Show IN THE FAR SOUTH I I Heber J Grants Trip to St George TERRIFIC TAXES IN ARIZONA The Deserted KeefThc Land if the Jerky The Drama In St Ocorze Notes of Interest ST GEoiifiK Sept 1 18S9 Leaving thecity on the afternoon train Thursday the 12th inst I arrived at Milford Friday morning where I took stage for this point landing here Saturday between I and 7 in the evening TWCXTTOXK TEAm AGO this winter spent some time in St George and I well remember the trip from Salt Lake we were ten days on the road am had some of the worst places to travel over that I have ever seen although I have seen I and passed over some pretty rough roads since that time The black ridges which I i were so celebrated for their capacity to break wagons and the backs of the people I who had to pass over them are now things of the past as pretty fair dugways have been I constructed avoid passing over them I recollect when a boy heaving Brothers Goddard and Willis ising a sonj composed com-posed I think by the latter which ran something like the following Dixies land sunny and bright To dwell in the south is my hearts delight And as one travels along over the rocks and keeps his mouth and eyes closed to shut out the and he feels like voting the whole country to those who could ob taintheir hearts delight so easily SINCE MY FIRST ThIn here in ISOC I have had the pleasure of being ir St George some half dozen times but i never encountered more wind and dust in anyone day than on Saturday last coming from Cedar City to this place We had the wind behind us and the sand and dust that it piled in upon us was simply fringhtful Jerkies are used on the stage line between here and Milford Mil-ford and I convinced that these conveyances convey-ances could not possibly have had a more appropriate name bestowed upon them Anyone who has been jerked tKOM MILFOKO TO ST CEOltGE in one of these vehicles must agree with me The jerky has the one redeeming redeem-ing quality of never wearing out and speaking of things that uevei wear out they have one of the I old overland harnesses once usid by Wells Fargo Co now in use between Milford Minersville and the stage driver told stale me that it was good for a number of years i yet I must be nearly thirty years old The lW F Co on the blinds of the bridles vividly i l recalled boyhood days I was raised opposite to what is now the power house of our Electric Street Car company but what was originally the stables of Wells Fargo Cos OVEULAXI STAKES There was hardly a day passed that I did not stop around to see the four and six horse teams arriving and departing and the dream of my life was to some day be the driver of a stage with six animals like many more of the dreams of youth this one brings a smile when it is recalled I did not go to SILVER acer but when we reached the point where the road forks to go to that once flourishing mini T off the stage and walked to Leeds nI a distmc of SSUt uhf 1 ffiiic where I had the pleasur60l visiting with some friends and relatives until the stage I arrived from the Reef Silver Reef instead of having a number of stamp mills running and being a large and prosperous mining camp with its I hotels stares and saloons all in full blast now consists so far as its business portion is concerned of the store of Wool ICy Lund Judd who have leases on the several mines in the vicinity one other small store and a saloon The falling off is something wonderful and the chances arc that Silver Reef will have to say Farewell a long farewell fare-well to all its greatness What few frame buildings there are in the town still remaining remain-ing are being sold for old lumber and carried car-ried away by the residents of the towns in the vicinity There are now only about forty families remaining at the Reef ST cconoE has changed but little during the past ten ears The temple continues to be the center of attraction and it is a wonderful structure to be found in a country like this The beautiful white walls make a striking contrast with the red hills that surrounu the city and the sand of the same color that fills the streets The stake house is one of the best in the territory considering the size of the stake and the time when it I was built The county court house is a I creditable structure and far in advance of many in richer counties This city is as well built as any in the mountains moun-tains there being no hovels and ill of the buildings being solid and substantial There are two good sized mercantile stores the Coop and Woolley Lund Judd and a number of smaller ones At the time of the death of President Young there was XO CITY IX UTAH of its size that was as well built up as Saint George President Young seemed determined that this should be one of the eading cities in our fair territory and had he lived and continued 10 spend most of his winters here as was his wont I do not doubt that his plans with reference to the place would have been fully realized Amore A-more hospitable and faithful set of people can not be found than those living here I had the pleasure of ATTENDING TiE TIIEATUE here last night and was interested and r 1 meased WIth uio IKJIIUIUJUJH pleasct sag part Wll was 11 rendered in a very creditable manner Ig by Miss Rose Johnson sister to our townsman C E Johnson of V T It townSUun fame The building is a very creditable one and the scenery was much better then one would expect to see in asmall city and I ole one so far away from the centres where theattes nourish Jourish Thomas Judd is at tho head of a big canal scheme to bring under cultivation the Lavcrkin belch which is situated south of the town of Toquervillc An bOOfoot tunnel will form a portion of the proposed canal for and the totol cost will be from ten thousand thou-sand dollars to twelve thousand dollars The canal will bring under cultivation about seven hundred acres of choice land for fruit raising an industry for which St George possesses many advantages The regular COXFEUEXCE QUAUTKKIT of the stake was held here yesterday and the day before The attendance was good and th people Deemed to be well satisfied tlu instructions given The stake with the academy is progressing very satisfactorily under the efficient management of Nephi efcient of the people here suffer M S u ale frcin the high taxes of Arizona fre1 have stock across the line as they acrss lne I have just been reading an account of a meeting of the board of supervisors published metiug the Mohave county Mirror ol August 31 1889 and among other things I found the SSrt5 tf1 the order from the territorial board per of equalization the valuation of the property of the Atlantic Jo Pacific railroad company was ordered reduced lto74343750 The tax levy for the year 1880 was made as follows followsTEfJTRL neuroses WSO Territorial general fund W3 Tertorial gcner 10 asylum Interest fund o Insane lslum 15 18b3 u Interest fund act University Interest fund 0 S Normal school fund 0 fund Sinking Interest t act Ibb Capitol fund n 054 School fund p p i Total Territorial tax J courcrr TAX I County purposes 0 School ru 1 so luterest on payment of county bonds ufij Total county tax 13I7Ji Total Territorial tax 7Ji Total levy n h Mn 1 am inclined to the opinion that the citizens of Mohave county would like to be transplanted to one of the IlUESTIUDDCX COUNTIES in Utah where the total tax was 00 cents on the 100 instead of SM7 4 with l tr cents of the amount for interest on a bonded debt or a little over < > o leI cent more taxes for the one item of interest than the total tax of anyone of our counties when the county bonds will be paid no man knoweth and that they arc immense say I the least is plain when the interest tax on the A P railroad alone will pay over SXX or 5 per cent on a debt of over Sio000 Some of the pcoplo here would like to see the boundary lines changed so that all the land this side o the Colorado river was transferred trans-ferred from Arizona to Utah I one of the counties ill our territory had a bonded debt of onehalf of that of Mohave the Libs would have something to howl about This county Washington is out of debt and I am sure there is no place on earth where i costs more to keep roads in I repair The total income is less than one half of that received from the Atlantic Pacific railroad company in Mohave P1c I start for Pine valley in the morning at 4 oclock and will write you again from Cedar city Iron county IlEUEIlJ GRANT |