Arizona republican., 1910-05-17
FLORENCE CIT1fH
 OF GREAT RtN0Wu
Visit of Dan Stevens Who Has Been Sitting on the Lid of the Piral County Capital for Twenty =
 Eight Years:

Florence Arizona, typical old Ari-
 Zona frontiersman. .drifted into Phoe-
 nix. It was his first visit to this city
 since 1882, and the first time he had
 been outside the town of Florence in
 twenty eight years. except to drive a 1 few miles up and. down the river on ! special occasions when duty or bus | ness necessitated it. The farthest he | ever got from the Pinal county capital during that time was memorable eX- | cursion he made to the reservoir on | the Casa Grande canal some ten miles | west of Florence. Though he had seen
 it in the distance daily for some years, | never until yesterday had he crossed l the Gila river and set his feet firmly
 on the platform of the Florence depot.
 thence taking them with him into a
 railroad train.
 And this triumphal tour of yester- day would never have been undertaken
 except in pursuance of an order of the court He was forced to appear in Phoenix in recognition of the transfer of law suit in which he is interested. | from Florence to Phoenix. MT. Stevens | is clerk of the court in Florence and
 knows better than to snub d court or der He would obey it even if it took
 him as far as Buckeye. Mir. Stevens
 is also Wells Fargo express agent in Florence and proprietor of the Ari- | zona Consolidated Stage and Livery
 company. He is recognized 0s one of the really solid men of Pinal county l financially and every other way. If Dan Stevens says it is so it is accepted as a fundamental fact with which all oth CT theories must be harmoniZed. And
 withal he is jolly good fellow. as any
 body can testify who has been in Flor ence during the last thirty years. Physically he is just as much of a 1 solid man as in any other way. stockiIy l built. above the average in weight,
 strong. hearty and jovial As an old i timer he is to the rest of them what the sun is to the solar system. Some old timers change more or less and adapt themselves 10 conditions. Dan never does. If anything has to be , changed it is the conditions. He or ganized" himself in d former era and
 proposes to stay in it as long as he stays anywhere. If Florence was good enough to stay in thirty years ago he i don't see why it isn't good enough to- | day. If the way he dresscsd and de- ! ported himself thirty years ago gave 1 himself and the community satisfac- | ton. he sees no necessity for change. | For that reason it is said he is still
 wearing the same old Stetson hat he
 had made for him twenty-two years ago And it looks about as good as new. which is some recommendation 'for the Stetson company.
 Mir. Stevens drifted into Florence in pursuance of his duties thirty years or | more ago. as sort of travelling man | ager for the firm of Kerens and Grif- | fiths who then owned all the stage | lines and mail routs in the world that
 were worth having. except a few thou sand miles that belong to Gilman & i Salisbury and some others. Anyhow
 Kerens X Griffiths owned enough so
 they were famous the country over. | Mir Kerens lived in St. Louis and still | lives there. having served as d United | States senator and taken q prominent
 part in national affairs, politically and
 otherwise. incidentally accommodating greater or lesser number of millions of
 dollars Mir. Griffith was the firm representative in Arizona and his rec | ord here is part of territorial his
 tory Dan Stevens was their most
 dependable representative. He prae- tically run the stage business ir south | ern Arizona and as the railroads Kept | crowding out the thoroughbrace
 coaches he kept retreating back into his Florence rendezvous until he final | iy became completely bottled up there. But he never quit the stage business
 and it is predicted that he never will.
 When Colonel John w. Sharpe who formerly lived in Florence, met MT. Stevens on the street yesterday he forthwith telegraphed to Florence to inquire if the town had been destroyed by an earthquake. and if not by what license had MT. Stevens been projected out of his natural orbit. MT. Stevens
 met whole lot of friends on the street and similar surprise was expressed by
 them all. but the court order explained
 everything And the telling of Dan
 Stevens stories occupied their attention the rest of the day. MT. Stevens told one friend that Phoenix had changed
 considerably since he last visited the place in 1882. He recalled one incident when he loaned man s100 and took two lots across the-strcet from where
 the Commercial hotel now stands for security He finally had to take the
 lots and considered himself a lucky
 dog when he sold them for enough to
 get his money back. Now they are
 worth more than most men ever hope
 to have.
 Mir Stevens told another gentleman
 that about the only distinct recollec-
 ton he had of Phoenix was the city
 hall plaza which was then covered
 with some young cottonwood trees and two ditches ran around the square,
 one inside and the other outside of
 the sidewalk
 Mir Stevens Is reputed to be the best
 dresser in Florence. but not very often.
 Though the old Kerns stage lines are
 long gone the bond of friendship be-
 tween Mir. Kerens and MT. Stevens never weakened, and to this good day
 MT Kerens sends him annually new suit of clothes and a new watch. It is said MT. Stevens has trunk full or ! watches and more clothes than the emperor of Germany. His custom. ac- cording to his fellow townsmen who are acting as his voluntary publicity agents here, is to begin at some stated