The Coconino weekly sun. [volume], August 29, 1895, Image 1

About The Coconino weekly sun. [volume] (Flagstaff, Ariz.) 1891-1896

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
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VOL
XII.
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 0, 1895.
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NUMBER 51. M
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Don't bite off wire with Tour teeth;
Don't pull up tacks with a screw driver;
Don't open tin cans with a butcher knife;
Don't split wood with a hammer;
Don't sharpen your knife on the stove;
Don't borrow your,neighbor's shovel;
Don't forget thitt you can buy
AHY KIND FLyMBER
At Flagstaff from the
Arizona Lumber and Timber Co.
WifieffllJZ-FT--TZrT75 MARK W.f .
0ur - Prices - Are - Right,
l HMtlVt W&Xf9
m
L00I5 OVer Y)e Fer)ee, ar)cJ
IF THIS ARRESTS
V Your nttciitiiiu, vv wish
V 7 lo inform 3011 Hint wo
. -M do ever thing in thn
r lino of coniiucrchil, so
ciety nml general job
rl Wo havo tho facilities ami am
pi.-p.uu to do all stales of punting.
When ym aro
IN A HURRY
For a job and say you must
havo it in an hour, a day
?fx" 011 w''l' I1'3 f'S.? m'
more suioty than any other establish
ment in Arizona. Wo can handle any
job from a visiting raid to a tiicus
poster.
A PLEASED CUSTOMER
1
I
Is the best advoitisomont wo
know of. So biing around
jour punting and wo will
ideate you, both In tho quality
of vvoik and pib-o charged.
When j 011 call don't forget to
subset Ibu for
THE,
GOGONINO
SUN.
THE BANK HOTEL
THE LEADING HOTEL OF NORTHERN ARIZONA.
Tourists and commercial travelers will find the
above named hotel complete in all the modern im
mnemuus of the day. The management will spare
no pains to cater to the wants of his patrons.
BY TIE DM, WEEK OR MONTH.
Also Dining Room attached, where nothing but
the best the market affords is served to Guests.
T. J. Coalter, Prop.,
FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA.
Kesume of a Few of Its Many
Soonio Attractions.
UNSURPASSABLE CLIMATE.
A Itlcu mid l'roituctlvo Soil Tluit
Yields 11 lrtire nnd Ilountlful Har
vest Without Irrigation A Tow
of our Agricultural uml Hor
ticultural Productions.
NEWS DEPOT,
B
FANCY GROCERIES,
FRESH FRUITS,
.CHAS, A. KELLER, PhoppHETOR.
CANDIES, NOTIONS, TOBACCO,
STATIONERY, CIGARS,
All the D3licacio3 of tho Season Fresh from the Market.
You are invited to call and inspect my Stook
FLAGSTAFFt ARIZONA. .... 4 . . . .
Coconino county is situated on the
Pacific slope of thn great chain of
mountains stretching across as tio
backbono of tho continent. The busi
ness center is 1,721 miles west of Chi
cago and 85G miles cast of San
Francisco.
It is celebrated for its historic associa
tions with tho ancient people who
dwelt hero before tho discovery of
America and the cavound cliff-dwellers,
all of whom havo left behind them in
teicsting evidences of their peculiar
character and mode of life. It is also
celebrated for its enchanting scenery,
mountain, cliff and vale. Hero is the
Grand Canyon of tho Colorado, that
has excited tho wonder of scientific
men and invoked thn admiration of
all beholders, lleie, too, is Canyon
Diablo, tho painted desert, the petiified
forest, tho natural bridge, tho bottom
less pits, ancient ruins, deserted .vil
lages, around all of which, but each
p'culiar to itself, cluster charms and
romance
Hero, too, is tho great cavo of the
Montezuma will for visitors to manel
at, and the mineral sprngs of rare
medicinal virtues, and a multitude of
other fieaks of nature that the curious
make pilgrimage to seo and aro always
rewarded for the effort.
The Grand Canyon is two hundred
miles lorn;, and at this point is eighteen
miles wide and more than a milo deep,
and filled with an aidless variety of
cuiiosities, massive, aitistic and beau
tiful, on which tho eye never wearies
of feasting. Then there is the mighty
river pouring thtough the rugged cliffs,
hurrying onvvaid to its home in the
sea.
