CHAPTER VI. 



SKETCH OF TEREITORY ACQUIRED BY TREATY OF DECEMBER 30 



AREA.— HOW WATERED.— FACE OF THE COraTEY.— PLATAS.— TAILEYS ASD THEIK CAFACIXr FOE AGRICrLTTEE. —ABANDONED SETTtE- 



MESTS. MINERAL WEALTH. PIMOS INDIANS.^ — DESCRIPTION OF SKETCIIia. — VIEWS. 



The territory acquired under the treaty of December 30, 1853, lies hetweea the parallels of 

 31° 20' and 33° 30', and between the meridians of 106° 30' and 104° of longitude measured from 

 Greenwich, and contains 26,185 square miles. 



Its eastern part is hounded hj the Eio Bravo ; its northern by the Eio Gila. The interior 

 of the area is traversed by two rivers, which run northwest and empty into the Gila. These are 

 the San Pedro and the Santa Cruz. 



A smaller rivulet, lying to the east of both of these, called the San Domingo, takes its rise 

 near the middle of the territory and runs in a northwest direction, emptying into the Gila. This 

 last named river, like the Santa Cruz, is of uncertain flow, and in dry seasons only stands in pools, 

 or is found running under ground, making it necessary for the traveller or grazier to dig for water. 

 There are numerous springs scattered ahout in the mountains which dot this area, but as they 

 do not usually occur in the levels or mesas, it is somewhat difficult to reach them* 

 . The mountains which traverse this territory run mostly in the same general direction as the 

 river — that is so say, northwest and southeast. The most remarkable feature in the mountain 

 system of this region, is that the elevations are mostly isolated, and have received the local 

 designation of '' Lone Mountains,'' so that a traveller passing from the Rio Bravo to the Pimo 

 villages may, by deflecting slightly from a straight line, pass most of the way over a mesa, the 



different planes of which vary but slightly in elevation, and are usually from 3,000 to 4,000 

 feet above the sea. 



It is that peculiarity which gives this territory a leading interest as affording a practicable 

 passage for a nation^fl railway to the Pacific, and the facility of making a military road over 



easy gradients to unite the posts in the valley of the Eio Bravo with those on the Gila and in 

 California. 



These, levels, although usually covered with a luxuriant growth of nutritious grasses, are 

 mostly destitute of water ; hence, the traveller is now obliged to seek his road over a more rugged 



md. These levels, however, are the recipients 



mountains 



of the drainage of the surrounding mountains, and 

 great depth below the surface. 



South of the Picacho de los Mimbres the Rio Mimbres, whicl 

 mountains, disappears entirely in its course to the south, in a 1 

 to the eye of the distant observer the appearance of a meadow. 



o 



West 



covered 



