THE RIO GRANDE ITS VALUE SOIL PRODUCTS. 355 



climate of the Gulf. The elevation of the stream above the sea at 

 Alburquerque, in New Mexico, is about forty-eight hundred feet; at 

 El Paso del Norte, about thirty-eight hundred ; and at Reynosa, 

 — between three and four hundred miles from its mouth — about one 

 hundred and seventy feet. The fall of its water between Alburquer- 

 que and El Paso, appears to be from two to three feet in a mile, and 

 below Reynosa, one foot in two miles. This fall of the river is sel- 

 dom used as motive power, except for some flour mills, which are 

 oftener worked by mules than water. The principal advantage at 

 present derived from it is for agriculture, by a well conducted system 

 of irrigation. As to its navigation, it is very doubtful if even 

 canoes could be used in New Mexico, except, perhaps, during May 

 and June, when the stream, from the melting of the snow in the 

 mountains, is at its highest stage. It is entirely too shallow and in- 

 terrupted by too many sand bars, to promise any thing for transpor- 

 tation; yet, on the southern portion, the recent exploration by 

 Captain Sterling, in the United States steamer Major Brown, has 

 proved that steamboats may ascend for a distance of seven hundred 

 miles between the Gulf and Laredo. This steamer, however, did 

 not draw over two feet of water, but the explorers are of opinion that 

 by spending one hundred thousand dollars in a proper improvement 

 of the Rio Grande above the town of Mier, boats drawing four feet 

 could readily ply between the mouth of the river and Laredo. 



The soil in the valley of the Rio Grande, in New Mexico, is 

 generally sandy and appears to be poor; yet, by irrigation, it is 

 made to produce abundant crops. Though agriculture has been 

 hitherto carried on in a very primitive way, either with the hoe 

 alone, or with a very rough plough made entirely of wood, never- 

 theless the inhabitants raise large quantities of the staple productions 

 — such as Indian corn, wheat, beans, onions, red peppers, and some 

 fruits. The most fertile part of the valley, begins below Santa Fe 

 along the river, and is called the 4 Rio abajo,' or Country down the 

 Stream. In that region it is not uncommon to gather two annual 

 harvests. The general dryness of the climate and aridity of the 

 soil will always confine agriculture to the valleys of water courses, 

 which rarely contain running water during the whole year. But on 

 several occasions it was remarked, in the high table land from 

 Santa Fe south, that at a certain depth layers of clay are found, that 

 may form reservoirs for the sunken water courses from the eastern 

 and western mountain chain, and consequently, by the improved 

 method of boring, or by Artesian wells, they might easily be made 

 to yield their water to the surface. If experiments to that effect 



