BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 O 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
NEW MEXICO: 
 
 HEE KESOUKCES; HEK NECESSITIES FOE EAILEOAD 
 
 COMMUNICATION WITH THE ATLANTIC AND 
 
 PACIFIC STATES; HER GEEAT FUTUEE. 
 
 BY CHARLES P. CLEVER, '.&' 
 
 DELEGATE FROM NEW MEXICO. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 McGILL & TTITHEROW, PRINTERS AND STEREOTYPERS. 
 
 1868. 
 
Gb3 
 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., 
 
 January 8, 1868. 
 
 I am so often written to and questioned about New Mex- 
 ico, the Territory from which I have been returned as Dele- 
 gate, that I have considered it best to have printed such 
 general information about that country, and its resources, as 
 a few hours, snatched from those occupied by the duties of 
 my position, permit me to give. 
 
 In the sixteenth century, not long after the conquest of 
 Mexico, an expedition was fitted out in Culiacan to proceed 
 northward and eastward in search of the " Seven cities of 
 Cibola," one of which was Quivira, where rumor said that 
 gold abounded in great quantities. This rumor had been 
 brought by some two or three persons, one a negro, who 
 either had voluntarily wandered into that country of Cibola, 
 or had been forcibly carried there, and had afterwards made 
 their way back to their friends, the Spaniards. The expedi- 
 tion was commanded by Yasquez de Coronada, and, though 
 small, was made up of many who belonged to the chivalry 
 of Spain. It would be pleasant to trace out the route and 
 the adventures of this body of those gallant and hardy spirits 
 from the day they set out until their return; but the limits 
 of this slight sketch do not permit this. A journal was kept 
 by one Castenada, who belonged to the expedition, and this 
 has been published, and will be read with interest by all 
 
who seek to know of the early expeditions made by Euro- 
 peans into the heart of our country. 
 
 When the people belonging to Coronada's expedition re- 
 turned to the settled portions of the vice royalty of Mexico, 
 they imparted to their countrymen there a knowledge of the 
 beautiful and salubrious region they had visited. Settlers 
 began to migrate northward toward Sonora and Chihuahua, 
 and finally into "New Mexico. This was early in the seven- 
 teenth century. Farms were then opened, and large churches 
 were built by Indian labor under the direction of Catholic 
 missionaries; and, tradition says, that rich, mines were dis- 
 covered, in which the Indians were compelled by force, and 
 often by cruelty, to toil. At length, exasperated beyond 
 further endurance, they rose on their oppressors, and destroy- 
 ing many, drove all of the remainder out of New Mexico as 
 far southward as El Paso del Norte. This was in the month 
 of August, in the year 1680. 
 
 About twenty years afterwards, a new effort was made by 
 the Spaniards to settle the country. This was permanently 
 successful ; but the new comers for a long time never ven- 
 tured far from the valley of the Eio Grande. Back from 
 that river, away amidst the mountains, and on the plains, are 
 still seen the ruins of churches and monasteries which, as 
 ruins, excite admiration; and, from their remoteness, gran- 
 deur, and now utter loneliness, are subjects of wonder and 
 curious speculation. As they now interest the antiquary 
 and the ethnologist, so when time slips away, and the Scotts 
 and Schillers, and Byrons and Longfellows come there, then 
 they will be rebuilt and repeopled, and be known in enduring 
 song. The very veil of mystery which seems now to hang 
 about them, and about those who built them, will be appa- 
 rently rent away, and what is now but so lonely and so weird, 
 will then be made bright and enchanting forever. 
 
 Since the Territory of Arizona was set off" from New Mex- 
 ico, the latter Territory extends from longitude 103 to longi- 
 tude 109, west from Greenwich; and from latitude 31 30' 
 to latitude 37 north, and contains 121,201 square miles, 01 
 77,568,640 acres, The Rio Grande and the Pecos river are 
 
the principal rivers, which run through it from a northerly 
 to a southerly direction. The streams forming the head- 
 waters of the Canadian affluent to the Arkansas, are those 
 draining the eastern side of the Territory. Cordilleras of 
 the Rocky Mountains run from north to south, but are here 
 and there lost in the table lands to rise again further on, 
 either as isolated peaks, or as short sierras. From the most 
 eastern of these ranges, and extending toward the east, are vast 
 steppes, like terraces, one lower than the other, marking an- 
 cient levels of the country, the summits of which gradually 
 slope toward the Mississippi. Through these steppes during 
 the lapse of eons of ages, the rivers and streams have worn 
 for themselves channels, and grooved out valleys of the most 
 surpassing loveliness and of great fertility. The valley of 
 the Rio Grande and of the Pecos have been fashioned in the 
 same manner, and are intervales of Like character; but near 
 the head of the Pecos, and on each side of the upper Rio 
 Grande, the country rises into mountain peaks of indescrib- 
 a^le grandeur and beauty. 
 
 West of the Rio Grande lies a country of table lands, or 
 mesas, with broad valleys between. These mesas are also the 
 remains of a former level, and many of them, standing out 
 apart from others, resemble fortresses and castles of a size 
 sufficient to have been occupied by armies of Titans. Here 
 and there, amongst them, rises up a peak, now become an 
 extinct volcano. Down the side of these peaks, and over 
 some of the mesas I have described, and through valleys be- 
 tween mesas, once poured rivers of lava. Even now, as the 
 traveller comes to some of these rivers, they seem as if they 
 must have been suddenly arrested in their course, and been 
 cooled only a few years gone by into black and immovable 
 stone. 
 
 In the southwestern portion of the Territory there is a 
 range of high mountains extending from the Rio Grande far 
 into Arizona. The waters running off their southern slope 
 form the head-waters of the Miembres, which runs toward 
 Lake Guzman, in Chihuahua; and also form the head- 
 waters of the Gila, running westward into the Colorado. 
 
6 
 
 The mountains throughout New Mexico are clad with 
 forests of pine, spruce, cedar, fir, and other kindred trees. 
 At high altitudes the aspen is found in great quantities. 
 The foot hills and many of the mesas, are covered with the 
 pinon, often intermixed with cedar trees. Along the rivers 
 and streams, the natural growth is principally made up of 
 cotton woods, sycamores, hackherry, willow, wild grape vines, 
 &c. On streams in the southern part of the country, walnut 
 and oak are found ; but not to any great extent. The whole 
 of New Mexico may be said to be covered with grass ; for 
 even in the forests is found the year around the most luxuri- 
 ant grass. In the winter time, at very great altitudes, this 
 grass is covered with snow ; but it does not seem to be killed 
 to the ground, for as soon as the snow melts, it at once af- 
 fords excellent grazing. All over the mesas and through 
 the valleys, grows the grama, a grass justly celebrated for 
 its nutritious qualities. This does not wilt and become 
 effete in winter; but becomes cured as hay, just where it 
 stands, and the flocks and herds feed upon it all winter. It 
 may here be said, that New Mexico is so delightfully situated 
 as to climate, that, as a pastoral region, its grazing is not 
 destroyed by the cold storms and bleaching rains of the 
 countries farther north; nor is it burnt up or become 
 stunted and sparse, by the burning heats of the countries 
 further south. 
 
 The valleys of the rivers can all be successfully cultivated. 
 The cultivation of land in New Mexico is mainly by the 
 help of irrigation. It is true, it costs some labor to make 
 the ditches, but, then, the farmer is sure of a crop ; and the 
 running over his land of water highly charged with detritus, 
 made up of decayed vegetation and rich mould from the 
 mountains above, is a source of fertility. In this way the 
 land never wears out. Irrigation thus becomes a fertilizer. 
 
 The agricultural interests of New Mexico have heretofore 
 been confined to the raising of wheat, corn, beans, oats, 
 barley. In some localities in the north, potatoes grow well; 
 but along the valleys they cannot be successfully cultivated. 
 The chile, or red pepper, of which the Spanish people make 
 
some fine dishes, is grown in great abundance all over the 
 country. Since the Americans have gone to New Mexico, 
 nearly aU kinds of garden vegetables and fruits have been 
 introduced, and grow luxuriously and are of excellent size 
 and flavor. Peaches, apples, apricots, grapes, and in the 
 south, quinces, pomegranates and figs, can be grown as well 
 in ~New Mexico as in any part of the world. Indeed, with 
 such a variety of climate, and with such a rich and varied 
 soil, it is difficult to conceive of any kind of fruit, except 
 that which needs the fervor of a tropical sun, that could not 
 be grown within the boundaries of New Mexico. The 
 variety of the grape which is most cultivated in New Mex- 
 ico, cannot be surpassed for flavor by any grape in the world. 
 The wine made from it far surpasses the best Burgundy. It 
 requires but little labor to cultivate the vine, as no trellises 
 are used. In a few years the grape culture will be one of 
 the greatest and most profitable branches of industry in that 
 country. 
 
 The pastoral interests will be of the next greater value. 
 As before remarked, the whole country is a grazing country. 
 
 Those w T ho raise sheep and goats know that they want a 
 plenty of room and air. Half of the diseases incident to 
 these animals arise from having them huddled together in 
 yards or barns in cold weather. In New Mexico, the range 
 is so extensive the flocks can spread out, and can move over 
 different pasturage every successive day. No shelter is 
 needed in the winter time. In very cold weather the flocks 
 move southward, and when inclement storms come on go 
 down from the uplands to seek the genial shelter of some 
 neighboring canon. So, except to make a start in procuring 
 a flock of sheep or of goats, the cost of feeding and of at- 
 tending them, is a mere nominal sum. As soon as we can 
 introduce, by railroad, improved breeds of sheep, and the 
 Cashmere goat, we can compete with the world in the pro- 
 duction of fine wool, and of the exceedingly fine hair of 
 that goat. Of course, what is said of the facility and cheap- 
 ness of raising sheep and goats, will equally apply to the 
 raising of horses and cattle. We can therefore furnish the 
 
8 
 
 best of beef, and of butter and cheese, cheaper, when once 
 we are protected in the raising of stock from Indian depre- 
 dations, than any country in the world. Except for work, 
 cattle and horses, which are kept about the farms or foi 
 daily use, hardly any hay, or fodder, or corn need be put up. 
 The time is not far distant when our hills and mountains 
 will literally be covered with flocks and herds. 
 
 The mineral wealth of the country is simply enormous. 
 The almost daily discoveries of new lodes of gold and silver- 
 bearing quartz, and of auriferous placers, have ceased to be 
 a surprise in New Mexico. The people of intelligence and 
 knowledge of such matters, know that as soon as men with 
 capital can come and see what they see, then these mines will 
 yield untold millions. 
 
 New Mexico has her useful metals and minerals in the 
 greatest abundance. 
 
 I take the liberty of making some extracts from a very 
 able report on this subject, made in 1865, by Professor Rich- 
 ard Dale Owen, and by Professor E. T. Cox, both gentlemen 
 of great authority in the scientific world as geologists and 
 chemists. The report alluded to was published in this city 
 by the Hon. John S. Watts, formerly Delegate from New 
 Mexico, who has labored hard to bring to public notice the 
 value of that Territory : 
 
 "When, by a gradual ascent over the Plains, we reach the 
 foot of the Rocky mountains we do not find a vast succession 
 of promiscuously piled mountains; but we have several par- 
 allel ridges of crystaline rocks with sedimentary strata on 
 their flanks, and a second series of hypogene parallel ridges 
 with a trend diverging often 50 or more from the former; 
 this latter also sometimes further modifying the aqueous 
 beds. These together constitute the main dividing range 
 which separates the waters of the great Mississippi valley 
 from those which flow into the Pacific, while mesas or table 
 lands, formed by the overflow of volcanic rocks, have to 
 great extent levelled the intervening inequalities. 
 
