Arizona republican., 1919-08-22

lates what he sees into future pos abilities, not merely present food prospects.
 The Aerial Reporter.
 A representative of The Republican, by arrangements made beforehand with the Southwest Cotton company, on the day of the San Carlos celebra- ton and business meeting had the pleasure of viewing this wonderful valley from aloft and of making the first aerial photographs ever made by any newspaperman in Arizona, the subjects being Florence and its en- virons.
 What He Saw.
 As the airplane, under the slxillful guidance of It Varnum, roared it's way up into the blue vault, circling and climbing to reach the desired ele- vation for making the pictures, the reporter had an excellent opportunity for observation of the town and the valley.
 Unlimited Land.
 There seemed to be no end to it. Stretching so far away that it disap- l peared into the desert haze, was land, and yet more land, land apparently
 
 In sharp contrast with the dun color Of the desert were the cultivated spots with their varying greens and browns, acording to the stage of the crop being produced. And as the scribe looked at the rich little patches, and mentally figured what they were producing, and then gazed across the miles and miles of just as good land that was within his vision from aloft, and realized that all that was needed to make all Of it rich and green, and productive, to make of those miles and miles of desert the homes of happy and prosperous thousands was the construction of the San Carlos reservoir and the turning onto the land of it's waters, at cost that Uncle Sam would never notice, mere cigar money. as it were, he thought that Uncle Sam really ought to do that little thing.
 Nothing Scary. The passenger in an airplane has much time for observation and refiec- tion, in fact that is about all there is l for him to do if he is just taking a ride-unless he happens to be scared
 The Republican man would like to have been scared, at least he says so. Somehow it seems sort of human to be scared when you are lifted in this magic carpet sort of manner into the upper air. And he was somewhat dis appointed in the fact that the ride was not in the least scary. On the contrary, he describes it is the acme of luxurious enjoyment. if you count out the heat of the engine, the gale from the propeller, and a few little things like that.
 Imagine yourself in the biggest, most luxurious, highest powered car in your experience, and imagine it sailing along about so or more miles an hour over a plate glass pavement with nothing in the way, and you begin to have a faint conception of what airplaning is like. There are no bumps, even when the plane hits a pocket or rising jet of air and drops CT bounces up, it is als0 cushioned on that most flex- ible aerial highway that there is nothing unpleasant about it.
 Some folks had described how their stomachs turned flipflops and rose up and tried to get acquainted with the throat when the plane took a dive, but the reporter had no such sensations. Perhaps because he frightened up his belt an extra notch before starting.
 The Mountains.
 Then the mountains looked sort of odd. too. We are so used to standing down below and looking up to the mighty piles of rock that are so pro- miscously scattered about Arizona, and sort of marveling at their bigness. and wondering how long it would take to climb them-on a cool day. In fact, mountains are somewhat awesome ob- jects-from the ground.
 But how different it is from the up [. per air, sailing around in a high powered plane. up above the tops of what look like pretty big hills from down below, on level with some pret- ty big ones and looking at the real whoppers with that nonchalant know ledge that if the pilot just opened her up and climbed a while we would sail serenely over the highest of them like they were not there-these things caused the mountains to lose a lot their previously formidable character.
 Diversion Dam Site.
 Right down there were the Buttes, where one of the first storage prof. ects ever conceived for the Gila was to have been located, and where the diversion dam is to be. That little brown ribbon down there is the mighty Gila river, that for weeks past has been rolling down to the Gudf of California many thousands of acre feet of water that this fine country down there should have had and used to grow crops, and incidentally tearing out chunks of good land here and there and taking them along, things that will not happen when the dam is built and the river regulated in it's source streams.
 Circling about we look down the river toward the Sacaton mountains, and the hills between there and the l Salt River valley appear insignificant. | we could see the whole business it | there was not so much haze
 Up the river there are the Meascal | mountains on the left and the Tor tilla mountains-wel named, these are -on the right. and we knew that some where further up the rlver, beyond the | Needles Eye, was the gorge where l