THE RANGES PASSED. 53 
ranges, limited on the north by the Miembres Mountains, 
_ forms part of the basin of the Laguna de Guzman, in Chi- 
_huahua, towards which, as I have before remarked, the 
_ Rio Miembres flows. The vast plain, the continuation north- 
wards of the Madre Plateau, lying between the Burro Moun- 
tains and the Peloncello Range, is not inaptly called the 
_ Valle de los Playas, for playas are common all over it, while 
_ -water-courses are few. The Rio Gila, and the mountains on 
the opposite side of that river, limit it on the north. 
_ The minor upheaval, the Pyramid Range, may be called 
the third range encountered. Mr. Eicholtz’s party passed 
around its northern extremity; Mr. Runk found Lighten- 
dorfer’s well road an easy and practicable route through it. 
) _ Next comes the Peloncello, or fourth range. This is a fine 
range, but abounding in passes. The most northerly is 
5 Doubtful Pass; eight miles south is Stean’s Pass; twelve 
miles lower, Runk’s Pass; then comes the pass through which 
ichtendorfer’s road leads to the Cienega de Sauz; and 
lastly, thirty miles still further south, Cooke’s emigrant road 
passes through the range. Stean’s Pass Mr. Eicholtz found 
impracticable, but that discovered and adopted by Mr. Runk 
answered every requirement for a railroad. 
Having crossed the Valle de Sauz, however, we encounter 
the first range (Range No. 5) of that extensive cordillera 
general trend of the ranges forming it is, like most of those 
in this part of the continent, north-west by south-east. 
Exactly in front of our course westward, the cordillera con- 
sists of three parallel ranges; the Pina-leiio and the Chiri- 
cahui forming the first continuous range, the Sierra Calitro 
