REPORT OF CAPTAIN HUMPHREYS TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, 1856. 
27 
blasting. The maximum grade on this division is 15 feet per mile, and it may possibly be 
increased to 20 feet per mile, in a final location, for a short distance. The distance from the Rio 
Grande at Fort Fillmore to the Maricopa wells is 345.25 miles; being about 23 miles shorter 
than the line by the former survey. The highest elevation attained is 4,600 feet. 
For the purpose of comparing this route with others, and to form an approximate estimate of 
its cost by an assimilation to roads already built, Lieutenant Parke has divided the country 
through which it passes into three characteristic portions, viz: prairie, rolling or hilly, and 
mountainous. The prairie section comprises that portion which will require but little more 
work than the adjustment of the sills for the reception of the rails; the hilly or rolling, that 
portion which will require light earth work and little or no rock cutting; and the mountainous, 
the bolder features of the line, where side locations and heavy earth and rock work will be 
necessary. The respective lengths of these divisions are: 
Of prairie............ 230 miles. 
Of rolling.. 65 “ 
Of mountainous..... 50 “ 
Total......... 345 miles. 
The longest line of continuous prairie route is 130 miles, and the shortest 25 miles. 
The longest line of rolling route is 30 miles, and the shortest 5 miles. 
The longest line of mountainous route is 25 miles, and the shortest 5 miles. 
The estimates for the final report are not yet completed. According to these estimates, so far 
as they have been made, the cost of the three sections will not exceed' $30,000, $60,000, and 
$90,000 per mile, respectively, including equipment; making a total of $15,300,000, or an 
average cost per mile of the whole line of $44,000. 
With reference to the supply of water between the Rio Grande and the Gila, Lieutenant 
Parke is of opinion that an abundance can be delivered on the line, at suitable distances, by 
conduits from the following localities: Cooke’s spring, Rio Mimbres, Ojo de la Yaca, Agua Fria, 
Ojo de Inez, Cienega de Sauz, Croton springs, at the Playa de los Pimas, Antelope, Dove, and 
Castro springs, and Bear springs, at the head of the Aravaypa. The above localities are per¬ 
manent watering-places, and have never been known to fail, notwithstanding the drains upon 
them by evaporation, by large herds of stock en route for the Pacific coast, and the frequent 
visits of the wandering Apaches. It is well known that while little rain is delivered upon the 
plains and valleys during the rainy season, the clouds are nearly always hovering over the 
mountains, dispensing copious showers, furnishing abundant supplies to the springs and streams 
enumerated. The longest distance between the points which can be supplied with certainty 
from permanent water is fifty-one miles. This occurs between Ojo de Inez and Cienega de 
Sauz; but there are two points in the Pyramid basin—one east and one west of the Pyramid 
range—where there is every reason to conclude that ample supplies of water can be procured by 
common or artesian wells. The distances between the water stations proposed along the line 
are as follows: 
From Rio Grande to station 1, 31 miles. 
From station 1 to station 2, 19 “ 
“ “ 2 “ 3, 15 “ 
“ “ 3 “ 4, 22 “ 
