| Show MESA CITY salt biver biven valley august 4 1883 editor deseret mems mews since my last letter to you I 1 have received several letters from utah asking ashing questions with regard to moving to arizona and more especially to salt river riven valley the am import port of the letters may be sum med up in three questions firstly first Is la there a chance to work a water right in the mesa canal second Is there government land to be taken up third how hot Is it in the summertime summer bummer time and what is the duration of hot weather I 1 have neglected answering because it was in my y wish to answer this last question from experience to the first I 1 will say there is a movement on foot at present to consolidate all canals on the tha mesa side bide of salt river niver the new now head is about 51 miles above the present dam and the canal will be 40 feet on the bottom and six feet deep and will necessitate an outlay of the very aggressive stand ot the arizona canal co Is the reason of consolidation to the second question I 1 will say there is a large amount of land to be taken but as to the owner I 1 will not say the railroad company claims every other section and now comes a man named bivas rivas and claims 2700 equale miles in this and gila valley vailey he bases hib his claim on gr grant antIor or as aa he terms it a spanish concession given by the king hing of spain to one ee peralto ralto whom he knighted as aa baron colorado Co lorada 1 it it is said he has agreed to charge a uniform price of V 3 per acre if successful but man is frail and promises do not amount to much As to the third question I 1 will say that the hottest day olny I 1 have heard of in mesa this summer in the shade was wai this was wag the it he latter part of nt june there where jai fai no use trying to disguise a a the fact that it is quite hot from june juno till september I 1 think thick I 1 will be safe in saying that the thermometer has averaged so 80 at night for five weeks ana anci I 1 have been seen it to 95 one of the greatest inflections inflictions inflict ions new comers to this land of fromble promise are invariably subject to Is ia a raabs rash or prickly hearit covers the body with small red pimples and Is ia very annoying ingae we are nie assured by some of mesas mams sages that they will wear away as a person gets used to them but getting used to them is like taking a mark twain degree in baw paw norse norae masonry the nights are at present very sultry and the festive mosquito insists in singing his evening hymn to poor 41 humanity the presence of mosquitoes Is occasioned by the large largo amount of lucern fields and water tanks in town this is the hottest summer bummer here in the oldest whites memory we have had several showers lately and looks like more the of this valley la Is progressing lively eight steam power threshing machines have ran six alit weeks and will run four more they thresh as high agh as aa pou pon pounds ads in a aday day but the average is bout about pounds daily per machine it ls is all pounds and cental here no bushels used in 1879 backs sacks held the harvest of mf salt diver river elver valley I 1 will now show you what four years have done which you will consider wonderful erful considering the trials and hardships of settling a new count country ry th the 8 amount of wheat raised this year in pounds was barley add to this estimated ea amount of wheat raised by indians pounds wo we have a tota tots yield ot of pounds for 1883 there is also under cultivation acres of lucern if which mesa has there aro pro grape vines of which mesa can can boast of of fruit truit trees in the valley mesa claims 1 I think this is a very good showing fora tora for tor a four year old we also alao can boast of one of odthe the tho finest school houses size and finish in arizona and this is the second largest school district in Marl copa co the fourth cutting of lucern will soon boon be on hand it is a very fine hay for this climate and has yielded as high as 80 tons 0 on U five acres in one season P F M fowler aud and sons raised bushels of grain that netted them clear of ex es pense there are several large mining towns near us several military pots and as the railroad Is only 30 miles distant freight Is ia p enty the great arizona Arlzo arizo lla lin canal has been started and one mile finished it 16 takes water three and a half miles above mesa dam anthe on the west of salt river mesa city is on the east cast side and is but a ehert distance below the mouth month of the Ver ven verde deRiver biver kiver the held of this arizona canal is feet above the sea bea the canal is being built it is said by scotch capital is 35 feet wide on bottom bottora and 7 feet deep and is to run ran a distance of 40 miles the company entered it is said 62 52 sections of laud land not long ago I 1 did hear it reported they would give families from utah a chance to work out water shares there will be contracts in september and report says la Is paid up also that it is to be completed january 1885 mesa has been allowed the privilege of a city incorporation so eo yeu you bee see we are growing we also have a tri weekly mail from phoenix the name nameon of this post office Is hayden writers should notice this a as 3 there is a mesa in pinal county arizona all kinds of fruit are ripe now melons etc too numerous to mention good well water Is ia got by sinking 40 to 60 50 feet there have been two bull fiats fights at ph phoenix anix and one at tempe temps since our arrival here who says we are not keeping pace with to fo called modern civilization the holidays passed very quietly atit nty ati wound up by a grand ball on th yours truly JAMES F wll wil KIN rin |
