8061 -U NW -LU *HI*3 •sojg Japuig \, 18 THE ARIZONA GOLD FIELDS TEETB LOCATION AND RICHNE3S. The Capital of the Sew Territory— The Natajo War. V\\ k [Correspondence of the Evening Post.l Samta Fb, Nbw Mexico, November 83, 1303. The officers or the new territory of Arizona reached here on the afternoon of the 14th instant, after a journey of fifty day* trom Leavenworth. They were accompanied by an escort of cavalry, and a heavy train, which rendered rapid travel im- possible. They are in excellent health, and havo stood the exposures of the trip remarkably well. AU the way from Fort Lamed they experienced unusually severe weather for the season, encoun- tering two Bnow storms, and a temperature at Fort Lyon and elsewhere far below the freoiina; point. Indeed, the autumn thns far has been one of the coldest known on the plains lor many years, and very tryina: to the traveller. Since the arrival of the party &t this place they have been snrroun 1- •d by snow, and have had to baffle iinasu-lly high winds. Some of the roads leading from Santa V6 have been quite blocked up with snow. . That to the valley of Taos was for some days irapiesable. The erection of Arizona into a distinct territory Las attracted especial attention to a district hit'ior- . to almost a terra incognita. With a view to facili- tate the organization of the civil government, Bri- I gadicrGeneml James H. Carleton, commanding the department, has sent expeditions to different parts of tho territory and established military poets at points where the Indians were disposed to be troubleeonie. Before the golden placers on the upper Gila, and its tributaries, the Aqua Fria, Ban Francitco and So'inos, were discovered, he ' had perfected a plan for the exploration of fiat Whole country, having no doubt of its auriferous Wealth. Few military officer: 1 on the frontier have shown such a praiseworthy determination as h*8 General Carleton, for twenty years past, to pro- mote the development and settlement of the domain under bis control. His good name must ever be honorably associated with the territories of New Mexico and Arizona and the entire Pacific region. THS NBW OOI.T) FIELDS. The most thorough and accurate report of the Hew and surpassingly rieh gold fiiilds of Arizona is given in the letter 'of Sort «yor-t&treum." Most of I the miners at work on the General's arrival wore Californians, who had entered the district from La Paz, on the Colorado river, a distauce ol sora i one hundred and fifty miles. A few Sonorlans had come up by way of Tubac, Tucson and the Pima Tillages, from which hitter point the diggings are " about one hnndred and fifty miles in a direction little west of north. The mines thus far developed extend over a tract of country from twenty to flirty miles in ■width, and atiout one hundred and twanty-.lve in length. On marly every claim worked to tb rock gold is found in paring quantities, mostj'c'markable place, discovered by oac J;;-* Swilling, a noted character from this territory, is on the summit of Antelope mountain, betwcoa the Antelope and Indian creeks. Thero is a. depression between two rocky peaks, through wtiic i there is a qnurtz lodge cropping ont. The solid roc's on cither side of this ledge is covered wita a redd \sh earth a lew inches in depth. Swilling had i twenty thousand dollars worth of the precious ore from this place within a te.v weeks. The 8j»ecl- rnene shown General Clark were all coarse. Iu a parcel worth six hundred dollars he could n it ilud a piece worth lots than ten cents, and Swilling nad one nugget weighing quite half a pound. Much of the mm. ral had been dug out with common Jack knives, and many of the miners were entirely engaged in dry washing, owing to a lie i o. wat;r. This would appear to be the principal drawback With which tiio gold-seekers will have to coatend. Bcarccly one oTthe many creeks could be depend- ed upon lor a supply of water more than s alB-dent for drinking purposes. How it wiil be in the wet season remains to be seen. It if the prevailing opinion among the minors, and with those hero who are familiar with tao configuration of the country east of the present dlgg.ngf, that the gold deposits extaud in that direction, and that tho richest beds are yet to be discovered. The Indians are said to hoid tuis view, bnt to show no desire to encourage investigitioa. Where the miners are now ai worx taay are friendly, and have interposed no interfereaea. It Is said that several of tUe tribes have made a tre ity With the white men, not only to permit them to dig wiierevcr they please, but to defend them against the. attacks of hostile tribi s. Tuo