Oaks, juniper, piñon, cedars, yellow pine, fir and spruce grow on the mountains and over large areas of the plateau country.[1] The Coconino forest is one of the largest unbroken pine forests (about 6000 sq. m.) in the United States. Since 1898 about 86% of the wooded lands have been made reservations, and work has been done also to preserve the forest areas in the mountains in the south-east, from which there are few streams of permanent flow to the enclosing arid valleys.
Soil.—The soils in the southern part of Arizona are mainly sandy loams, varying from light loam to heavy, close adobe; on the plateaus is what is known as “mesa” soil; and along the rivers are limited overflow plains of fine sediment—especially along the Colorado and the river Verde. These soils are in general rich, but deficient in nitrogen and somewhat in humus; and in limited areas white alkaline salts are injuriously in excess. Virgin soils are densely compact. By far the most useful crops are leguminous green manures, especially alfalfa, which grows four to seven cuttings in a year and as a soil flocculator and nitrogen-storer has proved of the greatest value. The greatest obstacle to agriculture is lack of water. Artesian wells are much used in the south-east. For the reservation of the water-partings—in the past considerably denuded by lumbermen and ranchmen—the increase of the forest areas, and the creation of reservoirs along the rivers, to control their erratic flow[2] and impound their flood waste for purposes of irrigation, much has been done by the national government. The irrigated areas are only little spots along the permanent streams. In 1900 the farm area was only 2·7% of the total area of the state and only 0·31% was actually improved (including Indian reservations, 0·35%; in 1906, 0·92% was cultivated); of the land actually under crops, 88·5% was irrigated. The improved acreage more than quintupled from 1880 to 1900. The total irrigated area in 1900 was 185,000 acres and in 1902, 247,250 acres. The increase in land values by irrigation from 1890 to 1900 is estimated at $3,500,000. A reservoir was begun in 1904 just below the junction of the Tonto and the Salt with capacity to store 1,330,000 acre-ft. for irrigation, and develop also an electric power sufficient to pump underground water for an additional 50,000 acres at the lowest estimate[3] of lands lying too high for supply by gravity. Another important undertaking begun about the same time was the throwing of an East Indian weir dam (the only one in the United States) across the Colorado near Yuma, and the confinement of both sides of the lower Gila and Colorado with levees.
Agriculture.—Strawberries and Sahara dates; alfalfa, wheat, barley, corn and sorghum; oranges, lemons, wine grapes, limes, olives, figs, dates, peanuts and sweet potatoes; yams and sugar beets, show the range of agricultural products. The date palm fruits well; figs grow luxuriantly, though requiring much irrigation; almonds do well if protected from spring frosts; sea-island cotton grows in the finest grades, but is not of commercial importance. The country about Yuma is particularly suited to subtropical fruits. Temperate fruits—peaches, pears, apples, apricots and small fruits—do excellently; as do all important vegetables. The fruit industry is becoming more and more important. Farming is very intensive, and crop follows crop in swift succession; in 1905 the yield of barley per acre, 44 bushels, was greater than in any other state or territory, as was the farm price per bushel on the 1st of December, 81 cents; the average yield per acre of hay was the highest in the Union in 1903, 3·46 tons, the general average being 1·54 tons, was fourth in 1904, 2·71 tons (Utah 3·54, Idaho 3·07, Nevada 3·04), the general average being 1·52 tons, and was highest in 1905, 3·75 tons, the general average for the country being 1·54 tons; and in the same three years the average value per acre of hay was greater in Arizona than in any other state of the Union, being $35·78 in 1903, $40·22 in 1904, and $46·39 in 1905, the general averages for the country being $13·93, $13·23 and $13·11 respectively, for the three years. Of the total farm acreage of the state 97·6% were held in 1900 by the whites; and of these 80·2% owned in whole or in part the land they cultivated.
Stock-raising is a leading industry, but it has probably attained its full development. The over-stocking of the ranges has caused much loss in the past, and the almost total eradication of fine native grasses over extended areas. Of the neat cattle (7,042,635) almost 98%, and of the sheep (861,761) almost 100%, were in 1900 pastured wholly or in part upon the public domain. The extension of national forest reserves and the regulations enforced by the United States government for the preservation of the ranges have put limits to the industry. In 1900 the value of live-stock represented 15·7% of the capital invested in agriculture; the value of animals sold or slaughtered for food ($3,204,758) was half the total value of all farm products ($6,997,097). Ostrich farms have been successfully established in the Salt river valley since 1893; in 1907 there were six farms in the Salt river valley, on which there were about 1354 birds; the most successful food for the ostrich is alfalfa.
Minerals.—Mining is the leading industry of Arizona. Contrary to venerable traditions there is no evidence that mining was practised beyond the most inconsiderable extent by aborigines, Spanish conquistadores, or Jesuits. In 1738 an extraordinary deposit of silver nuggets, quickly exhausted (1741), was discovered at Arizonac. At the end of the 18th century the Mexicans considerably developed the mines in the south-east. The second half of the 19th century witnessed several great finds; first, of gold placers on the lower Gila and Colorado (1858–1869); later, of lodes at Tombstone, which flourished from 1879–1886, then decayed, but in 1905 had again become the centre of important mining interests; and still later the development of copper mines at Jerome and around Bisbee. Several of the Arizona copper mines are among the greatest of the world. The Copper Queen at Bisbee from 1880–1902 produced 378,047,210 ℔ of crude copper, which was practically the total output of the territory till after 1900, when other valuable mines were opened; the Globe, Morenci and Jerome districts are secondary to Bisbee. Important mines of gold and silver, considerable deposits of wolframite, valuable ores of molybdenum and vanadium, and quarries of onyx marble, are also worked. Low-grade coal deposits occur in the east central part of the state and near the junction of the Gila and San Pedro rivers. Some fine gems of peridot, garnet and turquoise have been found. The mineral products of Arizona for 1907 were valued at $56,753,650; of which $51,355,687 (more than that of any other state) was the value of copper; $2,664,000, gold; and $1,916,000, silver. In 1907 the legislature passed an elaborate act providing for the taxation of mines, its principal clause being that the basis of valuation for taxation in each year be one-fourth of the output of the mines in question for the next preceding year.
Manufactures.—The manufacturing industries are of relatively slight importance, though considerable promise attends the experiments with canaigre as a source of tannin. The Navaho and Moqui Indians make woollen blankets and rugs and the Pimas baskets. Onyx marbles of local source are polished at Phoenix. The capital invested in manufacturing industries increased from $9,517,573 in 1900 to $14,395,654 in 1905, or 51·3%, and the value of products from $20,438,987 in 1900 to $28,083,192 in 1905, or 37·4%. Of the total product in 1905 the product of the principal industry, the smelting and refining of copper ($22,761,981), represented 81·1%; it was 9·4% of all the smelting and refining of copper done in the United States in that year. The other manufactures were of much less importance, the principal ones being cars and general shop construction, including repairs by steam railway companies ($1,329,308), lumber and timber products ($960,778), and flour and grist mill products ($743,124).
Two transcontinental railway systems, the Southern Pacific and Santa Fé, were built across Arizona in 1878–1883. They are connected by one line, and a feeder runs S. into Sonora.
- ↑ The San Francisco yellow pine forest, with an area of some 4700 sq. m., is the finest forest of the arid south-west.
- ↑ The combined flow of the Salt and Verde varies from 100 to more than 10,000 cub. ft. per second.
- ↑ The dam locks a narrow canyon. The height is 284 ft., the water rising 230 ft. against it. The storage capacity is exceeded by probably but one reservoir in the world—the Wachusett reservoir near Boston.