 "In the Raton mountain, close to the stage road, we 
 examined a five-foot bed of bituminous coal, and on reach- 
 
9 
 
 tng the summit found fossil angiospermous dicotyledonous 
 leaves in shale of Cretaceous age. At the fine hacienda of 
 Mr. Maxwell, formerly hunter and guide in Fremont's expe- 
 dition, the proprietor pointed to his coal bed in the moun- 
 tain side, distinctly visible from the house, above aluminous 
 shales. Two miles N. E. of Santa Fe, we found a thin bed 
 of coal, coal plants, and carboniferous limestone. 
 
 " Near the Placer mountain we examined a bed almost 
 five feet thick of the best anthracite, altered by porphyritic 
 contact; the same porphyry dike five miles from there, in 
 the gold diggings of Placer, bringing up almost to a vertical 
 position the carboniferous limestone and superincumbent 
 sandstone, again forming a breccia near the junction; the 
 whole overlaid by cretaceous, judging from the fragments 
 of silicious coniferous wood, the same as seen at Galisteo 
 creek. Lieutenant Simpson, in his expedition with Colonel 
 Washington, found bituminous coal abundant on the Rio 
 Puerco ; and General Carleton observed a bed on Rabbit Ear 
 creek. Coal is also dug near Fort Craig, and we heard of 
 it in other parts of southern New Mexico. 
 
 "For convenience of reference, details will be given 1, 
 of gold mines; 2, of silver; 3, of copper; 4, of iron and 
 other metallic ores ; 5, of mineral products not metallic. 
 
 " 1. Gold mines. 
 
 "A. Old Placer mine, in Placer mountain, twenty-seven 
 miles S. S. E. from Santa Fe'. The mountain -is situated 
 about the point of intersection for the Jemez range, if not 
 interrupted by the Rio Grande, with the prolongation of the 
 Rocky mountain range, which passes east of Santa Fe, the 
 main mass being a felspathic syenite, the summit estimated 
 at about 8,000 feet high; but the mountain slope cut through, 
 at less than 7,000 feet above the ocean, by a N. K E. por- 
 phyritic dike, which, in its eruption, has brought carboni- 
 ferious strata to the surface. As the name indicates, these 
 o\d placer diggings were worked by washing the soil, although 
 undoubtedly many auriferous sands cannot be traced to 
 their origin, yet here, by ascending higher to the vein which 
 furnished the gold detritus, a quartz rock is quarried and 
 2 
 
10 
 
 brought down to the mill to be worked. The highest, or 
 Ortiz vein, by my barometer, 6,950 feet above the sea, has 
 been reached by shafts at numerous openings, which show 
 that the vein trends chiefly E. of BT., although two northerly 
 openings bear somewhat west. The deepest shaft, affording 
 the best ore, has reached a depth of over 150 feet, and when 
 carried further down, may be expected to develop ore of 
 greater value. The ladders being decayed, we could not 
 descend that shaft, but by an inspection of others, and of 
 the ore thrown out at the deep shaft, we ascertained that the 
 wall rock is highly felspathic, and contains much iron, the 
 vein is from one to four feet wide, and the gangue a porous 
 drusy ferruginous quartz. 
 
 " Here, as in California, it is considered more favorable to 
 find gold in rocks, where it is not visible to the naked eye, 
 than to find occasional rich lumps, the latter being in pockets 
 and giving out sooner, while the minutely diffused is persis- 
 tent. Such is the character of the quartz vein in the Ortiz 
 mine, particularly of those pieces having a porous ferrugin- 
 ous appearance. 
 
 "A short distance from this mine extensive works have 
 been erected, a reservoir has been constructed across the 
 outflow from a spring so as to save the water; a steam 
 engine of forty-horse power drives the quartz crushers, be- 
 sides giving motion to an arastra (or circular bed often made 
 of phorphyry blocks) which was nearly completed when we 
 were there, on which the crushed ore is more minutely pul- 
 verized and intimately amalgamated. On the old inferior 
 method, we learn that for several years the average from 
 this mine was sufficient to remunerate those engaged in it; 
 and it is anticipated that on the more improved plan, now 
 being introduced, much more will be realized ; as formerly, 
 the dirt which had been run off and rejected, was made to 
 afford profit by rewashing. The annual yield, we learn, has 
 resulted as high as $40,000 to $50,000 ; even according to 
 Gregg, in his ' Commerce of the Praries/ to $80,000 in the 
 years 1832 and 1835. 
 
 " The Cuningham works are a short distance further east, 
 
11 
 
 in the same mountain where the porphyritic trap described 
 in the general geology, has brought up and formed a breccia 
 with a carboniferous limestone, and at other places with the 
 overlying sandstone. The same breccia may be found yet 
 higher toward the Ortiz openings, wherever the porphyry 
 protrudes. At the Cuningham excavations the dike is fifty 
 to sixty feet wide, and as the feldspar is decomposing, this 
 brecciated rock is easily worked for gold and made profit- 
 able, although affording a lower percentage of metal than 
 the Ortiz and adjoining Tunica quartz veins. 
 
 The ore from the Ortiz mine, after being crushed and 
 pulverized, and after being separated from the rock and 
 magnetic iron ore, afforded on digestion with nitric acid and 
 being freed from impurities, a quantity* equal to three 
 ounces and two pennyweights of gold to the ton of 2,000 
 pounds of the ore. This, at the present value of the metal, 
 worth in paper money from $36 to $40 per ounce would con- 
 sequently be considerably over $100 to the ton ; a very heavy 
 percentage when we consider, as already stated, that in 
 California, companies with suitable machinery, work profit- 
 ably ore affording $20 a ton or even sometimes that which 
 realizes only $10 per ton. 
 
 "B. Gold in quartz veins near San Jose copper mine. 
 Not more than a mile or at most a mile and a half west of 
 the San Jose copper mine, we saw at least six parallel quartz 
 veins, some of which had been extensively and profitably 
 worked for gold until the miners were driven off' by the 
 Indians. The veins run somewhat E. of N. and W. of S. 
 across a porphyritic ridge, which in its W. of N". course has 
 tilted the sandstone with an easterly dip. From these works 
 samples were also taken for examination and analysis. 
 Specimens of gold quartz from many other localities were 
 
 *Since the above, Mr. Cox has forwarded an analysis of the gold, &c., 
 thus obtained from the Ortiz gold quartz in the Placer mountain. 
 The result afforded : Gold, 99.170 
 
 Silver, .782 
 
 Iridium, .048 
 
 100.000 
 
12 
 
 brought us for inspection, chiefly by soldiers, affording strong 
 evidence of the mineral wealth both of New Mexico and 
 Arizona; but we deem it best to confine our detailed re- 
 port to those regions which we visited personally, mention- 
 ing only casually such as, from the testimony of others, 
 might merit future attention. Regarding the various modes 
 of working these gold ores, it may not be improper to add 
 that Tire's recommendation, based chiefly, however, on the 
 experience obtained in European and South American gold 
 mines, is not to melt directly with lead, (as has been pro- 
 posed by some connected with the Placer,) unless the ore is 
 remarkably rich. He adds : ' These processes are little 
 practiced, because they are less economical than amalga- 
 mation.' 
 
 " C. We heard of gold in placer diggings twenty-five or 
 thirty miles north of Fort Stanton, but had no opportunity 
 of examining the locality. 
 
 " 2. Silver mines. The chief localities furnishing this pre- 
 cious metal, which we had an opportunity to visit, exhibit 
 the silver in combination with lead. In most instances an 
 approximate result was readily obtained, through cupellation 
 on a small scale, under the flame of the blowpipe. The ores 
 will, however, all be subjected to rigid analysis for exact 
 quantitative determination. 
 
 "A. The San Adelia and Stevenson mine in Organ moun- 
 tain. These are so near each other, as you are aware, (being 
 perhaps two miles apart in a direct line in the same range,) 
 that they may be described under one head, although owned 
 separately. 
 
 " The Organ mountain, as far up as we examined it, is 
 composed of a granitic porphyry, which in its protrusion has 
 elevated not only the sandstone several hundred feet on its 
 western slope, but has even brought up the carboniferous 
 limestone. This occurs especially near the San Adelia mine, 
 where the limestone is metamorphosed in places to a beau- 
 tiful white chrystaline marble. Several parallel quartz veins 
 have also cut through in a northerly and southerly direction, 
 and it is in these the metal chiefly occurs. The Stevenson 
 
13 
 
 mine has been extensively worked, chiefly for the argentif- 
 erous galena, at five separate openings, each having a dis- 
 tinctive name. This ore afforded a good globule of silver 
 when cupelled under the blow-pipe; but it will be further 
 tested on a larger scale. Some openings, however, are 
 worked for their copper ores, vitreous copper, malachite and 
 azurite, occasionally associated with calcspar, at other times 
 having a gangue of baryta. The amount of silver lead ore 
 seems large, as the vein or lode frequently is five to six feet 
 wide, never less than two feet, with the ore diffused pretty 
 well through it. The highest opening, called San Domingo, 
 near the summit of the uptilted sandstone, is about 1,400 
 feet above Las Cruces; the mesa itself at the foot of the 
 mines being about six hundred feet above the town, and 
 fifteen or sixteen miles distant from it. Extending for half 
 a mile or more from the flanks of the Organ mountain, near 
 those mines, are interesting moraines, or lines at regular 
 intervals, of deposited boulders, chiefly porphyritic, the red 
 variety more decomposed than the grey. B. We did not 
 personally examine any other silver mines; but we received 
 specimens of argentiferous galena from Pinos Altos, Apache 
 Pass, and Stone Corral, all of which silver lead, judging from 
 the blow-pipe examinations, would afford remunerative quan- 
 tities of silver, provided the ore is as abundant as repre- 
 sented. 
 
 " 3. Copper mines. 
 
 "A. Hanover Copper Mine. 
 
 " To reach this region from Mesilla by way of Fort Cum- 
 mings, the road past the Miembres river, hot springs, and 
 Santa Eita, is about one hundred and ten miles; but it is only 
 ninety miles from Fort Craig to the Hanover mines, by a 
 direct S. W. route practicable for wagons. The Hanover 
 mines are situated about 6,350 feet above the ocean, where 
 a syeuetic granite, having large hexagonal crystals of mica, 
 has elevated the carboniferous limestone two hundred feet 
 up the west flank of the mountain; but the openings, of which 
 there are many, are near the first appearance of the aqueous 
 rock in the narrow valley, in which also the furnace is erected. 
 
