Communication

To the Editor of the Ann Akbor Courier : Believing that nwny friends in old Washtenaw would like to hear froni me, I will trouble you with a short letter on Aiïzona. After a uice journey by the Atehison, Topeka & Santa Fe R., (which is thej best route) over the prairie of Kansas and the plains of New Mexico, I reached Tucso on Dec. 21. Bishop Andrews and the members of the mission were on the platform to meet me and gave me a warm brotherly greeting. Daring the next three days we held our Mission Conference In Tucson.and on the Sunday night the appointments were read giving to me Globe City as my field of labor. After a few days and Christmas bolidays spent in the vioinity of Tuoson, I caine in two days. journey by plain and mountain trail to Globe. At Casa Grande I stayed all night at the house of Mrs. Fryer's wlio I found aftèrward was neé Pauline Cushman the heroine of that popular book, " Horse and Spy." I stayed one night at Silver King where is the riehest silver mine in the world, and itieii Oui.kcy threuded my way eighteen miles alone over the mouniaiu track tb Globe. . I carne througli tíie Devil's canyon a veritable temple of nature (though it may seem a misnomer) and aniidut those high boulders and masses of Qnnewn rock, one is inclined not to lear Him whose name the valley bears but to worship God. Skirting the volcanic mouutaius and passing several oases of green valleys, a further ride of ten miles trom the canyon briflgg you to Globe, which is a nice niining camp embosomed in the hills, and ten miles (it seéms but two) from the higher Pinal mountains whose snow ciad sunimits exert a pooling influence upou the heated brows and brains of our Globe merehants. For Globe is very diill just now, and niercliants feeling tlie pressureget agitated and worried. We have 3,300 mines and locations in the viciuity, and our ore is rieh, but frelghts are so high that e very one is waiting for two projected rallroads to be completed. Then the place will boom and become a city. But unfortunately for me the dullness happens in my time, I have a very intelligent and appreciative peopletliough, who wartnly and entbusiastically welconie me. We have only one large mine running now, the "Old Dominion." Their copperore yields lifteen per cent. of bullion while the Calumet (L. S.) mine yields but five per cent. They get their compensation though in the cheaper water freights on the lakes. We have two weekly papers, one of which the "Silver Bell" run by au old pioneer, Judge Haekney, is the best weekly In the Temtory. Old prospectors who have tried everything from the beginning assure me that nothlng in Nevada or Colorado has ever opened up so richly and so full of promise as does Arizona. In some of our mines we extract nearly pure silver and thcre are masses of it yet underclaped. One feels lonely out here at first and of course we miss some of the comforts of the East, but we miss also your intense cold and winter discomforls, and we meet many Michiganders here. The peraonnel of our mission has a majority of Michigan men, and the Superintendent said he feared to put to vote the question of a mission paper lest we should ad'-pt the Michigan Christian Advocate as our organ. That is always welcome to me, and so is the Courier and so are letters from home. In Phoeuix and the valleys they are gathering peaches at Christmas time, and in Tucson, "mine host" furnished as good a Christmas dinuer as ever I, an Knglishman, could wish for. With the traditional turkey and cranberry sauce we had good fresl) gar■) o"" i'roi o. Hip. Chinese gardner. and supplied fiesh daily. It appcarea strangc to spend a Chrtetmas and walk abroad without an overcoat, the sky being of a cloudlcss blue and in the rare atmosphere the whole surrounding scenery seeming batlicd in beauty, especially at sunset time when the eflect is delightful. Later on I will give you some particulars of my visit to the old Jesuit church of San Xavier. Now I will give you some idea of the city of Tucson, wih which I was mach pleased. It is of course the oldest settled town in the Territory. I mean the oldest of which we have any detinite record, for the houses of the eliff dwellers and thegigantic ruins of Casa Glande point unmistakably to a prehistorie civilization long anterior even to the Toltecs and Aztecs of the Cth century. At Tucson to-day two or three distinct civilizations meet and flourish side by side. There are the old llexican adobe houses, and there is the electric light streaming from court house top and from street corner. Tlie narro w main streel of the city seems like Ancient Cairo with its bazaars, and there in Congress Hall are American gamblers playing modern keno, faro, and poker. The old Roman Catholic church, with ts tawdry furniture, and the image of the Christ Child in the mauger, stands on one side the Plaza, and across the street the Methodist bell rings for prayer and simple worship. There are relies of ancient Aztec, Toltec, and Spanish civilizaron, and there are modern printing prenses issuing two daily and three weekly newspapers, with telegraphic summaries of the world's daily doings. In the one adobe, dirty house two or three Mexican families huddle together in mire and muck; and across the square, in the finely flnished frame and adobe mansión, where Thomas Fitcli, tlie Californian orator, lias importe) every modern luxury. ün one side the Pla.a tlie red Indian sells his beads, trinkets and pinyons, and aeross the Way the American boys play base-bal), lp one quartér of the city olive-skinned, pig-tailed