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Show 590 WESTERN WILDS. The road follows up the San Pedro River bottom and bluffs on an easy and imperceptible grade the entire distance. In places where the road crosses the creek, the scene is pleasant and agreeable, as this stream is the only living water the traveler will notice after leaving Yuma, a distance of about three hundred miles. Arriving at night the first impressions of the town are very favorable. The two long lines of streets, including the cross streets, are brilliantly illuminated, saloons particularly. They and the hotels run all night, while most of the stores are open up to a very late hour. As in all new mining camps, everybody is in a hurry to get rich, and the merchants form no exception to the rule. They think it necessary to take down their shutters at day- light in the morning and do not put them up again until from nine to eleven P. M. The town is located on a kind of " hog's back," with the principal streets running parallel along the center on an almost even grade, while on either side there is a gentle slope, making a system of sewer-age easy of accomplishment. The majority of the buildings in the center of the business portion, are all two- story, and quite a number of new business houses are being erected, the material used being adobe, with brick fronts and finishing. Although lumber is compara-tively cheap, there being an abundance of timber in the mountains, about thirty miles distant, where a sawmill is located, very little is used to construct frame buildings, for, owing to the limited supply of water now brought in from the river, about eight miles distant, it is important to have fire- proof buildings. The mines on the ridge over-looking the town have struck pure water, which will be brought into reservoirs, giving an unlimited supply for all purposes. At present the supply is barely sufficient for drinking purposes, and we doubt if it would go around but for the innumerable saloons which furnish beer and whisky at a bit ( 12| cents) a drink, the two bit ( 25 cents) places being the exception. The banking houses, merchandise and general business establish-ments, are in a more prosperous condition. One bad feature of Cali-fornia is omitted here entirely, and that is the stock- gambling board. Nearly all the mining property is in the hands of corporations, and if you want to buy stock you can see the property and get just what you pay for. Money is more evenly distributed, there being none of that terrible gathering up of all the loose change the community has for the benefit of the wealthy mining stock manipulators. One may safely say that the merchandise business of the town is in the hands of old San Diego people, and the judiciary likewise. The |