In historic interest, magnificent sce
nery and nutur.il cuiiosity Coconino
has no equal in any other pait of the
world. It is also noted for its health
ful, buoyant climate, its lich soil and
wide range of valuable productions
and natural resources, a solid founda
tion on which to build up homes for a
million or two million industrious peo
ple amid thrift, contentment and a
high civilization. Tho county is so
large, exceeding in scope some of the
Eistem States, and so peculiaily situ
ated with'regird to physical tonditions
that it embraces tho mildpr winter cli
mate of the north and tho semi tropical
of Italy. As you blip down over tho
mountains to which we havo rofuired a
broad plateau of impoiial propoitious
spreads out, having un altitude of
6,88G feet above sea level. On this
plateau the climate is much like that
of Now York, with tho absence of
bleak storms in full and winter. The
snow falls a foot and a half and two
feet deep and remains on the ground,
firm and crisp as a rule, until it disap
pears in tho spring.
Tho transition from summer to
winter and winter to summer is rapid.
Tho air at all seasons is clear, diy and
bracing. Tho average citizen pursues
his regular avocations fiom day today,
lives well, lays up something every
year and enjoys good health. Tho
drop fiom this plateau down into the
Oak, Deaver and Vcido valleys is
abt'upt, steep for 500 feet, and then
gradual for 1,000 feet more. In these
valleys thero is no cold winter, but
liko gentle spiiuir, fervent summer and
delightful autumn.
It is now about twelve years since
tho first experiment in agriculture was
mado on tho plateau, and this with
somo misgivings as to the result in
consequence of its altitude and other
natural conditions. But tho cxpcii
menter was impressed with the
fiiendly atmosphere, tho fervent sun
and rich.snil; and, then, ho saw growing
wild in abundance indigenous pota
toes, peas, berries, plums, cherries, flax
and hops, and ho argued that whero
such vegetables and fruit and plant and
fiber would grow wild of so excellent
a character and ripen with such per
fection they would giovv still more
abundantly and of higher grado under
proper cultivation, and that all the
cereal would grow also. His ieasouin;
was good and the experiment was a
pronounced succors. Other farmers
came in, bought laud, plowed, sowed,
reiped and mowed and gathered largo
crops year after year, demonstrating
with each successive ciop tio potfect
adaptability of this plateau legion to
the production of all thoso crops, of
the very best quality.
The averaga yield of wheat is 35
bushels an acre, oats GO'bushcI, bar
ley 10 bushels, lye 35 bushels. , Corn,
although it glows on tho platetu, is
not a success, but in the valleys it
excels. Potatoes havo yielded as high
as ten tons to tho acre, with an aver
ages of live and six tons of the fine
Whito Star variety. All variuties of
beets grow well, and tho sugar beet
will produce 20 tons to tho aero Cab
bagp, letture, asp tragus, peas of all
vaiieties, turnips, squashes, pumpkins,
carrots, paisnips, rhubirb and other
garden truck have a bountiful yield.
A choice variety of apples, plums,
peaches, 'pears, ebonies, straw ben ies,
raspbenies, black und red, not only
giovv to perfection on tho plateau, but
on the mountain sido at an elevation
of 8,500 and 9,000 feet. So do an ex
cellent vaiiety of gooseberries. All
the grasses grow well, ivith an all
round aveiago of two and a half tons
to the ane. The native variety is
paiticularly nutricious, and stock
thrive on it to a lemarkablu degree.
This is an nihil ing presentition of this
subject, but all these statements of
fact will be attested by every farmer
of substanco in tho county.
Tho great Intercontinental forest is
on this plateau, and has an area of
2,270 squaio miles, with an estimated
stumpage of from 7,000000,000 to
10,000,000,000 feet; and thero are
eighty species of tiees, some of which,
although not equal to thegiett sequoia
of California, arc of immense hight and
enormous size. Among them .are
red and yellow juniper, cypress, wal
nut, oak, ash, hickory, sycamore, cedar,
wild cherry, locust, ironvvood and
other useful varieties, although the
pino is the ptincipal timber.
Tho Arizona Lumber and Timber
Company own or conttol a considerable
portion of tho forest. They have a
sawmill on tho edge of tho forest, about
a half-miio from flagstaff, with a ca
pacity of 35,000,000 feet .1 year, but
aro now only turning out at tho rate of
12,000,000 feet a year. That, how
ever, keeps standing a laro monthly
pay roll, much to tie advantage of
Flagstaff.
