Arizona republican., 1909-05-18
THEY ARRIVED HERE
 TWENTY YEARS AGO
TWO TEMPE CITIZENS WHO HAVE
 BEEN HERE EVER SINCE.
A Brief Account of the Incidents of the
 Trip on Foot From Globe.

It is becoming quite the thing for Salt River valley residents to give the anniversary of their arrival here fitting recognition Years ago the valley was q pretty good place but now it is even more better and has been getting bet ter for years past. hence it is that the longer a man lives here the more he feels like celebrating the anniver- sary of his arrival and those who have been here for 30 years consider them selves just little more fortunate than those who have only been here twenty five or less All this is just prelim- mary to the story of the arrival of two prominent Tempe residents thirty years ago, the l7th of May, which was yesterday.
 These two fortunate citizens are George Compton and A. w. Cosner. Thirty years ago yesterday they land ed in Tempe, tired. dirty, hungry and almost broke: there was another man in the party, a German by the name of Albert Kroudee. and the total cap ital of the three was 15 cents. They were in worse condition financially than was James Goodwin upon his arrival here for he had fifteen cents all by himself while these three had only that much jointly.
 Mir Cosner. MT. Compton a.d MT. Kroudee. with two others, formed party that left Trinidad, Colo. in April of 1879. They were bound for Globe and had a fairly good outfit. The trip was rather uneVentfui until the party was about a week out of Globe. There troubles began for the road was lost and the supply of provisions gave out. The party finally found little settle ment where thirty pounds of corn meal was purchased at ten cents a pound and on this the five men subsisted un- til they reached Globe.
 The party spent a couple of days there and then divided; the three above mentioned striking out for Tempe and the other two remaining in Globe. The trip was made on foot and it is a wonder that any member of the party ever reached Tempe. At that time the Apaches were on the warpath and the traveller hit straight across country, regardless of Indians or anything else. How they escaped they do not know yet but they did and arrived in Tempe as afore stated En- route though they had a variety of experiences. Upon reaching the Gila, MT. Cosner advanced the idea of say ing shoe leather by constructing a raft and floating down the stream. This ha thought and the raft was forthwith built. The blanket and scant supply of provisions was loaded on board and the craft was launched. All went well for about five miles when a fierce riff fle was encountered. In trying to guide the raft away from the bank, both MT. Cosner and the German were knocked overheard and MT. Compton was left alone. He tossed off the cargo and being unable to swim, MT. Cosner went to the rescue and he was lowed tc shore. The rest of the jour ney was made on foot by way of Silver King The men were in their prime then and did a stunt they could hardly repeat now. They left Silver King at six o'clock one evening and arrived al Mesa the next morning at the same hour walking all night.
 Arriving in Tempe later in the day, they invested their capital in Mexican bread and after cleaning up paid w. T Cummings a call, he having pre- ceded them here a short time. Gabe Cosner was also here then and the foot-sore travellers divided their time between the two families until they got a foot hold in the valley. The German drifted away in a few days but Messrs Compton and Cosner show ed their good judgment by remaining to this day. MT. Cosner has hardly been out of the country since and MT Compton has never remained away any length of time. Tempe wasn't much in those days but it looked good to them upon their arrival and needless to say looks much better now.
 LOST-SOiled canvas. Return to MeskimOn's, by Catholic church, and receive reward