14 
 
 The granitic range has a strike W. of ]$["., and bringing the 
 limestone up in that direction, gives it on the W. flank, a 
 ~W. of S. dip. This axis is crossed by a highly ferruginous 
 rock, sometimes a pure magnetic iron ore, trending appa- 
 rently rather in dike form E. of N"., and forming frequently 
 in places with the adjacent aqueous rock, for a considerable 
 distance, immense masses cf breccia. Near these disturbing 
 forces a sixty-three feet shaft has been sunk, and various 
 tunnels run, exposing extensive deposits of copper, often 
 green or blue carbonate, sometimes native copper in the de- 
 composing feldspar of the granite; occasionally (especially at 
 the openings down the valley from the furnace) as vitreous 
 copper, sometimes as grey copper. An analysis of this mal- 
 achite or green carbonate of copper, has been forwarded by 
 Mr. Cox since the above was written. The result was, oxide 
 of copper 72.64=58 per cent, of metallic copper. The ore 
 occurs ramifying, sometimes for fifty or sixty feet in width, 
 through the decomposing feldspar, forms therein rich deposits 
 and extends vertically below any point yet reached. In some 
 places, where the iron ore described above intersects, it forms 
 the gangue, but is easily detached mechanically. 
 
 " The smelting, from all that we saw and could learn from 
 Mr. Hinkel, the former proprietor, now involves much less 
 labor and expense than is common in Europe. This gentle- 
 man had studied metallurgy in his native country, Saxony, 
 and had erected extensive works, which were paying well, 
 when he was driven off by the Indians, and compelled by 
 his extensive losses to sell out most of his interest in said 
 mines. Much of the machinery remains there, and the fur- 
 naces are standing. He ran the mixed ores first through 
 high, narrow furnaces, and completed the work in those of 
 a reverberatory form, running the metal into iron moulds, 
 which were procured at a cost of six hundred dollars, and 
 which we saw still undisturbed at the time of our visit. 
 
 " In Germany it was not unusual, some years since, to roast 
 for many months, and then to submit the copper to at least 
 five distinct sm citings; a labor rendered unnecessary at these 
 mines in consequence of the purity of the ore. 
 
15 
 
 " The copper thus shipped to the States has commanded, 
 ever since it was tried, a ready market at a price equal to that 
 of the best Russia copper. It is said to be a trifle harder than 
 that of Santa Kita, hence more suitable for nails, bolt heads, 
 and similar work in sheathing vessels. 
 
 "This is probaly due to a slight admixture of iron, not 
 eliminated in the imperfect mode of smelting adopted, until 
 better machinery was obtained. The necessary materials 
 had been purchased, and the improvements were in process 
 of construction, when the Indian troubles commenced. 
 
 " On the hills and mountains around the Hanover furnace 
 there is abundant timber for charcoal and fuel; pines, pinon, 
 some walnut, and a good deal of oak. The sandstone, already 
 mentioned, is in places suitable for furnace hearthstones; the 
 syenite, when porphyritic, we observed to be very durable, 
 especially that of a grey color, at least as far as we could 
 judge from the weathering; and the limestone remote from 
 the locality, in which its condition was, as already described, 
 highly metamorphosed, will readily burn into lime. Water 
 is unfailing from some springs, and is in sufficient quantity 
 for the purposes of washing the ore, by constructing a short 
 race or aqueduct (acequia), and thus obtaining additional 
 force. Gramma grass, somewhat lower in the valley, is of 
 the finest quality anywhere seen during our explorations; it 
 was over two feet high, and would cut two tons of hay to the 
 acre, when we were there October 23, 1864. 
 
 " B. Santa Eita mines. 
 
 " These are situated on the same range, a few miles further 
 south, and about three hundred and fifty feet lower than the 
 Hanover furnace. The ore is of a similar character, and has 
 been profitably worked for many years, probably for two 
 centuries, by Spaniards and Mexicans. The native copper, 
 which is as pure as that of Lake Superior, is washed out from 
 the decomposing feldspar, and smelted with the malachite 
 and azurite. 
 
 "Besides many tons of ore abandoned here, when the 
 workmen were driven off by the Indians, we noticed much 
 
16 
 
 valuable machinery, including the latest improvement for 
 obtaining the blast. 
 
 " It seems highly probable that good copper ore could be 
 found abundantly, not only along the entire distance between 
 Hanover and Santa Rita, but also from the indications, in 
 some of the parallel ridges; and even in the prolongation 
 of the Santa Rita range to San Jose, the next which we pro- 
 ceed to describe. 
 
 "C. San Jose Mines. 
 
 " These are 150 feet lower than the Santa Rita mines, and 
 somewhat west of south of them. The ore, however, is still 
 nearly of the same character, and very abundant. It occurs 
 chiefly where quartz veins, bearing E. of N., cut through 
 the W. of !N". porphyritic range. The malachite and azurite 
 predominate here. 
 
 "D. Jemez Copper Mines. 
 
 v "From this locality, which is situated about fifty miles 
 \pest of Santa Fe*, about 1,100 pounds of ore were obtained 
 for transportation to the States in order to be fairly tested on 
 a large scale. The ore is chiefly vitreous copper, often coated 
 with malachite.* 
 
 " Although snow had already fallen to a considerable ex- 
 tent, we found time, after completing our other work, to 
 visit this locality. We observed the copper in sheets under 
 heavy beds of sandstone, at an elevation of about 6,000 feet 
 above the ocean in the northern part of the canon of San 
 Diego. 
 
 " 4. Iron and other metallic ores. 
 
 " A. At the Hanover copper mines there is an inexhaust- 
 able supply of good iron ore, partly magnetic, partly a red 
 hematite, apparently in a continuous ridge, trending towards 
 a reported iron mountain, about fifteen miles distant, which 
 has already been mentioned as having been examined by 
 Captain "Whitlock. At the Placer mountain, twenty-seven 
 miles south of Santa Fe, we found also a considerable amount 
 
 * Since the above was written, Mr. Cox has forwarded the result of his ex- 
 amination of this ore, on a small scale, while awaiting the arrival of the 
 boxes. The virteous copper afforded 60 per cent, of metallic copper. 
 
17 
 
 of good iron ore, such as would probably justify the erection 
 of a Catalan Forge owners of mills and others requiring 
 small jobs, having at present to send to the States for their 
 castings and other heavy job work in iron. The whole 
 country afforded evidence of abundant deposits of this use- 
 ful metal, but that at the Placer, if sufficiently abundant, as 
 it appeared to be, would prove especially valuable on account 
 of its proximity to good anthracite coal, only six miles dis- 
 tant. That fuel would serve to generate steam and give, 
 if desired, impetus to a forge-hammer and other machinery, 
 which might be connected with the iron works as well as 
 to the quartz crushing and grinding apparatus for the gold 
 ore. * * * 
 
 " C. Kaolin, or Decomposed Feldspar. 
 
 "About two miles in a direct line southerly from the San 
 Jose copper mines, we found a layer of beautifully white* and 
 decomposing feldspar, in the porphyritic granite, sufficient 
 to supply many works for years with the best material for 
 porcelain. The bed averages about four feet in thickness, 
 and was traced laterally two hundred yards and upwards. 
 Apparently it extends entirely through the mountain, and 
 the decomposition is probably the result of metamorphism. 
 This kaolin much resembles the deposit in Arkansas, fully 
 described in the State Geological Report. Other localities 
 were observed in which the feldspar of the granitic rocks had 
 thoroughly decomposed, but none were so purely white as 
 the above. 
 
 " The climate is so unsurpassed that if there were uo other 
 inducement to immigration into that territory, many who, as 
 soldiers or travellers, have once experienced its delights, 
 would scarcely be satisfied elsewhere afterwards. The light, 
 dry, electrical atmosphere, gives a zest to mere existence, 
 irrespective of any other source of enjoyment, seldom if 
 ever experienced, I think, in any but climates of a similar 
 character, such as Mexico and southern California. 
 
 " The country needs only a railroad to develop its capa- 
 bilities. That could, for the most part of the route, be con- 
 structed at a very low cost per mile, as there would be very 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 little cutting and filling, scarcely any important culverts or 
 bridges until we reach the mountains. Even then, by adopt- 
 ing the Cimarron route, the Raton Pass is avoided, and on 
 arriving at the dividing ridge we can surmount the pass by 
 way of Pigion's ranch along a gradual ascent from near the 
 Pecos of not over 600 feet in ten miles. Usually this slope 
 could be obtained without much blasting, as far as I could 
 judge by a passing survey, but should this or even tunnel- 
 ing be rendered necessary, the granitic rocks of that sum- 
 mit are by no means very refractory. The further route, 
 either by the 35th or 32d parallel, is well known from the 
 Pacific railroad surveys, to encounter no serious difficulties. 
 By having it connect near Bent's old fort, with the northern 
 route passing near Pike's Peak, cross the Rocky Mountains 
 between Santa F^ and Albuquerque, and pursue either of 
 the parallels above indicated, the railroad would pass through 
 the rich mineral regions of New Mexico and Arizona, and 
 reach the Pacific amid, the rich cotton and vine portions of 
 California. 
 
 "The amount of energy, enterprise, and wealth, which 
 would thus be developed, can scarcely be over estimated. 
 Mention has already been made of the abundant supply of 
 coal which could be obtained along this route ; and by fol- 
 lowing the river courses from bend to bend, which would 
 require no great deviation from a direct line, the supply of 
 water would be equally favorable. 
 
 "The climate, the immense mineral wealth and facility for 
 making money, the chances for speculation and the good 
 profit by taking Government contracts, by freighting, mer- 
 chandising, ranching, owning stock, cultivating vineyards, 
 and the like, will no doubt continue to make this territory, 
 as it already is, a favorite resort for those desiring to better 
 their condition in health or wealth." 
 
 Since the report was published, from which the foregoing 
 extracts have been made, a very great number of new veins 
 of gold and silver bearing quartz have been discovered. 
 During the summer of 1867, General James H. Carleton, of 
 the army, who has resided many years in New Mexico, vis- 
 

 19 
 
 ited some of the mineral regions in that Territory, and wrote 
 a letter for publication, which gives the results of his obser- 
 vation. Here is the letter : 
 
 " PINOS ALTOS, NEW MEXICO. 
 " To the Editor of the Santa Fe Gazette: 
 
 " It may not be uninteresting to your readers to know 
 something about the town of Pinos Altos, in the southwest- 
 ern portion of the Territory; a town that is now attracting 
 no little attention from the reports which are circulating that 
 it is the central point of a region very rich in the precious 
 metals. As I have recently made a visit to Pinos Altos, it 
 affords me pleasure to give you for publication the results of 
 my observations and inquiries with reference to the resources 
 of that place, and of the country in its immediate vicinity. 
 On the 15th of last month, Hon. Charles P. Clever, His Ex- 
 cellency Robert B. Mitchell, Captain John Pratt, the Mar- 
 shal of New Mexico, and myself, left the valley of the Rio 
 Grande at Fort Selden, N. M., where there is a fine ferry, 
 for Fort Cummings, N. M., distant, say, fifty-five miles. 
 
