It must be recollected,
in this connection, that the great mineral wealth of Arizona will
call for and amply repay for the redemption and expensive
cultivation of all the available lands, and that irrigation
produces immensely greater crops than the other method of
planting. Throughout the whole of Utah, irrigation has been
resorted to with the greatest success. The soil in Utah, in no
place that the writer saw it, could in any way be compared to
that of the bottom lands of Arizona.
Captain Whipple in his valuable report of exploration for the
Pacific Railroad, published by order of Congress, crossed the
upper part of the region alluded to, and which is watered by the
Rio Verde and Salinas. He fully sustains me in my remarks on
those rich valleys.
"We are in the pleasantest region we have seen since leaving the
Choctaw country. Here are clear rivulets, with fertile valleys
and forest trees. The wide belt of country that borders the Black
Forest, and probably extends along the Rio Verde to the Salinas
and Gila, bears every indication of being able to support a large
agricultural and pastoral population. The valley of the Rio Verde
is magnificently wooded with furs and oaks, affording excellent
timber. Ancient ruins are said by trappers to be scattered over
its whole length to the confluence with the Salinas.
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