fiuxing material to the Fl Paso smelters.
 'Railroading in Arizona has never | been SD active. A new brOad-guage | line has been built in Mohaye county, | to connect the Santa Fe Pacific with | Chloride. The expectation is that the | road will be continued on to junc- | tion with one of the railroads in | southern Utah. Wholly within Ct~ ConinO county is railroad now under construction from Williams tO the grand canyon of Arizona. It is to be sixty-tve miles long and will penetrate rich timber and copper mining dis trict. Early in 1899 the Gila Valley, Globe X Northern railroad, an $. F. road, was completed to Globe. A narrOw-guage line is to be built at once by the Detroit Copper company from Morenci to Duncan. The survey has been completed for a railroad from Yuma to San Jorge bay, in Mexico, on the Gulf of California. distance of l25 miles. Another Mexican line is 10 be built by the Scotch copper factors, Phelps, Dodge & O., from Naco, near Bisbee. in the Cananea mountains of Sonora. Additions have been made to the trackage of the Prescott X East ern road. and a system of feeders for the line, centering at Big Bug, is to reach all the mining camps of the . Bradshaw mountains. similar Sys- tenn, with twenty-inch guage, is to , center at Globe. Along the lines of the santa Fe Pacific nearly all cul- , yerts have been replaced in masonry, and new iron bridges are being placed at Canyon Diabld and other points. The road beds of both the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific trunk lines with in Arizona have been entirely worked , over during the year. Both compa- nies have almost entirely renewed , their motive power, and both have in- stalled heavier rails on all grades. The santa Fc has spent about S3,000,- 600 during the year in improvement of it's Arizona divisions, and the South erh Pacific is not far behind, The . alter corporation, early in the year, completed at Yuma new steel bridge , over the Colorado river. It cost S5OO,- 000. Large sums have been expended < by the santa Fe Pacific in tlle;dcyelop- |.