SKETCH OP TERRITORY ACQUIRED BY TREATY. 95 



Spaniards^ and more recently by the Mexicans. At this moment several companies from California 

 are prospecting with success, and one company is working a mine in the Sierra del Ajo, west of 

 Tucson. There are the remains of mines in the Mimbres mountains, rich in copper and gold; 

 in the San Pedro mountains^ between the San Pedro and Santa Cruz rivers, and on the Santa 

 Cruz river a few miles north of the boundary, there are the remains of a mill for crushing gold 

 q[uartz. These came under my own observation ; and we had many reports of mines to the 

 north, and invitations to visit them, which it was inconvenient to accept. We had what I consider 

 authentic accounts of silver being found in plcicers in the Ajo mountains a little north of the 

 line ; although I have never before heard or read of silver being found in placers. I was in- 

 formed upon authority which I could not permit myself to doubt, that a solid lump of virgin 

 silver had been picked up in that region weighing eighteen ounces. Gold had been found in 

 placers in the new territory in small c[uantities, in the Mimbres mountains, in the Chirrlcahui, 

 and in the hills bordering the Santa Cruz river, between the boundary and the Calabasas ranch ; 



and quite a rich placer is found in the mountains to the south of the line near Cocospera. Argen- 

 tiferous galena, iron ore and meteoric iron are found in several localities. The analysis of Dr. 

 Easter which is appended to this report will give the values of such of the metals as are collected* 



I hope nothing I may say will induce persons to run off in unprofitable searches in these 

 distant and unprotected regions. To guard against this it may be well to state, the country is 

 now full oi jprospectershovQ. California, who will undoubtedly discover anything worth knowing. 



There are causes which must operate against the speedy development of the mineral wealth of 

 this country, no matter how rich it may prove. One is the hostility of the Indians, which 

 makes it unsafe for parties of less than fifteen or twenty to traverse the country ; another is its 

 remoteness from navigation and the scarcity of water. 



There are wathin this territory four settlements ; one the Mesilla Valley settlement, containing 

 about fifteen hundred inhabitants of the mixed Spanish and Indian races, all engaged in the 



pursuit of agriculture. 



At Tucson there is a settlement consisting of about seventy families, engaged in the same 

 way. South of Tucson there is a small settlement at San Xavier of semi-civilized Indians, called 

 Papagos ; and further on, at Tomacacori, a small settlement of Germans. 



San Xavier was once a Jesuit mission^ and there remains in a very good state of preservation 



a large and handsome church. 



The most considerable and interesting settlement in the new territory is composed of a con- 

 federacy of semi-civilized Indians, the Pimos and Coco Maricopas. Their population is variously 

 estimated at from five to ten thousand. The military commandant at Santa Cruz estimated the 

 number of warriors which they could muster at two thousand. They are located on the Gila 

 river, and form the most efficient barrier for the people of Sonora against the incursions^ of the 

 savages who inhabit the mountains to the north of the G-ila, and who sometimes extend their 

 incursions as for south as Hermosilla, in the State of Sonora. 



I became acquainted with these people in 1846, and in another work eulogized their advanced 

 state of civilization, their proficiency in agriculture and the art of war, and their moralitj. 

 While at Los Nogales, our last astronomical station near the lllth meridian of longitude, a 

 delegation^ consisting of the chiefs and head-men, visited my camp, nearly two hundred miles 

 distant from their homes, to consult as to the effect upon them and their interests of the treaty 

 with Mexico, by which they were transferred to the jurisdiction of the United States. I give 

 below a copy of the statement made at the meeting, where it will be seen I said all in my power 



