Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-07-06
CHA COUNTY'S NEED

The recent decision of the county board of supervisors to petition the board of control to declare the road from Globe to Roosevelt ter ritoral highway, should be one of the most grat flying events to the average citizen that has occurred for long time. This action marks the beginning of new epoch in the develop ment of Gia county The resident of this city, enjoying, as he does, the privileges of a railway and other conveniences pertaining to the growth of a town like Globe, is all too likely to forget that the immense area of Gia county lying to the northward is remaining an undeveloped sec tion simply for the lack of one thing transpor- taton.
 We venture to say that the resources of that large part of Gila county commonly designated as the PaysOn country have been but par tially realized by the majority of the people who live in this city. It is difficult even to req lize that Gla county contains 4,542 square miles, or between three and four times as much territory as the state of Rhode Island The so-called Payson country has four or five rich mining districts, extensive tracts of timber, cattle range fully seventy five miles square that supports more than 50,000 head of cattle, and hundreds of acres of rich agricultural land ly- ing in the Payson main belt where all kinds of farm produce and all the ordinary fruits can he raised in abundance without irrigation On the northernmost border of Gila county. also is situated the famous Natural Bridge one of the greatest wonders in the United States, and one which hundreds of tourists would travel miles to see, if there were any suitable roads to travel on
 The proposed new road to Roosevelt is lead ing in the right direction to bring this isolated part of Gila county into closer touch with the outside world, and the ultimate extension of this road from Roosevelt through Payson, a town of about POO population and from that place to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon, would mean about 240 miles of road building more than half of which would fall outside of Gila Durango, Col, is almost certainty ,-ithin a lead northwestward in almost a straight line, and would take in the Natural Bridge It would, furthermore lead for about 150 miles through the grandest pine forests that this whole country can boast of.
 With the providing of suitable means of transportation and communication for the northern part of Ga county the tax lists would go bounding upward into the region of more zeros, and the county would subsequently, find the financial end of any improvements it might wish to undertake much less formidable prop osition than it is now. That it does pay to invest money and lots of it ill county good roads there IS not the remotest doubt, and while the building of the entire highway to the northern boundary of Gla county will be the work of years, yet it is worth while for one quarter of county to know what the other three-quarters are doing and are capable of It is said by prominent residents of the Payson country that the beginning of railroad line from Globe to county. This road taking in these points would year Roadbuilding and railway construction should, together, make this hitherto neglected portion of Ga county one of the wealtbiest parts of the great southwest.