202 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES 
Mesa was started in 1878 by a colony of 77 Mormons who followed 
the original Mormon colony from Utah, established the preceding 
year at Jonesville (now Lehi) by Brigham Young. 
The new colony at once commenced the construction 
Wega a of a ditch costing $43,000, to irrigate about 5,000 
New Orleans 1,604 acres. At present there is a very large area under 
see irrigation and many crops are produced, including 
dates (pl. 26, A) and citrus fruits. From a small village in 1883 
Mesa has grown to an area of 1 square mile, parts of which are closely 
built. The near-by population is about 11,000. The Mormons have a 
large temple, several churches, and an auditorium. 
Two miles west of Mesa is a 160-acre farm of the State Agricultural 
Experiment Station, where practical tests of many kinds are made on a 
tract of heavy silt-loam soil, which is typical of much of the Salt 
River Valley. Here cotton, alfalfa, lettuce, melons, and other plants 
are grown under various conditions of irrigation, fertilization, crop 
rotation, and cross breeding. Experiments are also made with cattle 
and sheep pasturing. 
In this vicinity are fine views of the west front of Superstition 
Mountain, 20 miles east of Mesa. (See pl. 31, B.) It consists of 
flows of lava (rhyolite) and beds of white volcanic tuff, in all more 
than 3,000 feet thick, yet greatly eroded from its original size and 
extent. On its slopes are many sahuaros and other desert plants, and 
in early summer the showy scarlet flowers of Beloperone californica, 
which also grows on the Picacho Mountains, and is very attractive to 
humming birds. 
From Mesa the railroad turns sharply west, and near Tempe 
(tem’pay) it deflects north on joining the branch line from Maricopa. 
hsiigk: At ‘Tempe is the State experimental date farm, the 
ae os United States Entomological Laboratory, a large 
Population 2,495. normal school, and a condensed-milk factory which 
es Ctenee 1,611 utilizes much of the product of dairying, now a great 
industry in the Salt River Valley. Tempe, established 
in 1870, is the second oldest town in the valley. It was first called 
Haydens Ferry and later renamed for the classic Vale of Tempe. 
At Tempe a great bridge carries the railroad over the Salt River. 
This large stream rises in the mountains of eastern Arizona and flows 
into the Gila River about 15 miles southwest of Phoenix. Formerly 
it experienced many freshets, with disastrous results to irrigation 
ditches and near-by fields, but these no longer occur since its waters 
have been impounded by the Roosevelt and cther dams. Nowits flow 
is regulated to meet the needs of the farms and orchards it irrigates, 
and its utilization has resulted in an agricultural development which 
has made the Salt River Valley a celebrated garden spot. Kino 
_ called the river Rio Azul, and Gareés Rio de la Asuncion. 
Mesa. 