 "From Fort Cummings to the Miembres it is eighteen and 
 three-fourth miles. Here the road for Arizona bears off to 
 left, while that for Fort Bayard and Pinos Altos keeps on- 
 ward, gradually inclining to the right from a west to nearly 
 a northwest course. At about six miles from the Miembres 
 we came to what is known as the Hot Spring. This spring 
 is of a very high temperature, sufficiently so to cook an egg 
 if it be I'^t down into the water where it first comes up out 
 of the earth. The water seems to be highly charged with 
 lime, has some iron in it, and, to a small degree, some salt. 
 There may be other substances in it, but none are abundant 
 enough to render the water unpalatable when it has become 
 cold. The lime which the water has held in solution by an 
 excess of carbonic acid, and by the heat, has been precipi- 
 tated around the spring in such a quantity, in the way of tra- 
 vertine, as to form a mound some twenty-five feet higher than 
 the surrounding plain. The ascent to the summit of this 
 mound is very gradual. For many ages, doubtless, the water 
 
20 
 
 has ceased boiling .over the summit, and the travertine be- 
 coming more or less decayed, has given way here and there, 
 and allowed it to find small channels through to the outer 
 sides of the slope below the top. These channels have thus 
 drained the spring until the surface of the water has gone 
 down, say, five or six feet. It still has a depth of ten or 
 twelve feet, and a diameter of, say, fifteen feet or more. 
 There is water enough running in all directions from this 
 spring, if carefully husbanded, to irrigate quite a farm. Some 
 nice bathing-rooms have been erected on the northern slope 
 of the mound ; and here, also, is quite an extensive adobe 
 residence, with fine rooms for those who come for the benefit 
 of the water. Here, too, corn and hay can be got, and good 
 meals, with a plenty of fresh butter and milk, A gentleman 
 named Mastin keeps this place, and is making here other 
 improvements than those mentioned. It is said that the In- 
 dians never come here for water, and that they avoid it as 
 bad medicine. The people living here have considerable 
 stock, but do not seem to fear that it will be stolen from the 
 corrals. No watch is kept over this stock during the night. 
 A mile beyond the hot spring is an abundance of fine, clear, 
 cold water. Thence to Fort Bayard, say seventeen miles, 
 the road is somewhat rough in places from loose stones, but 
 as a general thing it is most excellent. The scenery on either 
 hand, and in front, is of the most charming description, and 
 the air, at you gradually ascend toward the mountains to the 
 northwest, becomes cool and invigorating. One could hardly 
 imagine a more delightful drive than this, from the hot 
 spring to Fort Bayard. 
 
 " Fort Bayard, as yet, is only an assemblage of log houses. 
 It has a capacity for some three or four companies. It was 
 intended to build the fort of a more durable material. Some 
 stone foundations, for the permanent quarters, have already 
 been commenced. A post of four companies of cavalry and 
 two of infantry, at this place, would be strong enough soon 
 to drive off or destroy the marauding Apaches, which now 
 are so great an obstacle to the filling up by farmers, stock- 
 growers, and miners of this important part of New Mexico. 
 
21 
 
 " This post is about half way between the Santa Rita cop- 
 per mines and the town of Pinos Altos, by roads you are 
 obliged to travel if you are in a carriage. By an air-line, the 
 copper mines are nearest. As the crow flies, Pinos Altos is 
 about eight miles west of Fort Bayard, and the Santa Rita 
 mines are about five miles eastwardly from the post. The 
 Hanover copper mine is about seven miles in an air-line, in 
 a northerly direction from the post. From the summit of 
 the ridge east of the copper mines, and say, three miles dis- 
 tant, to eight or ten miles west of Pinos Altos, there is a belt 
 of country, say thirty miles long, from jST. E. to S. "W., by 
 ten miles broad, that is known to be filled with rich veins of 
 gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and other metals in combina- 
 tion. Outside of this tract it is believed there is an abund- 
 ance of mines just as valuable; but that part of the country 
 has not been so carefully examined as the tract here described. 
 The whole of this country is well wooded and covered with 
 fine pasturage, and there are several streams of permanent 
 water upon it. During the rainy season, and for some weeks 
 after it is over, nearly all of the arroyos have more or less of 
 water in them. 
 
 " On the 19th of June, we went to Pinos Altos, and staid 
 there until the 22d. We were hospitably entertained by 
 the citizens, and they took every pains to give us all possible 
 information in relation to the town and the mines. The his- 
 tory of the place may be summed up in a few words. 
 
 " In May, 1860, a Colonel Snively and a party of California 
 miners came to this region and discovered gold near the 
 present site of the town of Pinos Altos, in what is known 
 as Rich Gulch. In June of that year people commenced 
 coming, to work in placers. In December, 1860, there were, 
 say, fifteen hundred here from Chihuahua, Sonora, Texas, and 
 from California. They, at that time, averaged to the hand 
 some ten or fifteen dollars per day. Other gulches were 
 discovered during the fall and summer of 1860. In Decem- 
 ber, 1860, the first quartz mine was discovered by Mr. 
 Thomas Mastin, with a party of prospecters. This vein is 
 called the Pacific mine ; it runs through the hill or rnoun- 
 
22 
 
 tain, rather, which constitutes the f divide' of the continent, 
 and has been worked on each slope of that mountain. 
 
 " In the spring of 1861, this mine was bought by Mr. Virgil 
 Mastiri, a brother of the discoverer, and it was successfully 
 worked during the rest of that year. During 1861, the 
 Apache Indians made formidable raids on the stock of the 
 miners, and nearly stripped them of the means to prosecute 
 their labors. A severe battle was fought between the miners 
 and a band of this tribe, under Mangas Coloradas and Ca- 
 chees. The Indians numbered about five hundred warriors, 
 and came directly into the town now known as Pinos Altos, 
 which the miners had established in a point central to the 
 scene of their labors. This was on the 27th of September, 
 1861. Captain Thomas Mastin, who commanded a company 
 of volunteers, was killed in this fight. The Indians were 
 driven off, but the impression they had made on the minds 
 of the inhabitants of the town was so great as to induce the 
 most of the latter to go away. The breaking out of the re- 
 bellion also had the effect to induce many to leave. A few 
 only held on, and amongst them was, Mr. Virgil Mastin, 
 who foresaw the future development of the great wealth and 
 promise of this region. 
 
 "Not much was done in discovering or in testing the 
 merits of new leads from 1861 to 1864, when still another 
 attempt was made to work the Pacific mine, and a few other 
 mines which Mr. Virgil Mastin had meantime discovered. 
 These latter lodes are known as the Atlantic, Adriatic, and 
 Bear Creek. The work commenced on these had been 
 prosecuted but a short time, when the Apaches again came 
 and stripped the miners of their stock. This caused another 
 suspension of nearly all further labors until 1866, when Mr. 
 Virgil Mastin, Mr. Samuel J. Jones, Mr. Joseph Reynolds, 
 Mr. J. Edgar Griggs, and Mr. Jacob Amberg, organized a 
 company, under the name and style of ' The Pinos Altos 
 Mining Company J under charter granted by the Legislature 
 of New Mexico. This company has three lodes, viz, the 
 Pacific, Atlantic, and Bear Creek. Its stock consists of four 
 hundred shares, at five hundred dollars par value per share, 
 
23 
 
 which stock is owned as follows : Virgil Mastin has one 
 hundred and twenty; Samuel J. Jones has sixty; Jacob 
 Arnberg has one hundred; Joseph Reynolds has sixty, and 
 J. Edgar Griggs has sixty. NOUQ of the shares are for sale. 
 The company has now a steam mill in the town of Pinos 
 Altos, which drives three batteries of five stamps each. 
 When all three batteries are kept at work night and day, they 
 crush twenty tons of ore in twenty-four hours. The aver- 
 age yield of ore extracted from the Pacific mine is from 
 eighty to one hundred and fifty dollars per ton. Ore can be 
 selected from this lead which will yield one thousand dollars 
 per ton. This mill is not, as yet, crushing ore taken from 
 the Atlantic and Bear Creek lodes; but ore taken from 
 these has been reduced in arastras, and has yielded as much 
 as ore taken from the Pacific. The Atlantic lies east of 
 Pinos Altos one and a half miles; the Bear Creek half a 
 mile to the south of the town, and the Pacific one and a half 
 miles to the west. On this latter lead or lode a tunnel has 
 already been drifted seven hundred and thirteen feet. Its 
 eastern terminus is on the Atlantic slope of the mountain. 
 Its western terminus, when the tunnel is completed, will de- 
 bouch upon the Pacific slope. Then the tunnel will be six- 
 teen hundred feet long. Midway it passes under the crest 
 of the mountain, where an air-shaft is run down, which will 
 enter the tunnel one hundred and twenty-one feet below the 
 summit. This tunnel is six and a half feet high, and is five 
 feet wide. A tram-way is laid down upon its floor, and on 
 this is a small car, which carries out the ore as fast as it is 
 mined by the workmen drifting in the tunnel. It costs, to 
 extract ore from the mine, not to exceed six dollars per ton. 
 It costs, delivered at the mill in town, eight dollars and fifty 
 cents. This covers all expenses,, including extracting, haul- 
 ing, &c., &c. The actual expense of crushing this ore is 
 about three dollars per ton. 
 
 " The Pacific vein is from three to eleven feet wide, and 
 is inexhaustable. It contains gold, silver, and, in places, a 
 small proportion of copper. The company has nearly com- 
 pleted furnaces for the smelting of the silver ores taken from 
 
24 
 
 this mine. These will yield in dollars, per ton, more than 
 the gold ores heretofore alluded to. The cost of smelting 
 siver ores per ton will be twenty-five per cent, less than the 
 cost of crushing the gold ores. 
 
 "There are now, within a radius of six miles from the 
 centre of the town of Pinos Altos, over six hundred lodes 
 of gold and silver, as I have been informed by good au- 
 thority. Several of them prospect equal to those mentioned. 
 Among them are ' The Bear Creek Extension,' owned by 
 Captain William L. Rynerson and company; 'The Santa 
 Juliana/ owned by 'The Bay State Pinos Altos Mining 
 Company ;' ' The Montezuma Silver Mine,' owned by Langs- 
 ton and company; 'The Langston Mine,' (silver) owned by 
 Langston and company; 'The Turkey Creek,' ' Weirt,' and 
 'Aztec,' owned by Mastin, Reynolds and company ; ' The 
 Santo Domingo Pinos Altos silver and lead mine ;' ' The 
 Perdido Silver Mine,' owned by Davis, Mastin and com- 
 pany; 'The Forest Tree' silver mine, owned by Long 
 Brothers and company; 'Summit,' gold and silver lode, 
 'Mantic' and 'Indigo,' owned by Rynerson, Stone and com- 
 pany; 'The Aztec E~o. 2,' owned by Reed, Jones and com- 
 pany; and 'The Mechanics,' and 'The Central,' owned by 
 Owens and company ; ' The Extension to Montezuma ' and 
 'The Extension to the Langston,' have been opened up and 
 are owned by Howard, Ward and company; 'The Variety 
 Lode ' is owned by William Kness and company. Mr. 
 Houston has also a very rich gold lead, and St. Vrain and 
 company a lead rich in silver and lead. Bates, Cooper and 
 company have also a fine lead near town, called ' The Buck- 
 eye.' All of the gentlemen named, and others who have 
 found and perfected their titles to leads at and near Pinos 
 Altos, deserve great credit for their energy and persever- 
 ance under the most discouraging circumstances. E"ow, in 
 all the gulches, or ravines, which come down from the slopes 
 of the neighboring mountains, the earth is rich in gold, and, 
 in the rainy season, will yield to the hand per day an average 
 of from five to six dollars. 
 
