The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-12-11
IN THE TOWNS AND
W|LDS Of ARIZONA
Quaint Homes of an An
cient Race.
THE CLIFF JEWELLERS
Hunting the Arizona Quail. On Horse
back Over MOuntains Trails. Out
door Exercise in a Climate
That Renews Youth Like
the Eagles"
BI Il. II. LACY.


As so many people have written me
concerning my health, and what the
climate of Arizona did for me in six
weeks, / will write short sketch
of my trip. Few people. except my
wife, and DR.. Jordan. my physician.
have any idea Of how much 1 had
suffered with asthma in the last few
years. l do not think ] had slept all
night without waking UP, and gcu-
orally taking medicine, in two years.
For the last five or six months / haG
never had two nlohtS in succession
without asthma.
went to Solomville. Arizona. 20 Vis-
lit my younger brother, DR.. Jno. II.
Lacy, whom ! had not seen in twenty
five years. On the train / wheczcd
a great deal and had TO use medicine
in the sleeper, and the first night that
slept in Arizona | had TO use medi-
cine, then for eight days ! was absu-
lutely free from all symptoms, then /
ate imprudently of pork meat and tor
two nights wheezed a good deal. Az
ter that for over month | breathed
without effort, ami was happy
Arizona is We'll named, as it Ger
tainly is an arid zone" II is a bald
headed country. Miles upon miles of
lava-Iool<ing stone covered barreI
land with here and there a sage bush.
or mesquite bush, or one of the
many different kinds of Eactuses. !
saw I'VE d,nerent rjnua .aA, ore tlmr.
Solomonville is the county seat or
Graham county, ana mas al adobe
pronounced doby) court house. There
are Presbyterian Methodist and Cath
olic churches, all adobe, but the
Methodist church has so few members
IL
is about half mile from the Glla
(Heela) river, and is 2976 feet above
the sea. 1T is surrounded with uouu
tains: on the north the Gila Noun
tains which are not very. high, and
on the south the Graham lifts its
snow covered top 1888 feet ! vent
to the top and found about five inches
Of snow. We came back about four
miles to where the altitude is over
5000 feet and slept in an old cabin
with the snow within three feet OF
where / lay.
No people could have given me
more cordial and warm hearted recep-
tion than did the people of Arizona.
or tried harder to make me enjoy my
self. The probate judge. z. {, Little.
is a thoroughbred, WhOle-souled Tar
Heel from Catawba county. The
county treasurer Ben Clark, is also
Il handsome Tar Heel from AnsOn
county. He has been sheriff of the
county, but is treasurer now.
The bridge over Pecos River in
Texas. that | crossed twice, is 21S0
feet long and 321 feet nigh, without
a support. To get a better idea OF
the length. compare it with the blocks
in Raleigh, which are 420 feet, ana
this bridge is nearly as long as five
of them, and is about three times as
high as a church steepie. The train
stops on it, ana the passengers are
invited to get out and examine it.
The Gila evalley is very rich. but as
no rain falls to amount to anything.
they irrigatc. Although they make
from 'thirty-five to f"rty-tive bushels
of wheat to the acre, it does not pay
as we'll as alfalfa which we call lu-
cerne. Alfalfa brings ten dollars
ton at the railroad. but wnen packed"
to the mining camps, 1t brings from
fifteen to forty dollars ton. One
miner from Goldfeld, Nevada, told me
that it sold in that place last winter at
$500 a ton Everything is very high,
except ponies, which bring from tif-
teen to twenty-five dollars.
nv brother, his wife his twelve
year old son. Drury and Mr.. Evans
the Presbyterian minister md myself
went to Bonite canon % miles north
of Solomonville to visit the cliff dwell
historic beopIe that our scientists
believe lived about the time Elijah was
unon earth, and who have left nothing
but their quaint little adobe martin
nest looking dwellings,, away up hum
dreds OF feet above the bottom of the
canon. on lodges of the cliffs,
climbed to one by n narrow ledge.
often not three inches wide, up high
er than the Edenton Street Methodist
church steeple, and carefully examin
ed the little by 10 rooms. The walls
are made of adobe and small rocks
ana although the grass roof had fallen
in. il was still there AS there is no
moisture. nothing decays, and the two
poles that reached from one wall to
the other were as sound as the day
they were put in. From those poles
to the floor was only 4 feet 10 inches
and the door was so low that Drury
who is not large for twelve years OF
age. had TO bend his body almost
double to get i'm. These people left no
history. and the Spaniard Coronado.
who visited this country in i242 wrote
that evan az that early day thc Indians
had no idea who built these curious
houses with little square port holes
on the side toward the valley. and the
doors next 10 the cliif
I brought back some curious moe
casins or sandals made or grass that
mo peop]e<on earth now use any ike.
1 / did not climb UP to but one OF these
high ruins as the trip down scared
me so hadlv had not the heart TO
tlv it again. but as there had been
some great landslides from the TOP OF
the cliffe that had Overshot a whole