SAN PEDKO ROUTE — ARAVAYPA ROUTE. Zb 



At the Tres Alamos the stream is about fifteen inches deep and twelve feet wide, and flows 

 with a rapid curreut over a light, sandy bed, about fifteen feet below its banks, which are 

 nearly vertical. The water here is turbid, and not a stick of timber is seen to mark the 

 meanderings of its bed. In the gorge below, and in some of the meadows, the stream 

 approaches more nearly the surface, and often spreads itself on a wide area, producing a dense 

 growth of cotton-wood, willows and underbrush, which forced us to ascend and cross the out- 

 jutting terraces. The flow of water, however, is not continuous. One or two localities were 

 observed where it had entirely disappeared*, but to rise again a few miles distant, clear and 

 limpid. 



We thus have along the valley of the San Pedro, with the exception of points which will 

 require a little work, ground highly advantageous in every point of view for an emigrant 

 road, and most favorable for the location of a railroad, which can be connected with the Valle 

 del Sauz by practicable grades, leading through Nugent's pass, in the Calitro mountains; to 

 the Playa, and then by easy ascents and descents through the Piailroad Pass, to the terminus 

 of the first section. But the San Pedro, about twelve miles above its mouth, receives a 

 tributary from the Playa de los Pimas basin, and this tributary, the Aravaypa, presents another 

 route, connecting the Valle del Sauz and mouth of San Pedro. 



This latter, or Aravaypa route, diverges from the first line near the summit of the Railroad 

 Pass, and skirting the bases of the slopes from Mount Graham, enters this new valley and 

 follows it to its junction with the San Pedro. 



By the first line, the entire length of this division is 138 miles, and by the second, 108.25 

 miles. Starting from the terminus of the first section, in the Valle del Sauz, we have twenty- 

 eight miles to the summit of the Railroad Pass, and an altitude of 892.5 feet to overcome, 

 giving as an average grade of 16.7 feet for eighteen and three-fourths miles, and of 63.6 feet per 

 mile for nine and one-quarter miles. Near the foot of the slope the grade is quite light, and it will 

 be increased on Hearing the summits, but will, however, not exceed sixty-four feet per mile. 

 Throughout the greater portion of this distance the surface slope can be adopted for the roadway, 

 but on entering the mouth of the Pass there will be some cutting and filling necessary in ascending 

 and crossing the drains. The summit is open, broad, and smooth, the ground sloping gently in 

 both directions. Looking eastward, a grassy valley trends ofl:' to the Sauz, receiving in its course 

 many tributaries from the spurs of the Chiricahui and Mount Graham, with smooth side slopes 

 and rolling, prairie-like divides. By degrees the valley assumes all the characteristic features 

 of a main drain, with a meandering sand bed, and bounded by mesas or terraces, ranging from 

 ten to thirty feet in altitude. 



Towards the Playa de los Pimas the same feature is observable, but on a much smaller scale ; 

 the drain becoming in its descent more extended, and is finally lost in the plain surrounding 

 the Playa 



Leaving the summit, and taking the first of the above routes direct, to the San Pedro, we have 

 at first, five miles with a grade of 48.8 feet, which is gradually reduced as we descend to the 

 Playa, where an almost level (eight feet per mile) stretch of ten miles obtains to the base of the 

 slope, extending up to the summit of Nugent's pass, in the Calitro mountains. This pass, like 

 the preceding one, is broad and open, with smooth, rounded hills at its summit, from which a 

 continuous plain slopes down to the Playa. Its western approach from the San Pedro, is by a 

 small drain, which becomes a decided arroyo, varying from fifty to three hundred yards in 

 width, and bounded by terraces from twenty to eighty feet in altitude, with side slopes of 

 thirty or forty degrees. 

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