 " The population in October, 1866, at the time of renew- 
 
25 
 
 ing operations by the Pinos Altos Mining Company, did not 
 exceed sixty miners. They now number from eight hun- 
 dred to one thousand, and have erected and are now build- 
 ing some very comfortable dwelling-houses and some com- 
 modious stores at Pinos Altos. Here provisions can be 
 bought at reasonable rates. For example : superfine flour 
 can be bought at eleven dollars per sack of one hundred 
 pounds ; and bacon, hams, sugar, coffee, &c., at proportionate 
 prices. Most all articles required by miners, such as cloth- 
 ing, tools, blasting-powder, and fuse, &c.,&c., can be purchased 
 at moderate prices. The country is well timbered, and the 
 climate unsurpassed in salubrity by any within our boun- 
 daries between the two oceans. Pinos Altos is something 
 over five thousand feet above the sea level. It is built ex- 
 actly on the summit of the great chain of mountains divid- 
 ing the waters falling into the Atlantic from those falling 
 into the Pacific. As the town increases in size, it will be 
 built down either slope. It is eight miles from Fort Bay- 
 ard ; thirty miles from the Miembres Hot Springs ; thirty- 
 six miles from Miembres river; thirteen miles from the Santa 
 Hita copper mines; from Mesilla, on the Rio Grande, one 
 hundred and fifteen miles ; from Fort Selden, one hundred 
 and ten miles ; from old Fort West, on the Gila river, thirty 
 miles ; and from Tucson, Arizona, one hundred and seven. 
 
 " Freight can be hauled to Pinos Altos from Mesilla, Las 
 Cruces, and Fort Selden, for two and a-half cents per pound. 
 
 " The information I have here given has been gathered 
 from personal observation, and from the statements of those 
 who live at Pinos Altos, and who are persons of credit. It 
 is my opinion, that before six years shall have passed away, 
 there will be a town at or near Pinos Altos larger than the 
 city of Denver. It may be doubted if there is on the known 
 surface of the earth an equal number of square miles on 
 which may be found as many as rich and extensive veins of 
 the useful, as well as of the precious metals, as at and near 
 Pinos Altos, New Mexico. As soon as a few mills demonstrate 
 the real value of even a few of the mines, capital will be sure 
 to drift in that direction to develop them all. It is possible 
 
26 
 
 that mills for crushing ores, if erected in large nurrfbers, will, 
 for convenience of water, be built down on Bear creek, or 
 even at the nearest point upon the Gila ; but the ores are so 
 rich they will pay the transportation upon a railroad to the 
 Gila river. The whole distance is a ' down ' grade. It re- 
 quires no stretch of the imagination, nor any effort of fancy, 
 to contemplate a time, close at hand, when the smokes of 
 numerous furnaces and the noise of stamp-mills will be seen 
 and heard throughout all this region. The elements of 
 wealth and material prosperity are surely there, and just so 
 soon as those who hold capital can become convinced by 
 actual observation, or by proof gathered from the experience 
 of others, that money invested in quartz-mills, in smelting 
 furnaces, in foundries, and in machine shops, will yield a 
 larger per cent., profit than when loaned on good securities, 
 if put into other branches of trade or industry elsewhere, just 
 that soon will it float to Pinos Altos, and ur;e forward the 
 
 ~ o 
 
 development of that region with an energy that will yet sur- 
 prise even those who have been hopeful of the mineral wealth 
 of New Mexico. 
 
 "It was near the end of June when we returned to the Rio 
 Grande. At Fort Selden, at Las Cruces, and at Mesilla, as 
 well as wherever we stopped on our way back to Santa Fe, 
 we met with the greatest kindness and the most generous 
 hospitality. One could hardly imagine a more delightful or 
 interesting journey than that would be to a stranger going 
 from Santa Fe to Las Cruces and Mesilla, and thence to the 
 mineral region at Pinos Altos. 
 
 " The Old Placers. 
 
 "Four years ago, Governor Connelly, Col. T. Howe Watts, 
 Major DeForrest, and myself, paid a visit to the mines known 
 as the Old Placer mines, twenty-seven miles from Santa Fe, 
 New Mexico. We then, after actual inspection, came to the 
 conclusion that the mines themselves were very rich, and 
 could be developed with profit; but we were also as well 
 convinced that the management of the mines owned by the 
 Mexican Mining Company' was intrusted to unskill- 
 
27 
 
 and incompetent heads. A want of system, and a want of 
 an intelligent direction of even what little work was then 
 doing, it was painful to contemplate. We all became fully 
 satisfied that the company was wasting much valuable time, 
 and throwing away a good deal of money to no purpose. 
 Within a year, however, all this has been changed. Now, 
 under a skillful superintendent, who devotes all his time and 
 his ability to demonstrate the truth that the mines which the 
 company had opened are mines that will yield a large profit 
 on the capital invested, the aspect of the affairs of that com- 
 pany has completely changed, and the stock is gradually ac- 
 quiring a firm and healthy tone in the market. Within the 
 last few days I have repeated my visit to the Old Placers in 
 company with Mr. James L. Johnson, one of the leading 
 merchants of New Mexico, and the results of my observa- 
 tions and calculations may not be uninteresting to the people 
 of the Territory. 
 
 " With regard to the extent of the mines already opened by 
 the New Mexican Mining Company, it may be fairly stated 
 that they are inexhaustible. This company, owns a tract of 
 mineral lands ten miles square; within this area the out-crop- 
 pings of mines not developed at all are abundant and are of 
 the most promising character. Rising out of the centre of 
 this property are what are known as the Gold mountains. 
 In the lapse of ages these mountains have been grooved by 
 the action of the elements and by the mechanical abrasion 
 of boulders forced downward by ancient torrents, until an 
 inclined plain or talus, is formed all around their base, which 
 is rich in what is known as placer gold broken off from the 
 upper crests of gold bearing ledges which must still have 
 existence beneath the present surface. Some of these ledges 
 have been discovered, as before stated, by their out-crop- 
 pings, and amongst these are those now operated upon by 
 the company. Many are now hidden by soil. These veins 
 have a general direction from north to south. Now, it is 
 therefore reasonable to conclude, from the evidence given of 
 immense wealth in gold in the talus or inclined plain just de- 
 scribed, that eventually when these mountains are tunnelled 
 
28 
 
 from east to west, that these lodes will all be cut when they 
 can be successfully attacked far below the surface, and drifted 
 in upon along their entire course. There can likewise be 
 no doubt, that water can be brought from the Pecos river 
 and used as water is used in California to wash, by hose, the 
 most of this auriferous soil and drift which lies around the 
 base of the mountains. In doing this the summits of many 
 new lodes will be uncovered; and when the hydraulic opera- 
 tions no longer remunerate the water will come there to be 
 used in the far more profitable and steady business of crush- 
 ing ores from the quartz leads thus brought to light, and 
 from the quartz leads already known which lie above the 
 level to be reached by this water. 
 
 " These ideas are briefly given to show what capital and 
 skill will without a doubt eventually accomplish. For the 
 present, it may not be uninteresting to give some statistics 
 showing results to be obtained from the veins already opened. 
 
 " The cost of an eighteen horse-power steam engine with 
 fifteen stamps complete, put up upon the ground, will be 
 $12,000. 
 
 " The cost of a suitable building, to cover this machinery, 
 &c., will be, say, not over $3,000; total $15,000. 
 
 " Those who put up the mill should have $5,000 or $10,000 
 in goods to sell to hands and to people who come to wash 
 placer gold. This contemplates a capital to start on, of 
 from $20,000 to $25,000. 
 
 " To run your mill night and day, you want two engineers, 
 whose wages will be four dollars a day, each, including their 
 board. This amounts to $2,920 per annum. You want 
 two feeders at two and a half dollars a day, each, including 
 board, which, per annum, is equal to $1,825. You want 
 two plate tenders, whose wages, each, per day will be two 
 and a half dollars, including board ; this is equal to $1,460 
 per annum. These plate tenders wheel in quartz and shovel 
 the tailings from the vats. You want three cords of wood 
 as fuel for each day of twenty-four hours run. This will 
 cost, delivered, $7 50 per day, or, $2,737 50 per annum. 
 The engineers handle the wood and keep up the fires, so 
 
29 
 
 that no firemen need be employed. The cost of Jard, tamp- 
 ing, candles, &c., &c., will be, say, $2 50 per day. This is 
 equal per annum to $912 50. The cost of fifty pounds of 
 quicksilver, which would be enough to last a year, would be 
 $75, including losses. The cost of extracting ore is $5 per 
 ton. The freight on the same, delivered at the mill is $2 
 per ton. The mill will crush nine tons every twenty-four 
 hours. This is equal to three thousand two hundred and 
 eighty-five tons per annum ; which, at $7 a ton, delivered at 
 the mill, is equal to $22,995. The wear and tear of ma- 
 chinery and mill is reckoned at five per cent, per annum. I 
 am told by engineers that this is a very liberal allowance. 
 In one year this will amount to $750. 
 " Recapitulation of annual cost. 
 
 Wages of two engineers $2,920 00 
 
 "Wages of two feeders- 1,825 00 
 
 "Wages of two plate tenders 1,460 00 
 
 Fuel.. 2,737 50 
 
 Lard, tamping, candles, &c., &c 912 50 
 
 Quicksilver 75 00 
 
 Cost of ore at mill 22,995 00 
 
 Interest on cost of mill at 6 per cent 900 00 
 
 Wear and tear of mill- 750 00 
 
 Total cost $34,575 00 
 
 " The following is the result of five small runs through 
 the mill of the ^ew Mexican Mining Company, made by 
 Dr. Michael Steck, the present superintendent : 
 
 22 tons yielded per ton $20 62 
 
 16 tons yielded per ton 36 00 
 
 16 tons yielded per ton 22 00 
 
 6 tons yielded per ton 33 33J 
 
 3 tons yielded per ton 42 00 
 
 "That is to say, sixty-three tons produced $1,707 64; or 
 an average of $27 10 per ton. Much of this ore was refuse 
 ore, which was crushed mainly to get it out of the way. 
 The regular yield of average samples of ore, at the lowest 
 estimate, will be $30 per ton. This, in a year's run, Sun- 
 
30 
 
 days included, would give $98,550. Now throw off twenty- 
 five per cent, to cover salary of superintendent, delays for 
 the Sabbath, and delays for repairs, and for unforseen con- 
 tingencies, and you throw off $24,637 50, which will leave 
 $73,912 50. Now deduct from this, expenses of running 
 the mill for a year, as is shown by the recapitulation of 
 annual costs, which is $34,575, and you have clear profit, 
 $39,337 50. This will give on the investment for one year, 
 on cost of mill, which is $15,000 two hundred and sixt}'-two 
 per cent. For it must be recollected that all other expenses 
 have already been deducted. This does not include the 
 profits on the sale of goods. Two other mills of the same 
 capacity can be erected at two other springs in the hollow 
 where the present mill now stands, and one mill can be 
 erected near what is known as the * Cunningham mine." 
 This should be done, when the clear income of the company 
 will be increased to $157,350, which is four times the sum. 
 cleared by one mill. This does not include the profit of the 
 store, and yet this gives six per cent, per annum on a capital 
 of $2,622,500. By having the ' cleaning up ' in each mill 
 occur on a different day from the cleaning up in any other 
 mill, one superintendent could direct the business transacted 
 by all four mills. The ore is inexhaustible, even in the 
 mines already opened. Other mines on this ten miles square 
 can be opened, and there are known springs where still other 
 mills can be erected. By a system of tanks and reservoirs 
 to collect and hold surface water, any number of mills can 
 be run, and all this without making any calculations for 
 water coming from the Pecos. When there is so much 
 material to be worked upon with profit, to have but one 
 mill, is the same as if you had a boundless supply of cotton, 
 and worked upon it with a factory running fifteen spindles. 
 " I have taken some little pains to prove to you by figures, 
 that here within sight of the city of Santa Fe, there is a 
 fund of wealth which bespeaks well for the future prosperity 
 of this part of New Mexico. I have written nothing of the 
 New Placers, which are known to be equally as rich and ex- 
 tensive ; nor have I alluded to the auriferous region in the 
 
31 
 
 mountains to the west of Mr. Maxwell's ranch, on the 
 Cimarron river. Should I have tirae to visit and properly 
 examine these two last named placers, it will give me pleas- 
 ure to let you know the result of my observation. 
 
