Arizona republican., 1912-07-28
MESA
BETWEEN THE OCEAN
 NONE ARE BETTER
That Is the Opinion of a Gentleman From the East Regarding Lands
 in Salt River Valley

m Salt River Valley
 A gentleman of intelligence. who has been a wide traveller. and whose home is in the east, spent several days recently in looking over the lands about Mesa This is not his first visit here. He came years ago. when the desert was crOwding closely onto the streets of the town; he came later when the limit of agri- cultural Improvements was marked by the COnsOlida rcd canal on the east, and this his most recent trip but confirmed the first impression that the Salt River valley, and eS- pecially the Mesa section, was one of the best agricultural localities in the world. T don't want newspaper no tCriety," said he when speaking of this country, but you can count on me being a booster for this valley. travel a great deal. for that is my business and l want to say that I have been in every state from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and in my judgment of the lands of this sec tion, between the oceans none are better. You have an ideal winter clmate that permits you to farm the lands the year around; you don't have ito feed your stock seven or eight months during the year as they do in the east: nor do you have to build expensive barns to keep them from freezing to death. Your soil appears to be equal to any test given lit. You can grow oranges better than those produced in Florida; your grapes compare with the choicest of France; your peaches grow larger; the plums yield more per tree; all falfa, grain, ostriches poultry. every kind of industry seems to thrive bet ter than in some of the places where the people boast of having an ex- elusive monopoly. What more do you want?"
 The gentleman drew q long breath land then continued: There is one thing I want to say, and that is that some of your boosters are on the wrong track When l speak of po- tatoes, they tell me that you can't grow them. Yet l saw in your com mercial club rooms as fine potatoes las Greeley. Colorado, or oregon can produce and you tell me they were raised on dry land without irrigation. I was shown statement from one of your farmers where he raised po- tatOes near town that brought him lover $500 per acre. Can you beat that with alfalfa alone? 1 rather guess not Another farmer received lover $400 an acre from sweet potatoes. Can you beat that with hay alone? Then again. l talked with man from the place you call Lehi and he said that cabbages netted him $500 an acre, not counting his work. 1 am going to have some of the Mesa land and when I farm it I am going to plant potatoes and cabbage and sweet potatoes. There is no sense in the people of this valley sending away for any of the staples. You have the soil. the climate and twelve months in the year to grow all that the community can consume and have enough left to supply all the mining camps in the state at good prices. Don't de- pend on hay alone. because it is easy. Get busy and do some intensive farm ing on your own account
 "The summers? Oh, yes; I hear people complaining about the heat, but where Will you ina Detter WedlH- Ter than you have right here? I don't see anyone suffering and I have heard of no one dying from heat in Ari- zona. Just read the papers and see what the summer heat does to people in the east; yes, and in Kansas. Ne braska, Texas and Oklahoma. I have no objections to your publishing what I say, for I mean it. but don't use my name until I get that piece of land cinched; the owner might think am ver-enthusiastic and raise the price on me. The only fault I find with you people is that you don't really know just what good thing you've got. Good day"