346 PROFILE MEXICO TO SANTA FE 



APPENDIX 



SANTA FE TO THE GULF. 



NO. 1 . 



PROFILE OF THE PLATEAU— MEXICO TO SANTA FE — SANTA FE TO THE GULF. 

 In order to afford the geographical student an idea of the central configuration 

 of Mexico, we annex the following tables of the lines of levelling made by Baron 

 Humboldt, Dr. Wislizenius, Oteiza, and Burkart, northwardly from the city of 

 Mexico to Santa Fe ; and eastwardly from Santa Fe to Reynosa near the Gulf of 

 Mexico. From the first of these we learn that the plateau which forms the broad 

 crest of the Mexican Cordillera by no means sinks down to an inconsiderable height 

 as was long supposed to be the case but that it maintains, throughout, its majestic 

 elevation. 



1st. Elevation above the sea from the 

 city of Mexico to Santa Fe. 



7,469 ft. above sea. 



2d. From Santa Fe in New Mexico 

 to Reynosa on the Rio Grande. 



Santa Fe 



3 miles N. of Albur- 

 querque near the 



7,047 ft. above sea 

 4,813 " « " 



El Bolson de Mapimi 3,785 

 4,638 

 6,273 



3,810 

 7,047 



Chihuahua 

 Cosihuiriachi 

 Paso del Norte on 



the Rio Grande 

 Santa Fe in New 



Mexico 



Mexico 



Tula 6,733 

 San Juan del Rio 6,490 



dueretaro 6,362 " " » Rio Grande 



Celaya 6,017 " " " Jornado del Muerto " 4,452 " " " 



Salamanca 5,761 " " « Brazito 3,918 " " " 

 Guanajuato 6,836 " " " Upon crossing of the ) Q na ~ u 

 Silao 5,911 « « « Rio Grande \ d ' 7J7 



Villa de Leon 6,133 " " " Paso del Norte 3,810 " '** " 



Lagos 6,376 " " " S. of Rio Carmen 4,219" " " 



Aguas Calientes 6,261" " " &. of Gallego 5,317" « " 



San Luis Potosi 6,090 " " " Rio Sacramento 4,940 " " " 



Zacatecas 8,038 " " " Chihuahua 4,638 " " " 



Fresnillo 7,244 " " " Aguachi 5,952 " " " 



Durango 6,848 " " " Cosihuiriachi 6,273 " " " 



Parras 4,985 " " " Bachimba 3,956 " 



Saltillo, 5,240 " " " El Saucillo 3,955 " " " 



" " Cadena 5,056 " " 



" " Mapimi 4,487 " " 



" " El Bolson de Mapimi 3,785 " " " 



it it Parras 4,985 " " " 



La Encantada 6,104 " " " 



M u Saltillo 5,240 " " " 



Rinconada 3,381 " " " 



Monterey 1,626 " " 



Marin 1,354 « " " 



Ceralvo 1,006 " " " 



Mier 417 " " §' 



Camargo 422 " " " 



1 Reynosa 104 " " " 



" If we consider," — says Humboldt in his Views of Nature, — "that in the north 

 and south direction the difference of latitude between Santa Fe and the city of Mexico 

 is more than sixteen degrees, and that consequently the distance in a meridian direc- 

 tion, independently of curvatures on the road is more than 960 miles, we are led to 

 ask whether in the whole world, there exists any similar formation of equal extent 

 and height, between 5,000 and 7,500 feet, above the level of the sea. Four-wheeled 

 wagons can travel from Mexico to Santa Fe. The plateau whose levelling is here 

 described is formed solely by the broad undulating flattened crest of the chain of the 

 Mexican Andes ; it is not the swelling of a valley between two mountain chains, 

 such as the Great Basin between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of 

 California in the Northern Hemisphere ; or the elevated plateau of the Lake of Ti- 

 ticaca, between the eastern and northern chains of Bolivia ; or the plateau of Thibet 

 between the Himilaya and Quenlun, in the Southern Hemisphere." — Page 209, 

 Humb. Views of Nature. 



i See Humboldt's Views of Nature, London edition, 1850, p. 208, and Dr. Wislizenius 's Profiles of 

 the country in his Memoir on New Mexico, &c, &c. 



