OCR Text |
Show 8 THE SHORTEST ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. Major- General Ord, U. S. Army, from an original in the archives of California; and is quite interesting, as showing the large number of Spanish settlements in Middle Sonora at the time of the travels of Fathers Font and Garces, and the exact routes explored by them. According to this map, Father Garces traveled, as early as 1777 ( Humboldt says in 1773*), from the mission of San Gabriel, near Los Angeles on the Pacific coast in California, to Oraybe, one of the vil-lages of the Moquis, and his route was along the Rio de las Matires ( evidently, from its position, the Mo-jave). Fremont and others supposed that the Mojave was a tributary of the Colorado and therefore did not belong to the Great Basin system; but this idea was exploded by Lieutenant now Brevet Lieutenant- Colonel Williamson, Major Corps of U. S. Engineers, in 1853, and afterward by Lieutenant now Brevet Major- General Parke, Major Corps of Engineers, in 1855; both of whom fully determined that this stream sank, and that between it and the Colorado was a ridge which separated the waters. f In this connection, it may be interesting to observe that Humboldt, speaking of the delay on the part of the Spaniards, notwithstanding their enterprising spirit, in opening communications between New Mex-ico and California, holds the following language: " The letter post still ( at the date of his researches, in 1803- 4) goes from this post ( San Diego) along the * See his " New Spain," vol. ii. p. 268. j" Pacific Railroad Reports, vol. v. p. 33, and vol. vii. p. 3. |