The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1905-10-18
KEEP YOUR EYE ON YUMA
YUMA'S WINTER CLIMATE.

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cessity of publicity as a means
of attracting capital to this sec
tion-and the speaker was right,
of course. He said, substantial
ly. Let the whole country know
that the government is expend
ing millions of dollars here to
perfect an irrigation system by
which more than one hundred
thousand acres of fertile land
will be brought under cultiva-
ton. Advertise the fact that
your climatic conditions permit
the growth of many tropical
products, and that one crop may
follow another continuously the
year round-a continual crop
ping and harvesting without ces-
satien. This is all true; these
things are being done. In these
features the country is not in an
experimental stage. Oranges,
lemons, dates, olives, figs, and
other like fruits have been
produced and marketed from
Yuma for years, and from five
to seven crops of alfalfa are har-
vested every year.
These facts have been publish
ed IN hundreds of papers; they
have been repeated thousands of
times. 1t cannot be that many
people, east or west, who read
the newspapers are ignorant of
these conditions. The announce
ment in May, 1904, that the Sec
rotary of the interior had made
an allotment of three million
dollars for the Yuma project un-
der the terms of the reclamation
law, it was published in nearly
every daily newspaper in the
United States; the same can be
said of the letting of the con-
tract to J. G. White & Co. for
the construction of the Laguna
dam. All these facts should be
known from one end of the coHn-
try to the other. Still as has
been said, there is no rush of
people here looking for invest
nents or homes. The question
is, why? No greater opportuni-
ties are presented anywhere.
We believe it may be account
ed for in great measure by
Yuma's undesirable reputation.
Since Lieutenant John Phoenix
started the story in the early
SOS, about the soldier dying, 60
ing to the lower regions and
later returning Ito Fort Yuma)
for his blankets, Yuma's reputa-
ton for heat has grown and
spread until the name is only
thus associated. Thousands of
people in every section of the
country have heard of Yuma in
this connection; and not know
ing any better, believe in the
suggestions of the blanket story,
and never think or speak of in
any other way. 1t never seems
to occur to these people that
Yuma might possibly have a
winter season. The word win
ter is never associated with the
word Yuma, which is natural.
from the standard of the cold,
blizzard afflicted sections of the
north, the east and the middle
west.
But the truth is that Yuma
has a winter climate. 1t is glo-
rious weather; during the winter
coat is rarely uncomfortable;
occasionally after Old Sol sinks
TO rest, a light overcoat is none
too warm. But there is no ice,
no snow, no billiards. to chill the
marrow in your bones; there is
no fog, no dampness, nothing to
put rheumatic crimp in your
anatomy. Your sleep is sound
and invigorating; you arise and
are greeted with music from the
song birds returned from the
north; the genial warmth of the
sun soon dlsSlpates the slight
chilliness of the early morning,
a perfect day has commenced,
and you are glad you are alive
and in Yuma. Toward noon the
mercury may climb to 50, but
not often does it go above.