Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-10-12
Henry's 1851 Letter To Bill
Tells ofNeW Douglas, and The
Great Sulphur Springs Valley

bered how our beet patch prospered even
without water, and readily believed
him. And, by the way, Bill, it's water
that has made this old desert bloom
like rose.
/ got off at Pearce and hired an
automobile so could get better idea
of what had happened in the valley.
Pearce has one of the three large pow
er and pumping plants that SENATOR
Cameron was promising about the time
we left for California. Well, he sure
got them, and the farmers don't ever
let you forget it, either. The central
station is named Cameron the main
boulevard leading out of Douglas
through the valley and extending as
far north as Wilcox is called Cam
eron Drive and every city and town
in the county has a street or building
named after the senior senator from
Arizona. I'd forgotten he ever existed
until i landed in this part. of the cou'n-
try again after an absence of a quarter
century. But believe you me, Bill, the
two or three hundred thousand people
of Cochise county haven't forgotten
him.
1t Is utterly AIipOSSlOl6 10 re5lNS JOo
a very vivid picture of the Sulphur
Springs valley as it is today, but I'll
try to give you some idea of the change
that has been wrought since we left
here to make our fortunes" Bill, for
every car of produce that was shipped
out in our day there is now 10000
cars leaving the valley. There are
100000 acres under cultivation, and by
cultivation I don't mean pasture land.
Every foot is titled and irrigated, and
there isn't thing grown in California
that isn't doing just little bit better
here.
Some of the farmers near WILCOX
plant cotton about every third year,
sugar beets in rotation, with a crop of
grain occasionally. And while I think
of ii, they told me in Wilcox that Cam
eron got such high tariff on Spanish
onions that Cocnise county is now sup
plying the entire United States with
onions. / believe he said that there
were over $4,000 acres of them planted
this year, netting the growers $4,000
an acre. Over in the San Pedro valley,
where Cameron got them the Charles
ton dam, they are going in for onions,
and beets almost entirely, I was told.
/ haven't seen that section yet, but
from what / hear it has undergone just
as remarkable change as Sulphur
Springs valley.
Actually, Bill, I couldn't believe my
eyes when we drove into Gleeson.
When we left there wasn't anything
there, but today it has population of
about 10000 and is said to have the
biggest farming implement store in the
southwest Mcneil has 10000 popula-
tion and in between there are several
smaller towns, one of them named after
Geronimo the famous Indian chieftain,
of whom we heard so much about when
we were kids. All of these towns are
connected with an electric railway
which runs from Douglas to Bowie and
is operated by the Southern Pacific.
The express trains make the trip in
an hour and a half. .
When I got to Douglas I looked for
some of our old pals, but so far haven't
run across any of them vet. Most of
them, like you and me, gave up all hope
of Douglas or Cochise amounting to
anything and sought to make their
fortunes elsewhere. If we had only
foreseen what the future was to bring!
Do you remember old Peter Schultz,
who took up land few sections north
of us? Well, he stuck it out, and they
told me that his son and family are
now touring Europe. The Schaffers,
who owned that place next to Brom-
leys, went in for poultry raising on a
large scale and they tell me they spend