NAVIGATION OF THE COLORADO. 83 
Freight is carried at the following rates in coin :— 
Per measured Ton» 
San Francisco to Fort Yuma ‘47-30 
i: ee ‘ : . 57°50 
x »» Fort Mojave . : pe fi he, 
¥ Lumber, from San Francisco to Fort Yuma, 60 dollars per 
(1,000 feet. Ore, ag return freight, is carried from the 
g Eureka Mines to San Francisco at 15 dollars per ton. 
The valley of the Colorado is capable of sustaining a vast 
i population. The large areas of arable land along the river. 
are separated by cafions, and are known generally as Colorado 
‘Valley, Chemehueyis Valley, and Mojave Valley. Between 
these great valleys are many smaller ones, besides the vast 
tracts of land situated on either side of the river, below the 
_ mouth of the Gila. The bottoms are about four miles wide, 
‘Subject nearly everywhere to overflow, and capable of raising 
the cereals, vegetables, cotton, and, I believe, below the Gila, 
Sugar-cane. Vast quantities of cotton-wood, willow, and 
Thezquit are found along the river banks and in the valleys. 
: Bciton-wood and willow are used by the steamers for fuel, 
Mezquit being rejected because of the rapidity with acs it 
burns out the grates in the fire-boxes. 
_ The following figures were taken from the meteorological 
record at Fort Yuma :— 
f rain for 1857 . So 
tiie oo es 1858 . é . 857 
‘ es 1866 . . , 4:20 
1867 °: A , 2°94 
i At Arizona City is an excellent bridging point, the river 
wbeing confined between rocky bluffs. Between these bluffs 
fthe river is but 472 feet wide, and from 12 to 37 feet 
eep, with a very rapid current. 
a2 
