APPENDICES. 599 
river from the Pimo settlement to the junction of the Rio Salinas, are 
fertile, producing crops of cotton of the first quality. The Maricopas 
have been driven by the Yumasfrom their settlement near the Salinas into 
closer proximity to the Pimos. Within the last year many have been 
killed, including Juan Antonio Llunas, a Maricopa by birth, but com- 
mander-in-chief of the confederate tribes. If protected from incursions 
of Apaches, Cuchans, and Yumas, the Maricopas would gladly return 
to their fertile fields upon the American bank of the Gila; and, in case 
of an Indian war, they would prove a valuable auxiliary to our troops. 
The Salinas, at its Junction, is a beautiful stream, clear as crystal, large 
as the Gila, and, to our surprise, not salt. Having progressed with the 
topographical survey to within about eighty miles of the junction of the 
Gila with the Colorado, and our supplies of provisions failing, we were 
obliged on the 14th of December to postpone its conclusion until pro- 
visions could be procured at the army depot at “Camp Yuma.” In 
four days we reached the junction. Here, meeting Captain Jimenes and 
party of the Mexican Commission, who had arrived the day previous, to 
our consternation we learned that the military post had been abandon- 
ed. There was no alternative but to follow the soldiers. Crossing the 
Colorado, we arrived on the Ist of January, 1852, at Santa Isabel, where 
Captain Davidson kindly saved us from suffering by hunger. On the 
8th of January we encamped at San Diego. The agricultural resources 
of the Gila are of little value to the United States, more than nine 
tenths of the soil susceptible of cultivation being upon the Mexican 
bank. Settlements could, however, be supported atthe mouth of the San 
Francisco, opposite the mouth of the Rio San Pedro, upon the Salinas, 
and at the junction of the Gila with the Colorado. From what pre- 
cedes it may be inferred that it would hardly be practicable to construct 
“a road, canal, or railway” to run wholly upon the river Gila. The 
Cafion of the Pinal Llefio Mountains is a complete barrier. The Pass 
below the junction of the Rio San Pedro, is equally impracticable. Be- 
tween the Pimo settlements and the junction of the Gila with the Colo- 
rado, nature interposes no serious obstacle to the construction of a way 
of communication, such as the travelling public may demand. But 
from the Pimo village to the Rio Del Norte, I know of no practicable 
route even for a wagon road, except by entering the State of Sonora to 
avoid the Pinal Llefio Mountains. Possibly a route may be found fol- 
lowing the course of the Salinas towards Santa Fé. Otherwise, a jor- 
