Gale's interest led him to ask about fig trees and
pomegranates, and especially about a beautiful specimen that
Belding called palo verde.
Belding explained that the luxuriance of this desert place was
owing to a few springs and the dammed-up waters of the Rio Forlorn.
Before he had come to the oasis it had been inhabited by a Papago
Indian tribe and a few peon families. The oasis lay in an arroyo
a mile wide, and sloped southwest for some ten miles or more.
The river went dry most of the year; but enough water was stored
in flood season to irrigate the gardens and alfalfa fields.
"I've got one never-failing spring on my place," said Belding. "Fine,
sweet water! You know what that means in the desert. I like this
oasis. The longer I live here the better I like it. There's not a spot
in southern Arizona that'll compare with this valley for water or
grass or wood. It's beautiful and healthy. Forlorn and lonely,
yes, especially for women like my wife and Nell; but I like it....And
between you and me, boys, I've got something up my sleeve. There's
gold dust in the arroyos, and there's mineral up in the mountains.
If we only had water! This hamlet has steadily grown since I took
up a station here. Why, Casita is no place beside Forlorn River.
Pretty soon the Southern Pacific will shoot a railroad branch out
here. There are possibilities, and I want you boys to stay with
me and get in on the ground floor. I wish this rebel war was
over.
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