The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1911-02-16
The Call OF
the Desert

teceGG cate appears BAH page
letter from Yuma in which Mrs.
John a. OckersOn (wife of Col.
Ockerson, the army engineer i'll
charge of the Colorado river
levee work below the line) de
scribes this wild and woolly part
Of the world and tells of the in
trepid manner in which she and
the colonel are enduring the
hardships of the frontier and
saving the country. Mrs. Ock-
erson, it seems, has Travelled
much, for she casually speaks of
trips to Paris, to Sweden, Rus
sia, Scotland, Venice and Naples,
but the American desert is for
mi0able even to SO experienced
Il traveller, and she is not insen,
sible to the eolonel's courage in
facing it-courage inspired by
''thc blood in his veins of bis
Morse ancestors, the love Of his
United States and the request Of
our great President, Mr.. Taft.
and the honor he honor he con
ferred in his choice"
"This is the land" she writes,
"Mr. Ocderson has been sent to
take care Of, to save Imperial
xalley with it's thousands of peo-
pie in despair if the water goes
the wrong way instead Of the
way they need it it most It is
like a warrior going out to win
battle and longing for the
firing to begin that the end may
soon be seen. But Mexico has
held our fate and that Of the
valley in her hand, and now that
it is settled, the Mork will start,
to the JOY Of all. Our govern
ment and Mexico have done
some fine work, all of which
would not have happened had
not Mexico gone on that little
revolutionary bat. MIR. Ocker-
son has shown much diplomatic
tinesse and brought chaos to an
end and the climax is now on.
Just four years ago Mr.. Ocker-
son was here on another prob
lem in connection with Salton
Sea. He has done so much for
the country their faith is pinned
to him, and | know it is not in
vain"
Although Quartered in an
adobe on the old reservation and
troubled by lizards, tarantulas
and mice, the lady finds Yuma
not altogether intolera BILE.
There is "some good society and
fair water" She may have to
go into camp in Mexico, but she
is resolved to make the best
even of that.
"But for the finer philosophy
of life we could not often pass a
crisis anyway, SO | will live with
the fighting blood of my father
and the memory of my Spartan
mother to sustain me and hope
all will comd out we'll for us two
so far from home. In this age
Of lazury we all forget how our
forefathers did hew for them
selves and families place in
this new world with q Drawn and
strength now unknown. It will
DO US good to go back to those
days and see what we can do
with it,
The Indians in Yuma are good
for column. It appears that
if a Cocopah or q Yuma crosses
| the reservation Of the other cit
is sure war;" but as they are
amenable to The law, the Ocker-
sons fear nothing from them.
"They have all poured in here
to get work on Mr.. Ockerson's
problem. Call him Big White
Chief, and they think be went
home only to get Little White
Squaw.' They all and everyone
around here have black eyes and
think I am a wonder with blue
eyes, They think the sky has
something to With it, point at
my eyes and then to the Sky.
Cowboys, and girls, too, rip
through the streets like mad, for
this no close corporation, a free
for all; no prohibition here and
no suffragettes."
Mrs. Ockerson's impressions