THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



343 



WELL IRRIGATION IN ARIZONA 



Arizona, "the desert," as described in the geog- 

 raphies is offering another strong evidence in rebuttal. 

 This time it is the artesian well. When prospectors and 

 soldiers died of thirst in Arizona in the pioneer days, 

 nobody dreamed of artesian water beneath the sandy 

 wastes. Even until recently, the idea of artesian water 

 was scouted by the most enthusiastic Arizonians. 

 But now it is an accomplished fact. It has been dis- 

 covered in at least two sections and there are hopes of 

 obtaining it in others. 



The San Simon valley and the mesa country bor- 

 dering the Gila valley are at present offering the evi- 

 dence that Arizona is not all sand and mountains, with 

 nothing to make it productive except the rivers at 

 floodtime "in the rainy season," as they say locally. 

 A dozen artesian wells, all flowing, have been brought 

 in by land owners in the San Simon valley and half a 

 hundred have been developed on the Gila mesa, the 

 table land skirting this beautiful valley which the Nor- 

 mans began to develop a decade ago, and which they 

 and others are still developing into a high state of 

 production. 



In both the San Simon valley and on the Gila 

 valley mesa, the discovery of artesian water was by 

 merest accident. Nobody had the temerity to drill pur- 

 posely for it. Drilling for water that might be pumped 

 or for oil, the possibilities of which were strong, the 

 wells were put down, but in either case, the result was 

 worth more to the owner and the community than if 

 success had attended the original effort. 



In both valleys, the flowing water is being used 

 for irrigation purposes and the yield as a result of the 

 irrigation that is thus made possible, is enormous. The 

 land, unused for centuries, appears to contain just the 

 proper amount of humus to be productive, and, with a 

 judicious use of the water, it has been producing 

 abundant crops of vegetation susceptible to growth in 

 the Arizona region. It has not been in use long enough 

 to develop any fruit of consequence, but that fruit 

 growing will be a success, there is no doubt, for patches 

 of fruit, watered in the more expensive and more la- 

 borious methods of the well or the river ditch, have 

 been growing in these regions for years and the yield 

 has always been large, the fruit splendid in growth and 

 always unusually palatable to the taste. 



In the San Simon valley, there has been very 

 little fruit growing, but enough on the scattered 

 ranches to prove that it will grow. In the region about 

 Safford, however, fruit is one of the staple shipping 

 products of the farmers who settled here 25 years ago 

 and have converted this valley into a bit of southern 

 California by their careful cultivation and judicious 

 distribution of the waters of the Gila river on the land 

 that is low enough to be reached by the ditches. As 

 the mesa land on which the artesian water had been 

 discovered, is of the same character as that in the 

 valley, the fortunate discovery of such water will bring 

 into cultivation many thousand acres of very valuable 

 soil. Much of it was free government land, on which 

 homesteads have been taken since the discovery, thus 

 making room for many new home owners, who will 

 help to develop and bring the country into a higher 

 state of civilization. Already the valley country is one 

 of the best developed sections in the state of Arizona. 



The first farming in the state was commenced in the 

 Gila valley when a little band of Mormons migrated 

 to this section from Utah. Ditches were constructed, 

 first small, then community affairs, and gradually acre 

 after acre was brought under cultivation planted in 

 garden truck, orchards and alfalfa. 



Today, the towns of Solomonville, Thatcher, Saf- 

 ford and Pima are among the richest in proportion to 

 population in the entire state. The communities in 

 this valley are as if they were a little empire within 

 themselves. Every man owns his home, all have fine 

 stock, many automobiles are in use, and the best roads 

 in Arizona are to be found connecting the valley set- 

 tlements. Creameries, wheat mills, barley mills, saw 

 mills for there is a world of fine timber on the Gra- 

 ham mountains, which overlook the valley. and vari- 

 ous industrial enterprises are a part of the community 

 assets, and every town has its beautiful park, its tree- 

 lined streets, its public hall, a good school and most 

 of them have electric lights and good water systems. 

 In Thatcher is located the stake academy, where the 

 Mormon children are taught the higher branches of 



AN ARTESIAN WELL AT SAN SIMON, ARIZ. 



education. The stake temple, or place of worship, is 

 also located there. 



A trip through the community is a revelation. 

 There is not a pauper in the community, and it is neces- 

 sary to hire day laborers to work the lands of the 

 Graham county poor farm, located at Safford. There 

 is not a prisoner in the Graham county jail and the 

 people of this valley boast that the jail doors have 

 stood wide open since the creation of Greenlee county, 

 which took the mining camps out of Graham county. 



The roads have all been built of crushed, decom- 

 posed granite, and while they are not oiled, they are 

 firm and solid and automobiles make sixty miles an 

 hour without any inconvenience to the passengers. 

 There are over a hundred automobiles in the valley 

 and no anti-speed laws. The people drive as fast as 

 they please when the road is clear and they always 

 respect the rights of others when they meet another 

 vehicle on the roadway. 



It is claimed for the valley that the average value 

 of each family's holdings are $15,000 and that there 

 are very few men who do not own a home in one of 

 the towns or between the towns in the valley. It is 

 the boast of the communities that they could exist for- 

 ever if absolutely cut off from the rest of the world. 

 While they have given up their pioneer habit of mak- 

 ing their own cloth for their clothing, they have not 

 lost the art and could grow cotton for this purpose, but 

 they have quit, as six crops of alfalfa a year is better. 