Chinamen laundry, scour, scrub, and murket garden, and in another place the white boys and girls disport tkcmsclves aronnd the skating rink. In the Mexican quarter the women, veiling in Oriental inanner their faces with bright shawls, and canying their earthen pitchers of water on their shoulders or bundlei of hay on their back, do duty as beasts of burden with their brave lord of creation riding behiiul theiu on his pony, and theu swiftly past them trail the Colombia bicycles, as, on the sraooth, hard plain, Young America holds its Christmas tournauieut with this, one of the greatest blessitigs of our 19th century; while with shriek and whistle glides past tlie steam monster engine, and is heard the whiz of the telegraph line, linkiug together by bands of iron and wire the Occident and Oriënt. With its 13,000 inhabitants, Tucson, the metropolis of our most modern and yet most anoiunr fprritory. is a study, and is well worth coming west to see. In travellng here you are continually reminded of oriental scènes and manners. The wonián at tho well-side over there, drawing water, might be Rachel and Rebekah or the woman of Samaría; and the man lourneyiug on the plain yonder niight be Isaac going iuto the lields at eveDtide to medítate, only hisunsteady gait andcorkscrew motion as " he works in sinuositics along," proclaim too plainly that he h;is been imbibing inspiration, not ut the crystal spring nor froin the starry heaven, but behind the saloon bar. No. If he is Isaac, he has woefully di'generated from the habits of the old patriarch, cxcept that he has daobttem; MKe lili, a good nppctite for venison, and his soul loves savory meat from the mountains, which the red (Irish) Esau has procured for him. The tlotsam and jetsain of our cities and plains teil plainly of tlie habits and custoius of the people. Every litlle village Street is strewn with stray cards from rejected packs theieof, and every country road has on efther side of it whole straggling annies of "old soldiere (as we cali the empty beer and brandy bottles and the flung-away fruit cans). Oar giant cactus grows astall as do your poplars. TTiey liold water wbich would be grateful to the thirsty tiaveler, and obviate the necessity of drinking cans, only, Marah like, their waters are bitter, and we have not yet found the antidotal "tree" tosweeten them. There are other cacti growing round us, but as your correspondent found to his sorrow, Every busli has a thoni. Kvery lieast has a boro, in Ariona. But we have somebeautiful stretchesof country. In the Gila (pronounced Heela) and Salt Uiver Valleys there are thousands of fertile acres which can be converted into farmingland or used for grazing and pasture. Unhappily though, these lands are being rapidly pre-empted by the Mormons who have keen eyes for the best spots and for the main chance. There are 2,000 of them now ia the territory and colonizing bishops are ever on the way hither. Coming here, I feil in with one bishop, Francis Asbury Hammond, by name. I was glad he told me he was a bishop, or I shonld not have discovered it. He was ciad, not in lawn, but in linsey wolsey, and looked much like a farmer. He spoke of the persecutions "our people" hare been andaré subject to. Said he, "Polygamy Is by no means universal, and man has to have certain qualitlcations of character and property before he can take asecond wife, and we have more trouble with monogomousthfiu with polygaruous marriages. We hare titles in our archives to hnlf the State of Hipsoiui, and we have charms of settlementsall aiong me i'.,-;r... ooatt, and i can travel all over it, sleeping every niglit in Jlorinon communities." Nevertlieless, we dou't want them here. You cao teil a Mornion team and family when t pa9scs you by ita forlorn, Godforsaken appearance. We would far rathpr have youutr Arizona peopled with Miehigauders and Methodists titan with Mornions. His Grace, the Lord Bishop Hammond, paid the M. E. church the compliment of saying we were the most uncomproniising foes they had. From my observation and inquines, I would say in fine, that Arizona is a most promising territory. We have fertile fields and jrrandly good foraging lands, gold, silver, coal and copper mines unequaled anywhere for richness, and a superb, allyearround climate tbat is umivaled in the world. While we read of Eastern tempcralure being 30 below, we are never below 30". That's the difference. and the summerB, they teil me, owing to the rarity of the atniosphere, are not oppressive. There are no sunstrokes even wheu the thermometer reaithes 115, and it is not so melting as in New York at 90, though we, like Oriental cities, are by no means dogless, hydrophobia is unknown. The Inging have heen tronblcsome here, but they are now quiesceut, and it is only on theoiitlying, isolated settlements they are dangerous. Tlie Re-ervatiou is 30 miles from ine. Charges have been freely made agaiust the late agent, Tiffany, and he was fetclied from New York two or three times to answer them, but they were groundlcss and feil through, as we have known other Rose-colored charges j do, and Mr. Tiffauy has been taking tneasures to vindícate his character. Public opinión here has veered completely round in bis favor and lie is looked on by the imijority as a perspcuted man. Ishallbe pleused to hmsa-lt any qucstions relative to this country; ind at sotne future time, if you so deeire, I will write you of sonie adventures I have had here. Witli kindtst reg;irdstoall oíd friends, I ain,ilenrsir, Paitlifully yours, Gr.otu, Arlzono, 5th Feb., '8-1.