232 
EL PASO 
I left informed me, that early in October it became so 
cold that fires were necessary every day. The height 
of the little valley where the mines are was found to 
be six thousand two hundred and fifty feet above the 
level of the sea; and the height of the mountain, 
which rises abruptly from it, and to which the name 
of Ben Moore has been given, is eight thousand feet. 
This mountain is the beginning of a range of bold, 
rocky bluffs of trap, of a grayish hue, which extend 
some twenty miles to the south, and gradually drop 
off into the plain. On one side of this bluff, a portion 
Canon leading to the Copper Mines, from the South. 
of the rock is separated from the mountain, and stands 
detached from it like a column. This mountain is a 
