Arizona republican., 1909-08-09

| tunnel this week, and also on an other well on the mesa. There is now one well on the mesa and one on the second bottom or bench of the river, in addition to the well at Mari nette heretofore described. The sugar company has demonstrated that there is magnificent supply of under ground water to be pumped if people will dig deep enough to cut the vari- ous water bearing strata SD the well fills to the upper level TEeTe will doubtless be many wells on the Marinette mesa in the course Of a year or so.
 The plan of the whole project Is to make the Marfnette mesa an ideal fruit bearing section. It has been pronounced by orange men as being the equal of this or any other section in the essentials peculiar to that crop. The river on the west is from 60 to so feet below the level of the mesa. and the river on the east Is from 70 to 50 feet below the mesa, and the general slope from north to south is 25 feet to the mile. This is an ideal topography. as the frost waves will move rapidly off the mesa instead of settling over 1t. the one thing. that makes the ac- knowledged orange belts in Arizona better for oranges than many other areas where the soil and water condi- tions are just as good. The noun tains to the north. the west and the east circle most of the mesa almost in a half moon shape. giving notable pro lection from sweeping winds from those directions and making the eli mate more equable than in more ex- posed places. s
 The soil is a sandy loam, with no adobe or slick. It is like the soil of this region good for raising almost any thing and everything when the wa ter is supplied. and it is believed it will be equally as good for deciduous fruits and garden truck as it is for oranges. The town of Marinette will be the natural result of cutting the Marinette mesa up into farms of from ten to forty acres. which most of the present holders of the land propose to do eventually. That this is not so far in the future is indicated by the fact that contracts have already been let for the clearing of 5000 acres for planting the coming fall. and it is ex- pected an additional thousand acres will also be cleared this summer This acreage will be planted to grain the coming season and probably most of it will be for a year or two more. Be- fore being set to orchards or devoted to sugar beets or gardening or any of the more intensely cultivated crops the ground should be well worked and well leveled and put in first-class con | dition. This can be done by raising | grain that will in the meantime be | returning a good revenue. The canal will be pushed as fast as possible and is expected to be ready to furnish wa ter the coming winter. No time is being lost in it's construction. The | force employed last week was about so men and 75 mules. and this week | there will be an additional 25 mules on | the job.
 Mention was made in the beginning | about the secrecy with which opera tions were carried on at first That l was because no one cares to go into
 project of this kind until it has been carefully aooked over, and that takes | time. And after it is once undertaken | no investor wants his plans interfered with. In this instance the promoters did not want to build the canal until they had all the facts at hand, and also had acquired the lands it was to water The initial work was done last February by Engineer J. c. Dobbins, who has charge of both the engineer ing and the construction work. But
 the land could not be secured until the opening in the land office on June 3, and it was necessary then to be first in line and secure the locations de-
 sired or the project might be greatly interfered with by individuals who filed at random and for whom one section was about as good as another, or by individuals who. If they knew the facts and could do so, would file on sections for the sole purpose of inter fering or forcing some one to buy them out. And after the filing it was necessary to get the project under way as quick as possible and perform the requirements in compliance with the law for getting water on the land be- fore some other person or company To- cated the water or diverted it to some other place.
 It was for that reason that no pub licity has been given the enterprise, and the work has. been quietly going on for months. The surveys and plats for everything had been made pre- vious to the date of the opening on June 3. On June the camp equip ment was on rp,Ite and on Iuue 2 Mir