SOUTHERN ARIZONA. 11 



was no trace of verdure, and whose only visitant was an occasional 

 coyote in his lonely wanderings. 



The transformation after six years has been complete. It is 

 regarded as a colony no longer. Mesa has a population of 700. The 

 original town-site is dotted over with beautiful homes built of rustic 

 redwood neatly painted, some of brick, and others of adobe ; all 

 surrounded by fruit trees and vines, they present a picture of Arca- 

 dian homes set in groves of fig, almond, ash, locust, pepper, willow, 

 umbrella, and pomegranate trees. Altogether there are 7,000 acres 

 under a high state of cultivation, devoted to the raising of cereals, 

 alfalfa (French lucerne), with extensive orchards and vineyards 

 supplying and enriching a population of 1,300 people. Several 

 crops of cotton have been raised here. Grapes are made into wine 

 and raisins, not excelled by those of California. 



The main street of the town is two miles long, with a double row 

 of cotton wood trees 40 feet high on each side, one on the outer and 

 the other on the inner side of the sidewalk, thus forming one of the 

 most lovely alamedas, or shady walks, imaginable. 



Mesa has churches, schools, and stores, and is not only a self- 

 sustaining community but raises a large surplus for market. It is the 

 one spot where can be seen the ideal realized, and this is only one 

 instance of many in the Salt River and Gila valleys of Arizona. 

 The great farms surrounding Phoenix for 20 miles west, as well as 

 those surrounding the town of Florence in Final county, will soon be 

 subdivided and nearly all of them will be devoted to the citrus and 

 deciduous fruits, especially to raisins and wine grapes, and the olive, 

 fig, orange, lemon, and lime ; twenty-five acres of this land planted 

 in any of the above fruits give a large annual income." 



MARICOPA COUNTY. 



^IRST among the agricultural communities of Arizona stands 

 Maricopa county. It comprises an area of 5,986,560 acres 

 and embraces within its borders the fertile valley of the Salt 

 River and a part of the lower Gila. Its arable and irriga- 

 ble lands are rapidly being brought under cultivation. 



The irrigating canals in Maricopa constructed and in process of 

 construction, are about three hundred and fifty miles in length and 

 calculated to reclaim six hundred thousand acres of land. The 



