The Real Arizona

REAL ARIZONA. BY PROF. N. L. NELSON, OF THE BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY. The word Arizona is beautiful enough considered from the view point of euphony; and no doubt the Arizonians consider it charming from every other point of view. Nevertheless, in the minds of most people the word stands for a dry, barren expanse of sand and mesquite, abounding mostly in Greasers and Apache Indians. * True, every one is more or less aware that the state boasts rich copper mines, also that the ''Mormons" have established settlements there; but the first idea is likely to bring into mind the crude methods of the Spaniards in mining, and the second raises no other notion than that of a number of struggling towns, here and there, valiantly but vainly opposing the weak efforts of man against the withering drought on the one hand, and the sudden, unheralded floods on the other; the result being a mental picture of communities living always on the ragged edge of starvation. Quite a different aspect opens before the traveler who visits this sun-kissed land. Topographically, the territory is divided into a southern and a northern half by the Mogollon range. On this dividing line, which is approximately forty miles wide and three hundred miles long, grows one of the most splendid forests in America. Whitepine trees, four feet through at the base and one hundred feet high, are not uncommon. Here are millions of carloads of timber, as fine as any sent out from Oregon. And the forest is still practically virgin, a fact due mainly to the difficulty of approach from the southern settlements, where lumber is much in demand; and on the north, to the comparatively unsettled state of the country, and consequently the long distance

THK REAL ARIZONA. 529 to market; though on this side the forest begins on a very gradual slope, just where the desert ends. This magnificent belt of wooded country forms the watershed of our sister commonwealth. As would be inferred from my description, the northern half of the territory is a plateau, varying in altitude from four thousand to eight thousand feet, and broken occasionally by spurs of the predominating range already referred to. The climate and natural products do not, in consequence, differ essentially from those in Utah; save that during seasons of rain these low hills and wide valleys are covered with bunch-grass,—just such a picture as met the gaze of our pioneer fathers on entering the Great Basin. It is, therefore, a country given up to the cattle and sheep industries, for the most part. The settlements are small, and the areas cultivated here and there, suggest oases in the desert, quite in the same way as do the towns of southern Utah. The farm products' sell at very high prices; flour, four dollars and five dollars per hundred; hay, often twenty dollars per ton. It is here that the Greaser has lived his stunted life since the early settlements of America; herding his degenerated flocks of Mexican sheep, and working as a peon for whatever white boss would permit him to get into debt. It may be remarked, in passing, that this same Hispanio- Mexican, or native population, is the one great indigestible evil in the social autonomy of Arizona. The Apaches and other tribes of Indians, brutal as has been their nature in the past, already show encouraging signs of absorption by, and assimilation with, the dominating race; but these Greasers—these cringing souls of sheep in the bodies of men, ready to sell their votes to whoever will buy—are likely ever to breed dyspepsia in the community life of the state. Reverting again to the topographical features, we must not omit pointing out that the northern half of Arizona possesses two attractions likely to make her famous throughout the world. The first is the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, the most awe-inspiring chasm on the face of the earth. A movement is just now on foot to suspend a cable from Bright Angel point, on the southern brink, to the Buckskin mountains, on the northern side. The traveler

530 IMPROVEMENT ERA. who dares to enter the basket plying along this cable, will havethe awful joy of looking down seven thousand feet, and should thereafter be able to give a graphic description of purgatory. The other natural wonder is the famous petrified forest, which covers an area of many square miles. There are trees here eight feet through at the base, and nearly one hundred feet long, lying prone upon the desert sands in solid agate of very beautiful colors, every knot and grain perfect as when they were wooded giants of a primeval forest. True, they are broken into sections varying in length from two to about eight feet, owing, evidently, to the alternate expansion and contraction caused by heat and cold. Most of the smaller branches are also missing, but still the outline is easily traceable. It is to be hoped the United States government will take steps to preserve this marvel in stone; for already attempts are being made to carry away these trees, and work them into various furnishings in art and architecture. Taking up now the other half of the territory, we may remark that the southern slope of the Mogollon range is very precipitous. Deep box canyons have cut their course, during bygone ages, for varying distances, from fifty to one hundred miles; spreading out at length into the magnificent valleys of the Gila and the Salt river, the latter being only a few hundred feet above sea level. Judging by the farm and orchard products, I should say these valleys are among the most fertile plains in America. The trouble hitherto has been to conserve and utilize the water supply; for when the rains begin to fall on the Mogollon range, so swift is the descent of the streams that floods are upon the settlers ere preparations can be made to meet them. For years this has been one of the main drawbacks to agriculture along these muddy rivers. The government has finally taken a hand in correcting this evil. The Roosevelt dam, just now being built, at an estimated cost of nearly two million dollars, is likely to hold in check all the mad waters of the Salt river, until they can be led tamely and easily upon the hundreds of thousands of acres of land below; and

