USA > Arizona > The resources of Arizona; a description of its mineral, farming, grazing and timber lands; its rivers, mountains, valleys and plains; its cities, towns and mining camps; its climate and productions; with brief sketches of its early history etc > Part 2
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A HISTORICAL SKETCH.
Minister Gadsden failed in achieving the main object he had in mind: the securing of Guaymas and the control of the gulf, yet, in view of the marvelous mineral wealth contained in the terri- tory acquired, it must be considered a cheap and valuable acquisition. Subsequent to the ratification of the Gadsden treaty, the territory was attached to the county of Doña Ana, New Mexico. In 1855 the country was formally turned over to the United States by the Mexican authorities; American troops took possession of Tucson and Tubac; the Mexican colors were lowered, the stars and stripes hoisted in their place, and the authority of the Great Republic established where Spaniard and Mexican held sway for more than two hundred years.
After the acquisition of southern Arizona, several expeditions were sent out by the War Department to explore the almost unknown territory of the southwest. The reports of Lieutenants Whipple and Ives were the first valuable contribution to our knowledge of Arizona. In 1854, Lieutenant Williamson made a survey of the country north of the Gila, with the object of discovering a route for a railroad from the Atlantic to the Paci- fic. In the same year, Lieutenant Gray surveyed the route from Marshall, Texas, to Tubac, and from thence to Port Lobos, on the Gulf, and also to Fort Yuma and San Diego. A year later, Lieutenant Beale made numerous surveys throughout northern Arizona.
On the last day of December, 1854, a memorial to Congress was introduced in the Legislature of New Mexico by the Repre- sentative from Doña Ana county, praying for the organization of the Territory into a separate political division. The name first chosen was "Pimeria," but the one afterwards adopted was "Ari- zona." Authorities differ as to the origin of the name. It is a corruption of " Arizuma," first applied to the country by the early Spanish explorers. Some maintain that the word is of Pima origin, and means " Little Creek," while others hold that its deri- vation is from the two Pima words "Ari," a maiden, and " Zon," a valley or country, having reference to the traditionary maiden queen who once ruled over all the Pima nation. Before it was conferred on the whole Territory it was borne by a moun- tain near the celebrated Planchas de Plata, on the southern boundary of the Territory.
The first attempt to secure a Territorial Government proved a failure. But this did not deter energetic and enterprising men from pushing their way into Southern Arizona. In August, 1856, an expedition under the leadership of Charles D. Poston, en- tered the Territory from San Antonio, Texas, for the purpose of working the rich silver mines said to exist in the Santa Rita and Arivaca districts. About the same time the Government established two military posts in the Gadsden Purchase, one at the head of the Sonoita, some sixty miles east of Tucson, called Fort Buchanan, and the other on the lower San Pedro, near the mouth of the Arivaipa, and known as Fort Breckenridge. In
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
August, 1858, the Butterfield semi - weekly stage route was established. During the next two years a large amount of cap- ital was invested in mining development; and notwithstanding the enormous cost of supplies and material of all kinds, which had to be transported hundreds of miles over wretched roads, the country made steady progress. Its great resources were , becoming known, and it seemed on the high road to prosperity when the breaking out of the Civil War ended abruptly Ari- zona's onward march in the path of progress. The troops at Forts Buchanan and Breckenridge received orders to evacuate the Territory, burn and destroy all Government property they could not carry away, and fall back to the Rio Grande. The two forts were reduced to ashes, together with large quan- tities of Government stores, and the military abandoned the country. About the same time the Butterfield mail line, deprived of all protection against hostile savages, was stopped, and the route changed further north.
Every enterprise came to a stand-still, and every American who could get away fled to California or Sonora. The Apache marauders swept down from their mountain strongholds and car- ried death and destruction throughout Southern Arizona. Mines, ranches and stock ranges were abandoned, and the few whites left in the country took refuge within the walls of Tucson. The savages indulged in a saturnalia of slaughter, and the last glimmer of civilization seemed about to be quenched in blood. In Febru- ary, 1862, one Captain Hunter, with a company of Texans, en- tered Tucson, and hoisted the Confederate flag. He held posses- sion of the place until May, when the advance of the California volunteers caused him to retreat to the Rio Grande. With the advent of the California troops and the feeling of security which their presence inspired, the country began slowly to awaken from the horrible nightmare which had crushed out every vestige of peaceful industry. The discovery of rich gold diggings on the Colorado, at Weaver Hill, and on the Hassayampa, gave a fresh impetus to immigration, and business of every kind began to re- vive.
