CHAPTER XII. 



STATE OF CHIHUAHUA POSITION BOUNDABIES EXTENT 



CHARACTERISTIC S RIVERS LAKES INDIANS DIVISIONS 



CLIMATE PRODUCTIONS CATTLE ESTATES MINT MINES 



PRINCIPAL TOWNS CHIHUAHUA EL PASO DEL NORTE 



MILITARY IMPORTANCE EL PASO WINE, ETC. ANTIQUITIE.S 



INDIAN RAVAGES THE BOLSON DE MAPIMI MEXICAN MODES 



OF TRAVELLING AND TRANSPORTATION LITERA MULES ■ 



ARRIEROS CONDUCTA COACHES FREIGHT WAGONS MEXI- 

 CAN HABIT OF HOME-STAYING WANT OF EXPLORATION 



MODERN ADVANCEMENT. 



THE STATE OF CHIHUAHUA. 



The State of Chihuahua, containing an area of 17,151^ square 

 leagues, or 119,169 English square miles, and reaching from 26° 53' 

 36" to 32° 57' 43" north latitude, is bounded on the north by New 

 Mexico, east by Coahuila and Texas, south by Durango, south-west 

 by Sinaloa, and north-west by Sonora. The great mountain chain 

 of Mexico, which is the connecting link between the Rocky Moun- 

 tains of the north and the Andes of the south, is here known as the 

 Sierra Madre, and occupies chiefly the western part of the State, 

 where its elevations attain a vast height, and at length, descend ab- 

 ruptly, cut by deep barrancas or ravines, until they are lost in the 

 plains of Sonora and Sinaloa. Mexican authorities state the highest 

 point of the Sierra Madre, at the Peaks of Jesus Maria, to be 8,441 

 feet above the level of the sea. The greater portion of Chihuahua 

 consequently lies, like Durango, upon the plateau of Mexico, and 

 only a small part upon the western slope of the Sierra Madre. The 

 loftier elevations of the Cordillera, as it passes upward from Duran- 

 go, lean towards the west until they pass the centre of Chihuahua, 

 and then bending once more, nearly north, pursue their way 

 through New Mexico into the remote wilderness of our Union. 

 Towards the east these steeps become gradually depressed until 

 they are lost in the vast and uncultivated regions of the Bolson de 

 Mapimi, whose elevation above the sea is still 3,800 feet, accord- 

 ing to the measurement of Dr. Wislizenius. 



