28 
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
moderately gradual to station 11, in the valley of La Laguna. From station 11 to 12, the trail 
crosses the river. Above this point there is no obstruction in the wide valley of San Jose. 
The road, however, passes over the rocky eminence, about 70 feet in height, upon which stands 
the Pueblo of Laguna. Thence it follows near the edge of the bluffs, which upon the north 
hound the cultivated basin of La Laguna, to a branch of the valley leading to Covero. 
The direct route from La Laguna to Camp 65 is through the valley of Rio San Jose, leaving 
Covero about two miles to the north. That by the trail, however, may he followed with nearly 
equal facility. It leads from Camp 64, through the town of Covero, to a broad plain which 
slopes gently from San Mateo to Rio San Jose. Station 7 is upon the edge of that stream, 
where the hanks are steep, and the channel 20 feet in width. There are cedars upon the hill- 
slopes, hut no timber in the valley. Thence the trail to Camp 65 follows the narrow 
belt of alluvial soil that borders the river ; the bluff banks enclosing it increasing from 
50 to 150 feet in height. About two miles north from station 10, is the foot of a bluff 
which hounds the mesa surrounding the volcanic peak of San Mateo. It is about 1,000 
feet in height; and, at station 15, approaches to within 300 yards of the river. At 
station 17 the valley is one mile in width, and thence to Camp 65 it is covered with luxu¬ 
riant grass. The hills upon both sides are covered with cedar and pine timber. The river 
flows beside, and sometimes beneath, a broken coule, of lava which threads the valley. The 
grades are easy from La Laguna to this point. 
Near Camp 65 the trail crosses the river and ascends the valley with nearly a uniform 
grade, via Ojo del Gallo, Agua Azul, and other head springs of Rio San Jose, to the wide 
opening at Campbell’s Pass, 6,952 feet above the level of the sea. Upon the left are the 
Zuni mountains, covered with forests containing several varieties of excellent pine timber. 
From the summit westward for about three miles, to Ojo del Oso, the head springs 
of Rio Puerco of the west, the surface is somewhat broken, requiring a moderate amount 
of cutting to attain a uniform grade of 50 feet per mile. Thence the Rio Puerco of the 
west leads through a wide valley toward the west-southwest, crossing the trail from Fort 
Defiance about twenty-five miles north-northwest of Zuni, and coursing onward to Flax river, 
with which it unites near the mouth of Lithodendron creek. 
The wagon route through the Obispo Pass and along the Zuni liver struck the Puerco of the 
west near the Navajo springs, at Camp 74. The region traversed is fertile, but unfavorable for 
a railroad, on account of the high altitude at which the Sierra Madre was crossed, and the 
necessity of a tunnel at that place. The grades through Campbell’s Pass and along Rio Puerco 
of the west are highly favorable ; but the river, though at all times containing large pools of 
water, is not a constantly flowing stream, and its banks are destitute of timber. Cedar forests, 
however, cover the mesas in the vicinity. Near its mouth, the Puerco, like Lithodendron and 
other creeks in that region, cuts through the gravelly mesa, and forms deep ravines which would 
require bridging. Quarries of sandstone, fit for masonry, may be found in the vicinity of the 
valley of Flax river. 
