PROFILE. 
17 
Starting from the summit with the above cutting, and hugging the ridge with a curving trace, 
as indicated by the blue line, station 4, or the level of that station, can he reached by a grade 
not exceeding seventy feet per mile. This will require, in addition to the rock-cutting at the 
summit, heavy side-cutting and embankment. At and near the summit large masses of granite 
are out-cropping, while below camp No. 22 the walls of the canon are made up of a much tilted 
and contorted stratification of a slaty sandstone and limestone. 
From this station 4, our route lay over a smooth plain, descending apparently uniformly to 
the stream at the bottom of the Valle de Sauz. Upon this plain a continuous grade of about 
thirty feet per mile can be constructed with but little labor, the ground being already, as it 
were, graded. The stream is no obstacle. But from it, at camp No. 23, to the summit of the 
gap in the ridge beyond, there is an ascent of seven hundred and seventy-one feet, requiring, 
after making a sixty-feet cutting at the summit, a continuous grade of about ninety feet to over¬ 
come it, following either of the lines indicated; but as the approach to the entrance of this gap 
is over an unbroken slope, this grade can be reduced by ascending the slope diagonally, thus 
increasing the distance. 
The gap is wide and open, with the exception of about a hundred yards at the summit, where 
it narrows down to a canon, with granite wall. 
No difficulty is found in crossing the valley, which is made up of smooth slopes lying between 
camp No. 24, station 4, and camp No. 25, station 1. The maximum grade is but sixty-eight 
feet per mile, the natural slope ascending to camp No. 25, station 1. 
Beyond this point lies another bottom, bounded by a low spur, giving out and sinking into 
the plain towards the south. 
For considerations of water we continued eastward, hugging and skirting the extremities of 
the spurs of this ridge until reaching Cook’s trail, which we followed to the Ojo de Vaca, and 
then pursued the trail to the Bio Bravo. By observations made on the ground, it was found 
perfectly practicable to construct a line of grades answering the purposes of a railway commu¬ 
nication along or near the route travelled, the maximum grades being encountered in ascending 
the summit of camp No. 25, station *7, and at the Bio Mimbres; in the first case, *78.7 feet, and 
in the second 89 feet, allowing sixty feet for cutting and the same for embankment, and even 
these grades can be greatly reduced by a slight deviation to the south at these points. But, 
since the several spurs, valleys, and slopes crossed make southward and amalgamate, forming a 
continuous plain unobstructed by rough ridges, the line or route to the river can be improved, 
not only in its grades, but also be shortened by diverging at camp No. 25, station 3, and pur¬ 
suing a general direction, as indicated by the blue line, to its junction with the red dotted, and 
thence following it to the river; the profile of this latter having been determined barome¬ 
trically. 
Profile No. 2 gives, in the dotted line, the average grade attainable by following the course 
above indicated, the maximum being about fifty feet, that required in making the ascent from 
the point of divergence to “A” on the horizontal curve, passing through camp No. 25, station 
6, and thence ascending to B, the approximate altitude of which is five thousand one hundred 
and seventy-seven feet, after assuming that the fall of the ravine from camp No. 26, station 2, 
to the point “B,” is at least ten feet per mile. But little work will be required throughout 
this stretch, deep cutting being avoided by gently curving the trace. 
From Cook’s spring, camp No. 29, to the river, the profile of wagon route shows no 
great altitudes to be overcome, the chief obstacles being the abrupt ascent at camp No. 29, 
stations 3 and 4, crossing the ridge at camp No. 30, stations 1, 2, and 3, and descending to the 
river-bottom from camp No. 30, station 8. At these points heavy grades are necessary, but the 
difficulties can be entirely avoided by pursuing, instead of the red full line, the red dotted line; 
the profile of which is given in No. 2, connecting with the dotted or profile of blue line from C. 
This indicates a smooth, prairie-like surface, according well with the observations made on the 
ground, that it was difficult to tell, in many places, the direction of slope. This smooth sur- 
