The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-02-23
ARIZONA ATTRACTIONS.
Something About the Climate. The An
Gent Aztec Pueblos. The Apache In
dian as He Is.
T Correspondence of The Journal.

loved paper the many familiar names
and little pleasurable happenings in the
old towns of Waldo county, our native
home, longing sometimes seiZeS us,
wishing the years away intervening be
fore the fuliillment of a home once
more among the old familiar scenes of
our youth; for, however far one may
roam, as the afternoon of life creeps
on, almost infallibly the heart turns
toward the old home, the old associa-
tions.
"The hills are dearest which our childish
feet have climbed"
But when we read of the cold, blu :
tering storms, the three feet of snow,
and blocked roads, we shiver in the an
ticipation of such future experiences,
and are obliged to Chamber into the
hammock on the veranda and drink in
the warm air and brilliant sunshine, to
dispel the chill, while the flies buzz
merrily around us; being, like the poor
and needy, always with US"
Hardly day Las passed of the year
we have spent i'll Arizona that we have
not exclaimed, oh. if we could but
transplant this climate to the State of
Maine. our future home would then be
the perfect land. This certainly is a
glorious climate, and the winter be-
lieve to be the most pleasant part of
the year Nearly every day is bright
and sunny, the air as balmy as May.
We wear no wraps, and but slight
change from the light garments of sum-
mer, while the broad piazzas are occu-
pied through the middle of the day,
nearly as much as then, though the
nights are cold enough orheavy covers.
The higher mountain tops about us
are capped with snow, but none has
fallen here. We have had two heavy
rainfalls since the first of December,
which were in fact good samples of
the regular old fashioned ''down east
transforms, lasting three days, and the
first we have experienced for consider
aply more tlldl year.
And may be you think we did not en-
10Y them? | rummaged through the
bureau drawers, overhauled trunks and
boxes, and sorted out all the piece-bags'
having perfectly lovely time" as in
Imagination dwelt once more in dear
old Maine, and listened to the steady
% = n ha roof
me of the old song:
.'As | rummaged through the attic,
Listening to the falling rain,
As it battered on the shingles
And against the window pane"
These two rain storms, the Indians say,
have not been equaled for many years,
and all are predicting much corn
next summer. The only disagreeable
feature of this climate is the dust
storms in the spring. That is the time
when the neat housewives life is
burden, as she rushes frantically
around buster in hand, noting with
despairing glance that it is time to
begin agen" immediately the rounds
have been made. A peculiar feature Of
the dust storms are the WhirlWindS,
miniature cyclones, in fact, which
gather dust from the ground, swirling
funnel-shaped up toward the sky, some
times going at a great rate of speed,
and again when the air is perfe city
calm, one will come sailing majestically
down from the west-always the west
disappearing from view miles beyond,
and we wonder at the peculiar pkenom-
enon, when not a leaf will be stirring
about us. | have never been so I'M
fortunate as to be caught in one of
these, but one passed through the back
yard one busy Monday morning, and
We stood helplessly watching our
weeks wash disappear in the clouds.
All the pieces, were, however, picked
up among the tepees of an Indian vii
lage half-nle beyond.
In July the rainy season" begins.
1t is simply a series Of short, brisk
showers, one coming along nearly every
day, always in the afternoon or even |
ing, rarely lasting more than an hour
OF two, then brilliant sunshine the rest
of the day. These showers occur quite
regularly for a couple of months, then |
usually no more are seen until the next |
year at that time. All land that is cul-
tivated is under irrigation, and when |
Uncle Sam has expended the three |
million dollars that has been appropri-
ated for the Improvement of Arizona
it will be one OF the garden spots" of
the world. In the Tonic Basin, some
one hundred miles from here, the course
of Salt River has been turned, and in
its bed, at the entrance of a huge |
canyon, is being builded the highest |
dam in the world, which viii make irri-
CATION possible of 1000 more acres of
now arid and useless land. Some of
the finest of ranches and fruit farms
are now in the Basin, along Tonic
Greek.
| promised to tell you something of
the Indians and other ATTRACTIONS" of
Arizona Within radius of twenty |
miles from this post are number of