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the village, there being at that time about seventy-five American men.

The first American to die a natural death within the limits of the town of Phoenix was the young daughter of William Smith, one of the pioneer merchants of the town. The incident is recorded as follows:

"Died-In the town of Phoenix, on Friday, September 27th, 1872, after an illness of two days, Casandra, the youngest child of William and Fanny Smith. Casandra was an interesting little girl, intelligent, pretty and affectionate, and the first American to die a natural death in this town. The community turned out on Saturday to pay a last tribute of respect to the departed, the Hon. Charles A. Tweed reading a chapter from the Bible, and making an appropriate address, thanking, at the same time, the friends present on behalf of the mourners.

The first building brick to be made in Phoenix were moulded and baked by a man named Few, whose kilns were situated south of Washington Street, about where the gas works are now located.

The first brick building put up within the limits of the town is known now as the Afro M. E. Church South, on the southeast corner of Jefferson and Second Streets. When first completed this building was opened by William B. Hooper & Co., as a wholesale liquor house, the late Philip K. Hickey (who died on December 19th, 1916,) being their bookkeeper for some time. At this time all the buildings were of adobe. Lumber was exceedingly scarce and very expensive, the little reaching the valley coming

from Prescott. In a letter from Phoenix, dated July 14th, 1872, the following is found:

"Lumber is very scarce at present. Old boxes are selling for 14 cents per foot, knotholes, cracks and breakages included."

For many years before the coming of the railroads to the Valley, coffins, a superfluity after death, were always made of drygoods boxes, the dead being extremely lucky to get even such a receptacle within which to make their final journey.

The first Masonic Lodge in the Territory was established in Prescott on July 25th, 1865. In 1874 there was a number of Masons in the Valley and the murder by Indians of Paul L. Mandel near Camp McDowell, called forth resolutions of condolence from the Free and Accepted Masons of the town of Phoenix. These resolutions, published at the time in the three periodicals of the Territory, were the first to be passed by Masons of Maricopa County in recognition of the death of a fellow member.

The first Masonic Lodge in Phoenix was organized about the year 1876.

The second fraternity to establish a Lodge in the Valley was the Independent Order of Oddfellows, the first Arizona Lodge of which had been organized in Prescott in July, 1868, and the first Lodge in Phoenix was organized about the year 1878.

CHAPTER XI.

SALT RIVER VALLEY PROGRESS; CHURCHES AND SCHOOLS.

FLOURING MILLS-CROPS-MARYVILLE

EARLY

CHURCHES AND MINISTERS REV. ALEXANDER
GROVES-REV. FRANKLIN MCKEAN-DE-
SCRIPTION OF OLD TIME RELIGIOUS SERVICE-
EDWARD IRVINE DESCRIBES MEETING WITH
PASTOR GROVES — QUESTION OF SUNDAY
LABOR-QUARTERLY CONFERENCE OF METHO-
DIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH AT PHOENIX
FIRST CHURCH CONFERENCE IN VALLEY
FIRST CATHOLIC PADRE-REV. CHARLES H.
COOK, MISSIONARY TO PIMAS-SIXTH TERRI-
TORIAL LEGISLATURE PASSES LAW FOR ESTAB-
LISHMENT OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS - PUBLIC
SCHOOL OPENED IN PHOENIX- BUILDING OF
SCHOOLHOUSE-HAYDEN'S FERRY SCHOOL-
CHRISTMAS TREE FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN

MISS CAROLINE G. HANCOCK, PIONEER
TEACHER, BIOGRAPHY OF.

After the reclamation of the desert lands in the Salt River Valley had been proven a success, and an abundance of water for all lands under cultivation at that time was supplied by the river, the price of flour and of barley attracted the attention of farmers, and plans were made for the manufacture of wheat into flour. Flour mills were already in successful operation in portions of the Territory. In the early part of 1870, flour mills were producing a good quality of flour, and competing successfully in the local markets with

shippers of that article from California and New Mexico. The Agua Fria mill of Bowers & Co., produced an excellent quality of flour from wheat raised in the vicinity of Prescott; the Lamberton mill at Walnut Grove was also occasionally employed in making flour, while Bichard & Co., of the Pima Villages, owned and ran two mills, one at the Villages and the other at Adamsville, which turned out quantities of flour and similar commodities.

The first two flouring mills erected in this valley were established on the north side of the Salt River. The largest of these, known locally as the Hellings' Mill, was located up the valley about three miles from the present city of Phoenix at what was then known as Mill City. Toward the latter part of February, 1870, Jack Swilling, in a letter from the Phoenix Settlement to the "Prescott Miner," referred as follows to the contemplated establishment of a grist mill in the Valley:

"The farmers of this vicinity have already sowed 1,200 acres of barley, and 150 acres of wheat, and both wheat and barley are looking well. The settlers expect that a flouring mill will be erected here next spring." The site for this mill was selected in August of 1870 and the foundations for the mill building were laid only a few months later. Work progressed slowly upon the plant for about a year. In the Tucson Citizen of January 7th, 1871, there appeared the following:

"The farmers are all busy putting in their crops, clearing new land, and making other improvements. The number of acres sown this year will be more than three times that of last,

and there will be an abundant supply of water for all. Wm. B. Hellings & Co., are laying a foundation for a flouring mill which, it is expected, will be completed before harvest." This letter was dated from Phoenix December 26th, 1870.

In the month of October, 1871, the freight train of Miller Bros., Sam and Jake, of Prescott, left that place for Ehrenberg on the Colorado River, to haul the machinery for the mill. This machinery had been shipped in deep water vessels from San Francisco to the mouth of the Colorado, transferred at that point to freight barges, and towed up the river to Ehrenberg, from where it was freighted overland to the Valley. Lumber for the construction of the buildings at Mill City was brought from near Prescott, and on their return the wagons were loaded with grain and other commodities raised in the valley, and needed to supply the market in and around Prescott with these necessities.

Toward the end of the year 1871, the Hellings Mill was in full blast, being the second to turn out flour from Valley raised wheat. Upon its completion the "Prescott Miner," under date of December 16th, 1871, contained the following:

"Good news: A great work has been completed in Salt River Valley, Maricopa County; nothing less than the erection of the finest flouring mill this side of San Francisco, which was put up at a cost of nearly $70,000 through the praiseworthy energy of Wm. B. Hellings & Co. This mill, we learn by letter from John W. Swilling, is now making flour of excellent quality."

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