DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
41 
valley at the mouth of Williams’ river, eight miles in length, averaging three miles in width, 
equal to twenty-four square miles ; the Yuma valley, forty miles in length, averaging eight 
miles in width, equal to 320 miles; the Cuchan valley, eighteen miles in length, averaging 
three and a half miles in width, equal to sixty-three square miles ; the valley of Caballo en 
Pelo, above the junction of the Rio Gila, ten miles in length, averaging eight miles in width, 
equal to eighty square miles ; other portions of the stream being bordered by narrow belts of 
good soil, sufficient, probably, to make up the amount stated above. Below the mouth of Rio 
Gila the bottom-lands that may be irrigated are very extensive. 
The Colorado river, at the crossing near the Mojave villages, was divided by an island into 
two channels ; one about seven feet, the other ten feet in depth. From that place to the mouth 
of Williams’ river—a distance of fifty-two miles—the inclination of the stream is 1.6 foot per 
mile ; and there is no appearance of shallows, rapids, or other obstructions to navigation. Be¬ 
tween the mouth of Williams’ river—the computed elevation of which is 356.4 feet above the 
sea—and Fort Yuma, 150 miles, the slope of the valley is believed to remain nearly the same, 
giving to the Colorado similar characteristics to those above described. Assuming the fall of 
the river to be 1.6 foot per mile, the altitude of the river at Fort Yuma would become 116.4 feet 
above the sea ; and thence to tide-water of the Gulf, 80 miles, the descent would be nearly 1.5 
foot per mile. Steamboats from the Pacific have long navigated the Gulf of California and the 
Colorado river to Fort Yuma, for the purpose of conveying supplies to that military post. From 
all that is known of this river, there seems to be sufficient reason for believing that the same 
vessels of light draught might navigate the channel for the remaining 200 miles to the Mojave 
villages. The whole distance, from shore to shore, at the ferry above referred to, is about 1,800 
feet—more than twice the width of the river at the upper or lower end of the Mojave valley. 
Near the middle of the river, separating the stream into two channels, there is an island of sand 
200 yards wide, and about a quarter of a mile in length. For the location of a bridge, however, 
a more favorable point is found near Camp 132, where gentle slopes of the prairie form low bluffs 
impinging upon the river. From the east, this point may be approached by the route around the 
northern base of the Cerbat range ; and upon the west the line would edge along prairie slopes 
to the Sacramento springs. Our trail, from Camp 134, was across the fertile bottom lands upon 
the right bank of the Colorado, and thence along the base of the gravelly spur which borders 
it. Camp 135 was formed upon an arm of the river, which encloses a wide marsh covered with 
rushes. Upon the eastern side of the valley, parallel to our trail, there exists a broad ridge of 
mountains, limiting the width of the arable soil between its base and the river to about ten 
miles. The trees upon the stream are principally mezquite and cotton-wood. 
A short distance above Camp 135, a valley, from the W.N.W., unites with the Colorado. It 
contains the sandy bed of a stream which heretofore has been supposed to be Mojave river. Our 
trail, leaving the Colorado valley near the last mentioned Camp, crossed a gravelly spur 80 
feet in height, and entered the arroyo at station 2. A short range of high hills upon the north 
terminates near station 3, and the valley sweeps around its western and southern bases. There 
is a similar highland range upon the south about eight miles distant. Toward the west ap¬ 
pears a broad ascending plain, without any visible crest surmounting it, but traversed by a 
ravine, which the trail ascends to station 4. Here it is bordered by a few small hills whose 
bases are composed of beds of marl containing several springs of water. They are about ten 
miles, in a straight line, from, the Colorado, and nearly 800 feet above it. 
A view of this region was sketched from the left bank of the Colorado, looking W.N. W. It 
is represented in plate No. 1, and prefixed to the Itinerary. Plate No. 2, taken from the island 
in the Colorado, and giving the view looking north, precedes the topographical report. 
Plate No. 3, representing the right bank of the Colorado, looking east, or E.S.E., will ac¬ 
company the Indian report. The three landscapes differ with respect to their foregrounds, but 
the spaces between the points of view are so small that the distant scenery is scarcely affected 
thereby. They may therefore be united, for the purpose of showing the character of the moun- 
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