The people had long clamored for a territorial government. A bill looking to that end was introduced in the Congress of 1857, but failed to pass. Again, in 1860, the people made an effort in the same direction, and Sylvester Mowry was elected to proceed to Washington and urge upon the National Legislature the necessity for such a measure. Another bill was introduced, but political jealousies defeated the effort, and the breaking out of the Great Rebellion indefinitely postponed the matter. · Arizona remained attached to New Mexico until the 24th day of Feb- ruary, 1863, when the bill giving it a separate political ex- istence received the President's signature. The civil officers appointed to conduct the affairs of the new Territory entered on their duties at Navajo Springs, the 29th day of December, 1863. The national colors were given to the breeze, a salute was fired,
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A HISTORICAL SKETCH.
an address delivered, and the Territorial government formally in- augurated. The seat of government was first established at Fort Whipple, which had been built by order of General Carleton for the protection of the miners then working the rich placers of the Sierra Prieta. It was afterwards removed to Prescott, where, ex- cept for a short interval, it has since remained.
From 1863 to 1874, the history of Arizona is written in blood. Population increased slowly, and the rich mineral discoveries in the northern part of the Territory attracted the larger portion of the immigration. But the Apache stubbornly disputed the ad- vance of the white man, and many an adventurous pioneer fell a victim to savage treachery and left his bones to bleach on the desert plain or bleak mountain side. In the ten years just men- tioned, it is estimated that not less than eight hundred victims of Apache ferocity found bloody graves within the length and breadth of Arizona. But steadily the red man yielded to his destiny. Towns and villages sprang up all over the Territory. Rich mines were discovered in every direction; the fertile' bot- tom lands were brought under cultivation; herds of sleek cattle covered mountain and plain, and foot by foot the dauntless pioneer won this rich domain from the dusky fiends who so long had cursed it by their presence. But it was no easy victory ; and the intrepidity, self-sacrifice and indomitable courage of the heroic band who achieved it, are worthy to be embalmed in the pages of Arizona's history, and handed down to future time as an emulation to those who possess the land which their valor and self-denial so gallantly won. Rough perhaps, were they in manner, and rude of speech, but they had in abundance those sterling virtues which flourish best on the border and which adorn and ennoble our common humanity. They had stout hands and honest hearts, a courage which no danger daunted, a will which no obstacles could turn aside, and an energy proof against every disappointment. Peace to their ashes, and green be the memory of their gallant deeds in the hearts of their countrymen !
After years of murder, rapine and robbery, the hostile Apaches were brought to terms by General George Crook, in 1874, and placed on reservations. Since then the progress of the Terri- tory in wealth, population and material development has been steadily gaining year by year. The population has more than quadrupled; hundreds of rich mines have been made to yield up their long buried treasures; vast stretches of the desert have been reclaimed and made to yield bountiful crops of grain and fruits; hundreds of thousands of cattle roam at will over mountain, valley and mesa, and the signs of peace and prosperity are seen on every hand. With the building of two transcontinental rail- roads through the northern and southern portions of the Territory, Arizona may be said to have entered on a new epoch in her history. She is no longer an isolated and unknown region infested by the fiercest of savages. She stands on the highway of nations and the fiery annihilator of time and space has heralded
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
throughout the land the vast richness of her mines, the fertility of her soil, the salubrity of her climate, and the grand opportu- nities which she offers both to the capitalist and the immigrant.
It is not the purpose of this publication to speculate on the fu- ture of this great Territory where nature has done so much and man, as yet, so little. One of the first discovered portions of the western world, long cursed by the demon of isolation and the . blight of savage dominion, it is only the past few years that its grand resources and vast possibilities began to be known. Rich in all that go to build up a strong and prosperous commonwealth, it requires no prophetic eye to discern the brilliant future in store for this favored region. It has entered on the full tide of prosperity, and throughout the Union cager eyes are casting longing looks toward the land of " sunshine and silver." In the following pages the author will endeavor to tell them what kind of a land it is, and the inducements it holds out to the stout- hearted and strong-handed who are looking for homes nearer the setting sun.
