as well as the more doubtful tribes. So well consolidated was his influence under the co-operation of French cordiality, that a single soldier could be sent in safety among the Indians through any part of the Wabash and Illinois country, to the heads of the waters discharging themselves into the lakes and the Mississippi.

Here the British still maintained their ascendency; no doubt as has always been the case by holding the forts through the country. Indeed, many of the tribes were even now divided between them and the Americans. So sudden and extensive a change among the Indians in our favor is mainly attributed to the friendly disposition of the French agents and traders, supported by the stern and commanding deportment of Col. Clark. It required all his tact, united to the French influence, to preserve the firt impression he had made, while at the head of so inadequate a force.

Accordingly the prospect of reinforcement from the Falls of Ohio was constantly held out, and every means adopted to attach our new fellow-citizens to the American government. No fees were exacted by the commanding officers in the weekly courts, which were occupied by the business and disputes of the people: a contract of administration most favorable to American influence, in the poverty and docility of this primitive people. A friendly correspondence with the Spanish government on the opposite side of the Mississippi, and the permission of some trade with agents, even from Canada, all contributed to maintain a controlling influence over the savages.

ARTICLE IV.

Treaty between the U. S. and Mexico.-The Mesilla Valley.-Pacific Railroad.

So little is known respecting the country recently acquired by the United States under the late treaty with Mexico that we conclude a description of that region, in connection with the treaty, will be interesting to our readers.

It is generally conceded, we believe, that the principal motive to the purchase of the Mesilla Valley was the acquisition of a favorable route for a railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. We have, therefore, selected from Commissioner Bartlett's personal

narrative such facts as would seem to affect the practicability and profitables of building a railroad through that region.

It will be recollected that the initial point for the commencement of the northern boundary line of Mexico was fixed by commissioners where the parallel of 32° 22' north latitude intersects the middle of the Rio Grande. Thence the line proceeded west to the waters of the Gila. By the late treaty, this line is to commence on the Rio Grande at a point where the parallel of 31° 47′ intersects the middle of that river, being 35' or about forty miles further south. This space includes the Mesilla Valley. As the meaning of the name, and the character of this valley is not generally understood, we quote the following, by way of explanation, from Bartlett's personal narrative:

"Mesilla is the diminutive of the Spanish word mesa, i. e. table, also table-land, or plateau, and is applied to a lesser plateau in the valley of the Rio Grande, beneath that of the great mesa or table land which extends for several hundred miles in all directions from the Rio Grande. It is situated on the western side of the Rio Grande, about fifty miles above El Paso, in latitude about 32° 18' north, and until the year 1850, it was without an inhabitant."

In March 1851, it contained between six and seven hundred inhabitants, mostly Mexicans who removed from the east side of the Rio Grande by reason of the claims set up to their lands by American citizens holding land grants or certificates known as "Texas head-rights." The author says the lands at La Mesilla are precisely of the same character as other bottom lands, on the opposite bank of the river, near Dona Ana and Cruces.

Referring to the value of the bottom lands on the Rio Grande, for agricultural purposes, Mr. Bartlett says:

"A mistaken idea prevails in regard to the great advantage of artificial irrigation over that of natural rains. It is true that where the cultivator can depend upon an ample supply of water at all seasons in the irrigating canals, he possesses an advantage over him who relies exclusively on nature. But the misfortune is that when water is most needed, the supply is the scantiest. In February and March there is always enough for the first irrigation. In April and May the quantity is much diminished; and if the rise expected to take place in the middle of May, fails, there is not enough to irrigate properly all the fields prepared for it. The consequence is, a partial failure of crop. In 1851 many large tracts of land near El Paso, which were planted in the spring, and through which irrigating canals were dug at a great cost, pro

duced nothing ;" and the author was told by a gentleman at San Eleazario, twenty-five miles below El Paso, "that the summer of 1852 was the first one in five years when there had been sufficient to irrigate all the lands of that vicinity which had been put under cultivation." He concludes that "not one tenth part of the fertile bottom land of the Rio Grande can be cultivated, owing to the uncertainty of the supply of water. The Rio Grande receives no tributary for more than four hundred miles, reckoning above and below El Paso; and if there is now found to be not water enough even for the limited district near that town, what is to be done with the vast tract along the river below at a time of scarcity?"

From these facts it is obvious that even the narrow slip of bottom land on the Rio Grande, constituting the Mesilla valley proper, is of but very little value for agricultural purposes.

Having emerged from the valley of the Rio Grande and reached the summit of a high table-land, the author says:

"On the west, the broad undulating prairie was only here and there interrupted by low conical-shaped hills. At the south and south-west, detached mountains appeared abruptly springing from the plain, with jagged and picturesque summits, some of which must have been fifteen hundred feet in height. In the clear blue atmosphere of this elevated plateau, every object appeared with great distinctness, so that mountains could be seen at a distance of more than a hundred miles."

After crossing this barren plateau, at the distance of about seventy-five miles from the Rio Grande, the party reached the Rio Mimbres; "the third stream," says the author, "we had seen since passing the small water courses which empty into the Colorado, in our journey from San Antonio to El Paso, the Picos and the Rio Grande being the other two. The bottom for nearly a mile in width was covered with verdure, such as we have not seen since leaving the rich vallies near Fredericksburg, in Texas."

