DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
31 
The banks of the main stream, as well as those of the numerous tributaries, are sprinkled with 
cotton-wood trees. Small groves of them occur at the junctions of these streams. Leroux’s Fork 
is crossed near Camp 78. ItTs a rivulet of clear water about 20 feet wide, and densely wooded. 
Beyond., the valley is bordered with low, gravelly mesas, covered with a species of nutritious 
grass called grama, and has an elevation of about 50 feet above the river. The wagons 
frequently crossed spurs from them to avoid patches of soft earth in the bottoms. Between 
stations 3 and 4, a valley half a mile wide comes in from the northeast. At station 5, there is 
a branch from the north, with steep banks 10 feet in height. Between stations 5 and 6, sand¬ 
stone bluffs, rising upon the right of the trail to the height of 150 feet, bound the valley, which 
is here one-third of a mile wide. Upon the opposite side of the river, near station 10, is the 
escarped edge of an elevated plain, extending south, apparently, to the Mogollon mountains. 
It is intersected by several tributaries. Between Camps 79 and 80, the river-bottom is in some 
places marshy, with willow thickets, and in others covered with a loose, pulverized soil. The 
south side of the valley appears to be in some places from two to two and a half miles wide. 
There is much marshy ground between Camps 80 and 81, which may be avoided by following 
the trail along the edge of the prairie slopes. Cottonwood Fork joins Flax river near station 2. 
The latter stream may be bridged at this place, or the line continued upon the north bank to 
the old Indian pueblo at Camp 82. Here the river is finely timbered with cotton-wood, and the 
south side of the wide valley contains traces of an ancient acequia. 
At the point where the trail crosses the river, the stream is 50 feet wide, two and a half feet 
deep, and flows between clayey banks about 10 feet in height. A short distance below, it makes 
a bend and sweeps towards the north and northwest. To avoid this deflection, a reconnoissance 
was made in a direct line nearly west towards a low gap south of the San Francisco mountains. 
Leaving the valley of Flax river a few miles below Camp 82, a low and narrow ridge was 
crossed, and a basin-like valley was entered, which, although containing no well defined stream, 
was said to be the outlet of Dry Fork. Having traversed this for about five miles, a gradual 
and almost imperceptible ascent led to a high prairie, somewhat cut up by gentle valleys, and 
dotted with isolated hills of sandstone, from 15 to 30 feet in height. Twenty-six miles from 
Camp 82 is the crossing of Canon Diablo, which flows north in a chasm from 100 to 150 feet 
deep, and about 100 yards wide, cleft in a horizontal stratum of magnesian limestone. Thence 
to station 4, between Camps 89 and 90, the general surface of the intermediate country is a 
plain, sloping towards the east with an inclination of 40 feet per mile. It is, however, traversed 
by several ravines, occasionally forming small canons ; but they interpose no serious obstacle to 
the construction of a railway across this section. There is water in Canon Diablo, and at the 
Conino caves, near this line ; probably it could be found at other intermediate points. Cedar 
trees are scattered along the trail between Dry Fork and Canon Diablo. Dense thickets com¬ 
mence a short distance further west; and, upon reaching the vicinity of the Conino caves, they 
give place to forests of magnificent pines. 
From the base of the San Francisco peaks, many wide valleys, bounded by heavily timbered 
hills, extend towards the branches of Canon Diablo and Flax river. Station 4 is upon the 
northern edge of one of the former, called Pine valley, which has a breadth of about five or six 
miles. The trail ascends its smooth, grassy slope. At station 6 the valley is several miles 
wide; at station 9, it unites with a broad, open prairie, bordered with pine forests, and extend¬ 
ing towards the northwest to the foot of the steep mountain slopes. Continuing up this valley 
towards the southwest, at station D we reach the summit of a low ridge between the San Fran¬ 
cisco mountains and a long spur from the Sierra Mogollon, which divides the waters of the 
Colorado Chiquito from Kio Yerde. The ascent to this point is remarkably uniform ; and the 
deep depression which here exists between the mountains is about a mile in width, and so gentle 
in its declivities as to render it difficult to define the exact position of the dividing crest. Superb 
forests cover the slopes of the mountains upon each side. The maximum grade through this 
