PIMAS AND MARICOPAS VILLAGES AND INDIANS. 
5 
Colorado rivers, and thence up the G-ila to jthe Pimas villages. To Fort Yuma the road is 
good, and presents no ohstacle to rapid transportation with wagons excepting a steep ascent in 
the mountains and occasional sands on the desert. 
Up the Gila our route lay upon the left hank of the river, with the exception of a short dis¬ 
tance, where we were forced to cross to its right hank, the river having, in the last few years, 
changed its hed, and now washes the base of the mesas, which it was impracticable to pass 
without much labor. 
The road is not confined entirely to the river-bottom, because of the close proximity of the 
river to the mesas, which often forced it to cross over terminating spurs that jut out from the 
south, thus cutting off many deep bends of this sinuous river. 
The travelling upon the mesas was hard and firm, whilst that in the bottom was generally 
heavy. We moved under favorable circumstances, there having been quite a fall of rain since 
the last party passed, which not only laid the dust, but hardened the surface of the roadway. 
While on the Grila the great scarcity of grass and other forage was a constant source of 
anxiety, and caused much night travelling. The few patches of grass near the watering-places 
were cropped close by the herds of stock driven to the California market, and the mezquite- 
bean, upon which the emigrant almost solely depends for the existence of his animals, was now 
out of season; but by dint of great care and attention on the part of Lieut. Stoneman, taking 
advantage of every bunch of cane growing at the water’s edge, and the sparse tufts of a dry 
bunch-grass found on the mesas at a distance from the roadside, we succeeded in reaching the 
first of the Pimas and Maricopas villages, with all our animals, on the 13th of February, having 
just crossed a jornada of thirty-eight miles, and camped by a rain-water pool, surrounded by a 
large area of dry bunch and salt grass, three hundred and ninety miles from San Diego. To 
rest our animals and give them an opportunity to feed, we remained in camp a day, and on the 
following day moved through the villages, camping near the point where the emigrant trail, 
turning southward, leaves the river-bottom. We had numerous visits from the Pimas and 
Maricopas. Their chiefs and old men were all eloquent in professions of friendship for the 
Americans, and were equally desirous that we should read the certificates of good offices 
rendered various parties while passing through their country. 
In order the more fully to describe the country traversed, with a view of facilitating the solu¬ 
tion of the question of practicability of constructing a railroad through it, I will first transcribe 
the journal of our operations, setting forth the general features of the country, which may 
possibly be of service to any whose duties should hereafter require, or interest dictate to visit 
this region, and then subtend a memoir showing the gradients to be overcome along the route 
travelled, as illustrated by the accompanying map and profile. 
While in San Francisco I had the good fortune to meet Mr. Nugent, and am much indebted 
to him for a copy of his notes made during a trip across this country; and as his trail, as plotted 
upon a sketch sent me, so ill accords with his notes, (in one instance crossing inaccurately what 
I deem an impracticable ridge,) it is proper for me to remark that where 1 departed from the 
line indicated in my instructions, I pursued that which, on examination, presented the fairest 
prospects for, and least obstacles to, the construction of a practicable profile, bearing in mind 
its directness. 
February 16, 1854.—On turning from the river we have to encounter a long stretch of about 
seventy miles where the finding of water is very uncertain, it being dependent upon the rains 
and seasons. As is found by experience to be most advantageous on setting out upon these 
jornadas, we started from camp, on the left bank of the Gila, about six miles above the Pimas, 
at 1 p. m., and after travelling 3.5 miles in the river-bottom, took a course tangent to the 
eastern base of the ridge on our right, and skirting a mezquite growth, interspersed with small 
patches of bunch-grass, extending southeastward from the Gila. As we progressed the road 
became hard and firm, leading over a gradually ascending plain of a red gravelly surface, 
destitute of all vegetation excepting the grease-wood and occasional mezquite. In the distance 
