Today the Mormon population of Arizona does not exceed 25,000, within a
total population of over 300,000. The relative percentage of strength,
however, is larger than the figures indicate, this due, somewhat, to the
fact that the trend of Mormon progress still is by way of cultivation of
the soil. Of a verity, a family head upon a farm, productive and
independent, is of larger value to the community and of more importance
therein than is the average city dweller.
The immigrant from Utah who came between 1876 and 1886 no longer has the
old ox-bowed wagon. His travel nowadays is by automobile. His log or
adobe hut has been replaced by a handsome modern home. His children have
had education and have been reared in comfort that never knew lack of
food. Most of the Mormon settlements no longer are exclusively Mormon.
There has come a time when immigration, by rail, has surrounded and
enveloped the foundations established by the pioneers.
To the newer generation this work is addressed especially, though its
dedication, of right, is to the men and women who broke the trails and
whose vision of the future has been proven true. Many of the pioneers
remain and share with their children in the benefits of the civilization
that here they helped to plant. The desert wilderness has been broken and
in its stead oases are expanding, oases filled with a population proud of
its Americanism, prosperous through varied industry and blessed with
consideration for the rights of the neighbor.