SEE PAGE 257
RUINS OF CASA GRANDE.
BANCAOFT-LITH -S.F.
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
Area and Boundaries-The Great Colorado Plateau-The Country South of the Thirty-fourth Parallel - Wild and Striking Scenery-A Field for the Scientist and the Sightseer-The Painted Desert-Geological Features-The Mountain System of the Territory-The Rivers of Arizona-Altitude of Principal Moun- tains-Grand Cañon of the Colorado.
HE Territory of Arizona extends from the 109thi degree of longitude, westward to the Great Colorado; and from 31° 28' of north latitude to the thirty-seventh parallel. It is bounded on the north by Nevada and Utah, on the east by New Mexico, on the south by the Mexican State of Sonora, and on the west by California and Nevada. It comprises the extreme southwestern corner of the United States, and has an area of II 3,947 square miles. Its greatest length from north to south is about 400 miles, and from east to west, very nearly 350. The country may be generally described as a vast elevated plateau crossed and seamed in its nothern part by deep cañons, mighty fissures and narrow valleys. This great plateau has an elevation of from 5,000 to 6,000 feet in the north, which gradually des- cends to sea-level in the extreme southwest. Rising like a giant sentinel above this lofty table-land, is the extinct volcanic cone of San Francisco. This magnificent mountain has an altitude of 1 3,000 feet above the ocean. It is in latitude 35° 30' north, and longitude III° 45' west. Its summit is crowned with snow for more than six months in the year, and its towering peak, loom- ing up in solitary grandeur through the clear air, can be dis- tinctly seen nearly 200 miles away. The most extensive of the grand mesas or table-lands of Arizona is known as the Colorado plateau. It may be said to extend from the thirty- fourth parallel of latitude to the northern boundary of the Territory, and has an average elevation of between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. Its surface is diversified by massive mountain ranges, like the San Francisco, the Bradshaw and the Mogollon, with many detached spurs and peaks. Lying between these ranges are extensive grassy plains, beautiful valleys and charm- ing mountain glens, with a rich soil and a delightful climate. This immense region is drained by the Colorado of the West, the Verde, Colorado Chiquito, and many smaller streams.
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
From the base of the San Francisco peak, there is a rapid descent to the south, and during the melting of the winter snows, or after the heavy summer rains, the deep gorges and dry ravines are foaming floods, whose irresistible fury carries everything before them. South of the thirty-fourth parallel, there is a marked change in the aspect of the country. The descent from the upper plateau is abrupt, the climate is much warmer, and there is a difference of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet in altitude. From this point, to the boundary of Sonora, Arizona is a country of vast plains and wide valleys, crossed in all directions by de- tached mountain ranges, and dotted with many an isolated peak torn into fantastic shapes by the storms and floods of centuries, and baked and blistered by burning summer suns. This portion of the Territory has a gradual descent towards the California Gulf; a large quantity of the water which falls on the elevated plateau to the north, finds its outlet to the sea through its wide valleys, enriching them with the detritus which it gaithers in its course. Mountain, valley, plain and mesa, are the features of Arizona's topography.
The southwestern portion of the Territory, adjacent to the Gulf, is made up of wide gravelly plains, covered with a sparse growth of coarse grass and scanty shrubbery, and crossed by detached ranges and isolated spurs, devoid of vegetation. Water is scarce, and the soil of a poor quality. In the southeast, the mountains assume lofty and massive proportions, like the Santa Catalinas, the Santa Ritas, the Huachucas, the Graham range, and the Chiricahuas. These ranges are clothed with verdure to their very summits, are well wooded and watered, and are among the most delightful spots in the entire Territory. Broad valleys, covered with rich and nutritious grasses and affording pasturage for immense herds of cattle, stretch away from these mountains to the foot-hills of the Sierra Madre.
