6 GAME.—FORMATION OF ROCKS. 
'l'hree Indians hailed us just before making camp, and after much parley were brought in. 
They feasted heartily, and promised to bring in mules. At first they denied having any; but 
after their appetites were satisfied their hearts opened, and they sent the youngest of their 
party to their town, which was at the head of the dry creek of our camp of the night before last. 
The fellow went on his way, as directed, till he met the howitzers, which so filled him with sur- 
prise and consternation that he forgot his mission and followed the guns to camp in mute won- 
der. These people are of the Piñon Lano (piñon wood) tribe, and we had been told by the 
Pinoleros (pinole eaters) that the chief of this band had mules. 
Flights of geese and myriads of the blue quail were seen, and a flock of turkeys, from which 
we got one. 
The river-bed at the junction of the San Pedro was seamed with tracks of deer and turkeys; 
some signs of beaver, and one trail of wild hogs. 
Our camp was on a flat, sandy plain, of small extent, at the mouth of a dry creek with deep 
washed banks, giving the appearance of containing, at times, a rapid and powerful stream, 
although no water was visible in the bed. At the junction, a clear, pure stream flowed from 
under the sand. From the many indications of gold and copper ore at this place, I have named 
it Mineral creek ; and, I doubt not, a few years will see flat-boats descending the river from this 
point to its mouth, freighted with its precious ores. 
There was a great deal of pottery about our camp, and just above us were the supposed 
remains of a large Indian settlement, differing very slightly from those already described. 
November 8.—The whole day's journey was through a cañon, and the river was crossed 
twelve or fifteen times. The sand was deep, and occasionally the trail much obstructed by 
pebbles of paving-stone. "The willow grew so densely in many places as to stop our progress, 
and oblige us to look for spots less thickly overgrown, through which we could break. 
The precipices on each side were steep; the rock was mostly granite and a compact sandy 
limestone, with occasional seams of basalt and trap; and towards the end of the day, calcareous 
sandstone, and a conglomerate of sandstone, feldspar, fragments of basalt, pebbles, &c. The 
stratification was very confused and irregular, sometimes perfectly vertical, but mostly dipping 
to the southwest, at an angle of 30°. Vast boulders of pure quartz at times obstructed our way, 
and the river in places was paved with those of less magnitude. 
About two miles from camp our course was traversed by a seam of yellowish-colored igneous 
rock, shooting up into irregular spires and turrets, one or two thousand feet in height. It ran 
at right angles to the river, and extended to the north and to the south, in a chain of mountains 
as far as the eye could reach. One of these towers was capped with a substance, many hundred 
feet thick, disposed in horizontal strata of different colors, from deep red to light yellow. Par- 
tially disintegrated, and lying at the foot of the chain of spires, was a yellowish calcareous 
sandstone, altered by fire, in large amorphous masses. 
For a better description of this landscape, see the sketch by Mr. Stanly. 
To the west, about a mile below us, and running parallel to the first, is another similar seam, 
cut through by the Gila, at a great butte, shaped like a house. "The top of this butte appears 
to have once formed the table-land, and is still covered with vegetation. "Through both these 
barriers the river has been conducted by some other means than attrition. Where it passes the 
first, it presents the appearance of a vast wall torn down by blows of a trip-hammer. Under 
to-day's date, in Appendix No. 2, will be found many interesting plants, but the principal 
growth was, as usual, pitahaya, acacia, prosopis, Fremontia and obione canescens. 
The latitude of this camp, which is within a mile of the spot where we take a final leave of 
the mountains, is, by the mean of the observations on north and south stars, Polaris and beta 
 Aquarii, 33? 05' 40"; and the height of the river at this point above the sea, as indicated by the 
barometer, 1,751 feet. 
.. At night, for the first time since leaving Pawnee fork, I was interrupted for a moment in my 
observations by moisture collecting on the glass of my horizon shade, showing a degree of 