Tonto Apachces live just about the placers, and are en- tirely dificrent from the Apaeuee3 infesting taa wood trom Mesilla Valley to Tucson, waose atro- cities drove the Sonora (now Arizoaa) and Santa Rita mining companies from their opart. i jus at Tubac several years since. It is not improbable that as the gold-seekers move ei3tward tnay wid encounter tnose inveterate plundarers aud aasis- Bins, and have to deal them many hard blows be- fore they reform their ways. Wita tho aid of General Carleton tiiey will, however, soon over- power the tribe, bold and numerous as it is. TUB BOUTE8 TO TOE MINES. To the time of General Clark's vis t no one had gone from the East to the mines. Since than m iny adventurous spirits have Soaked t'uituer from this City, and indeed from every portion of the territo- ry and from Colorado. The road is by Aiaj- querque, Fort Wingate and the Zuui Pass (the Whipple route) to the San Francisco Moantaiu, and thence southwesterly one hundred miles. The entire distance from bere, as estimated oy General Clark, is five hundred and sixteen miles. There is no post, nor even a rane J, west of vVia- gale, which is but ninety miles from the it.o Grande. The road is, however, a very good one, and for I' ii most part well wooded and watered, while the grass is generally abundant. Those in- tereoUi; in btudying the peculiarities of the route will find 'hem set forth in Whipple's Rapor', Volume IIL Pacific Railioad Reports, and in Bei'le o it port of his wagon-roid expedition. The routes ft\ m California are by Los Angelos to Fort Mohave, on the Colorado, three hundred miles, and thence to ia,e mines direct, one huadred aud fifty miles, or up the Colorado from the gulf to La Paz and across as before mentioned. A Btage line Is propos d from Los Angelos to Fort Mohave, and it It- > nderstood that the Arizona otSaers h ive asked the establishment ot a null route from Al- buquen.ue to Fort Mohave by the W aippte routs. This wiil bo upon the thirty-lifth degree parallel, which n.nuy have always held to be the best over- land route to the Pacific, and the only one entirely practicable for a railroad. It is believed here that If stages were put upon this road they would go crowded n om the start. The rush to the mines in the ej ring will probably surpass anything in the Calnornia furore. New Mexico and Colora- do wiil bo well-nigh depopulated if one-half of those go who now propose to do so. TOB OAI'ITAL OF AKIZONA. When Governor Goodwin and party started from Jtansas, it was their intention to go to Tucson bv the old road by way of Mexilla; not that they thongl t of making a permanent capital of that poor], located and unhealthy town, bat because a* the clue, settlement in the territory, it seemed to be the proper .point for locating the *overn- I ■«"t turtll a better site could be. chosen? Now , that the woplc of that place, with barely an ar . ■ reption, have gone to the mines, and the waolo ! population of the territory la gatacred about the ' gold flelda, it would be lolly to go there, and the officials have determined to go from here direct y to the legion explored by General Clara. It is in every particular a superior country to that about ■ Tucson, wtueh, ,,,„„ from being fa ^ Jar ^^ em part of the territory, is alike oppressively hot, i sickly and unproductive. The story of the soldier who died at Fort Yuma, and returned there from ' Tophet for h.s blankets, saying that his newabo le ,' was chilly when compared with the temperature Ho had been used to, might havebecn told of Tuc- son with equal propriety. If the capital of the new territory be fixed in the vicinity of the new placers, it will be geographically cential. at an elevation insuring a cool and whole- some enmaie, and in a comparatively good agricnl- twal district From the Colorado river, navigable »t nil eeaee.ne as far up as Fort Mohave, It will be «a*ily neched from a half dozen points, aud from Tucwm and the region south to Sonora it will be •cccfaible by way ol the Pimos villages. More- over, storting the territorial government amon* a population mainly American, and freshly arrived to the country, there will be no old prejudices to ©verconie, no inimical laws to contend with and no conflicting interests of long standing to be reconciled. The difficultly encountered in New Mexico will happily be escaped, and should the gold supplies hold out as at present, of which I E.l! 10 d ° Ubt ' there is alike a brilliant and useful future for the new territory of which its wnmest irieuds have net dared to dream. A mtW FORT. With the entry of the civil functionaries and their awumption ol the government