ROUTE NEAR THE THIRTY-SECOND PARALLEL. 
97 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
It may be found desirable to establish a depot of supplies at the mouth of the Gila, 255 
miles distant from San Pedro. The report of a reconnaissance near the mouth of the Colorado 
of the West, with a view to its navigation, by Lieutenant Derby, topographical engineers, shows 
that the navigation of this river to the head of tide-water, 40 miles from its mouth, is difficult 
and dangerous from the rapid rise of the tide called bore. Arnold’s Point, 35 miles above the 
mouth of the river, by the windings of the stream, is the head of navigation in low water (Jan¬ 
uary, February, and March) for vessels drawing nine feet. Above that point, to the mouth of 
the Gila, the least water is three feet, and the river may be navigated at any season by steamers 
drawing 2£ feet water. The channel is narrow, and the current, obstructed with small snags 
and sawyers, is always rapid. The distance from Arnold’s Point to the mouth of the Gila is 
between 70 and 100 miles. The rise of the ordinary spring tides at the mouth of the Colorado is 
12 feet. In freshets the river at Arnold’s Point rises 15 feet above low water. The velocity of 
the current, independent of that caused by the tide, is ordinarily from one to three miles per hour, 
and in freshets nearly double that. Could the work of construction be commenced at the mouth 
of the Gila at the same time as at San Pedro and the other terminus, and extended east and west, 
it would hasten the completion of the work. 
DAILY INSPECTION OF THE ROAD, &C. 
Each portion of a railroad is thoroughly examined every day, and such adjustment and slight 
repair made as can be done by a single hand. One man attends to from two to three miles 
of road. From 1,000 to 1,300 miles of the country along this proposed route is uninhabited, 
except by Indians. Here it will probably be found necessary to establish stations at every 20 
or 25 miles distance, capable of accommodating 40 men. As a party of seven or eight men on 
any portion of the route, with the facilities of a hand railroad car, may be considered perfectly 
secure against Indians, a party of three men with a guard of five will be able to inspect and adjust 
10 miles of a single track; this would require a station for a guard of 25 or 30 men, and for 
eight or ten employes of the road, every 20 miles. Should the supplies of water be even 100 or 
150 miles apart, sufficient could be carried to these parties without extra cost. This guard 
would not be required at every station; but supposing it necessary over the Indian country of 
1,000 miles, it would amount to 1,500 men. As on many of the European railroads the average 
number of men employed solely for the purpose of preventing access to the railroad from the 
cross-roads of the country, and for attending to signals, &c., independent of those employed for 
switches, daily inspection and adjustment, and at the depots, is at least one per mile, their num¬ 
ber would amount on a road of 2,000 miles in length, to 2,000 men; exceeding that required for 
guarding the road. Supposing this guard employed by the railroad authorities, it would not be 
in addition to the usual number of employes, but merely a change of their duties to suit new 
circumstances. 
It is desirable to have stations with relays of engines, cars, &c., at every 100 miles; and fa¬ 
vorable sites for those will be found on this route at about the required distance apart, with but 
two exceptions—one being the table lands west of the Rio Grande, and the other the Colorado 
desert—where the distances are about 150 miles. 
But considerations of this kind, within certain limits, belong rather to questions of nice 
economy than to greater or less difficulty of working the road. 
soil, &c. 
The table-lands, extending from the cultivable soil of Texas westward, have generally a 
growth of grama grass. The principal exceptions are a large portion of the Llano Estacado, 
and for 70 miles of the descent to the Gila; nor is grass found in that portion of the valley of 
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