Mohave County miner., 1916-07-22
DR.. FRANCIS REPLIES
TO SECRETARY SMITH

DR.. ]. NJ. Francis, who retired June
/ after years of faithful service as
assistant superintendent of the Tom
Reed Gold Mines company, wishes to
note an exception-two or three of
thenn-to statements contained in an
interview with W. K. Smith, secretary
of the Chamber of Commerce, appear
ing the issue of this paper of June q.
Mr.. Smith stated therein that the
Tom Reed, though collecting NenOr-
nous monthly rentals, the town being
built partly on its ground, had never
contributed as much as one penny
through the Chamber of Commerce for
the improvement of streets, the fire
protection fund nor for any expense
of Oatman whatever. DR.. Francis ad-
mits that this is true as a direct
charge, but adds that there is another
side to the story.
you see that white stake up there
in front of George Longs house" he
said yesterday, pointing out the win
dow of his office in the Bank of Dat
men building. That indicates the
boundary Of the Tom Reed ground.
The line line extends down to the
north side Of the drug store and across
to the corner of this building. South
Of that is the portion of the town that
Is on Tom Reed ground. Well, the
company commenced right there on
Main street, where l showed you the
line and at its own expense built
road down to the Oatman News office,
which is the other boundary of its
property. Then it built second road,
all at its own expense, around at the
rear Of the Walsh building connecting
at both ends with the first road. The
total cost of the two roads was $1,000.
Now these are on private property,
that never was condemned for pub
lie highway, either town, county or
state, and neither the Chamber of
Commerce, the county of Mohave nor
the state of Arizona paid one cent of
this money.
@The Tom Reed company furnished
free Of charge to the town Of Oat-
man all of the street lights that it
has, along Main street or anywhere,
whether they are on Tom Reed ground
or not. It has done so all along and
is doing so yet.
Before the boom in Oatman when
there were only two stores, the school
house and private houses, most of
which were on the company's ground,
the Tom Reed company once 3 week,
without expense to anybody but itself,
carried off the garbage of everybody,
including the two stores, and furnish
ed free to everybody the cans to put
at in. The only condition required by
the company was that places be kept
clean and garbage placed in the cans.
It could not keep this up after the
boom, but it is still doing it for those
who are located on the company's
ground, which means all of those south
Of the boundary line I have shown
you.
Without expense to anybody but
itself, the company donated the first
schoolhouse in Oatman. The addition
that was built on it, comprising about
half of the building, was erected by
the county. The company painted the
s. schoolhouse twice and the county
painted it once. Half of the seats, at
a personal cost to him of $500, were
donated IN the name of the company
by Charley Grimes, then president of
the Tom Reed. The rest have been
supplied since by the county.
AT a cost to itself of $4,000, the
company built a road to TopOck. It
owns the road and the right-cf-wayi
not foot Of said road belonging to
either the county or state.
"Oatman is not on the national Old
Trails highway, as stated by Mr..
Smith. The highway goes b. way Of
Yucca and this road is private prop
erty."
DR.. Francis takes further exception
TO the figures given by Mr.. Smith
relative TO the cost of public lavatOries
the latter stating that the one built
under the supervision of the doctor al
Old Trails cost S425, whereas the one
by Lovin & Withers was built by the
Chamber of Commerce for $40 and
another at Mszona for $40.
1T is true" said the doctor, "that
! had the toilet at Old Trails built
under contract by Fleming & Sitter