Central Arizona is well watered, and contains the largest and richest body of farming land in the Territory. The valleys of the Gila and the Salt river are among the finest on the continent. There are hundreds of thousands of acres with a soil that will grow anything raised within the temperate and semi-tropical zones. The climate is superb, and the productiveness of these rich bottom-lands is not cqualed by any portion of the great West. Although the mountain ranges of the Territory are de- tached and broken, they have a marked and regular parallelism in the trend and direction of their axis from northwest to south- cast. The physical features of the country present a panorama which has not its like in the western world. Massive ranges, crowned to their summits by the lordly pine, isolated peaks, bare and barren, of strange and fantastic shapes, smiling valleys clothed in their garb of green, rocky gorges and dark and gloomy cañons, where the sunlight scarcely ever penetrates, rolling grassy
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PHYSICAL FEATURES.
plains, dry sandy wastes, and over all the cloudless skies, the wonderfully clear and balmy air, and the bluish purple haze which lends such a charm to the view and softens the harsh out- line of rugged mountain and barren plain.
That portion of Arizona, north of the thirty-fifth parallel and cast of the Colorado Chiquito and the Great Colorado, is mostly a barren region, but little known. The geological structure is sandstone, and the country is made up of lofty mesas, their summits covered with dwarf pines and cedars, and their precip- itous sides cut by deep gorges. Between these mesas some- times occur narrow valleys well watered, which afford fine pasturage for stock. The extreme northeastern corner of this wild region-embracing a strip of country forty miles long by eighty wide-is a portion of the Navajo Indian Reservation. It is a mountainous district, watered by the Rio de Chelle and its tributaries. The entire country, north of the Moquis villages, is occupied by the Navajos, who pasture immense herds of horses and sheep on its rich uplands during the summer months.
North from the junction of the Little Colorado with the great river is that remarkable region known as the Painted Desert. It is a wild and desolate plateau, entirely destitute of water or vegetation, its entire surface covered by lofty columns, isolated peaks and buttes, composed of sandstone, and worn into gro- tesque and fantastic shapes by the storms and floods of ages. This weird region is a veritable "Fata Morgana," and presents the most marvelous mirages. On its air of dazzling clearness are depicted "palaces, hanging gardens, colonnades, temples, fountains, lakes, fortifications with flags flying on their ramparts, landscapes, woods, groves, orchards, meadows, and companies of men and women, herds of cattle, deer, antelope, etc., and all painted with such an admirable mixture of light and shade that it is impossible to form any conception of the picture without seeing it." The Indians call it the "Country of Departed Spir- its," and carefully avoid it.
The geological features of the Territory are as varied as the character of its surface. That portion north of the Little Colorado and extending to the Utah line, is composed almost entirely of sandstone. It contains large deposits of coal, but as yet none of the precious metals have been found in that region. The country south of the San Francisco mountain, east to the line of New Mexico, and north of the thirty-fourth paral- lel, is covered by the lava flow, which in ages past was poured out in mighty volumes from the fiery furnace which seethed within the depths of this lofty peak. Evidences of the lava stream from this once active volcano are found all over the Colorado plateau, south and east from the San Francisco cone, and for a radius of nearly 100 miles in this direction, traces of the fiery flow are visible. The main ranges through the central portion of the Colorado plateau are composed mostly of granites, por- phyry and slates, with occasional belts of trap, metamorphic
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
rock, and limestone. Eruptive rock is found in many locali- ties, and likewise quantities of conglomerate drift. The mountain ranges of the upper Colorado basin are generally por- phyritic granites, with shistose and metamorphic slates.
The ranges in the southeastern portion of the Territory, below the Gila, are mostly composed of primitive rocks, but large beds of lime, gypsum, felsite, trap, and other secondary rocks are not uncommon. The lower portion of the great Colorado basin bears traces of violent volcanic disturbance. The mountains and the dry and narrow valleys between them are covered with scoria, volcanic ash and large masses of igneous rock. There can scarcely be a doubt that this portion of the Territory was at some remote period the theatre of volcanic action, and the isolated ranges and jagged peaks of which it is composed, are scorched and riven by the fiery flood which once swept over this portion of Arizona. The geological characteristics of the region known as the Papagueria, in the southwestern corner of the Ter- ritory, present a curious geological medley. Granite, porphyry, mica schist, trachyte, quartzite, lime, quartz, feldspar, and many other varieties are found in juxtaposition. The mountains ex- tending from the Gila through the center of the Territory to the Sonora line, and including the Santa Catalinas, Santa Ritas, and Huachucas, are generally formed of granites, porphyry and slates.
