REMAEKS UPON CONSTRUCTION OF A RAILROAD. 



Section 1. ECONOMICAL VIEWS AND PROTECTION OF THE ROUTE, ETC. 



The Rio Grande and Pimas villages division being completely isolated and cut off from navi- 

 gable waters, its construction will depend upon the completion of the sections adjoining — that 

 on the east being about three hundred miles to a point on Red river attainable by steamboats ; 

 and that on the west being eighty miles to Fort Yuma, at the mouth of the Gila river. It is 

 now clearly and practicably demonstrated that the Colorado river is navigable up to this point. 

 Fort Yuma having been supplied for the last three years by steamboats, connecting with sailing 

 vessels, which ply between the head of the gulf and ports on the Pacific. Since it is proposed 

 that the thirty-second parallel route should cross the Colorado at the mouth of the Gila, the 

 construction of this portion of the road will, therefore, proceed with advantage by commencing 

 at the point and working in both directions. Thus the road can be made to transport its own 

 material and supplies, the ties and sills being delivered as rapidly as the graduation progresses. 

 Laborers can be readily obtained from Sonora, Chihuahua, and the valley of the Rio Grande, 

 and at rates ranging from eight to twenty dollars per month. The working parties can be 

 readily provisioned throughout this section. The valley of the Rio Grande and Janos, Fron- 

 teras, Tubac, and Tucson, points distant from the line about an average of sixty miles, and 

 also the Pimas, will contribute beef, flour, and beans. This supply will be greatly swelled by 

 ranches, which will be reoccupied immediately on the prosecution of this work. This, of course, 

 presupposes that military protection will be extended to the country through which the line 

 passes. On the headwaters of the Yaqui and Sonora, rivers of the gulf, and of the San Pedro and 

 Santa Cruz, tributaries of the Gila, there are ruins of extensive ranches and haciendas, sad 

 monuments of the depredations of the ruthless Apaches. These Indians occupy the mountains 

 adjacent to the Gila, covering a breadth of country of about two hundred miles west of the Rio 

 Grande, and bear difl'erent names, according to their locality, as the Copper Mine Apaches, 

 Pinaleiios, Coyoteros, and the Tontos, but all coming under the general head of Gila Apaches. 

 They have waged incessant war upon the provinces of Mexico adjoining our boundary, and by 

 their forays and incursions have compelled the rancheros to abandon their establishments, and 

 congregate for mutual protection about the small frontier towns. Colonel Cooke found, in 

 1846, herds of wild cattle roaming over these abandoned ranches, afibrding his command for 

 two weeks the luxury of fresh beef. Since then the supply has been almost entirely exhausted 

 by the continual levying of the Indians, who now push their claims further into the interior of 

 Mexico. While crossing this country, both in 1854 and 1855, broad and fresh trails of cattle 

 and horses were frequently crossed passing from the south to the north, particularly in the San 

 Pedro, Playa de los Pimas, and Sauz valleys. These Indians also make occasional depreda- 

 tions in the Rio Grande valley. 



In order to punish these Indians, and stop effectually their further inroads, temporary mili- 

 tary posts or encampments must be established in their country. There are three points which 