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The Rio Mimbres is described as being a stream from "ten to twenty feet in width, and in some places even less: its waters soft and delightful to the taste. It has never been traced to either of its terminations. It rises in the mountains north-east of the copper mines, and when full, empties into lake Guzman, about one hundred and thirty miles to the south; but for several months in the year it exists only in pools, or dries up entirely, after reaching the plains. When the surveying party crossed it six weeks later, about fifteen miles lower down, they found it entirely dry."

The bottom at the place crossed by the party was thickly wooded: ash and oak were interspersed among large cotton-wood; wild

roses, hops and the Missouri currant grew in great profusion, and so much entangled that it was difficult to pass through them. The bottom lands are narrow. But the author thinks if cultivated they would afford provision to supply a respectable number of operatives at the copper mines which are distant about eight miles from the stream. Game, consisting of black-tailed deer, bears, turkeys, quails, &c., are abundant in the valley of the Rio Mimbres, and in the copper mine region. An excellent forest, however, consisting of two species of pine, and two species of evergreen oaks, seems to be the most interesting and valuable feature of this region. This range of forest extends from the Gila eastward about fifty miles; but lies, as we believe, north of the lands lately acquired. We copy the following remarks of the author at the close of the third day after leaving the copper mines:

"The country passed over in the last three days is barren and uninteresting in the extreme. As we toiled across these sterile plains, where no tree offered its friendly shade, the sun glowing fiercely, and the wind hot from the parched earth, cracking the lips and burning the eyes, the thought would keep suggesting itself, is this the land we have purcchased, and are to survey and keep at such cost? As far as the eye can reach, stretches one unbroken waste, barren, wild and worthless. For fifty-two long miles we have traversed it without finding a drop of water that our suffering beasts would drink; nor has there been grass enough since we left the copper mine region for more than a small number of animals, such as our own.

"The animals noticed seem to have partaken of the wildness of the country they inhabit. An occasional herd of antelopes is seen galloping in the distance, unapproachable by the hunter, for the want of a tree or shrub behind which he may advance. Lizards of various hues and graceful shapes glide about with inconceivable swiftness. A startled hare throws up its ears, and bounds out of sight. The prairie dog gives a shrill cry of warning to its fellows, and drops into its burrow. The only things that do not seem terror-striken, are the so called horned frogs. They, as if conscious of the security afforded by their own hideous ugliness, sullenly remove themselves out of the way of the horses' hoofs, and regard the passer with malicious eyes. The vegetable presents scarcely more of interest than the animal world. The flowers are almost entirely of that most unbecoming of all hues, yellow-varying from sulphur color to orange-and glaring in the bright sun light. One becomes sickened and disgusted with the ever-recurring sameness of plain and mountain, plant and living thing. But if the day's travel is tedious, it is almost compensated by the glory of the night. In this clear dry atmosphere, without cloud or haze, moonlight

and starlight have a splendor of which dwellers upon the sea-side cannot conceive."

This may be regarded as a general description of that part of the Mesilla purchase, lying between the Rio Grande and the Rio San Pedro, a tributary of the Gila.

The point on the Rio San Pedro first reached by Commissioner Bartlett was on the parallel of latitude 31° 54′ 31"; Longit. west from Greenwich 110° 11' 41". He says:

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The stream much resembled the Pecos in appearance, though much smaller, was here about twenty feet across, about two feet deep, and quite rapid. The water, though muddy, was pleasant to the taste. The valley of the San Pedro near our camp was anything but luxuriant. It consists of a loam, which if irrigated might be productive; but as the banks are not less than eight or ten feet high, irrigation is impracticable, except by digging a canal a very long distance. The grass of the vicinity is miserably thin and poor, growing merely in tufts beneath the mozquit bushes, which constitute the only shrubbery, and in some instances attain a height of ten or twelve feet; low hills approach within a mile of the river, on the cast side, and on the west within a quarter of a mile."

About three miles further south, however, the party succeded in finding grass sufficient for their animals.

From this camp, Mr. Bartlett set out in search of Santa Cruz, a town about forty miles distant, in a southern direction, for the purpose of procuring provisions. Having no guide, the party wandered among the mountains and defiles about two weeks before it reached the town. Our author says:

"Santa Cruz is one of the nine presideos, or military posts, on the frontier of the State of Sonora. It was formerly a place of considerable importance, with about fifteen hundred inhabitants; but at present its population does not exceed three hundred. It possesses a fine valley and bottom land of the richest soil, and is irrigated by a small stream bearing its own name, which has its rise in springs about ten miles to the north. It is admirably adapted for the raising of cattle and horses, as well as of all kinds of grain."

We regret that Mr. Bartlett has not given the latitude of Santa Cruz. From its location on the map and its supposed distance. from the camp on the Rio San Pedro, we conclude that it is within the limit of the late purchase, though it must be very near the line. The valley of Santa Cruz river whose source is but a short distance north of the town is perhaps worth all the rest of the Mesilla purchase for agricultural purposes.