Arizona silver belt., 1904-03-24
ENGINEER HILLS PROMISES TO
 PHOENIX

favor of the proposed wagon road from Goldfield to the dam, and making the latter accessible from Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix. The length to which they would go to promote the construc- ton of this road is made clear by the talk of Engineer Louis c. Hill before the meeting of Phoenix business men last Monday night, the report of which is reproduced on our first page. This report reveals that Mir. Hill has made promises to the people of the valley towns land Mir Hills statements are authoritative) that if they will con- tribute S75, 1000, as contemplated by @ bond issue, toward the building of this road, the government will pay any sum in excess of that amount that the road may cost Other strong induce ments arc held out to the valley people, namely; that ninety per cent of the money paid tc labor (the labor being ninety per cert of the totaS cost of the road) would t,e spent in Phoenix; an employment agency for the hiring of men to work al the damsite would be established at Phoenix; tho disbursing agent. now temporarily located at Liv. ingstone, would De moved to Phoenix. and Globe, which is now .he forwarding point for freight for the dam. would undoubtedly lose its patronage aud the Salt river valley would gain the advan. tage.
 It is clear, from Mir. Hills state. ments, as given by the Republican (snd We take it for granted that he has been correctly reported), that Engineer Davis and himself, who control the situation, will do everything possible to divert all the business arising from the construction of the dam, to Phoenix aud the other valley towns. Globe will get no patronage that it is possible to turn toward Phoenix. No doubt the engineers of the geo. logical survey feel justified in urging the building of this road. It would probably be to their convenience in several respects, and the cost of the road would be only one item in the great bill of expense which the people of Salt river valley will eventually be called upon to pay.
 The desire of the people of the val ley to reap some benefit from the con struction of the dam is natural. If they believe that road to the dam would be paying investment, let them build it What We obje,t to is the attitude of opposition to Globe by the leaders of the Water Tssrs asso. citation, seemingly shared Sy the en. ginaers, and their apparenI assump. ton that Globe is not entitled to any benefits from the construction of the dam.
 Seemingly they overlook the fact that Gila county, of which Glob, is the most important part, will be irepar- ably injured by the construction of a great reservoir on Upper Salt river, which will cut the county in two and wipe out considerable amolInt of taxable property.
 The most serious consideration, how ever, and which seems to hav,, been overlooked by most of the people of Globe even, is the threatened heavy increase in the co,t of prosecuting criminal offenders and for the mainte- nance of the county hospital With an increased population of from 1000 to 1900 persons in the valley above the damsite, many of them very un- desirable class, as soon as work on the power canal gets fairly under way, it IS inevitable that many petty offenses, and not unlikely that some felonies, will be committed, which will engage the attention of several officers and justices court, and perhaps render ad. visable the building of branch jail.
 There will be accidents happen. workmen will be injured, and there will be many cases of sickness. Un- fortunate victims of consumption will come from Phoenix, and many of these will become charges upon the county. These conditions will prevai to greater or less extent during the entire period of construction, for three years at least, and will impose & heavy financial burden upon Gala county.
 We want Messrs Fowler, Alexander. and other boomers, of the Salt River NY