 "When the vast mineral, pastoral, and even agricultural 
 resources of New Mexico are well understood, it will require 
 no prophet to foresee that she will, one day, not far distant, 
 occupy a proud position as one of the States of the great 
 Republic. 
 
 " Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 "JAMES H. CARLETON. 
 
 After having written this letter, General Carleton visited 
 what are known as the New Placers, south of the Old Placer 
 described in the foregoing letter. What is called the San 
 Pedro grant includes the mineral region known as the New 
 Placer. It contains forty thousand acres, and lies about forty 
 miles south of the city of Santa Fe. It is accessible by ex- 
 cellent roads. Mining at the New Placer, we know, was car- 
 ried on as early as 1776. I give an extract from a letter 
 descriptive of the New Placer : 
 
 "METROPOLITAN HOTEL, 
 "Washington, D. C., October 18, 1867. 
 " GENERAL : * . * I visited the New Placers in 
 
 November, 1865, and again in August of this year. Since 
 my first visit several new lodes have been discovered, and I 
 was informed by prospectors that in nearly every part of the 
 grant which comprises, as I learn, some forty thousand 
 acres lodes of gold-bearing quartz and of argentiferous ga- 
 lena, as well as veins of lead and of copper of a rich charac- 
 ter, can be found. I saw some exceedingly rich copper ore 
 from a newly discovered vein on this property. I have seen 
 tested some quartz taken from recently discovered lodes at 
 the New Placers, and found it to be rich in gold. You may 
 recollect that I sent some specimens which I took from the 
 Ramirez mine to Colonel Carey, and that I wrote to him a 
 letter about that particular mine. I have seen quartz crushed 
 
32 
 
 at the Old Placers, and in July, of this year, I made some cal- 
 culations as to its value, which calculations appeared in the 
 Santa Fe Gazette on the 27th of that month. E"ow it is ray 
 opinion that the Ramirez mine is even richer, per ton, than 
 the Ortiz mine, from which that quartz was taken. * * * 
 On the south side of the Old Placer mountains, arid close to 
 the line of the New Placer, some gold mines have been found, 
 which, even at the surface, produced fifty- three dollars per 
 ton. Mr. Hutchinson, who is developing these mines, in- 
 formed me that over the line, and within the "boundaries of 
 the New Placer, he had found new lodes of auriferous quartz 
 just as rich. I have no hesitation in expressing the opinion 
 that within our whole country, so far as my observation has 
 extended, a piece of ground of the size of the New Placers 
 cannot be found which contains more or richer veins of the 
 precious metals than it does; and I would recommend that 
 good mills be at once erected for their extraction. As soon 
 as the Pacific railroad is built, and the surveys indicate that 
 it will run immediately by the New Placers, it is impossible 
 to conjecture how greatly that grant will be increased in 
 value. The grant, as you are aware, is uncommonly well 
 wooded, and even for grazing purposes, is equal to any in 
 New Mexico. 
 
 " I am, general, very truly yours, 
 
 "JAMES H. CAKLETOK 
 " General JOHN C. MCFERRAN, 
 
 " U. S. Army, Washington, D. C." 
 
 About the middle of July, 1867, some gold fields were 
 discovered on the head waters of the little Cimarron, be- 
 tween Maxwell's ranch and the Taos valley; say thirty miles 
 west of Mr. Maxwell's. These promise to yield placer gold 
 in great abundance. A party of gentlemen visited these 
 fields in the month of August last. One of them wrote to 
 me: "The placers were just beginning to be opened. The 
 miners had but few tools, and were experiencing great diffi- 
 culty in getting lumber to make sluices. One company of 
 five men with a sluice ninety feet long were taking out seven 
 
33 
 
 hundred dollars in gold per week, others were just com- 
 mencing, and were realizing less, but a fair remuneration, 
 considering the poor appliances they had with which to work. 
 By October 1867, the company of five above alluded to were 
 taking out one hundred dollars apiece per day," * * * 
 " Of course all do not do as well, but experiments made by 
 prospectors show that the fields are many miles in extent." 
 One company is now constructing a ditch or canal to bring 
 water upon portions of these fields. This ditch will cost 
 $100,000, and yet the parties interested in its construction 
 are certain soon to be reimbursed for all their out-lay. 
 
 A town has been laid out near the principal washings; it 
 is called "Virginia City," and will without doubt soon be a 
 place of much importance. There is hardly a day that new 
 discoveries of gold are not made in that portion of New 
 Mexico." 
 
 If Congress will only give some help to these hard work- 
 ing men, by constructing a good wagon road from Maxwell's 
 ranch to Virginia city, and it can be done for the small sum 
 of thirty or forty thousand dollars, all kinds of supplies can 
 be readily got in at cheap rates; when more and more poor 
 people will flock thither, and will soon give back to the 
 Government, in return, the gold now so much needed. 
 
 This is no chimera. We know its reality. All we want is 
 a little help here and there, until we in New Mexico can get 
 a start, then the country will see that we can help others as 
 well as ourselves. 
 
 The placers, or gold fields, near Virginia city have become 
 rich from the disintregation of gold-bearing quartz veins in 
 the mountains east, and in the range of mountains west of 
 the extensive valley in which they lie. This valley is called 
 the Moreno pass, and the fields are called the Morefio mines. 
 Many of the lodes whence this gold has come have not yet 
 been uncovered ; but that they exist near these fields is as cer- 
 tain as that a spring exists whence a rivulet flows. All along 
 the cordilleras of the Rocky Mountains, extending from the 
 Moreno mines northward to Pike's Peak, in Colorado; on 
 each slope of them are found placer diggings. On the Eio 
 
34 
 
 Grande side pf the mountains at the Hondo, near Taos; at 
 the Culebra,-near Fort Garland; at the Saugre de Christo, 
 near the pass of that name, gold has been found in paying 
 quantites. On the east side, as well, prospectors have found 
 good placers from the Raton mountains to the Rincon de 
 Tecolote. 
 
 Near the Moreno mines, high up a neighboring mountain, 
 is one of the richest copper mines in the world. A company 
 consisting of Mr. William H. Moore, Lucian B. Maxwell, 
 "William Kroenig, Nicholas S. Davis, and others, are drifting 
 through the mountain far below the outcropping of this lode. 
 They have already run a gallery six feet wide by seven feet 
 high, through the solid rock, to a distance of over two hun- 
 dred feet; and expect, within another hundred feet, to strike 
 the main vein, when countless tons of the ore can be dropped 
 down from above, and be easily run out on a tram-way and 
 taken to furnaces for smelting. 
 
 In the Tejeras canon, near Albuquerque, several very rich 
 leads of copper have been discovered, and a company has 
 procured from the Territorial Legislature a charter for work- 
 ing them. The ore from these mines is of the very best 
 quality, whilst water and fuel in abundance, for necessary 
 smelting purposes, are just at hand. 
 
 The Nacimieiito Mining Company, also chartered by the 
 Legislature, has an abundance of copper ores, yielding from 
 sixty-three to seventy-one per cent. These mines are at the 
 head- waters of the Puerco river, near Abiquieu. Gold is also 
 found near Embudo, and here there is a vein of silver ore of 
 great promise. It is called the Junction Lead. Near this 
 point are extensive lodes of iron; and cinnabar is found in 
 large quantities near Las Truches, on the trail from Santa 
 Fe to Taos. 
 
 In the Sierra de los Ladrones, near Limitar, as well as in 
 the San Andres mountains, north of the San Augustine pass, 
 silver lodes of great size, are known to exist. So, too, in the 
 Sacramento mountains, south of Fort Stanton, gold, silver, 
 and lead, have been found ; but, owing to the hostilities of 
 
35 
 
 the Mescalero Apaches, prospectors have not yet been able 
 satisfactorily to explore the lodes. 
 
 In the Zuni mountains, near Fort Wingate, and in many 
 places in the old Navajoe country, gold and silver have been 
 discovered ; and, from surface indications, it is believed that 
 very rich lodes are there. 
 
 Thus it will be seen by a glance at the map that, in nearly 
 every quarter of that extensive Territory, the mineral wealth 
 heretofore hidden beneath the earth's surface has been 
 tracked to its bed. And now the people of New Mexico, 
 with as much propriety as those in California, can honestly 
 and earnestly exclaim "we have found it." 
 
 We now come to the inquiry : " Why do not the people 
 of New Mexico themselves develop their gold and silver and 
 copper leads?" Let me answer. 
 
 We have in that Territory a population of, say, in round 
 numbers, one hundred thousand souls. Of these, say fifteen 
 thousand are Pueblo Indians and Indians on a reservation. 
 The mass of the people are very poor. The most of the pros- 
 pectors are expert in the business of prospecing and are mainly 
 discharged soldiers who belonged to the California volunteers. 
 During their term of service, whilst on campaigns against 
 Indians, and whilst marching from one point to another of 
 the Territory, they saw indications of its riches. So, when 
 the time came for their discharge, a great many of them pre- 
 ferred to remain in New Mexico rather than to return to 
 California. It was then that a new impetus was given to the 
 prospecting of the country in search of its hidden mines. 
 The results have startled with their greatness the most san- 
 guine and enthusiastic believer that gold and silver abounded 
 in large quantities in that Territory. 
 