THE REAL ARIZONA. 531 assurances are given that the Gila river will receive like treatment in the near future. Were it possible to make a journey from the eastern to the western boundary of the territory in a baloon, the Mogollon range, looked at from the southern side, would present the aspect of a gigantic red-sandstone wall, thousands of feet high and reinforced by numerous spurs and butments, between which the swift streams have cut their deep canyon gorges. It may well be imagined, also, that this wall, facing the sun at so steep an incline, is ablaze with heat during the most of the year; also that the valleys below, especially Salt river valley, are veritable ovens during the three summer months. While I was at Mesa, the government station recorded a temperature of one hundred and eighteen degrees in the shade, and unofficial thermometers, in the stores and on the sidewalks of Phoenix, often went up to one hundred and thirty degrees. How do the people manage to live? it may be asked. Human nature is very elastic to conditions of all sorts, including heat. Many may expect to endure still warmer regions in the future, without the resources open to the denizens of Maricopa; for here one can drink gallons of ice-water a day, and accumulate perspiration from figs, grapes,and watermelons. Keeping cool is merely a problem of making a refrigerator of one's self, with one's clothes as the area of evaporation. And then the season lasts only three months. The rest of the year, so I was informed by everybody, presents the most delightful climatic conditions in the world. Is it worth while to endure life in Arizona during these three months? The rich and well-to-do can, of course, escape by a few hours' railroad trip to Flagstaff, or some other summering place on the northern plateau; but the farmer and the merchant must maintain their places, for these three months constitute the season of growth and active business life. And it is worth while to remain; for nowhere else in America does the soil yield greater returns to the laborer, nor curse him with taller weeds for his neglect. There are places in both these valleys where the tops of the houses can barely be seen from the street, over a forest of sunflowers.

532 IMPROVEMENT ERA. The impression one gets of the people is very pleasant, indeed, from the social point of view. Big-hearted, generous, hospitable, they are great believers in the future of their rather too sunny land. As far as I could learn, there were no croakers or ' 'knockers.'' These, it seems, have all gone north again. The people remaining have evidently become accustomed to the peculiar climate, accepting it quite as a matter of fact, and going about their business without concern. But they do not permit the stranger in their midst to lapse into the same pleasant forgetfulness. However much he may be determined to ignore the thermometer, they will ask him seventynine times a day, "How do you like the heat?" as if secretly they enjoyed this purgatorial basting of a fellow mortal! For those who are capable of enduring a tropical climate, southern Arizona offers opportunities not equalled even by California. Oranges, bigger and juicier than those of the golden state, have already been placed on the Eastern market from the Salt River valley; and it is the ideal home of the fig, the almond, the pomegranate, and the sweet potato. The settlers have not, however, been thoroughly awakened to the tropical possibilities of their splendid country. In Mesa, for instance, I found beautiful figs dropping off the trees and rotting on the ground. At Los Angeles, one week later, I found figs of no better quality, attractively displayed in the fruit stores, at twenty cents a pound. In fact, most of the farmers I met did not seem to realize that they had entered the tropical zone. Both as to their manner of living and the products of their farms, they were still imbued with the idea that their country resembles Utah and the north. Another criticism widely applicable to these agriculturists is best expressed in the French phrase, emharras des richess; that is, embarrassment in consequence of two much wealth. The Engglish phrase is ' 'too many irons in the fire.'' As before suggested, the leading commentary on such a state of things is weeds—weeds and a general aspect of dilapidation in houses, fences, gardens, orchards, and other improvements. To speak of the mining industries would require a chapter by itself. Suffice it to point out here that the titanic forces which,

THE REAL ARIZONA. 533 during countless geological ages, have worn down the Mogollon range, have also brought to the surface the mineral wealth of the earth, especially in copper. Already the agricultural products are far eclipsed in value by those of the mines; and the latter are advancing with such trem'endous strides that it would not be surprising to see the state rank first in the mining industries, within another decade. Taken all in all, it may be said, in that unique old slang phrase, "Arizona is no longer to be sneezed at." Its up-to-dateness both surprises and delights the visitor; though to the inhabitants of that favored countiy it excites no other remark than, "Of course!" Provo, Utah.