All over tho platuau country, on tho
timber plains and in tho forest, are
found what aro here termed "pirks."
They range from 25 to 50 and 100
acres and from that to 500 to 1,000
acies. As a rule they are perfectly
level, without stump or stone, and tho
soil is deep and lich, overlying a haid
pan tvventy-iivo or thiity feet below.
The theoiy has been advanced that
these clearings were mado by the
people who inhabited this region far
back in tho past, and that although
long deseited they havo not since been
grown over with trees and shrubs. It
is noticeable that wherever theso paiks
occur tho soil is different from tint
whero tho pinp, tho juniper ami fir
trees grow and when cultivated they
grow excellent crops. Somo of these
paiks aic perfectly lovely, charming
placc.i for co?y homes. Thcio often
is stone enough around tho edges of
theso parks for building and fencing
purposes, and in some instances living
springs of puro cold water aro found.
Tho best farms on tho plateau are
in theso pirks. Whether springs aro
found or not, there is no luck of water
a few feet below the suiface, and crops
seldom suffer fiom drought. The
hardpan found underlying these parks
servo an excellent purpose, and largely
does away with tho necessity of irriga
tion. When tho snow nielts on tho
mountains tho water runs down and
fills the loose, sandy loam right down
to the cement, and as that is compact
there is no seepago, and tho water
cannot get away, so the whole twenty
five or thiity feet fiom that to tho
top is saturated, and as tho surface
dries out by the rays of tho sun just
enough moisture comes up to keep the
ground in admirable condition to yield
enormous crops with almost exact regu
larity. And this is reasonable, for
heie we find in happy combination the
LEVI STRAUSS & CO?
TRADE
MARK
i-yjs( SB jjLJMm$fr
COPPER RIVETED CLOTHING
EVERY GARMENT GUARANTEED.
FACTORY- SAN FRANCISCO - CALIFORNIA.
three impoitant elements to successful
fanning sun, soil and water
About a mile east of tho town the
Arizona Sandstone Company his
opened a largo quarry and steadily em
ploy about fifty men in taking out an
oxcellant quality of building stone that
has found its way to many of tho large
cities west of the Missouri, and is
rapidly gaining in general favor wher
ever used. This quarry, like the saw
mill, is a sourco of considerable revenue
to Flagstaff.
Having so far considered the condi
tions and sources of rcenuo on the
plateau wo will now consider the con
ditions and lesources of tho southern
valleys below.
By a referenco to the map it will be
seen th it tho Verde valley is in sub
stantially the samo latitude with the
Needles, a town just over the line in
California, that is said to be tho hottest
place on tho Pacific coast. Hut here
the physical conditions, to which we
havo before referred, come in to soften
or modify tho climate of tho valloys,
tho great pino forest on the north and
the lofty mountains to the south send
ing down their distinctive individual
influences to meet in tho valloy and
blond with tho hot rays of the sun and
other conditions thero found and make
a climate and atmosphere all their
own. peculiar to that locality, and
which cannot be excelled.
Tho scenery is also distinctive and
beautiful, so unusual that one finds
himself lost in rovery, looking, wonder
ing and admiring. Yonder are tho
toweling mountain peaks, away in the
distance, w ith their snow-crowned crests
breaking through the clouds and send
ing the fragments floating off to join
vvitli others or may be to gradually
fade away, dissolve and show in the
bickgiound others totally different in
form and color. Then there aro a
multitude of small peaks shooting up
hero und there of all shapes and vary
ing heights, ono is mado up of high
locks, as though thrown together by
some wild force in the most irregular,
chaotic way, with its naked sides and
bald skull standing in resolute defiance
of storm and time. Another is covered
with a thick coating of eveiygreen
trees and shrubs dressed with richest
foliago from the biso to tho summit,
and all around aro bursting springs
and rippling water. Then thero is the
box-like canyons, whoso walls are a
thousand feet high, cut out of the
solid rock to make a way for Oak
creek to run through in playful cas
cades. Back to tho noith is the pri
meval forest, with scattering trees
whose giunt forms,, with king-like
majesty, sway in tho wind far above
all the rest.