Arizona is a land of marvels for the scientist as well as the sightseer. Nowhere on the globe can the work of nature be traced more clearly and intelligently. Torn and riven by stu- pendous gorges, crowned by lofty mountains, adorned with grassy plains, beautiful valleys, delightful parks, and lofty table-lands, the typography of the Territory presents a picture of weird beauty and massive grandeur, unequaled on the continent. The plateau of Arizona shows, throughout its entire extent, marked traces of water and volcanic action, and it is evident that the greater portion of its surface was, for ages, a series of vast lakes or inland seas. The isolated peaks, rising like islets above its valleys and plains, and the fantastically castellated buttes, which are so striking a feature of its varied landscape, show clearly the erosion caused by the retreating waters. Fire and flood have left the indelible marks of their visitation on the face of Arizona, but it has only added a new charm, to her wild beauty, and given added variety to hill, mountain and vale. The geologist will find here a land full of interest and instruction. Nature was evidently in a varying mood when she formed a region whose geological and mineralogical features are in such striking con- trast with long-received and firmly-established theories. It is a land sui generis in its strata and formation, full of the most un- expected combinations and startling contradictions; but it is a land where the student of nature will find her great book with every page full of instruction, and with such a record of countless ages, that the historic period of man is but as yesterday.
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PHYSICAL FEATURES.
Arizona has been called a Mountain Land, and the name fits it well. The ranges, spurs and peaks which cover so large a por- tion of its surface are among the most interesting physical fea- tures of this wonderful country. Although apparently broken and thrown about without regard to continuity or regularity, the general trend of their axes have a marked inclination from north- east to southwest. The mountain system of the Territory is a continuation of both the Rocky Mountain chain and the Sierra Nevada. In 43º 30', north latitude, the Wind River chain of the Rocky range divides about the remote sources of the Great Colorado. One branch trends southward, and, passing around the sources of the Platte, the Arkansas and the Rio Grande, is merged into the Guadaloupe mountains, and at last loses itself in the great prairie plains of the southwest. The other branch, turning to the west and south, forms the Wasatch range, the eastern rim of the Utah Basin, and, widening out to the level of the great plateau, reaches the cañon of the Colorado near I 12º of longitude.
A branch of the Sierra Nevada deflects from that range east of Owens river, and, with a general trend to the southeast, passes by the head of the Rio Virgin, becomes merged in the plateau, and unites with the Wasatch at the Grand cañon. These united ranges form the mountain system of Arizona, and south of the great river break up into parallel ridges, isolated groups, detached spurs and peaks, which are again united in one massive chain in the Mother of Mountains, in Northern Mexico. The San Francisco peak may be considered the apex of the Arizona mountain plateau, and the northern limit of the numerous ranges extending from the thirty-fifth parallel to the Sonora line, and from the 109th to the 113th degree of longitude.
From the San Francisco mountain a ridge extends southeast which separates the waters of the Little Colorado from those of the Gila. This is known as the Mogollon range, while its south- eastern spurs are known as the Sierra Blanca, or White Moun- tain. These ranges are well wooded, containing some of the finest timber to be found in the Territory. They are also well watered by springs and streams, are adorned with many beauti- ful parks and elevated valleys, covered with rich grasses, which afford excellent feed for stock. West of the Mogollon, and run- ning parallel with that range, is the Sierra Mazatzal. Like the Mogollon, it is an extension of the San Francisco Mountain system. Its course is east of the Verde, and south to the Rio Salado. Its slopes and summit are covered with an abundance of pine, juniper and oak, water is found in several streams and springs, and its valleys and foot-hills are covered with a fine growth of rich grasses.
Between the Mazatzal and the Mogollon are several detached spurs and short ranges. The largest of these is known as the Sierra Ancha. It is situated in what is known as Tonto Basin,
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THE RESOURCES OF ARIZONA.
and is a flat-topped mountain, some thirty miles in length, covered with one of the largest and finest bodies of pine timber to be found in Arizona. Between the Salt river and the Gila are many mountain groups, some of which attain a considerable elevation. The most prominent are the Superstition range, which rears its lofty and rugged front east of the great plains stretching between the Salt and the Gila; the Pinal range, which runs nearly parallel with the Gila, and whose northern slopes are heavily timbered; the Salt river and Apache mountains, south of the Salado; the Gila range, Sierra Natanes, and the Sierra de la Petahaya. Nearly all of these offshoots from the main ranges are well watered and timbered.
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