Show prom from the salt river eiver valley news ye ios MESA CITY A FEW NOTES ABOUT ITS WATER facilities etc the mesa or as it is hetter better known mesa village Vi ilage is almost west of tempe ditch being but three miles from that water course taking mesa village as a starting point its surroundings can he be placed as follows folio follows ws three miles north to the boundaries of lehi and duj y istance distance east and south as far as water can be distributed thereon THE SOIL OF THE MESA within a radius of three miles from the village the soil is of f a light sandy nature heavily mixed with decomposed lime shells within this belt of land fruits and vegetables of every variety can be successfully and more lucra lucratively raised than in any other portion 1 of I arizona and if the statements of california fruit growers can be relied upon apon the mesa tufey fly counts the pacific coast in the fruit line for instance our raisin g grapes r ap es owing to the abbe absence e off of fogs 0 san and d heavy a y dews are in the their i drying process ro f free ree from rust and mi mildew iview so fatal to california raisin growers to show the prolific nature of our soil I 1 will cite the following in the spring of 1885 samuel bagley and others put out several acres of zinfandel grape cuttings which bore in several instances not a few grapes and which will bear heavily this season seedling peaches nuts ft fig cuttings and apricots bear the second year and the only danger to our fruit trees is overbearing ae cereals reals in so far as they have been tried are a success as high as 39 bushels of wheat being raised to the acre and so of every other crop that can be raised in other lands or climates when the reader takes into consideration that the mesa hasi has only had a growth of seven years up to the present time and that its first founders were only a handful of hardy mormons cormons Mor mons that would not count beyond the teens and comparing it then the natural home of the rattlesnake wolf and jack rabbit to its now blooming vineyards vins yards orchards gardens gar deus grain corn and alfalfa fields fieldg well may the reader exclaim the change is surprising indeed such however the world over is 9 the power of mans perseverance and energy which converts trackless wastes into blooming and happy homes ITS WAIER facilities without water however this transfiguration could wt not be accomplished nine miles eat east of the northwest corner of mesa village on th the salt river is the site of the mesa dam the canal running from this day dam though capable of con containing but litt little n t e water in the beginning has been gradually enlarged until now it has a capacity of eight to nine thousand inches four thousand five hundred inches or thereabouts is the limit at present allowed and with this amount of water some 16 sections of land are in whole aud add partially irrigated and if immigration continues in vie tie future as in the past the above amount of land under irrigation will in the near future be doubled and that too with very little more inore water than at present in the canal it is an established fact that a few years of continuous irrigation so tills fills up the cracks aud and pores of loose soil like mesa that the land will be so moist as to need little or no watering one polut point iu in connection with our 1 canal system stem I 1 would wish to say a few words on viz the great number of baals the less profit and water is derived this I 1 know is nothing new but it is a fact of such vast importance to our agricultural welfare that it cannot be too often gr or too urgently brought bro light before the notice of the stockholders in every canal on the south side of 8 salt alt river that the carrying of too many ditches is suicidal to our best interests consolidation should be our motto and by consolidation the following important advantages will be obtained first three qu quarters arters of a mile above the present site of the mesa a natural dam clam can be had th atwill defy tempests and floods secondly two natural water powers can be obtained betat between een the dam and the present tempe dam suitable for the largest of grist mills or factories lastly it will be an economy of time an am economy of labor an economy of finances and finally all combined means cheap and plenty of water for the poor sand lapper a consummation to 0 o be wished for THOMAS J REILLY MESA march 3 1886 |