El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-26
THIS IS ARIZONA'5 BEST YEAR;
EVERY INDUSTRY IS THRIVING
Mines Are Making Millions and Miners Wages Are High
er Than Ever Before; Crops Are Abundant and Bring
High Prices, Profit from Cantaloupes Alone
Being $5OOOOO; Many Buildings Erected
BY HUBERT $. HUNTER

Il
I Phelps-Dodge subsidiary, is now plan
ming the construction of a short mine
! railroad from its properties in the
/ Copper basin 10 the Skull valley branch
line of the Santa Fe. Prescott & Phoe-
: nix railroad The company is shipping
about 100 tons a day from its mine and
will probably increase the shipments as
| the development of the mine progresses.
Great New Oatman District.
The wonder of the state Is the Oat-
mau-kingman district of northwestern
Arizona. where a new and great gold
and copper field has been developed al
/ most overnight from a nucleus of two
old and very profitable mines. the Tom
Reed and the Gold Roads properties.
The Tom Reed is operating 20 stamps
on ore and Is again producing. after a
curtailment for several months. about
$780, 600 worth of bullion q month
The New Eastern is one of the big,
new properties of the district, and a
big mill is under construction there.
The mill IS 10 be in operation in No
vember on ore blocked out TO the value
of millions of dollars, some of il aver
aging several hundred dollars a ton
gold. Some Of the Oatman enthusiasts
predict that next year the New East
ern viii rank as the greatest gold pro-
Queer of the nation
Hundreds of smaller Properties
Hundreds of companies are now ex-
many of them have found it. while
nearly a score are apparently getting
close to it
This hasty resume of Arizona mining
in the past six months barely hits the
high spots. There are literally hundreds
OF smaller properties. employing from
handful TO 100 OF more men and making
money for their owners.
High copper has meant, for the men,
the highest wages ever paid to copper
miners, ranging from $3.50 to muckers
10 as high as 81 for the mechanics.
Crops Are Excellent
Next consider farming. Alfalfa hay
and grain in the Salt River valley. the
ella valley and the Santa Cruz valleys
alone are worth several millions of dol
lars. In one week recently. 200 cars
of hay were shipL.ad from Phoenix for
the army at DougIas, while the apple.
apricot, peach, pear and berry crops
are worth proportionately as much The
cantalOupe crop in the Salt River valley
has been excellent, the shipments total
ing nearly zoe cars. The price Of Ari-
IONA cantaloupes in the east went as
high this season as 81 a crate. far above
the product of any other locality, be-
cause Of the excellence of the Arizona
melons. and the profit from the years
crop was about 100000.
Plant Ranch in GuayuIe.
In the Santa Cruz valley. near Tucson.
the Canoa ranch, 300 acres, has been
by the Agricultural Products
corporation. a subsidiary of the Inter
national Rubber company of New York,
and viii be used for raising guayule.
The rubber shrubs will be lightly irri-
gated by water pumped from the Santa
Cruz river A fourth of the ranch is
TO be planted annually, and a $1,000, 600
rubber factory IS TO be built at Tucson.
30 Cents for Cotton.
In the Salt River valley. more than
5000 acres have been planted this year
in Egyptian cotton and the outlook Is /
very promising Egyptian cotton I
commands an unusually high price be-
cause OF its long staple. and # has
high as $50 an acre. The long staple IS
low being contracted as high as 80
,ents a pound. the best of II TO be used
n the making Of automobile tires.
The Record Breaking Beet.
Yuma Ariz-, a first class farming
community, claims distinction this sea
on of having raised the largest beet in
history. II weighs 40 pounds and four
unces and was raised from seed plant
d in February II is sweet and fit for
able use.
The farming communities around
'rescott, Douglas and Nogales are sim
arly enjoying the most prosperous |
ears in their history, as are those of
he ella valley. around Pima, Thatcher, /
afford. SolOmOnyille and Duncan IN
q
re growing and are erecting public
including the new courthouse /
Stafford and the school house at |
hatcher, which are a credit to any |
ommunitv.
Tucson Leads In Building.
In building, Tucson holds the prize /
y the state. Building permits for the
lonth Of July totaled sos. 050. mainly .
y residence property. though a fair
hare Of business structures has also
cen erected in the past six months. de- I
Dire the fact that building was handi- I
rike of the carpenters union No
ales and Douglas are both building /
7Didly and all other towns are show !
II distinct and substantial growth.
New Buildings at Globe.
At Globe. the Arizona Eastern Rail-
Dad company has just finished the con-
rructiOn of handsome station and the /
Vens-Fargo Express company is about
D erect new brick station building I
lst east of the railroad station Of
-hich it will be a duplicate, except
hat II viii he but one story in height (
At Phoenix the state grand lodge of
i'd Fellows has decided 10 erect a
tate home for the order and a COM
littee has been appointed to select
ties a movement is also under way
o authorize the city commission to
ssue bonds in the sum Of 100000 for
municipal gas and electric light plant. I
Army Helps Douglas and NOEales.
In a general way. the state has en-
Dyed great prosperity in the past six
lonths- At Douglas. for instance, the
resence Of an army of troops has al !
lost doubled the towns population and
reated a great market for merchandise
( all kinds. The same is true of No I
ales where another army of respacta-
le size is encamped- Larger salaries Z
nd higher wages in almost every line
ave contributed to the well being of
e great majority of the people
Autos Increase 40 Percent.
AS an evidence of the greater pros
Gritty in Arizona. the total number of I
in the state has increased
percent in the past year. the total
ow being 9743. The increase in the
umber of automobiles has also result
d in the Improvement of many miles of
through various parts of the
tate.
Road Building Is stimulated.
The road building program will be .
enhanced by the federal ap-
reputation of s6S.513 for the first year.
sum which will be easily equaled in
rizona funds for road construction.
German Campaign TO
Cuyb Drees Exhonce