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CHAPTER VII.

PROGRESS OF SALT RIVER VALLEY.

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AGRICULTURAL AREA INCREASING FIRST HARVESTING MACHINERY BROUGHT IN BY "CRETE" BRYAN AND W. J. MULHOLLANDMANY VARIETIES OF GRAIN, FRUIT AND VEGETABLES GROWN ACREAGE CULTIVATED PIMA AND MARICOPA INDIANS AFFORD PROTECTION TO FARMERS AGAINST APACHESVALUE OF PRODUCTS-TAXABLE PROPERTY— COST OF CLEARING LAND-COST OF CULTIVATION-IRRIGATING CANALS IN 1872-ACREAGE UNDER IRRIGATION-SUMMARY OF IRRIGATING CONDITIONS IN SALT RIVER VALLEY.

The year 1870 was a very important one to the Phoenix Settlement. It marked the beginning of an era of prosperity to the farmers in that section. The agricultural area under cultivation throughout Yavapai County, was increasing all the time. The farming acreage of the Salt River Valley was expanding more rapidly than in any other locality. In this year the first harvesting machinery was brought into the valley, Crete Bryan, of Wickenburg, bringing in a header, and a well known rancher from Florence, W. J. Mulholland, driving over a threshing machine, and these two worked over a portion of the valley during that season. In the spring of the following year, the firm of Murphy & Dennis, and William and John Osborn, brought in threshers, while in 1873 Lum Gray and John P. Osborn, aided by Barnett & Block,

brought two more machines into the valley. After this they became quite common throughout the valley.

Various kinds of fruit trees and vines were planted during the season of 1870. These vines and trees were brought overland from Southern California, and it required a good deal of care to have the young plants reach their destination in good condition, but, once set in the ground, the extreme fertility of the soil insured their rapid growth. Early settlers, during the first years of farming, having but little or no capital, had to rely upon their own energy for their support, so little opportunity was given for experimentation in products. The preparation of the ground, and the sowing of seed and setting of cuttings or young trees, required the expenditures of but little money. By the middle of 1870 there was perhaps a hundred fruit trees of various kinds, including fig, quince, plum, peach, English walnut, apricot and orange, set out in the valley with no absolute knowledge at that time that they would become productive. In 1868 grape cuttings were first set out by Jack Swilling and the Starar Brothers, and did well from the start, and consequently, were extensively planted by the early residents. Of the cereals, barley was the favorite crop, and yielded heavily each season, while corn was planted extensively during the first years. The latter crop, however, was gradually supplanted by wheat, which always made a good crop. In 1870 only sixteen acres were planted to alfalfa in the Valley, being on the farms of Barnum, Duppa, Gray, and Swilling, and but two and a half acres

of oats had been sowed, a couple of acres on the ranch of Darrell Duppa, and a half acre on that of the Starar Brothers. Gordon A. Wilson was the first to experiment with pecans, peanuts and tobacco, having, in 1870, about fifteen trees of the former, about a quarter of an acre of peanuts, and about a hundred plants of tobacco. J. G. Young was the first to try the cultivation of orange trees in the Valley, and, in 1870, had three trees of that variety upon his farm. In the latter part of 1872 Jack Swilling had quite a number of these trees on his ranch, which did not do very well on account of the exposed character of the land. Afterwards on better and more protected ground, they proved a success. The acreage in the staple crops increased steadily year by year, and from some two hundred and fifty acres cultivated in 1868, the cultivated area expanded to something less than a thousand acres in 1869, and to approximately 1700 acres in 1870.

During the latter year only twenty farmers had planted crops of various kinds, mostly barley and corn, although the water supply at that time was sufficient to irrigate a far greater amount of land than was then under tillage. These pioneer tillers of the soil were, according to Barney, the following:

John T. Alsap and Wm. L. Osborn, with about 57 acres.

John Ammerman, with about 225 acres.
Thomas Barnum, with about 103 acres.
Jacob Denslinger, with about 82 acres.
Darrell Duppa, with about 175 acres.
Columbus H. Gray, with about 72 acres.

George James, with about 64 acres.

John Larsen, with about 86 acres.
John B. Montgomery, with about 60 acres.
Frank Metzler, with about 78 acres.

James Murphy and John T. Dennis, with about 98 acres.

Benjamin F. Patterson, with about 61 acres. Lewis Rodgers, with about 100 acres.

John W. Swilling, with about 193 acres. Jacob and Andrew Starar, with about 243

acres.

Gordon A. Wilson, with about 78 acres.
J. G. Young, with about 52 acres.

In the San Francisco Weekly Bulletin, of California, there appeared in 1870, a well written article by a prominent pioneer, entitled "Wanderings over Arizona," from which the following, relating to the early Salt River settlement, is taken:

"On Salt River is a settlement of about three hundred people engaged exclusively in agriculture. The whole neighborhood is entitled 'Phoenix' and extends some miles along the river bottom, on the north side of the stream, and lies several miles above its junction with the Gila. The land is very rich, and was evidently cultivated years agone, for the channels of ditches are not wholly filled up, and may be traced for many miles though overgrown with shrubbery. Careful estimates give the amount of good land in this vicinity at 50,000 acres, only 1200 of which are under cultivation, and a comparatively small amount is claimed. Salt River is larger than the Gila above the junction, and is supplied from the White Mountains where the

snow falls deep, and springs are abundant, and Mr. Swilling, an intelligent farmer, is of the opinion that by carefully managing the water from this stream, the entire arable land of the valley could be brought under cultivation. This body of land lies several miles from any mountains, and therefore is comparatively safe from Indian depredations. But few raids have been made, and the raiders rarely got away with their booty, being overtaken as a rule, on the plains intervening between the Valley and the mountains. The first settlements were made in December, 1867. Only two of all went there with money, and they with but little. Many are now in easy circumstances, and all are 'gathering gear' happy and contented. A few rent their lands for a fine income and do nothing but oversee their business. The crops are a full average this year and small grain sells on the farm at from four to five cents per pound. Sweet potatoes are produced to perfection, and one farmer has sixteen acres growing. Fruit trees are to be obtained soon and the mildness of the climate is a guaranty that all the delicate fruits will grow excellently. For the farmer and fruit grower there is no more inviting locality in Central Arizona, and I doubt if in any other portion of the Territory.'

Soon after there appeared in the Prescott "Miner," the following letter:

"Phoenix, A. T., Aug. 13, 1870. "Upwards of 30 Pimas and Maricopas, with one citizen of this neighborhood, named Eugene Carter, passed here yesterday on their return

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