In tho valloy aro groves of sugar
maples, a lonely beech, a walnut,
an ironvvood and a poplar standing
liko sentinels on guard over their wild
haunts of nature. Then thero is a grove
of grand old oaks around whose trunks
the ivy has entwined its stems and
branches in carossing fondness, then
tho queer meadows stretching away
to the eastward as far as the oyo can
reich, carpeted with wild (lowers, whose
fragrance" kdens the air with sweetest
perfume. And yet with all these
charms of massive wild scenery and
delicate beauty, thero are men so dull
of appreciation or so wrapped up in
themselves that they would pass
through thoso valleys and seo nothing
to enjoy or admiro, not a flower or a
tree, unless they stumbled up against
one. Such men aro liko swine in a
flower garden, unconscious of the beau
ties with which they are surrounded.
But thn consolation is, such men are
few.
Here, too, are the reminiscences of a
prehistoric race, and they wero a su
perior peoploto any of the Indian
tiibes that havo inhabited this region.
They were extinct befoio the Indians
found their way here and the evidence
they left behind show clearly that
they were an agricultural people, in
dustrions, domestic and religious ac
cording to their lights. The ruins of
adobe and stono houses, temples, idol
trans gods, utensils for agricultural
and domestic uses, tho long, well
constructed artificial waterways, are
conclusive prpof of their character,
habits and skill. It is lamentablo
that history is silent on so interesting
a subject, and it is equally lamentable
that history commences with tho un
justifiablo raids, falsely styled explo
rations, of that Spanish outlaw, Coro
nado, remorseless, pitiless, brutal.
Ho wandered through the country in
1539 at the head of a band of ruthless
marauders, who stayed their vandal
hands at tho verge of no crime, but
were guilty of all, murder, theft and
rape. Ultimately an outraged mustang
very properly kicked him in the head
and finally put an end to his infamous
career. Recent excavations have
brought to light miny interesting relics
of that ancient people and future re
search will doubtless develop much
more.
The productions of these valleys ex
ceeds in variety and in quality that of
almost any other county of equal
scopo. Wo begin with tobacco, cotton,
flax, a peculiar variety of Indian corn,
potatoes, peas, beans, hops and wal
nuts, gooseberries, the long blackberry,
the red and black raspberry and straw
berries, plums and cherries, all of
which are found growing wild, and in
somo instances so good that they com
pare favorably with tho cultivated
varieties in less favoried regions.
Tho riv ers abound with mountain
trout, while near the sources whero
the water is colder they are firmer in
substance and more delicate in flavor
ot-ranking any variety we have else
where found. Theio is also here a
species of praiie chicken, grouse and
quail, wild tuikeys, and during tho
autumn and winter months ducks are
plentiful but in tho summer they go up
into the lakes on the plateau. On tho
mountains bordering these valleys are
black, cinnamon and tip tail bear, the
lion and the panther, the wildcat, tho
bob-tail and bush-tail skunks, and
highor up in the cliff and rocks the
eagles build their nest Along the
foothills and in the groves deer and
antelope havo a feeding ground and
home. In certain seisons wild pig
eons swarms in flocks of thousands.
Birds of rare plumago and song are
found in particular places but they are
somewhat exclusive and devoted to
localities. In olden times buffalo and
mooso wero hero, and thero is a legend
of another animal like the cariboo, but
theso like the ancient people aro now
extinct; all the others aro plentiful.
This is par excellence the home of tho
hunter and the fisherman.
Since tho establishment of the
military post at Camp" Verde ranchers
have settled about the valleys here
and there and demonstrated the adapt
ability cf their soil to the successful
production of a wide range of crops
and really good wheat, oats, ryo,
barley and corn, potatoes, Irish and
sweet, peas, beans, boats, cabbage,
cauliflower, pumpkins, squashes,
usparagus, lettuce, celery brussel sprouts
and all the more delicate varieties of
vegetables, apples, pears, peaches,
prunes, plums and cherries, oranges,
figs and grapes, the pomegranate and
berries of all kinds. Tho strawberries
are particularly large and delicious in
flavor.
And tho whole country plateau and
valley is specially adapted to grazing
and dairying; the native grasses aro
nutricious and stock does particularly
well and keeps healthy the year round.
It is reported that the White Moun
tain Apaches aro getting restless on
account of prospectors trying to get in
oa the lescrvation. It is said they
have run several parties off the reserva
tion lately.
II.
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