150 VALLEYS OF CHIRICAHUI — VALLE DEL SAUZ. 



it by the caiion, the valleys in the interior are disclosed ; they are elevated considerably above 

 the level of the playa outside, (which, itself, has an elevation of 4,236 feet,) being above 5,000 

 feet, and are of small size ; being enclosed between the crests of lesser ranges which cross obliquely, 

 from east to west, small streams flow in due season down from the main mass of mountain, and 

 have worn deep beds in the granitic rock and carried the detritus into the valleys to form their 

 soil. The accumulated water of snow meltings and of rain upon an impervious bottom, leads 

 to the production of wells and springs, with which some of the valleys were supplied. There 

 was abundance of good grass and small timber ; oak, cedar, and walnut, arbutus, and wild 

 cherry were the common growth ; such are the results of an increased altitude, and a good sup- 

 ply of water on this latitude. 



The great mass of Chiricahui is uplifted on its western side ; it is there that Dos Cabezos 

 towers, and there tlie trail rises abruptly to the summit, which is not more than three miles 

 from its western entrance ; the remaining distance, seven miles, is a slow descent through a 

 narrow caiion, tortuous and difficult for wagons ; the caiion leads along a creek bed winding 

 through a series of foot hills, also granitic, but dislocated and injected by veins of crystalline 

 felspathic rock, angitic dykes, and masses of serpentine. There, also, the type of the rock is 

 felspathic, sometimes porphyritic, and sometimes lamellar. The proximity of augitic and 

 serpentine rocks would lead to the supposition that these caiions might be auriferous, as also the 

 black shale near the serpentine on the west side. Gold is stated to have been found in the 

 mountains by the Gila Apaches, and brought to the Rio Grande by them. Our time did not 

 allow an exploration. 



VALLE DEL SAUZ. 



Emerging from the caiion on the east side of the Chiricahui, the limestone rock is again met 

 with ; it is in close proximity to the felspar rock, dipping northeast at an angle of 40°. The 

 lower strata are metamorpliic and converted into a white granular marble ; the upper beds pre- 

 serve their bluish color on fresh surfaces, weathering to a brown tint on the surface ; one bed full 

 of encrinital stems, others suffered much from the fossils dropping out, leaving the matrix in a 

 crumbling condition. It is here 180 feet thick, and the dip at the edge of the valley is 11° 

 southeast. 



This is the only stratified rock observable to the edge of the valley. This plain stretches 

 from the base of tlie Mount Graham range, southward, rising slightly in the latter direction, 

 Chiricahui bounding it on the west, and the Peloncillo hills on the east ; the breadth is fourteen 

 miles, and in the valley bottom, which approaclies tlie latter hills, the Arroyo del Sauz flows at 

 times. At this visit nothing but pools of muddy and brownish water were visible, occupying 

 deep holes in a clay bottom. 



The valley has a slight slope to the north ; its bed is a red felspathic clay, with beds of drift 

 gravel of considerable depth. The clay beds serve to retain the rain waters and those of the 

 riveV channel, forming the water holes found in its bed. 



This plain presents the same features as the playa just described, as far as regards vegetation, 

 without being absolutely bare, as that was ; yet its growth is of that thorny, worthless, desert 

 character. Fouquieria, larrea, yucca, palmetto, and agave, are the only growths on the slope of 

 the plain, down to half a mile from the river, where the mesquite tree begins to appear, and the 

 willow is found collected round some of the water holes in the bed of the stream. The alluvium 

 in the immediate vicinity of the stream bed is a very fine clay, which puddles well and serves to 

 retain the water. The soil of the slope is a decomposed felspathic granite and a reddish 



