Memoir of the Proposed Territory of Arizona | Page 6

will be content in their own incredulity. The most
authentic reports of these immense mineral resources have been used as
authorities against their existence. The authors of these denials either
have never read what they pretend to quote, or think no one else has.
The Hon. T. Butler King, who was the first to reveal to an incredulous
public the wonders of the California gold mines, has had the singular
good fortune to be also among the first to publish correct and authentic
information relating to the silver treasures of Arizona. His report upon
the resources of the new Territory has all the charm to the reader that
his California report had, and its brilliant predictions will be as fully
realized. To Gray and Emory is the country most indebted for the
earliest and most important discoveries.
The agricultural resources of Arizona, are sufficient to sustain a large
mining population, and afford abundant supplies for the great
immigration which will follow the development of its mineral
resources. The whole valley of the Gila, more than four hundred miles
in length, can be made with proper exertion to yield plentiful crops.
The Pimos Indians, who live in villages on the Gila, one hundred and
seventy miles from its mouth, raise large crops of cotton, wheat, and
corn, and have for years supplied the thousands of emigrants who
traverse the Territory en route to California. These Indians manufacture
their cotton into blankets of fine texture and beautiful pattern, which
command a high price. They also grind their corn and wheat, and make
bread. In fact, the Pimos realize in their everyday life something of our
ideas of Aztec civilization. A town will probably grow up just above
the Pimos villages, as there is a rich back country, and the streams
afford a valuable water power for running mills.
The valley of the Santa Cruz traverses the territory from South to North,
sinking near the town of Tueson, and probably finding its way to the
Gila, as a subterranean stream. This valley, of the richest land, is about
one hundred miles long, in many places of great width, and has on each
side of it many rich valleys of limited extent, watered by streams from
the mountains, which flowinto the Santa Cruz. The valleys and

Ranches of Arivaca, Sopori, Calabazas, and Tueson, are those at
present most thickly settled. These produce all the fruits known to a
Southern clime--grapes, wheat, corn, and cotton in great abundance.
The San Pedro river and valley is also one of great richness, and is
reported by Lieut. Parke as capable of sustaining a large population.
The Valle de Sauz, still farther East, more limited than the San Pedro or
Santa Cruz, can be made available for a considerable population. The
Mimbres River also can, by a small outlay, be made to irrigate a large
surface and supply a moderate settlement. The various springs laid
down by Gray, Emory, Parke, and Bartlett, will all afford water for
small settlements, and their supply can be much increased by a
judicious outlay of money. The Rio Grande valley is very rich, and in
places of great width. The Mesilla valley already contains a population
of about five thousand souls, and there is ample room for many more.
If, as proposed, the Northern boundary of the Arizona Territory should
enclose the Northern branches of the Gila, an agricultural region will be
opened to settlement sufficient in itself to sustain the population of an
immense agricultural State. Col. Bonneville, who is now at the head of
a large force exploring this region, writes to the Secretary of War that it
is the finest country he has ever seen, "valleys capable of sustaining a
population of twenty thousand each, teeming at every step with
evidences of an immense population long ago-and an ancient and
superior civilization." The Hon. John R. Bartlett says of the "Salinas,"
one of the Northern branches of the Gila, that it alone will supply food
for a great State. It must be recollected, in this connection, that the
great mineral wealth of Arizona will call for and amply repay for the
redemption and expensive cultivation of all the available lands, and that
irrigation produces immensely greater crops than the other method of
planting. Throughout the whole of Utah, irrigation has been resorted to
with the greatest success. The soil in Utah, in no place that the writer
saw it, could in any way be compared to that of the bottom lands of
Arizona.
Captain Whipple in his valuable report of exploration for the Pacific
Railroad, published by order of Congress, crossed the upper part of the
region alluded to, and which is watered by the Rio Verde and Salinas.
He fully sustains me in my remarks on those rich valleys.