674 TRANS-PECOS TEXAS. 



western country as 'lost mountains;' that is to say, mountains that have no 

 apparent connection with each other. They preserve, however, their general 

 direction northwest and southeast, showing that the upheaving power that 

 produced them was the same, but in diminished and irregular force. They 

 rise abruptly from the plains and disappear as suddenly." A better descrip- 

 tion in short words can not be given of the character also of the Trans-Pecos 

 Texas. They rise abruptly from the flats (which are three to four thousand 

 feet above the sea level) and disappear as suddenly, losing seemingly their 

 continuity and being (seemingly) without connection with other mountain 

 ranges. 



The same report mentions also the discovery of silver ores in West Texas, 

 and refers to the (then known) sporadic occurrence of gold-bearing rock in 

 the Rocky Mountains, the material of which if not identical with is very sim- 

 ilar to that of Trans-Pecos Texas. 



The observations made about soil, climate, conditions, and eventual devel- 

 opment of the western country in general can partly also be applied to West- 

 ern Texas, with the modification that if irrigated the soil is well adapted not 

 only for the culture of grapes but to fruit raising in general, and to raising of 

 wheat, corn, vegetables, and feed plants, such as alfalfa, etc. I do not know 

 if cotton can be raised on irrigated land, but if so the climate would be better 

 adapted for this kind of crop than the moisture loaded atmosphere nearer the 

 seashore. 



The description of the geological features of the Rio Grande valley from 

 El Paso to the mouth of the Pecos River, by Mr. C. C. Parry, is surprisingly 

 clear, but confined merely to the Rio Grande valley proper. The observa- 

 tions made along the line of his trip from San Antonio to El Paso are less 

 definite, as he named Davis Mountains, also some other ranges; for instance, 

 the Sierra Diabolo, which, though built up of sedimentary, metamorphic, and 

 igneous rock, is a separate range, different from the Davis (Limpia, Apache) 

 Mountains, and I think it would be hard work to establish the continuity 

 from one to the other. Others, as the Carrizo, Eagle, Quitman, and Sierra 

 Blanca, are mentioned as bearing the same character as the Limpia Moun- 

 tains. Correct, no doubt, as far as sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous 

 material can be found in every one of these ranges, though evidently differ- 

 ent in form, combination, and probably age. 



The elevations laid down in publications of Dr. G. G. Shumard (so far as 

 I have them at hand) are confined to the Pecos valley and the more northern 

 portion of the State, mentioning the Guadaloupe, Cornudos, Sierra Alta, 

 Hueco, and El Paso (Franklin) mountains, of which no closer investigations 

 have been made up to this time. But there is no doubt that the Silurian of 

 Dr. Wislicenus and Dr. Shumard in the Franklin range will stand proven. I 