 Let us take the labors of one prospector as an example. 
 With what little money he had saved up in his military ser- 
 vice, the soldier has bought a few tools, and, perhaps, a 
 mule, or pony, a rifle, and a sack of flour, some bacon, sugar, 
 coffee, and salt. In portions of the country, where the In- 
 dians were very bad, several of these prospectors would 
 join together in their searches; when there was but little 
 
or no danger, they would sally forth alone, camping out 
 wherever night overtook them. A lode is found and the 
 miner at once sinks a hole in the quartz to procure speci- 
 mens to test its value. These specimens are crushed by 
 pounding with a hammer until they are as fine as flour. 
 This quartz-flour is then washed in a large horn spoon, the 
 particles of gold being the heaviest, gradually go to the bot- 
 tom, whilst the particles of quartz are allowed to pass off 
 over the edge of the spoon. Shortly nothing is left but the 
 gold. "We will suppose that the vein has proved to be rich. 
 Then the law requires that certain steps should be taken a 
 certain amount of labor be peformed certain surveys be 
 made, and, finally, if no one contests the miner's right to 
 his discovery, he can get a patent from the Government, and 
 the mine is his, as much as a farmer's farm is his when he 
 has got his deed for it. I may say, in passing, that new leg- 
 islation should be had on this subject, simplifying the mode 
 by which a poor man can get his patent, and making it shorter 
 as to time, and cheaper as to money. 
 
 The prospector has now found his mine, and has got his 
 title to it. It may yield at the rate of twenty, thirty, forty, 
 fifty, eighty, or more dollars to the ton, and be inexhaustible 
 in extent. He is a rich man, one might suppose. Not so; 
 he is still poor, and has to go off somewhere and labor even 
 for his daily bread. Now, the example here given is that 
 of hundreds of miners who have found hundreds of mines 
 they know to be good. It takes capital to buy and bring 
 machinery to crush this quartz and save the gold. But why 
 do not people with capital do this ? Because, as yet, the 
 country is not made accessible by railroad. Wealthy men 
 will not make the journey unless they can travel rapidly 
 and with ease and security; and the poor miner, like the 
 Pueblo Indian, who turns to the east every morning, hoping 
 to see, coming thence, the divine form of Montezuma, so 
 does he turn his eyes in the same direction, and pray for the 
 day when the rich man with his money will come to be a 
 partner with the poor man with his mine. 
 
 If a private citizen owned a fine lot of trees worth a mil- 
 
37 
 
 lion of dollars if gotten to market, and it would cost him 
 five thousand dollars to make a road suitable to the getting 
 of them out of the forest, so that he could make sale of 
 them, would he not even borrow money, if necessary, to raise 
 this five thousand dollars ? Certainly he would. Well, now, 
 the United States have locked up, in these quartz veins in 
 New Mexico, millions of the precious metals. Every man 
 to-day is paying thirty or forty cents on the dollar merely for 
 the want of these metals. Think of that sum ! Yet the 
 nation does not seem to be alive to its interests as the private 
 citizen would be to his; and goes on, and on, and on, for- 
 getting the hardship to especially the poor who for lack of 
 gold, with scanty means, have to pay high prices for the 
 necessaries of life; forgetting the enterprising yet poor 
 miner, he who has here been figured, waiting for his Monte- 
 zurna ; forgetting the employment which it would give to 
 many of its brave defenders who in vain now seek labor; 
 forgetting that at once when a railroad runs through New 
 Mexico, a hundred dollars will come back where one dollar 
 has been invested, and yet the logic which would convince a 
 private citizen what he should do to increase his wealth, 
 ought to hold good, if starting from the same premises, with 
 the country at large. 
 
 I make some extracts from a letter written from the office 
 of the Union Pacific Kailway, which touch directly upon the 
 matter under consideration. 
 
 " Our preliminary surveys of the present summer have 
 discovered a favorable line to this point, whose highest ele- 
 vation at the head of Canon Blanco, in latitude 35 north, 60 
 miles east of Albuquerque, is 7,136 feet above the level of 
 the sea. By these surveys, necessarily preliminary and less 
 minute than those of definite location, a practicable route for 
 railroad construction was found, avoiding heavy gradients 
 and expensive grading, and requiring the maximum grade 
 permitted by law for the Pacific railroads at only two or 
 three short intervals, not exceeding twenty-five miles in all. 
 The distance from Pond creek to Albuquerque, by the pre- 
 liminary survey, is 464 miles, or from the initial point of our 
 
38 
 
 road on the Missouri river to the Rio Grande at Albuquer- 
 que, 872 miles, which may be reduced upon the definite 
 location of the road. From Albuquerque, surveys, by the 
 35th parallel and the Gila river, through Arizona and thence 
 to San Francisco, are now in progress, and favorable accounts 
 of the routes traversed have been received from the engineer- 
 ing parties. It is expected that these surveys will reach San 
 Francisco early in February, this company will be in full 
 possession of the topographical features of the country ex- 
 amined by its engineers. 
 
 " The route across the divide of the waters of the Smoky 
 hill and Arkansas rivers, is chiefly valuable for grazing pur- 
 poses; but, upon reaching the valley of the Arkansas, vast 
 regions are opened for settlement, which, for varied pro- 
 ductions embracing all the cereals, fruit and grapes are 
 nowhere surpassed. The salubrity and healthfulness of the 
 climate, and the abundance of coal and timber, make it the 
 most agreeable unocupied country in the United States; and 
 when to these advantages are added the certainty of the pro- 
 duction of the precious metals, in amounts hitherto unknown, 
 no region can be more desirable, or more profitably developed ; 
 and so the country alternates all the way to the Eio Grande, 
 no portion valueless, but all adapted to grazing or agricul- 
 ture; and, as regards the mineral wealth along the route 
 thither, it may be safely said that the amount is only limited 
 by the labor bestowed in its development. 
 
 " Having thus briefly designated the route upon which the 
 company requests extension of subsidy, I will ask your atten- 
 tion to a concise enumeration of the resources of the country 
 to be traversed, with their present known development, and 
 the probability of their immense increase when quick and 
 cheap rail transportation is afforded. Crossing the Raton 
 mountain, and entering the Territory of New Mexico, our 
 geologist discovered in the single coal deposit near Maxwell's 
 hacienda, fifty miles northeast of Fort Union, veins of bitu- 
 minous coal extending for a range of sixty miles, one of 
 which, on Yermijo canon, was ten feet in thickness, and was 
 examined for an area of ten miles square. This coal, when 
 
39 
 
 analyzed by Messrs Williams and Moss, analytical chemists 
 of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, yielded 53.90 per cent, of 
 fixed carbon alone, and produced 437.6 Ibs. of illuminating 
 gas per ton of 2,000 Ibs., equivalent to 7439.2 cubic feet. 
 These chemists report this coal to compare very favorably 
 with any of those regarded as the best for generating steam, 
 and with the majority of those used for manufacturing illu- 
 minating gas. Anthracite coal is found in the Placer moun- 
 tain, near Santa Fe; bituminous coal on the west side of the 
 Rio Grande, near Albuquerque; and very extensive coal beds 
 farther south on that river near Fort Craig. So successful 
 have been our researches for coal supplies, that our chief 
 engineer characterizes the New Mexican coal fields as 'the 
 great natural depot of fuel, not only for this Pacific railway, 
 but for the country contiguous to it, for, at least, as far east 
 as Fort Harker, Kansas.' And there can be no doubt that 
 our discoveries of the past summer alone have eliminated the 
 fuel question from the obstacles or embarrassments of a rail- 
 way across the continent, and made its ample fuel supply no 
 longer problematical. 
 
 " The great expense of transporting the heavier and more 
 effective quartz-crushing machinery across the eight hundred 
 miles of wagon roads between the mines and railway, have 
 heretofore nearly restricted New Mexican mining to placer 
 working; the exception has been the cheaper, though less 
 effective, modes of quartz milling. In this rude and unpro- 
 ductive manner, the mines of New Mexico have been worked 
 for more than two centuries, adding large supplies to the 
 demands of commerce. The ores of that Territory are of a 
 most favorable character for easy and cheap reduction, and 
 are inexhaustible. The company has the most conclusive 
 evidence of this fact. It is asserted by those who have had 
 good means of acquiring the knowledge, that the mines of 
 Arizona are richer, and, with railroad facilities, would be 
 more productive than any and all yet wrought upon the con- 
 tinent. The explorations of the company have not progressed 
 sufficiently to enable it to verify the assertion to the fullest 
 
40 
 
 extent, but, so far as it has received information thereon, the 
 mines are astonishingly rich. 
 
 "An abundance of native Mexican and Pueblo labor ex- 
 ists in New Mexico and Arizona, which can be made avail- 
 able immediately upon the passage of the bill, and by ming- 
 ling with our own labor under proper direction, a healthy 
 industry will be developed, and the native artisans instructed, 
 Christianized and prepared for useful citizenship. That this 
 labor can be maintained without requiring supplies from the 
 States, and is adequate to building at least five hundred miles 
 through these Territories, were considerations which strongly 
 recommended this projected route to the company. And 
 with the labor indigenous to the soil, the presence of iron ore 
 and the coal with which it may be wrought, must necessarily 
 induce the erection of factories and furnaces in New Mexico 
 and Arizona, where now only the miner's ranche is seen. 
 Capital will find useful and lucrative employment, and every 
 branch of industry, co-operative with the work of construc- 
 tion, speedy development, peopling the present wilderness 
 in a day. And as these mines of gold and silver become 
 known and successfully worked, how vast will be their in- 
 fluence upon the national currency, to say nothing of the 
 creation of other wealth from trade and commerce. The 
 company believes that the construction of its road would 
 give security to the inhabitants of the Territories of New 
 Mexico and Arizona against the Indians, the necessity for 
 which, as regards those recently located south of the Arkan- 
 sas, is apparent, while the proposed line of road seems to it 
 admirably adapted to that purpose." 
 
 Then, aside from the impetus which a railroad would give 
 to the development of the minerals of New Mexico and 
 Arizona, a thought comes in here, that the red man must 
 give way before the iron-horse, as the army of Assyria 
 perished when breathed upon by the angel of death ; and 
 when once the Indian ceases his depredations, the flocks and 
 herds of New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona will 
 become so numerous as to afford mutton and beef to the 
 poor all over the country at vastly cheaper rates. So you 
 
41 
 
 will increase the value of a day's labor, by making money 
 more valuable, when compared with the price of food. This 
 may be an exception to some of the rules of political econ- 
 omy, but it is true nevertheless. 
 
 I quote from a very interesting paper on the Union Pacific 
 Railway, the following remarks about cattle raised in Texas 
 and driven up to a station on that road : Bancroft Library 
 
 "The cattle here are grazing all over this magnificent 
 valley under the care of herders. The drovers usually herd 
 after arrival from thirty to sixty days to recruit the animals 
 before selling. And such pasturage ! The steer that would 
 not fat here visibly would have starved to death in the gar- 
 den of Eden. But just look at them as they wade in the 
 grass, and see their Fulton market roundness and glossiness. 
 With difficulty I credit the statement that there are 25,000 
 head here now, waiting shipment. Yet here they are, and 
 10,000 more are known to be on the way here, and full 
 50,000 will have arrived at the close of the season. Four times 
 as many would have been driven here as have been, if the 
 stock-men of the southwest had known that there was a safe 
 and sure way out from the lock-up which the war first, and 
 toll-demanding ruffians afterward, had established. So say 
 the most intelligent of these Texan drovers, and they also say 
 that 200,000 head of beeves will surely be here next year for 
 sale and shipment. Now mark: These animals, * beeves,' 
 can be bought by thousands in Texas at from $8 to $10 per 
 head in gold, or $12 to $14 in currency. They can be driven 
 to Abilene at an additional cost of not over $2 a head, in 
 from five to eight weeks' time. They can be shipped from 
 here to St. Louis at $100 a car load, and to Chicago for $150 
 a car. Joseph McCoy tells me that they can be afforded in 
 Chicago at four cents gross, with satisfactory margins to 
 drovers, shippers, and railroads. Surely the butchers of 
 more than one city and State have got to come down, and 
 surely there was grateful reason in the toast the Union Pacific 
 railway, eastern division, as the cheapener of beef to the 
 people of the United States." 
 
