The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1849-06-08

Our Warrington Correspondence
WASHINGTON, June 6, lS49.

WA8hln4tOn
WASHINGTON, June 6, lS49
Oalifoywia-Lieut. BeaA-Sfafs 81 me country
ov.rlord Routes-7he Character Of the CHA
Rivu Roulette Great Desert Bas'"-Ine co
l.rado and Gulf of Caiifrmia-1he Wealth Of
Abe Peninsula of California and of the Depart
mont of S0aora-IesftMony o. O. Gdrdsner-
Curious Specimens, &c &c
We have had conversation to-day with Lieut..
Beall, of the navy, whose exploits IN California,
and whose journeys to and from that country by
VARIOUS routes, attended with the greatest hard
ships and dangers, and all triumphanty overcome,
entiile him TO be ranked with Fremont and the
children OF the mountains, and with stockton and
the children OF the sea; combining In himself the
amphlbious properties OF a trapper, an explorer,
q soldier, a sailor and marine.
The most material information brought home by
Lieut.. Beall has been already published but we
gather from him many particulars which are inte-
resting, and we purpose herein TO touch upon
point or two.
The state of the people in California is as order
" as could be expected and much more so than
n generally believed. Still, they feel the want of
a civil government, and the insufiiciency of a
merely nominal military establishment. While
the people of California, however, are anxious for
agovernment OF their own, it is doubtful whether
they will move efectually In the matter, all hands
being absorbed in the business of gathering gold;
Lieut. Beall has travelled the several overland
routes and speaks OF the route through Mexico
to Mazatlan as next best to the route by the 18th.
mus of Panama and as preferable to the latter if
shipping is uncertain, because, In the event OF no
shipping at Mazatlan,, travellers may cross over
the mouth of the Gulf of California, and proceed
mp the coast. =,
The ella river route is impracticable for all
time to come for railroad. A railroad along
the SUBMITS OF the Palisades and the highlands OF
the Hudson, connecting the inequalities with
bridges, up TO Albany, would be more feasible than
railway down the valley of the ella. 1t flows
for miles through deep and narrow chasms, or ca
InIto oil arb lte
the confused masses of rocks heaved up by volca
mic action, form chain oPbod and ragged noun
talns along It's whole course, with here and there d
small slip of land bordering the stream, capable
cultivation. In this statement Lieut.. Beall is am
ply sustained by the official reports of the eng-
neers and journalists Of Gen. Kearney's command.
Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, extends from
the boundary OF Oregon, latitude AZ, southwardly
across the ella into Sonora, to latitude 30. Lieut.
Beall says that where you cross It from the mouth
OF the Glla TO the spurs of the Sierra Nevada, l20
miles, 1t Is as complete desert that of Sahara;
and Major Emery bears out this declaration in his
notes, for he speaks of the clouds of sand which
filled the air and swept over the arid waste, at the
junction of the ella and Colorado. The ella can
about as readily be made navigable as the Niagara
for the first ten miles below the falls; and the
Colorado Is supposed to be equally impracticable,
from its canones, falls, and through the DESERT
account of its quick sands; for In course of eight
hundred miles the river is supposed to descend four
thousand feet, and near Its mouth 1t Is thick and
however, little is known. 1t has been crossed,
among its head branches, by Fremont-it has
been crossed near its mouth by various exped-
mons; but the river has never been explored but
representing 1t as one continued fall, through
gloomy cdnones, where no man may venture with
canoe.
1t is this unknown river, and the unknown re-
glon belonging to 1t, the country tributary to the
Colorado, equal In extent TO strip of the Atlantic
coast of $50 miles wide, from Boston to Savannah,
that Col Fremont intended to explore, in his late
disastrous expedition. 1t was his object to clear
up all mystery-to lay it bare to science, and map
it down az he had done all the rest OF our
territories west of the Rocky Mountains His
all complete. And we hope that this admit
nistration Will yet encourage him, with Lieu
tenant Beall, to undertake it. Major Weber, III
his Centralia expedition, proposes to penetrate
. this unknown region, and to cross 1t, and we
doubt not that the Colorado has its gold placers,
well as its tributary, the CHA.
Lieut. Beall speaks in decided terms of the rich
mines of Lower California, (the pennsula), and
says that he has seen large masses OF silver that
had been extracted from seams OF the metal IN the
rocky structure Of the mountains.
DIR. Gardiner, who lived five or SIX years In
Mexico, and who has personally explored the De-
partment of Sonora, east of the peninsula of Cali
forna and south of the ella, says that he knows
that Sonora Is rich in gold. He is now in this
which he picked up In Sonora, and other minerals,
including variety of curious stones. And the
the Mexicans have not proceeded to collect
this gold of Sonora is, that the Apache Indians
have fem time mmemorial held this department
In subsection. DIR. Gardiner had body-guard OF
ten men, Americans and Irlshmen, in his explora-
ton; and though he had to fight the Apaches fire.
9uently several times a day, he managed to
keep Them at a respectful distance, as the Ameri-
can rifle was terror to their bows and arrows.
The doctor has his lodgings in + street. where his
specimens can be seen, as we'll as an interesting
collection OF Aztec idols, &C.
We have, therefore, to come to the conclusion,
that the gold and silver region of the West in
cludes Upper and Lower California, or more than
thousand miles of the country thanking the Paci-
fc, with the Department of Sonora, and the re-
xion drained by the Colorado and the ella In the
rear, extending back even 10 New Mexico on
this side of the Rocky Mountains. W.