Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881 — John Shaqi
Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881Russell, William Howard, Sir
History
Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881
Russell, William Howard, Sir
United States -- Description and travel
As in the Orange River Free State, where probably the conditions of
temperature are not very dissimilar, pulmonary complaints are cured, so
a residence in Arizona, it is said, stops consumption; and there are
authentic statements that people who arrived in a rapid decline have
experienced almost immediate relief of the principal symptoms, and have
been finally cured. Governor Safford, in an official letter, states
that his lungs were a good deal diseased, and that he was suffering
with a severe cough when he reached Arizona, and that in six months his
cough left him. He is satisfied the warm, dry atmosphere acted like a
healing balm to diseased lungs, and that, the pores being kept open,
the impurities which attack weak organs escape through the skin. Dr.
Loryea, of San Francisco, and Dr. Sawyer aver that Arizona is nature's
Turkish bath, and that Yuma, that evil-looking place, contains the
fountains of health.
Of such vast regions a small acquaintance acquired by passing rapidly
twice over a line of railway does not entitle one to speak; but, if
what we read and heard of Arizona be true, there is within its limits
enormous mineral and agricultural wealth. There are carboniferous
basins of great extent and richness. The mountains teem with ore.
Silver and gold, copper pyrites, zinc, and lead are to be found over
a great range, the extent of which is as yet imperfectly known. There
are sulphates of nearly all the metals; metallic oxides, chlorides,
carbonates, nitrates; agates, amethysts, garnets, and other precious
stones. People there are who believe that the diamond, the emerald, and
the ruby will turn up in due time. In fact, if one were to be guided
by the accounts in the papers or the guide-books, he would think that
a sure way of making an immediate fortune would be to settle down on
any hillside in this favourite land. Nevertheless, what I saw out of my
window gave me reason to suppose that there was poverty in Arizona as
well as in the old country. Nor did the buildings which I saw by the
way at the sparse stations and infrequent towns give an idea that the
in-dwellers were well-to-do in the world. The adobe, or burnt brick,
which is a common material in lieu of better, has always a ruinous
appearance. The houses built of it yesterday seem tumbling to pieces
from the influences of old age.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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