Arizona republican., 1904-07-03

PERALTAREAvIS PAPERS
Documents in the Famous Case in the
 Surveyor.Cenerals Office.

All the essential papers and maps in the famous Peraltareavis case have been received at the office of the sur veyor general where they will be filed against the possibility that in years to come another Baron of Arizona may arise. There were a great many pa- pers in the case which though of cer- tain interest have not been saved for they would be of little use in future litigation. They consist largely of the forgeries upon which the gigantic claim was based.
 Among the documents at the office of the surveyor general are photographs of two maps of "California and New Spain." The maps show this territory south of the mountains north of Phoes nix. They were made about the middle of the eighteenth century and while they are quite imperfect they give a very good idea of the lay of the land. The maumakers in those days calcu- lated longitude eastward from Paris Greenwich was not then situated at the intersection of the base line and meridian,
 The Salt River valley was about the only part of New Spain which does not seem to have been more or less settled at the time of the making of the maps. There are only two places on the maps which are known by the same names today. One of them is the Casa Gran de ruins and the other San Xavier del Bac. The town nearest to the Salt River valley was a place called San Pablo little south of the junction of the Salt and Gila rivers It is shown to have been founded in 1899. There is no date in connection with the Casa Grande ruins or San Xavier. On the margins of the maps are pictures of the martyrdom of the earlier Catholics In this region and in California and also pictures of animals more or less fabled, supposed to exist in the coun- tries described by the maps.
 Speaking of the Peraltareavis case it appears that James Addison Reavis has not been wholly suppressed. His latest and pending enterprise is des- cribed as follows by the Denver Post.
 James Addison Ashley-Reavis, known as Peralta Reavis, and also as the apos tie of irrigation, has returned after a
 
 went to urge on the government com- mencement of irrigation projects in 
 He returns to Denver with the knowledge that the work has been be- gun, and has the cooperation of the government in a colonization scheme on tract'of land in Arizona. to which he was heir before ke gave up his claim to the government.
 Through his wife, who was the Sem orita Sofia Loretto Maso Pera Alta. MT. Reavis became the heir to 50O,- 100000 acres of land ir Arizona grant ed by Philip V. of Spain, to his favor Ite, an ancestor of Mrs. ReaVis
 MT. Reavis, foreseeing, he says. that It would be difficult to make title to the land, contented himself. after few years fighting in the courts. to locating the water on it, knowing that without the water the land was worth His insight into. the future has proved valuable to him, for while giving up all claim to the land he still l controls the water on the Gila river and 100,000, 900 acres which it will en- 'ich when the government irrigation ! project is finished.
 Ut was to insure the colonization of | his land that MT. Reavis made his | rip east. He has proposed to the | government to colonize 1000, 900 acres | 'n the Gila river within five years | md believes he will have no trouble | n doing so. Settlers will be given so acres of land, and the colonization of which MT. Reavis is the lead will build houses on each tract md erect windmill to each 160 acres with a well to provide sufficient water o prove up on the homestead while the completion of the govern nent work five years hence. At the md of fifteen years the settler. start ng without a cent, will become the ole owner of the land. and will have rnment irrigation project. It is esti- hated that with such a simple crop as lfa!fa the land with water will bring n an annuity of s12,000.
 "The dams which the government is 'uilding are on sites chosen by MT. 2eavis on the Gila and Salt rivers, which he surveyed years ago when irrigation of arid lands was considered
 chimera in the east, and next to inn possible in the west. Settlers on the and VII not have to live on it contin- ously under the law until the govern nent has provided water sufficient to rovide revenue for subsistence. The .bsence from the homestead is regula- ed by actual furloughs granted by he government |"