Arizona republican., 1921-06-12
Flood of Early-Day Memories ' Comes to Woman 85 Years Old

. naenough the special edition of The -se Issued during the nioneer es"u vunion In Phoenix last snring wes .s With interesting reminiseances pOneers of Arizona. the nuhlica- ~. v tnis unusuan number has been ta .ase esns of causing other pioneers ss e oL lneir early day experience inr ~- oL the most interesting hav- recently been received.
 heading the reminiscences in the p.oneer edition of The Republican, nA. caused . flood of memories of 0y oays to Mrs. Luz Martinez of Szsite. S5 of age. This remark woman, who says she still does
 own cooking, has eight children.
 VI gray haired now; has 35 grand cni,eren and some 20 great-grand-
 me accompanying letter from this 0men 1e remarkable one and a dis tlnct addition to the historical records ot Arlkona- The letter is as follows:
 Suartzsite, Ariz., May l, 1921. To the Pioneer Editor.
 Arizona Republican, Phoenix, Ariz.
 Dear Sir: Lately one of my friends in this section gave me a copy ol your Pioneer edition and those old pioneers letters awoke in me memo r1ee and happenings over 50 years a9o, and when we look back to those early days today to many of us it no 00upt appears like a dream. In 1862 I and my husband were living in sonora, Mexico-our native country when news reached us in the placer fields of Sonora that great and rich goldffeld had been discovered in Ari- xona on the Colorado diver. some 100 miIes above Yuma. The reports were painted in the brightest of colors. The gold in the new Fl Dorado was as plentiful as gravel. A few months in the new field would make us all rich. It caused great excitement among the placer miners in Sonora; parties were made up for the great trek across the desert; many succeeded Tn making the trip and some failed. My husband. myself and young daughter were among the successful ones to reach La Paz, Ariz. While we were among the first to reach La Par We found many ahead of us This new gold field had been dis covered by an old prospector by the name of Weaver. Of course, the first gold he discovered was near the river but the placer miners came in droves and these first fields near the water were soon worked out. Food was at times very scarce: clothes were
 
 hiGh, and all these things had to be bought here on the ground as the people could not carry much across the desert making new trails and hunting water holes. At times a whole family would be forced to eat from one or two frying pans and con- sider themselves lucky If they had . few spoons, q knife or fork. Plates were es scarce for some time as hens teeth. and at times some sma1 ! Lunches of travellers for the new field would arrive with nothing but \ 3nst the clothes on their backs having abandoned everything on the way some being lost. others barely able tc drag themselves in. Of course those who had been more fortunate would have to take care of them and divide with the more unfortunate. But we mutt oay for those old timers among them who have long since passed away. that they divided their precious bit with a glad and happy smile. As the camp of La Paz became better established more steamboats were put on the river and tools, food and c10thes were more easy to procure Al these things became better regu- lated the prospectors pressed more Sand moro further oaf from the Colo t<ado river into the mountains and