 These remarks would have the same force when applied 
 
42 
 
 to the flocks and herds of New Mexico. "He is a benefac- 
 tor who makes one blade of grass grow where none grew 
 before." So, too, that government is far seeing which shapes 
 its policy so that its poor can have a plenty of good, whole- 
 some food at cheap rates ; which for ten cents will put into 
 the kettle of the poor man two pounds of beef, when for the 
 same sum he could before only find one pound. The gov- 
 ernment which can do this, and does do it, is as a benign 
 mother providing for her children. The statesmen who 
 lose sight of such matters now will neither benefit the com- 
 munity at large nor write their names in capitals on the 
 scroll, where already have been inscribed the names of those 
 whom the people venerate. 
 
 Pertinent to this matter, I find a very interesting letter in 
 the Cincinnati Times, of the 8th instant. It was written by 
 Mr. Edgar Conkling, and it gives nie pleasure here to re- 
 produce many of Mr. Conklings conclusive arguments : 
 
 " CINCINNATI, January 6, 1868. 
 
 " MR. EDITOR : The very general reference by the press of 
 our country to the suffering condition of our 'working men 
 and women' from want of employment, arouses our sympa- 
 thies and warrants the serious consideration of our manufac- 
 turers, business men, and all good citizens, how to restore 
 our national industry to a state of prosperity? How shall 
 we materially increase the consumption of the products of 
 American labor, as well as protect them from foreign pro- 
 ducts? It is encouraging to know that Congress appreciates 
 such a deplorable condition of our most important interests, 
 and is giving some evidence of adopting a financial policy 
 that will encourage capitalists to engage in the construction 
 of railroads from important commercial and manufacturing 
 cities, through sections of country warranting speedy and 
 profitable returns. 
 
 u But the disturbance of the national industry is too gen- 
 eral to be materially affected by mere local projects, while it 
 is admitted that, in many branches, our manufacturing facil- 
 ities of production are greater than our country can consume; 
 
43 
 
 hence the loss in such investments, while our mechanics and 
 laboring people are being demoralized and suffering for the 
 necessaries of life. 
 
 " In a great measure, this state of things is the result of 
 the recent rebellion, and protracted reconstruction. Hun- 
 dreds of thousands of our happy and well-to-do i working 
 men' left their occupations to maintain the Government, 
 while others were employed in manufacturing war materials, 
 and thus our national industry was generally disturbed. 
 
 " "No government on earth can so readily restore its na- 
 tional industry to prosperity as this. None were ever under 
 greater obligations to its citizens. No subjects more faithful, 
 or worthy of needed aid. No reason exists for protracting this 
 state of affairs, unless from lack of statesmanship and interest 
 in our servants in Congress assembled. 
 
 " Our Government is possessed of an undeveloped terri- 
 tory, unsurpassed for climate and latent wealth, which, on 
 being opened by national highways, will reach and mature 
 a Pacific commerce much greater than all our Atlantic com- 
 merce. 
 
 " It has enterprising capitalists, desirous and ready to im- 
 prove that territory, and make it productive of taxes, soon 
 exceeding all the aid loaned by the. Government. Ordina- 
 narily, it is difficult to enlist capitalists in such public works, 
 and it is fortunate for our Government, at the present time, 
 that such foreseeing the great and certain benefits that must 
 speedily result to themselves, the Government, and the peo- 
 ple, are willing to risk their means, credit, and reputation. 
 
 " They simply ask the Government to loan them, well 
 secured, not exceeding one-third the cost of such roads, 
 making that territory worth twenty fold its present value, 
 while giving the Government cheaper facilities of governing 
 and transportation. 
 
 " Such aid by the Government is the only practicable and 
 legitimate method of securing such facilities of transporta- 
 tion, and creating and controlling the Pacific commerce. 
 
 " Those distant agricultural lands are worthless, only as 
 they are connected by railroads with the mines ; with cheap 
 
44 
 
 food and transportation for miners, the increased products 
 of the mines of the precious metals will keep pace with our 
 growing wealth and commercial wants, and warrant a safe 
 return to specie payments. But there are large sections of 
 rich mineral lands destitute of fuel and water, and hence 
 cannot have reduction facilities, that will be dependent on 
 shipping their ores, hy railroads, for reduction, itself creat- 
 ing a large revenue to the railroads, while redeeming the 
 wealth of such sections, otherwise worthless. 
 
 " The advantages claimed are worthy of consideration in 
 the most prosperous times. But in view of our national 
 obligations to our workingmen and their condition, and the 
 depression of our manufacturing interests, and the necessity 
 of making that territory share in our taxes and payment of 
 our public debt, there should be no hesitancy on the part of 
 Congress to promote our National interests. It should be 
 done in view of reciprocating the obligations of the Govern- 
 ment to a people that maintained it when assailed by traitors, 
 even if, in spending one hundred millions of dollars there 
 were no other returns but gratefulness for an act of justice. 
 
 "Never was there so much of necessity for a mutual union 
 of labor and capital. Both are suffering for want of that 
 union. Mere demagogues will seek to prevent it, but work- 
 ingmen's logic is sharpened from the want of food, and they 
 will readily discover the motives of those seeking their votes. 
 
 " Our territory and national wants, as well as our Pacific 
 commerce, need the three Pacific railroads North, Central, 
 and Southern and their healthful competing influence. 
 
 " The three trunk lines will cost, at least, $450,000,000, 
 single track, and not exceeding one-third of that amount is 
 asked as a loan of the Government in its bonds, secured by 
 the whole, as the route progresses. So far as the roads have 
 now progressed, the Government has profited beyond the aid 
 loaned, while the companies are doing a business warrant- 
 ing their ability to meet the interest and debt as it matures. 
 
 "But if the l penny-wise and pound-foolish' idea must 
 prevail, that the Government can't afford to increase its in- 
 debtedness for such purposes and returns, Senator Ramsey's 
 
45 
 
 proposition is worthy of consideration, of asking Congress 
 to guarantee the interest of five per cent, on the stock or 
 bonds of the railroad companies, to the amount of $20,000, 
 per mile for a limited time, which, on 2,000 miles west of 
 Lake Superior, would be a guarantee of five per cent, on 
 $40,000,000, or only $2,000,000 per annum, the company 
 meeting the interest from sales of its lands, business and 
 services for the Government. 
 
 "This form of aid would enable that company to borrow 
 the needed funds, while the use of that road to the Govern- 
 ment would be more than equal to such interest, to say 
 nothing of advanced value of the territory and our com- 
 merce. 
 
 " The aid can, and should be afforded, in some shape. 
 
 "Hundreds of thousands of our 'workingmen' will thus 
 be benefitted in various ways. Some will be engaged in 
 making the road beds, buildings, &c., and others in making 
 the construction and materials, and running machinery for 
 transporting, &c. But all this is but the beginning of larger 
 outlays to which the Government is not asked to contribute. 
 The whole must be kept in repair. Double tracks and 
 branch roads, increased machinery, &c., all exceeding first 
 outlays, in a few years. Cities, towns, farms, mines, mills, 
 &c., are but results, and will create a greater outlay, than 
 cost of the railroads. This vast increased consumption of 
 products of Ajnerican labor, will tend greatly to equalize 
 and restore to prosperity our national industry, greatly in- 
 creasing our national wealth, and ability to support the 
 Government and pay its debt. If this is all true, is it not 
 the interest and the duty of all citizens to urge on Congress 
 immediate action ? 
 
 "If the measure succeeds satisfactory to capitalists, con- 
 tracts for all that is needed will speedily follow, materially 
 affecting our general interests." 
 
 A volume could be written showing the truth of these 
 remarks ; and not one line to prove them to be fallacies. What- 
 ever other roads may be built, the laws of climate will make 
 that which should run through New Mexico the most agree* 
 
46 
 
 able to the traveller and the most certain to meet the de- 
 mands of trade. It requires but little forecast, and study of 
 the commercial necessities of the world, to see very nearly 
 where the great arteries of railroad communication must 
 pulsate across our continent. There can be no question but 
 that one line must eventually run westward from Memphis, 
 to San Diego, California, or to a porton the Gulf of Cali- 
 fornia, which latter, if we cannot acquire it by purchase, we 
 can have access to it by the comity of a sister republic. 
 That line will run across the rich mineral region now rapidly 
 developing in the southern portion of New Mexico. Nor can 
 there be a doubt, that another line will run somewhere near 
 the 35th parallel of latitude. To connect these two by a track 
 in the valley of the Eio Grande will be found not only to be 
 profitable, but necessary. Here then you have an outline of 
 a railroad system in this great territory, an outline that will 
 be filled in by other roads, to be projected by more local in- 
 terests. And the heavy trains, freighted with the costly pro- 
 ducts of China, Japan, and Hiudostan, can be shot along 
 these roads with no obstruction from ice and snow. Then 
 will come that proud day for New Mexico, so often predicted 
 and now so near realization. In room, then, of being isolated 
 from the commerce of the world, and from the hourly intel- 
 ligence which elsewhere now flashes along the wires of the 
 telegraph, she will be in the direct channels of that com- 
 merce and of that intelligence. 
 
 I have said nothing of the hot springs and of the mineral 
 springs of New Mexico. These are found in almost every 
 section of the country. At Las Vegas; near Taos; at Ojo 
 Caliente; at Jemez; near Fort McEae; near Fort Selden; 
 near the Miembres river, and at many other points. Their 
 curative qualities have long been known, and the poor as 
 well as the rich, who may happen to be infirm, flock to them 
 with almost the same faith that they will find relief, as those 
 who " when the waters were troubled," descended into the 
 Pool of Bethsaida. Once the railroad touches New Mexico, 
 these springs, which for volume and medicinal qualities ex- 
 ceed any of those now so celebrated in the Atlantic States, 
 
47 
 
 or in Europe, will attract thousands from all points of the 
 civilized world to drink of their healing waters. And, then, 
 in room of having tourists go from our own country to spend 
 their money in sight-seeing abroad, they will visit and won- 
 der at the magnificence of this American Switzerland; whilst 
 the wealthy of other lands, from beyond both seas, will be- 
 come tourists in our mountains, here to have their villas and 
 their chateaux; here to breathe the pure air, and to enjoy the 
 most sublime scenery to be found in the world. The Genii 
 in the Eastern Tale could never have been more potent in 
 their works of enchantment than Capital and Labor will be, 
 when giving to New Mexico, as the fruit of their union, a 
 railroad to connect her with the commerce of the two oceans, 
 and make her known to the wealthy and cultivated through- 
 out the world. 
 
 CHARLES P. CLEVER.