Buckeye Valley News, 1912-02-15

Under local option the entife Valley is "dry" by an overwhelming pubßfl sentiment. There are no saloons. II The Valley is fortunate Id its drinkl ing water. Underlying the flow of th I Va ley 130 feet is a strata of watel 'hat is a delight to drink. Wells arl drilled and cased to this strata froni which the water rises to within a fed feet of the surface, Absolutely freer from alkali, soft as rain water, min mineralized - eralized mineralized to make it a treat in the win winter - ter winter and a tonic in the summer; it is a beverage that wins the approval of all classes. It was not discovered until a few years ago, previous to which time the drinking water was a real draw drawback - back drawback to the Valley. But this drawback like several others has been changed into one of the Valley's best attractions. The past year witnessed tbesgreatest building activity the Valley ever had. A splendid $5,0)0 brick aud cement church Las been built at Liberty. Ad Buckeye tuare has been erected jd® churches, six residences, two large® well equiped corrals, two large t^usi t^usinesss - nesss t^usinesss blocks and a concrete office build building - ing building for the Buckeye Irrigation Co. There has also been established a bank which is being well supported. Palo Verde has added three splendid new structures to itself. The ranchers have built a number of large and mod modern - ern modern homes. All this totals $60,000 for one year and the pace has only been set. A branch of the Southern Pacific system traverses the entire length of the Valley. This branch is a link in a through main line railroad from the east to the Pacific coast. When this on st desired construction is complet completed - ed completed Buckeye will have a direct outlet tue coast for its products, while it w^l be marveled at by the thousands® t aveiers daily pasting by. Some® these tracers will pome back at® stay. (Continued on page Four) ®

points as far east as the Mississipbi river and as far west as the Pacific coast. Alfalfa seed is shipped all over the west and brings a fancy price. Southern California consumes more beef than the Salt River Valley, which includes Buckeye, can produce. This market is steadily growing and the prices have been steadily advanc advancing. - ing. advancing. Affecting all of these markets is the continual reduction in freight rates. DEVELOPEMENT There are three towns under the Buckeye Cana), Liberty in the eastern end of the Valley, Buckeye in the mld mlddleend - dleend mlddleend Palo Verde in the western end. Liberty h as two churches, a store, post postoffi - offi postoffi e, blsuktmith chop and a fmiukrootu brick school. Three teachers are em employed - ployed employed and about eighty pupils en enrolled. - rolled. enrolled. Buckeye has three churchee, two fraternal orders,a four room brick school with three teachers and 115 onpils, a well equiped blacksmith shop, two livery corrals, a lumber yard, a har harness - ness harness shop, a jail and justice court, a barber shop, pool hall, a butcher, two hotels, a restaurant, two telephone oen-J trals, a jeweler, a post office, a druM store, a confectionary store, threej® eral merchandise stores, a contractcrs and builders in all liM bank, a newspaper and city wateß Palo Verde has a new twoM school with two teachers find 65® a general mercahantile store, aW xard, a post office, a butcher church.

incorporation were amended so as to assess all stockholders for all the dis disbursments - bursments disbursments of the canal whether they used water or not. This will distrib distribute - ute distribute the cost of water over 16,000 acres instead of 13,000 acres. This change will also result in the improvement of all the unimproved land, a result that has been long looked toward to. A large proportion of the expendi expenditures - tures expenditures of the past year, and iq fact ever since they obtained possession of the canal has gone for improvements of the system. The people paid $92,- 900 for the canal, a price much too large, but accepted at the time to re restore - store restore tranquility and secure immed immediate - iate immediate relief from oppressive conditions. Since the people have owned the canal they have expended $40,000 on better betterments, - ments, betterments, extentions and enlargements. They have also paid $52,900 on the purchase .price of the Buckeye Canal and $21,000 on the purchase price of the White Tank Canal and the dam site. When they bought the canal they also gave the Home Savings Bank and Trust Co., individual col collateral - lateral collateral mortgages to be held until there remained but $38,000 of the purchase price of the Buckeye Canal. All these mortgages will be released

tivated to kill out the "fox tail," grass. It is safe to say that by an another - other another year there will be no "fox tail" in the Valley. The advent of the railroad has made it possible to ship hay, and the ranchers have determ determined - ined determined to raise only the best and meet the demands of the market. The leading crop is alfalfa seed. All other crops give way to it. Alfalfa seed is King. This crop has exceeded the most radical expectations. Con Contrary - trary Contrary to other localities, here it never fails. The gross receipts from this crop for one year has reached the princely figure of $l3O per acre. The average receipts one year with anoth another, - er, another, however, are about SSO per acre. To these receipts must be added threshtd straw from two crops of seed, a crop of hay in the spring and a crop of green feed in the fall, all of which is fed to the steers during the winter. There are perhaps 10,000 head of cattle feeding in the Valley at this time. MARKETS Sugar beets are shipped to Glendale where is located the large factory of the Southwestern Sugar and Land Co. The first crop of alfalfa hay finds a ready market in all the mining camps of this State and northern Mexico, at

