the midst of a large tract of land, and soon a thriving settlement sprang up, in the center of which Mr. Adams remained. At the solicitation of his neighbors he laid out a townsite on his property, gave lots to all who wished to build, and with one accord the whole community agreed that the town should be named Adamsville.

"The entire piece of property originally located by Mr. Adams was subsequently sold by him, but the town still retained the name of Adamsville, and all were satisfied until early in the present year, Territorial Delegate McCormick to satisfy a personal grudge of a political character against Mr. Adams, concluded to have the name changed. With this object in view he managed to have the name of the postoffice changed from Adamsville to Sanford. His hope and intention was that the town would for convenience sake, adopt the name of the post office, when his purpose would have been accomplished. The object, too, has been partly secured, but not so firmly rooted that it may not be eradicated. The name of that town is Adamsville; and you, pioneers, who would protect and preserve the memory of one another from the spoliatory hands of the vandal politician, refer to it as such. Address your letters, when you have occasion to write thither, to Sanford, P. O., Adamsville, and let outside despoilers see and understand that they may not manipulate this simple heritage which you would hand down to posterity."

It should be remembered that the "Miner" at that time, was edited by John Marion, who

never forgave McCormick for the part he took in removing the capital from Prescott to Tucson. After the departure of Mr. Adams, the founder of the place, who moved to the Salt River Valley, Adamsville became the headquarters of the Bichard Brothers, well known business men of the Gila Valley, who erected a modern flouring mill at that place. The Bichards were the first traders with the Pima Villages, and about the year 1865, became the owners of a primitive flouring mill at Casa Blanca, which was destroyed in the winter of 1868 by one of the great floods which occasionally occurred in the Gila Valley. Before its destruction this mill was used to grind corn and grain furnished by the Pima Indians. The Bichards constructed a new mill at Adamsville in 1869, which was provided with the most improved machinery of that day, shipped in at great expense from the Pacific Coast, and it was called "The Pioneer Flouring Mill.” This mill was

the first modern flouring mill erected in the Territory.

There were several members of the Bichard family, the head of which was William, an able and energetic business man.

The first house built in Florence was in 1866, by Levi Ruggles. Ruggles came to Arizona during that year as Indian Agent. He was a member of the Council in the Legislative Assemblies of 1873 and 1877, and was also Register and Receiver of the Land Office. He was a native of Ohio, and his wife was Cynthia M. Thorn. He was one of the principal merchants

of the town that he helped to found and build (Fish Mss.) He died in 1891.

up.

Elliott's History of Arizona (1884), says: "Charles G. Mason was the first settler in Florence; built the first adobe house there in the summer of 1866. In March, 1869, Joseph Collingwood opened the first store in Mason's Building. Levi Ruggles located in Florence in October, 1868." He afterwards built a fine residence there which is thus described in the work last named:

"It is a real pleasure to visit the beautiful home of Col. Levi Ruggles, the Patriarch of Florence. It is a perfect little paradise, and shows what can be done in this 'desert' land with water, labor and taste. He has a very fine variety of grafted trees, which show a vigorous and healthy growth. His peach, apricot, almond, plum, quince, pear, olive, fig, and pomegranate trees are remarkably strong and healthy, and the amount of young fruit they now show is simply marvellous. The trees will not be able to stand up under the load, and it will be necessary to shake some of the fruit off. We do not believe it possible to find fruit to surpass, either in size or quality, that grown in this orchard. The yield is regular and certain. It is the same each year. The same is true of every other orchard in the valley. There are no failures in the fruit crop, and it does not take long to make a good orchard here. Many kind of trees will bear the second year, after setting out. It is pre-eminently a fruit country.

"Colonel Ruggles also has some very choice varieties of the grape, which, like the fruit trees, are remarkable in their growth and yield here. On his muscatel vines are clusters of grapes a foot in length now, and when these clusters shall have attained their full growth, they will be at least sixteen inches long, and weigh four or five pounds.

"In addition to his fruit trees and vines, Colonel Ruggles has in his orchard sixty varieties of the rose family, all of which grow luxuriantly, and blossom freely.

This part of the Gila Valley advanced rapidly. Among the first business men located there were Joe Collingwood and E. N. Fish, who did business under the name of E. N. Fish & Co. They started in business in 1868, it being a branch of their business in Tucson. They had government contracts and wanted wheat and barley, the demand for which caused the rapid settlement of that locality. The settlers were backed by the merchants, who induced them to take up land, and furnished them credit, wheat and barley being the principal crops which they raised. The farming was principally done by Mexicans. All the ditches around from Florence down to Adamsville and below, were built by peon labor, who received a dollar a day and their rations. It was pick and shovel work. The settlers usually paid themselves out of debt with one crop of grain.

Mr. George A. Brown, an old resident of Florence, gives me the following history of the canals built in that section from 1868 up to 1875: