OCR Text |
Show 576 Ex. Doc. No. 41. October 15.-Marched at 8, and after four miles of rough travellin we turned more to the west, and .took a ftnal lleparture from th!Rio Del Norte: its ruggt)cl gravel hills an~l ha~sh bottom grass, · f alt has not made us regret l eav111g 1t. W e ascended tast1n g o s ' 1 1 · 1 1 t t 0 hundre<l feet at once, to an elevate< p a111, < eep. y cu ~~~~ t~e caiions of this stream , which we ca~ne to, encamping on the thinl: these p roved to be great obstructions, and w ould have detained us very Jong if we had brought our wagons .. The gr~vel 0 n l he s l 0 p e s 0 f the b a n k s was at an a n g] e o f abo u ~ t h 1 rl y d e g 1 .e e s, and it would be Llifficult to get a passag.e arou!ld 1t. The gu1des of Captain Cooke went to seek a crossmg for these creeks near their junc1ion with the Del Norte. From the south. bank of the third creek on which we encamped, no doubt a practtcable wagon ad could be obtained to the banks of the Del N orle. The table rlo 1 · 5 fine and upon it a good rout e could be mad e . We entered uapno Ln 1a coun' try to-day with many vane. tl. ~s o f p 1a n t s s t range t o us, d of a more tropical aspect-a new vanety of walnut, oak, hack~: rry, birch. The gravel beds of alluvion near camp have turned to stone, and a deep cu l or canon, ld fifty fee.t deep and twcn ty feet wide, affords a passage for the stream on .whLCh we ~ave encampt;d, which, for a short distance, is a ~ne ~ea~:nng mount~m strea~, Wl!h overhanging trees and fish p1aym!6 1n 1ts wate.rs; 1t then swks 1n the sand and all is arid again. Distance 24 mtles to one creek; .1 mile to ;econd; 14 miles to thinl; 6 miles. Course SSW.; the tratl is very plain. . October 16.-Marched at 8, and found ourselves approachmg the lesser peaks of the Sierra de los Mimbres, and, passing through them we found the country very beautiful, w·1th mountain streams at intervals of four or five miles all tlay, anti a smaller growth of walnut and a sort of live oak shaded the rivulets; .all else was prairie covered with the finest grama grass. We occasiOn.a1ly fou~d the road rocky, but it was very good. The. growth of live. oak, 1n stunted shrubs, covered some of the mounta1n peaks to theu tops, others were entirely bare. The Mimbres chain to the west look black in the distance as the vegetation. The leaves of some cotton- wood and grape vine, and other vegetation, were yellow in the October sun; the grama grass look.s faded, but it is now in th.e seed, and furnishes fine food for our antmals. There are two kmds of gram a grass-the summer and winter; the first is now too dry for much use as pasture; the latter may be said to be best. We passed limestone strata to-day, which had a dip east, and sh~wed the action of heat; the limestone blue and compact. The hills appeared to be all scarped to he west, like the teeth of a saw. From a peak two miles southeast of camp the view presented was very grand; and twenty to thirty miles wide, covered with grass lays below, the valley of the Del Norte widening to the south as far as El Paso, .. Ex. Doc. No. 41. 577 the peaks of mountains standing around in the distance like the frame of t h. e p i .c t u r e . I t is e vi d c n t, at a g 1 an c e, t h at t h e 1 ower part of N c w Mcxtco Is by far the most valua ble. Mountains near camp are composed of b~ueish basalt a ~d amygdaloid; these rocky masses were seamed w1th other matenal, the courses of which could easily ~e seen from the llifference of the vegetation upon them. A root ltke a carrot was found near camp, with a reddish juice, but noxious I to .the sme~l; live oak, walnut, three ~in ds or'acacia, ash, (new vanety,) willow, cotton -wood, grape vme, canissa, and Spanish bayonet; several new shrubs and sensitive plants. On the whole the country looked more like the temperate zone than that of yes! t e r clay . D is t an c e 17 m i 1 { s ; 7 sou t h west. October 17 .-Marched at 8, and entered still deeper the mountains; the hiJls, as yesterday, were covered with grass, and occasion a 11 y patches of dwarf trees; the streams small mountain rivufets, with a fringe of trees along them of oak, walnut, and little cotton-wood; saw various new plants, among which is a mountain flax, with tall stem and large seed, some of which I sa veri; passed masses of amygdaloid; at one place, a whitish amygdaloid had a dip of 20 degrees to the south; we then crossed a chain of mountain of darker volcanic ro cks; then an immense deposite of co nglomerate, composed of the fragments of the adjacent volcanic rocks, partly rounded by attrition; we then came to the R io Mimbres, and c rossed it, and encamped three miles from it, among hills of volcanic rocks, some of them capped with trap; near camp, a mass of volcanic gl a s; camp on 1 i ttl e creek, among cedar trees and 1 i ttl e water; plenty of grass; bad road for wagons, but a good one could be made. October 18.-Marched at 8, making smokes on the hills to let the Apaches know we were coming, and to invite them in; the mouatain peaks on the left of the road w~re cn ppcd with trap, and tne tr ~e s more numerous and lofty; we arc approaching the mining region of the copper mines, and a bun dance of fuel is provided; east of the copper mines, is a high cap of trap rock, of blueish grey ...-.... T. tinge, and irregular columna] struc·ure. This same I ~- ~ seam des.cends, and cro~s~s the valley north of t~e ~ copper mme~; east of th1s Is a dark S€am of platonic rGck, resembling in appearance Quincy granite, but of d i fl'e rent rr ate ria Is; an d in the v a II e y west of the hill of trap, a whitish rock, seamed like marble veins, with the ore of copper, furnishes the great cobre or copper mine. It once was worked extensively, and the metal was so rich in gold, that it bore transportation to the city of Mexico for the fining furnace; the remains of the est a b 1 ish m e r1 t con sis t of a quantity of adobe h o u s e s, an d pi 1 e s of charcoal, and ashes and drifts. October 19.-Visited the copper mines, and examined the old excavations; the veins of sulphuret of copper run through a whiteish silicious rock, like the blue veins running through white marble; they Yary in their hues, but traverse the whole substance; the rock breaks easily, and the pick appears to be the only tool used formerly. Occasional veins of pure copper, very yellow from the -·1' ~: . |