SOUTHERN ARIZONA. 21 



" The Davidson irrigating ditch on the Rillito is progressing most 

 encouragingly. Sixty men are employed. Over two hundred feet 

 of the cement flume is finished and its construction will now go 

 forward at the rate of seventy-five feet daily. The carpenter work 

 for the underground flume is being pushed with rapidity and a few 

 days will see it in place and the underflow stream of the Rillito as it 

 rises pouring through the cement flume. 



The scheme is not only a very practicable one, but will be a 

 success in every particular ; there will be about 4,000 inches of 

 water beyond a doubt carried out by the flume and probably four 

 times that quantity will be the result. 



The system adopted means to catch the underflow of water in the 

 Rillito valley, and the plan adopted will secure the result. About 

 ten thousand feet of underground tunneling will direct all the water 

 into the flume which is constructed of cement, and when complete 

 will be from five to fifteen feet under the surface bed of the river. 



This project is the first that has been attempted in Arizona to 

 bring the underflow of water to the surface, but it is the project that 

 will prove the initial step of a system for irrigation that will revolu- 

 tionize irrigation in Arizona and will make many thousands of 

 acres capable of reclamation, which under the old system of depend- 

 ing entirely upon surface water could not be utilized. The Star is 

 free to say that it believes that every acre of land in the Rillito valley 

 can and will be reclaimed to agricultural purposes through the new 

 system of irrigation. The Davidson ditch will be the beginning." 



Tucson is the county seat. Rich mines within the radius of a 

 few miles together with its commercial advantages and location have 

 made it a large and populous town, while the wonderful salubrity of 

 its climate is attracting to it invalids from all parts of the United 



States. 



GRAHAM COUNTY. 



RAHAM COUNTY contains an area of 6,485 square miles 

 and is abundantly supplied with water. The Gila river runs 

 through it from its eastern to its western boundary and is 

 fed by many tributaries among which are the San Fran- 

 cisco, the Blue, Eagle Creek and Bonita. Graham county has long 

 been recognized as one of the leading agricultural counties of Ari- 

 zona. Its fertile soil is peculiarly suited to fruits of the hardiest 



