Arizona republican., 1904-03-30

building if 1t by the Water-u1ers' as- sociation. The plan would have cost him not less than $500 and he mention- ed that fact only to show his earnest ness in the matter and his apprecia- tion of the advantage of the road t0' the valley. A great tributary to the valley would be opened up and by no other way could 1t be connected with Phoenix There would be established also a location for an admirable sum- mer resort There was he said, no doubt of the acticn of Mesa on the bond question. So far the committee having the matter in charge had been unable to find one dissenting person.
 A letter was read from Judge Ed ward Kent, who had been announced as enc of the speakers. He said that since accepting the invitation of the commit tee Ii had occurred to him that per- haps legal questions. touching the valid fty of the bonds might be brought be- fore him and he had therefore believed that it would be better for him not to participate Tn the meeting. He wou d, however, assure the committee of his hearty sympathy with the movement.
 Engineer L. c. Hill, In charge of tte road construction for the government about the dam site, was introduced for the purpose of answering such ques- tions as might be asked. In the course of his answers he said that he would illustrate the advantage of the road to the people of the valley by quoting from a railroad general passenger agent who told him that the read would i'm afer1-4+ ,cr road even if a pound of freight was never carried over it. It would be a constant menace to prevent the i'm position by the roads of exorbitant rates to the dam site Mir. Hill de- scribed at some length the location of the road and the character of 1t in the event of its building. The highest alti- tude between the dam site and Mesa was 29O0 feet. There would be two places on the road where the grade would be six per cent and one place. where the road would strike Fish Creek hill, that there would be e ten p-r cent grade, but that would ba an verse grade. That is, there would te no up grade at that point toward the dam. in which direction the freight would be hauled. Mir. Hill said that various routes had been suggested to him ,bp people who pretended tc know about them and all of them had been investigated. Some of them had been found to be impracticable and none of them could be made into a road so cheaply and so advantageously as the one under consideration. The advant- age lay not in the mere building of the road to the dam site. It would join other roads for the opening up of the country beyond the Sierra Anchas. PleaSant valley, the country along Tonto creek and the rich region about Payson. Mir. Hill believed that the road could be finished within th.ee months after the funds became avail able.
 Dr. A J. Chandler could not oompre- bend that the people of Phoenix needei an argument in behalf of the road. It was so apparent that it would be a paying investment and big paying in- vestment. The amount which Phoenix would have to contribute $67. 800. would return at least s675,cQ0. E. A. Fowl ar was the next speaker Mir Fowler has from the beginning been the chief advo- cate of the road. and he secured the passage of the bill in congress permit ting the people of the three towns to vote upon the proposition for it's con- struction. His views were, therefore, well known, for they had been present. ed in circulars and at other meetings at which he had appeared since the agita- ton of the matter began.