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58 Ex. Doc. No. 41. 



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scent, was a mountain of peculiar symmetry, resembling the seg- 

 ment of a spheroid. I named it ^^the Dome'^ Our road led along- 

 its base to the north; another path leading to Janos, a frontier town 

 in Sonora, passes down the Mimbres " on the south side. The 

 Mimbres was traversed only a mile* for that' distance its valley 

 Avas truly beautiful, about one mile wide of rich fertile soil, densely 

 covered with cotton wood, walnut, ash, &-c. It it is a rapid, dash- 

 ing stream, about fifteen feet v/ide and three deep, affording suffi- 

 cient water to irrigate its beautiful vallev. It is tilled with trout. 

 At this place we found numberless Indian lo.dges, which had the 

 appearance of 'not having been occupied for some time. We turned' 

 w^estward and ascended all the way to our camp. 



The mountains appeared to be formed chiefly of a reddish amyg- 

 daloid and a brown altered sandstone, with chaledonic coating- In 



places, immense piles of conglomerate protruded; disposed in regu- 



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iar strata, dipping to the south at an angle of 45"*. There was also 

 one pile of volcanic glass brittle, in strata about a half an inch ^ 

 thick, dippin'g 45'' to the south. The character of the country and [ 

 its growth to-day are very similar to those of yesterday ;* several ne^v ^ 

 plants and shrubs, amongst which was the cercocarpus parvifoliiiSj ^ 

 a curious rosaceous shrub, "with a spiral, feathery tail, projecting ^ 

 from each calyx when the plant is in seed." The spiral tailed. or 

 barbed seed-vessels fall when ripe, and, impelled. by the wind, work 

 into the ground by a gyratory motion. The cedar seen to-day was 

 also very peculiar; in leaf resembling the common cedar of the 

 States, but the body like the pine, except that its bark .was much 

 rougher. (For the rest of to-day's growth, see catalogue of plants 



for this date.) * r 



At night, 12 circum-meridian altitudes of beta aquarii,and sevens 



altitudes of Polaris, give for the latitude of the camp 42^ 11'. ■ 



October 18. — A succession of hills and valleys covered with* 

 cedar, live oak and some long leafed pine. We passed at the foot 

 of a formidable bluff of trapp, running northwest and. southeastj 

 which I named Ben Moore, alter my personal friend, the gallant 

 Captain Moore, of the 1st dragoons. In many places the path was 

 strewed with husjc fragments of this hard rock, making it difficult 



for the mules to get along. Turning the north end of Ben Moore 

 bluff, we began to drop into the valley of what is supposed an arm 



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of the Mimbres, where there are some . deserted copper mines 



They are said to be very rich, both in copper and gold, and the spe- 

 cimens obtained sustain this assertion. We learned that those wh^ 

 worked them made their fortunes; but the Apaches did not li^^' 

 their proximity, and one day turned out and destroyed the mining! 

 town, driving off the inhabitants. There are the remains of s.oHi^ 

 twenty or thirt.y adobe houses, and ten or fifteen shafts sinking^^'i^^i 

 the earth.. The entire surface of the hill into which they. ^^^ 

 sunk is covered with iron pyrites and the red oxide of copper. 



Many veins of native copper were found, but the principal or^ 

 is the sulphuret. One or two specimens of ammoniate of silver we^^ 

 also obtained. 



Mr. McKnight, one of the earliest .adventurers in New Mexic^? 



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