Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railrord. 89 



construction through a country alternately wooded and open, 

 abundantly supplied with water and fuel, and with forest growth 

 suitable for ties and lumber for two-thirds of the length. From 

 Fulton to the eastern border of the Llano Estacado is 485 miles, 

 370 of which are wooded. 



The exploration of Capt. Pope comprised three distinct belts 

 of country, the first of which has been just described above. 

 The second is the Llano Estacado, whose mean elevation is 

 4,500 feet, the smooth surface of which along the route pro- 

 posed, 225 miles from the eastern border to the Pecos river, 

 presents in this respect great facilities for the construction of a 

 railroad. It is, however, at certain seasons of the year destitute 

 of water, is scantily supplied with grass, and not a single tree 

 is to be seen upon it. Its geological formation is such as to 

 render the success of obtaining water by artesian wells, at mod- 

 erate depths, highly probable [since proved practicable by trial.] 

 During, and for some time subsequent to the rainy season, there 

 are here, as on most other arid plains, numerous ponds, the con- 

 tents of which might be collected in reservoirs ; but the distance 

 from the Colorado Springs to the Pecos, 125 miles, is not so 

 great as to form a serious obstacle to the working of a railroad. 



Between the Pecos and the Rio Grande, 163 miles, three 

 mountain chains rise from the table-lands, the Guadalupe, Hueco, 

 and Organ mountains. The Guadalupe mountain is crossed 

 without a tunnel, elevation of summit 5,717 feet, and with a 

 grade of 108 feet to the mile for 22 miles. A high viaduct and 

 heavy cutting and filling for three miles near the summit, form 

 the costly and difficult part of the pass. The Hueco Pass is still 

 more favorable, the greatest grade being about 80 feet to the 

 mile ; the elevation of the summit, 4,812 feet. The Organ 

 mountain is turned just before reaching the Rio Grande at Mo- 

 lino and El Paso. 



A peculiarity of the mountains in the western part of the 

 continent, in this and other latitudes, is, that they have no inter- 

 vening deep secondary valleys between the main chain and the 

 plains. Over the usually uniform and smooth surface of these 

 last, the general elevation of which, between the Pecos and the 

 Rio Grande, is from 4,000 to 4,500 feet, the valley of the Rio 

 Grande is attained near Molino, at an elevation of 3,830 feet, 

 and at a distance of 787 miles from Fulton. 



The region between the Rio Grande and the Pimas villages 

 on the Gila, just above which point the latter leaves the moun- 

 tain region, may be described as a great plain, interrupted irreg- 

 ularly and confusedly by bare, rugged, abrupt, isolated moun- 

 tains or short ranges, around or through the passes in which a 

 railroad may be constructed with quite practicable grades. The 

 mean elevation of this plain, or series of basins into which the 



SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXII. NO. 64. — JULY, 1856. 12 



