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Show 117 APPENDIX H 1. PRELIMINARY BOTANICAL REPORT, WITH REMARKS UPON THE GENERAL TOPOGRAPHY OF THE REGION TRAVERSED IN NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA J ITS CLIMATOLOGY, FORAGE- PLANTS, TIMBER, IRRIGATION, SANITARY CONDITIONS, AC.: BY J> R. J. T. ROTH-ROCK, ACTING ASSISTANT SURGEON, UNITED STATES ARMY. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, GEOGRAPHICAL EXPLORATIONS AND SURVEYS WEST OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH MERIDIAN, Washington, D. C., June 30, 1875. SIR : I have the honor to transmit the following preliminary report upon the work intrusted to me during the field season of 1874. The enumeration of the plants, with critical notes, and with descriptions of the new species, is reserved for the final report, which is to consolidate into one volume the entire collection from 1871 to 1875 inclusive. 1 am induced to do so, with your permission, because the interval between the field seasons of 1874 and 1875 is too short to complete the naming of the material now on hand; and because its consolidation will produce a work full enough to serve as a manual of botany for the country from the fortieth parallel south to the Mexican bouudary. and corresponding with the meridians of the main mountain axis of the continent with their adjacent mesas and plains. Bach a work is now greatly needed. In addition to the merely technical and botanical features of the proposed report, there Will be added much material of direct economic importance, and which is, perhaps, more intimately connected with the duties of the botanist than with those of any other member of the snrvey; i. e., the general topography of the country, some statement of its climatology, the relations of the forage- plants and timber to the present and prospective wants of the nation, as the region is opened to settlement, the probable increase in agricultural arens under cultivation and irrigation, and a system of tree- culture, and the sanitary conditions of the country as influencing immigration. In obedience to instructions received from you, our natural- history party, consisting of Mr. H. W. Henshaw, J. M. Rutter, and myself, left Santa Fe\ N. Mex., June 26, 1874, going thence via Albuquerque to Fort Wingate in New Mexico, thence to Camp Apache, Arizona, from there to Camp Grant, and next to Camp Bowie, reaching our most southern point in the Sanoita Valley, twelve miles below the now abandoned site of Camp Crittenden, and bence nearly to the Sonora line. Returning we came via Camp Lowell, near Tucson, to Camp Grant, and thence via San Carlos over the trail to Camp Apache, reaching it October 9. Here a side trip was made to the summit of the Sierra Blanoa. Though late in the season, important scientific results were derived from this trip. November 1 we left Camp Apache for Fort Craig, on the Rio Grande, distant one hundred and ninety mi^ es. Onr route lay by the now abaudoned post at Tnlerosa. From Fort Craig to Santa Fe* the road is through a country much traveled and well known. We reached Santa Fe", on the return, November 22. For the sake of convenience in this report, I will follow the route above indicated, taking each of the points mentioned somewhat as a center for the remarks on the botanical resources of the regions traversed. 8anta Fe\ at an altitude of 7,044 feet above sea- level, was in June probably looking its best. The mountains back of the city are made up largely of a coarse- grained red granite with many veins of quartz, some of which contain, varying quantities of silver, gold, copper, and lead. The slopes of the main axis show the Carboniferous rocks, and some remains of the Cretaceous. The whole aspect of the country impresses one with the important part erosion of the surface has played. As might be supposed, the soil on the level ground approaching the Rio Grande is such as would result from a mingling of detritus from the formations above named, i. e., lime, sand, and marl. Hence the soil can hardly be considered as unproductive from absence of the elements of fertility. The limited area of agriculture near Santa Fe* is determined by scarcity of water. These remarks are made at the outset, for they may be considered as haviug some application to the route, as far at least as Fort Wingate. On the low foot- hills between the city and the mountains there is a sparse growth of a dwarfed, branching, pine. It is the piflon of the natives and a form of Pinus edulis, Engelm, of the botanists. It is prized as much for the edible nuts it furnishes as for the fuel it supplies. The quantity of the terebinthinate it contains makes this wood burn with a very hot and rapid flame. Associated in about equal quantity with the piflon is a cedar, equally low and branching, but valuable for fencing pnrposes, & o. Farther back on the mountains there is a limited supply of pine and fir, ( principally Pinus ponderosa, Abies Douglasii and Abies concolor.) There is, however, probably enough to meet the demands for many years. Immediately around the town the pasturage is kept nipped off close by the stock that is turned out to seek a living as best it may. |
