34 CONCLUSION OF THE OFFICIAL REVIEW, ETC. 



traversed by Captain Pope's party. The route near the 32cl parallel, between the Pecos and 

 the Kio Grande, was re-surveyed, and the proposed railroad line modified and improved. The 

 Guadalupe mountains were examined for 75 miles, from the southern high peak to the Lympia 

 mountains, but no pass found so favorable as that now traversed by the road, (the Guadalupe 

 pass.) A new examination of this pass has led Captain Pope to the conclusion that the 

 maximum grade, in following it, may be reduced from 108 feet to less than 80 feet per mile. 

 Water is to be found at intervals of less than two miles from this pass, nearly to Ojo del Cuerbo. 

 Forests of pine line the summits of the range for 30 miles north of the pass, and are also found 

 upon the adjacent mountain chains. 



Between Ojo del Cuerbo and El Paso two new lines have been surveyed ; the first passing the 

 Waco mountains, with a maximum grade of 60 feet, and with a summit level 200 feet lower 

 than that of the route pursued in 1854; the second line lengthening the route 10 miles, but 

 reducing the maximum grade to 40 feet, and avoiding the Waco mountains. 



It is reported by Captain Pope that an examination of the Llano Estacado has developed an 

 unfailing source of fuel in the mezquite root whicli exists there in great abundance. The wood 

 thus furnished is of a hard and compact structure, and varies in size from three to six inches in 

 diameter, affording a superior charcoal. Specimens of the wood and charcoal have been brought 

 in for examination. 



A topographical as well as geological survey was made of the Jornada del Muerto and the 

 country between the Kio Grande and the Mimbres, and the mines of the Organ mountains 

 examined. 



Astronomical positions were determined at different points along the routes traversed, and 

 from data collected by many months' observations, a point was fixed in longitude near the 

 intersection of the thirty-second parallel with the Pecos river, and a stone monument erected to 

 mark its position. 



Elaborate magnetic and meteorological observations were made during the time that the party 

 was in the field. These observations embraced a period including the different seasons of the 

 year, and extended over lines connecting the low lands near the Gulf of Mexico with the high 

 table lands of the interior. 



The party of Captain Pope has recently returned to Washington, and is now employed in 

 preparing detailed reports of the operations that have been conducted under his direction. 



The geological and other sub-reports which accompany the reports of the various surveys will 

 form the subject of future notice. They contain material valuable in its bearing upon the con- 

 struction and working of a railroad, and in a scientific point of view. They are merely referred 

 to here; the object now being to present only those general topographical features which will 

 be looked for with most interest, as chiefly solving the question of the comparative practicability 

 of the different routes. 



Certain maps, drawings, and scientific papers that were still in progress at the date of my 

 communication of November 29, 1855, and which are intended to form part of the reports 

 submitted by the first exploring parties, have been, with one exception, completed. 

 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



A. A. HUMPHREYS, 

 Captain Topographical Engineers, 

 In charge of Office of P. R. R. Exp. and Surveys. 

 Hon. Jefferson Davis, 



Secretary of War. 



