le wiet, Segen. A. dam m 
E en a er 
Me CONE ee Gee Re ee 
MINERAL WEALTH OF NEW MEXICO. 49 
the sea. Afterwards they visited the gold mines, and thence proceeded as far as Santa Fé. 
The results of their examinations prove interesting. Indications of coal appeared in the cañon; 
jurassic fossils were found near the summit of the mountain, and they obtained many specimens 
of precious metals. Mines have been worked in other localities of this Territory ; the principal 
are the gold placers near Taos, the copper mines of Santa Rita, and the silver mines of the 
Organ mountains near Fort Fillmore. The latter will probably be found the most valuable.* 
* For a full and accurate description of this country, T would refer toa “Memoir of a Tour in Northern Mexico in 1846 and 41, 
by A. Wislizenus, M. D.,” published by order of the U. S. Senate, in 1848. This document presents so clear a view of the general 
character and resources of the Territory, that it seems unnecessary to add further details. A few extracts bearing more particu- 
larly upon the subject under consideration, are subjoined : 
“ New Mexico is a very mountainous country, with a large valley in the middle, running from north to south, and formed by 
the Rio del Norte. The valley is generally about 20 miles wide, and bordered on the east and west by mountain chains, continu- 
ations of the Rocky mountains, which have received here different names, as Sierra Blanca, de los Organos, oscura, on the eastern 
side, and Sierra de los Grullas, de Acha, de los Mimbres, towards the west. The height of these mountains south of Santa Fé 
pon an average, be between six and eight thousand feet, while near Santa Fé, and in the more northern regions, some 
the river is in its highest state, from the melting of the snow in the mountains. The riveris entirely too shallow, and interrupted 
ki 
by too many san promise anything for navigation. On the southern portion of the river the recent exploration by 
Captain Sterling, of the United States steamer Major Brown, has proved that steamboats may ascend from the gulf far as 
Laredo, a distance 00 miles. Although said steamboat did not draw over two feet of water, yet the explorers of that region 
express opinion, “by spendi $100,000 in a pre improvement of the river above Mier, boats drawing four 
feet could readily ply between the mouth of the Rio Grande and Laredo. Whenever a closer connexion between this head-point 
of navigation and New Mexico shall be considered, nothing would answer but a railroad, crossing from the valley of the Rio 
Grande to the high table-land in the State of Chihuahua. d 
“ The soil in the valley of the Rio del Norte, in New Mexico, is 
i ei PAE El E kx i dk ^ Lat 
died by Artesian n wells. On several occasions d gh table-land from Santa Fé south, thatin a certain depth 
ar found, that may form reservoirs of the sunken water-courses from the eastern and western mountain chain, 
The inhabitants 
to each one a part of the water at certain periods. These 
g the 
and intersecting the whole cultivated land. 
