94 SKETCH OF TERRITORY ACQUIRED BY TREATY. 



The playas are large flats where water accumulates, and salts deleterious to vegetation are dis- 

 engaged from the soil. They are not, however, very extensive, nor do they occur very often. 



West of the 112th meridian, the soil becomes very sandy; the mountains of igneous rocks are 

 bare of vegetation, and as we approach the Gulf of California, except in the immediate beds of 



F 



the Gila and Colorado, the country becomes a hopeless desert — destitute alike of both water and 

 vegetation — and from the best information I can collect, this is the character of the eastern coast 

 of the Gulf of California as far down as the island of Tiburon, (almost to Mazatlan.) Of this 

 particular section the memoir of Lieutenant Michler, which follows this, will give a more 

 detailed description. 



It is very possible the whole of the new territory, except the region of desert country referred 

 to above, may he brought under the influence of artesian wells and made productive ; but until 

 that is the case, agriculture must he confined to the beds of the river, where the land is helov7 

 the water-level. There are many tracts of tliis kind of surpassing richnesSj but of limited 

 extent, on the Eio Bravo^ on the Rio Gila, on the San Pedro, and on the Santa Cruz. Those 

 which are most conspicuous, and which are at present in a very advanced state of cultivation, 

 are the Mesilla Valley on the Eio Bravo, the Valleys of Tucson and Tomacacori on the Santa 

 Cruz, and the settlement of the Pimos on the Gila river. 



Throughout the whole course of the San Pedro there are heautiful valleys susceptible of irriga- 

 tion, and capable of producing large crops of wheat, corn, cotton, and grapes ; and there 

 are on this river the remains of large settlements which have been destroyed by the hostile 

 Indians, the most conspicuous of which are the mining town of San Pedro and the town of San 

 Cruz Viejo. There are also to be found here, in the remains of spacious corrals, and in the 

 numerous wild cattle and horses which still are seen in this country, the evidences of its immense 

 'capacity as a grazing country. 



Removed from the river-beds, at the base of the mountains, where perpetual springs are found, 

 are also to be seen the remains of large grazing establishments ; the most famous of which 

 is the ranch of San Bernardino, which falls half in the United States and half in Mexico. I 

 have been informed that this establishment was owned in Mexico, and when in its most flourish- 

 ing condition boasted as many as one hundred thousand head of cattle and horses. They have 

 been killed or run nffbv tlip Tnf1i*Qr.a onri +i^« <,».r.„;^„„ t,„:ij: -i»_ j i n . ■■ -. . •, 



sufficie 



LzTnf-fariar-a^ nowjwashed nearly level with the earth. 



aix 



JJous advantages for the raising 

 mildnes?^i;h«-winter8. and its 



m 



MnOIEAL WEALTH. 



Retammg a vivid recollection of the constantly threatened desertion of our work in California, 

 and the inconveniences which sometimes actually occurred, growing out of the gold mania which 

 raged there m 1849, just as we 'were commencing to run the line, I kept the search for gold and 

 other precious metals as much out of view as possible, scarcely allowing it to be the subject of 

 conversation, much less of actual search ; for I well kn^w if this mania was once to seize my 

 party, it would be attended with the worst consequences ; consequently, our investigations into the 



precious metals. We everywhere saw the remains of mining 



teemin 