of Arizona Carieton wUl relinquish his post as military gov' ernor, retaining, however, the district as a part of bis department. Three companies of California wvalrj were started from here on the first of the month to establish a post near the new „, m6s ^ U called Fort Whipple, in honor of the gallant lieutenant who surveyed the road now destined to become famous, and the honored general who fell at ChanceUorsville. The post is needed not only for a protection to the miners against possible trouble with the Indians, but also to regulate the Bonorians, who have lately reached the ttlnee m large numbers, and have created some disturbance by their attempts to monopolixe toe placers. Not content with finding treasure Vhere they hare no claim, these Invaders have un- dertaken to drive various Americans from the ^,, £ j° ,erated ** • »««mi Fort Whipple ! *W be at once garrisoned with a suitable foree i lata will probably be tie point U *£**!£& ' torial officers will remain until a capital site is chosen. In connection with the location of Fort Whipple, General Carieton has directed an investi- gation to be mode with a view to finding a rovi fiom the mining region to the Colorado in a direst line, to touch the river at a point south of Fort Mohave end north of La Paz. If a practicable rood Is found It will be the one by which the Cali- fornia's will reach the mines, and will consider- ably shorten the distance to the Colorado. AFFAIRS IN NBW MEXICO. While New Mexico Is temporarily overshadowed I by the dazzling rising of Arizona, her prosperity 1 is steadily increasing. This ancient city of the I holy faith of St. Francis bears the marks of im- I proYcment. Its trade is large and valuable. The ■ amount of goods brought lrom the states wit] 1 the present year is enormous. The arrival ! Governor Goodwin and party h:is created an 1 jj mense sensation. Governor Connolly and othi I officials went out to meet them and to escort tUe:n into the city, and every man, woman aud child seemed eager to witness the entry. The Arizon- ians have been feasted and toasted, and though now here for more than a weak, they are the ab- i eorbing topic ol conversation, while it ia the am- j bition ot hundreds to accompany them to their land of gold. They will go forward in a few days, escorted by a company ot Missouri cavalry, pirt I ot their escort from the states, and a detachment of men from Kit Carson's regiment, commanded by his lieutenant-colonel. THE NAVAJO WAR. Eeferring to Kit, Carson, who, by tho by, Is urged for a brigndiership, aad is richly daserviug the hor.or, I em reminded of the Navajo war, with an allusion to which this communication may be closed. It is generally known that the Navajos have lor many years been hostile to t le United SUitte. When nominally at peace they have baoa ceaseless in tl.sir. depredations upon the whites. Not, perhaps, without some degree of provocation, (or it is notorious ttat there is scarcely a well-to- do Mexican family in the country that has not a Navajo Biave to do its bidding. It is a badge of aristocracy. These poor creatures have been kid- napped with an audacity that would put a Legree to the blush, and are retained without a shadow of right. Again, the Navajos are the most enterprising, Intelligent and industrious Indians in the laud. As a consequence their larms are highly culti- vated; they have fine crops and excellent « I and are indeed rich in this world's goods. Taey present a teinpiatten which ths utisertjj; pale-face, no less than the jealous red man of other tribes, cannot resist, and as they are quick to delend their rights, they are naturally much involved in war. Their present crusade isajainst ! all white men, and is waged with great ferocity, though not a few of the tribe have, from hunger end a belief that they would be well used, surren- dered themselves to General Carieton. On Saturday nearly two hundred arrived in this city en their way to the Bosque Rodoudo, near Fort Sumner, where a reservation has been pro- vided lor them. The policy of Genera Cirleton is to induce the tribe to accept a permanent reser- vation and live upon it under the protection of the government. Several of the minor ehleft who came In with the prisoners think that when flfe, desire of the General is clearly understood by WW tribe, it will propose terms of peace. It Is therefore not improbable that the war reluctantly waged by the United States, and so profitless to the Navijos, mny soon be terminated— a consummation which all good men must devoutly desire. Maok. mummuMwrniSEmmitniiamamiwii in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation tf