Arizona republican., 1909-04-25
A FERTILE VALLEY
 SOUTH Of PHOENIX
Reporter "Discovers" a New Valley and Takes Out a Homestead.


 If census were to be made of the number of citizens of Phoenix who have visited, during the year, that section of the country lying within three miles of Center and Washington streets, directly across the river, it would be found that about one in ten had strayed that far from home. While this estimate is more or less speculative, 1t is at least as reliable as the recent cat census of Phoenix made by a local humorist, who com puted the total number by multiply ing the number of electric lights in the city by three-the humOrist hay ing found three cats engaged in catching bugs under each light he visited.
 It is quite probable that there are more cats in Phoenix than three to each electric light, and it is equally probable that there are less than one in ten residents of Phoenix who know anything about the present conditions across the river.
 The general opinion seems to be that the south side of the river is composed chiefly of the Heard ranch, few jaclkrabbits and a lot of sage brush, with a back ground of stage mountains. Just to satisfy his curios ity on the subject and to see if there were any cosy little parcels of ranch land that the squatter had overlooked reporter for the Republican drove over few days ago to the foot hills of the paper machc mountains, for iS what fhaV lDOl< like
 When he started he had but vague idea that there was any land on the south side, excepts the tops of the mountains that had not al- ready been subject to homestead en- try, but he found a place on the gov ernment map that did not appear to have any entries against it, and so strated out to find tine particular sec ton inc had in mind. The section lay we'll up in the hills. but the contour lines were wide apart, indicating that the land was faily level
 The river was crossed near the foot of Center street, and from there the road led for a half mile through a border of newly planted palm trees to the main road leading from the old Broadway ranch 70 Mesa and Tempe The palm road runs through the Heard ranch and right through the center of a beet field of 300 acres. From the center of this tract the sur rounding country looked like one vast and placid green sea of sugar beets. They are planted in rows, close to- gether and the early ones are now about knee high.
 The Republican man wasn't sur prised in particular at seeing this magnificent crop of sugar beets-he knew in a general way that the Heard ranch was under cultivation and expected to see a few hundred acres of alfalfa with fine cattle graz ing on it. The real surprises of the day came later. Heading directly south for Telegraph Pass he drove past farm after farm, each with its little house and farm, its cattle, its barley and alfalfa fieiCs, and it's gar den of peas, beans, strawberries. can taloupes and almost everything neces- sary for the support of life-that was the surprise. Here and there is some desert land. just as there is desert land almost anywhere within five miles of Phoenix, but even that is being laid out for cultivation. Even on the extreme edge of this valley, nestling up well under the foothills, are farm houses with their green checker boards of barley and alfalfa about them. The point is that there is so MUCH of the Iand under culti- vation.
 The Republican reporter does not wish to pose as having discovered the
 
 American celebrity once discovered London; there are many people liv- ing in Phoenix who make it an all most daily practice of crossing the river But there are many more who are as ignorant of the south side as dweller in a New York flat house is ignorant of the family that lives behind the wall and pounds on it at times to keep him from making so much noise.
 When the extreme edge of cultiva- tion was reached, a handkerchief was tied about a spoke of the wheel and tally kept on the turns. With this make shift speedometer the miles were reeled off with as much accu- racy as a man can step off a required distance. With two mountain peaks for sights the purpose was served and the section, marked by a stone, was found. Here was a section of land, the back part running up into the hills, which had never been owned by any man. It is true, there were some rocks on it, larger than your fist and smaller than a barrel; and the land in places would require leveling. But the soil was there, and in the protection of the hills, there was no reason why it could not be transformed with water industry and a little money, into an orange grove, or. better still, that. arDoreal form of life insurance, the eucalyptus grove
 Cutting into one corner of the sec- ton was a dry ditch. Farther up, perhaps two miles away, there was water in this same ditch, and it look ed as though the water might be coaxed a few miles further Anyway, it looked good to the reporter, and he started back for the land office eight miles away. On the way back three wagon loads of furniture, tents, farming implements and household utensils were passed, which may give some idea of the rapid development this south land is undergoing
 There isn't any moral to this story, because the reporter thinks he got the last piece of land on the south side;