Safety Decalogue

Co-Operation and a Greater Arizona

By T. H. O'Brien, General Manager Inspiration Consolidated Copper Co.

ARIZONA was not considered as a fit residence for a white man to live in until a very few years ago. Even now many people in the eastern section of the country picture this state as overrun with Mexicans, Indians, Gila monsters and rattlesnakes. This idea has been encouraged to a certain extent by the existence of the desert stretches along the highways in parts of the state. One, traveling across the state by some routes, sees none of the beauties of the more fertile sections. The central route through Arizona, however, presents not only magnificent mountain scenery but also fertile valleys, including the great Salt River Valley in the vicinity of Phoenix.

Since Phoenix has been made a mainline station and trains have been routed through the Salt River Valley, the beau ties and possibilities of the state have become widely advertised. Few people realize that Arizona, in addition to its many other resources, has the largest virgin pine forest of any state in the Union.

Until the completion of the Roosevelt Dam agriculture played a very small part in the history of Arizona. The principal industries were mining and the rais.. ing of cattle. It is true that small ranching communities were scattered here and there, wherever water was available, but agriculture, as an industry, was not very important. The major part of the taxation was paid by the mines, railroads and cattle owners.

Now, however, conditions are entirely different. Arizona is beginning to be recognized as an agricultural state, and farming, as an industry, now ranks with mining and stock-raising. Arizona citrus fruits, cantaloupes and lettuce have the reputation of being the finest in the world, and are shipped to all parts of the United States. The production of long and short-staple cotton brings many hundreds of thousands of dollars into the state annually. The magnitude of the fruit, melon and vegetable industries is shown by the record of 5,900 cars of cantaloupes, 500 cars of oranges and grapefruit, and 9,200 cars of lettuce shipped out of the state in the 1928 and 1929 season.

A few years ago an organization, styled the Arizona Industrial Congress, was perfected. It was formed with the idea in view of bringing the heads of the various industries together for the promotion of cooperation between them. Until the organization of this body each industry in the state felt that it was being discriminated against in favor of the others. At the present time all of the varied industries in the state are cooperating to a remarkable extent. The Congress takes it upon itself to aid its members in all matters such as marketing problems, eradicating crop pests, etc. In other words "cooperation" is the slogan adopted by the industries of the state.

An instance of this cooperation is shown by the contract for power which was made between the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company and the Salt River Valley Water Users' Association. The Water Users' Asociation had available another dam site at Horse Mesa on the Salt River below the Roosevelt Dam. The construction of this dam would allow them to incresae greatly their power output. In the contract the mining company agreed to make the Water Users' a yearly payment which would, at the termination of the contract, be sufficient to pay the total cost of the dam, plus interest on the money invested. In return the mining company was to receive all of its needs in power from this installation, and any excess power generated could be used by the association. In this way, the Water Users, at the termination of the contract, will have a dam and power plant which will cost them nothing, together with the revenue derived from the sale of excess power, and the copper company will have satisfied its increased power needs caused by the construction of an electrolytic precipitation plant.

In order to augment water supply, considerable pumping is done in the Salt River Valley for irrigation purposes While the Water Users' generate at all times a good deal of power at their dams, there are times when more power is needed. They are now financing an increase in power plant equipment at the Inspiration Company's power plant which will enable them to draw on the copper company's steam plant for any excess power needed in dry season.

This is a typical example of present cooperation between the industries of Arizona. In the old days, due to misunderstandings between farmers and miners, such an arrangement would not have been possible.

For years, before the organization of the Arizona Industrial Congress, practically all supplies purchased by Arizona mining companies were obtained in the east, only a comparatively small amount being purchased from local dealers. Many of the companies had their purchasing departments located in the large eastern cities. In later years this condition has changed and while some of the companies still have the heads of their purchasing departments in the east, they are instructed to purchase all material possible in Arizona. The amount of money now spent in this state and in the west for supplies by mining companies located here, has reached a stupendous figure. As Arizona forges ahead this figure will continue to increase. When more manufacturers enter the Arizona field, it will make it possible for local mining companies to purchase more of their needs here. In the year 1928 the mining companies alone spent, for supplies, in Arizona, the large sum of $18,000,000.

Conditions in the mining districts are very good at the present time. The mines in the Globe-Miami district are now producing copper at the rate of 200,000,000 pounds a year. The payroll in that district amounts to $750,000.00 each month, practically all of which is spent in Arizona. Approximately forty per cent of the costs of producing copper is paid in the form of wages to the men, and Arizona produces in excess of 800,000,000 pounds of copper a year, or between 20 and 25 per cent of the world's production. The Globe-Miami district is only one of the large copper producing districts of the state which assists materially in its prosperity, and with the cooperation now existing between the industries and the enormous natural resources available, it is inconceivable that Arizona will not show great progress in the next few years.