and south. Over this trail annually pass back and forth hundreds of thousands of sheep in moving from the northern summer range to the southern winter range and lambing grounds. The fertilizer contained in the sum summer - mer summer floods of the Agua Frio alone has been estiihated to be worth from S3O to S6O per acre at eastern prices. In this can be found one of the sec secrets - rets secrets of the great productiveness of the Buckeye soil. Another secret is found in the gypsum carried in the flood waters of the Gila. Gypsum, chemi chemically - cally chemically acting upon alkali produces a plant food that alfalfa uses to a splen splendid - did splendid advantage. Still another secret is found in the splendid drainage of this soil. The lands farthest from the river have a fall of 25 feet to the mile and the lands adjacent to the river drain directly into the river. PRODUCTS The principle products of the Buck Buckeye - eye Buckeye Valley are alfalfa seed, hay and fat steers. The sugar beet bids fair to become an important product as it is being raised successfully. Begin Beginning - ning Beginning with this year the first crop of hay will be cut and shipped from the lands that have been sufficiently cul-

in the spring. A very good record to be made in less than five years. The water is distributed to all the land pro rato, share and share alike. It must be taken when the timecomes and no water is allowed to be wasted when others want it. LAND The Buckeye Valley proper is about 16 miley long and from 2 to 3 miles wide. There are 16,000 acres of lai d with water under the Buckeye Canal. There are 4,000 acres under the canal without water. A movement is now on foot to ascertain the possibility of placing water upon this remaing acreage, should this prove success successful - ful successful Buckey will embrace 20,000 acres of perhaps the most productive land in Arizona, which is saying something, and will become a community strong enough to undertake most any public improvement. SOIL There is not a foot of doby land un under - der under the Buckeye Canal. It is for the most part a sandy loam of splendid texture. The mud from the Gila and Agua Frio rivers during the summer floods replenish the soil every year. The runoff from the Agua Frio is es especially - pecially especially valuable as it drains the great sheep trail between the north

® All of these still live | achieved, and all of these only can fully appreciate 'tn diug^from the then and^H|^. Fron the day the first bi^H^KEgL noisy with top ha \ orn a\v®HHß^ e dashboard gone, mde thant Wxy d jw.i me Va.x^ ® J®j. duced a sensation, to (the if*'of the automobile, racing < on : e very highway and byway. , Fro, t q e {day when coyotes sang 2supra io a t devotional services under L mc?q U ite tree to the day of churchJs ant, S ure enough singers. From look stoves and bed rooms under bru4h she^ s to beautiful modern homes r-- 1 From roads that would bolg 1 Sad Saddle - dle Saddle blanket to boiilivards. . FroK be being - ing being compelled to watch the dill cow die because it was a three dajj s trip to a veternary to having imnL.diate relief over the telephone, the| medi medicine - cine medicine failing over one line beinL SU re to cure over the other. From fa f our days trip to Phoenix and perh^ ps two additional days waiting on theh banks of the Agua Frio fo&aog^siu Jg w j th a load of wood,to secuaMK&HSMIL^ »

The reclamation of the deserj^O s I a facination that is irristablfl^B o I view a wild waste, dead and^H^ that has repelled every touch®R n and forbidden his habitation, Ifil ed with fear, but to conceiy lie Im Ist of that m, ( I gol len harvests to fancy a pictt®Kli®^E^ UU lest dreams, bu 4H®N® jcfl I tempts the boldeai Id?r I two blades ot grass grow I one has grown is a splendid | achievement, but to mold and^^H en out of the dead clays of a de^^H lv _ I ilization, the most advanced This^was the picture dre;^^Hf ur /Buckeye some twenty odd ye^^H^ la id veirly it has it realizatiu^^®^ the first of those wlga st^^^H JUU banks of the Gila river mouth of the Agua Frio,^^® az . ling into the waters that ros^^^H o f [the ground and returned ba<^^H^ n> land dreamed that dream, ton and W. R. Beloat® (Closely following them v® Roberts, W. B. Long, C. W® D. P. Clanton, H. E. Kei® Blackmer, Fred Walls, Geo.® ' H. Benson, F. G. Millage H Benson. g '®l||i|L.