The Southern Pacific Railroad Company has extensive repair shops and roundhouses in Tucson, second only in importance to the shops at Sacramento, Cal., and necessitating the employment of a large force of men. Between $65,000 and $90,000 in wages are paid every month, nearly every dollar of which remains in the town. Tucson is preeminently a commercial center, the surrounding country, owing to its topography and lack of irrigating canals, being far from agricultural in its nature. The cattle industry, large and rapidly growing, is most important and a prominent factor, since the results of the semiannual trades are directly to her financial betterment. She is as well the base of supplies for the numerous mining camps scattered through southern Arizona.

One of her conspicuous manufacturing enterprises is the immense 4-story flouring mill, which from a modest beginning has sprung into one of the largest concerns of the kind in the West. A curious feature, and one scarcely credible were it not strictly true, vests in the proposition that these mills flourish in a locality where very little if any wheat is grown. In the beginning the company procured its raw wheat from California, and, despite the cost of transportation, was able to manufacture it into the finest flour and reship at a profit to outside points. At present, however, the principal supply comes from the Salt River Valley and Pinal County. A drawback heretofore has been the insufficient water supply. This defect is now being remedied by the erection of modern waterworks, affording an adequate supply for all purposes, including sewerage facilities.

An illustration of the financial condition of the town is the work recently accomplished by the various fraternal societies. The A. O. U. W. lodge owns a magnificent brick block on a principal business street, which yields a monthly rental of $400 and upwards. The order of Elks have constructed a fine 3-story brick building, to be devoted entirely to the uses of the society, which has cost, with the ground and furniture, in the neighborhood of $20,000. The Masons have a very elegant structure which would reflect credit upon cities many times the size of Tucson, and these show plainly the earnest backing of a prosperous community, else such results could never be accomplished.

Tucson is situated in southern Arizona on the line of the Southern Pacific Railroad, about 500 miles east of Los Angeles, about 300 miles west of El Paso, and about 670 miles south of Denver, almost in the center of the climatic belt recommended by the United States Medical Commission as the most favorable region in the United States for those afflicted with pulmonary ailments, asthma, and various chronic diseases.

Altitude above sea level 2.420 feet. The climate is dry and pleasant during the entire year. During the months of June, July, and August the average temperature is about 90°, but there is so little humidity in the atmosphere that little inconvenience is experienced. This mild, semitropical atmosphere is probably owing to the physical conditions which are prominent. The Santa Catalina, the Rincon, Tucson, and Santa Rita mountains form a circle of high mountains curving three-quarters around the valley, to the west of which stands another range, all of which prove a complete barrier to storms. While three of the summer months are warm during the day, the nights are always cool. This is on account of the rarified condition of the atmosphere, which becomes instantly cool on the setting of the sun, there being no humidity to retain the heat.

The fall, winter, and spring months can be compared with the Italian climate. There is little or no frost. Flowers bloom during the entire winter months, and much of the shrubbery retains its foliage. As compared with the southern California climate, Tucson and its surroundings are far superior in every respect, and such is the verdict of invalids who have tried both localities.

Dr. N. H. Matas, a physician of high merit and eighteen years' practice in this city, among other things, says:

Since consumptives must depend on the resisting forces of nature for the cure, of their disease, it is evident that an early selection of a good winter climate is the most important factor for their cure and future welfare. They need a warm, dry climate in winter, free from fogs, heavy frosts, storms, chilling winds, and sudden atmospheric changes, and a climate where there is constant sunshine and plenty of pure air and where they can have outdoor exercise daily. Treatment as well as climate must be undertaken early to do good when there is yet a good foundation upon which to build the system. We must remember that nature alone enres, and where there is no nature there is no hope. Physicians and climate can only help nature, and they can do no good when nature is destroyed."

The official weather reports and observers of the United States, as well as the scientific climatologists, admit that Tucson is the center of the most favorable zone in the Southwest for the improvement and maintenance of life for consumptives in the United States if not in the world.