New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-05
THE FRONTIER
Navigation Of the Rio Grnhde.
.-........l nr.r.. Of III. Trihnna


their dav. that there was no lands for Columbus
70 find on the unknown side Of the Atlantic.
Wbenit is navigAted, as it can and must be, many
hundred miles above their utmost limits OF pos
sible navigation" they will be as much puzzled
10 understand the feat as the prosecutors Of Gall
leo were to comprehend the ain possible" posi-
bilitv of the earth moving around the sun. These
positive gentlemen have not yet even learned the
name of the River on whose capabilities they pro
noupce. for the most part on the hearsay Of those
who have some petty sectional interest to nurse,
without ever examining for themselves the full
data for a candid decision They use the old
Spanish term of description of Rio Grande del
Norte"-the great River of the North-or simply
the Rio GrsnGe,' the Great River, applied to
II bv the inhabitants on or it, TO distinguish il
from the smaller streams-iss tributaries. In the
earlier reports on this river some OF these schol-
srlv writer's talked of the River Rio Grande
and the River Rio del Norte. taking in their un-
taught innocence the Spanish for river (r10) as q
part of it's proper name. Bravo is the proper
name of this stream, and the English prefix OF
"river" would be more suitable than the Spanish
word "rio," in national document Of record in
our own tongue, as its distinctive speculation
Of Bravo would be more correct than the terms of
description OF large" or " from the north" al
though those were very well in the first maps of a
newly explored region.
The Bravo River is not the chosen river OF my
heart. vet it is ofhigh valse as boundary river;
as the avenue to rich mining country, still TO be
learned and developed; as the natural highway OF
an immense region, inferior indeed to rich and
Astounding Middle Texas, but still OF dne capaoul-
ties and rare salu6rity and, finally. as line
v bich, whether the national faith IS Kept or pro
Ken. We are bound to Mexico, to oar own people,
and 10 civilization to relieve from it's bondage TO
Mexican aggressOrs and Indian murderers. To
make this River available as n means OF union and
G, ma uncatioD, and render 1t barrier ot comfort
and protection to the vast region 1t waters, 1t
should be made navigable; and TO the great cross
thoroughfares that cover outlet and inlet Tor the
endangered country, should be transferred the
forces now snugy quartered in safety and idleness
in the central towns.
IL is said that the river is not navigable, al
though of the only three efforts to test this, every
one was successful. These three efforts were
made in common boats, at diverse seasons with
out any preliminary knowledge of the current or
its various difficulties, and without the force or
means to remove the slightest impediments in the
bed of the river. The first boat, the Harry Love,
came up to Eagle Pass and Fort Duncan and re-
ported the rapids of Las lsas, Tor Kngsbury's
Falls,) as the only important obstruction. The
boats crew, however took her through these
rapids, and where that can be done strong suit.
ably constructed, iron steamer could force its way
when channel is cleared. To place on unan-
swerable ground the facility of conquerng this
impossible barrier to navigation the official re-
port of a competent engineer, which has been on
record in the War Department already nearly
two years without action, states unequlyocaly
that channel can be made for a small steamer
for S. 000 Contractors could probably be found
who would give bonds to the United States to ex
ecute the work for $4,000, aud if so, it would
open to steam navigation one thousand miles OF
this boundary river. The boats would be small,
but they could carry each small gun or two, and
trar sport troops with activity from point to point,
to meet, drive back, and eiiectuaiy oyerawe, the
wandering tribes of savages who now battle and
set at derision, our slow, and always after time,
pursuits
The second boat was the maj. Babbett"
keel boat fifty feet long, sixteen WIDE and draw
ing eighteen inches water. la this Capt. Love
ascended the river 900 miles and 20 within 200
of e Paso, finding as before the principal, If not
the only important obstruction, at the rapids at
KinesbUry's Falls, through which the boat was
warped by her crew. The last exploration was
made by Lieutenants Smith and Mschler, who
went up from the mouth of the river TO about one
hundred miles above the mouth OF the Pecos, and
this at the very lowest stage of water Their re-
port | have not seen, hut their trip confirms the
feasibility OF the Bravo to light draughs steamers,
since they actually navigated it at the worst sea
son up to the very gates Of the silver region, and
through the range of Indian infested country, in
which even the smallest steamers would be the
most efficient Of all detences.
Before the government or any OF It's servants
ventures 10 abandon the protection Of the from.
tier let $4,000 be placed at the disposal OF
the Secretary Of War, for the purpose Of open.
ing the channel Of the river, and ii it can
be done, we have THRILLED the hopes and security,
and cleared away the worst impedlments, OF the
frontier settlements How any practical man
dare or can, set his private interests and opn-
ions against such a national necessity as the nav.
igatiOn OF the Bravo to its utmost capacity, would
be marvel if we had not SO many official short
comings to take the edge off our astonishment
Until distractions are cleared at Kingsbury Falls
a small iron steamer with a swivel gun should
be placed on the river above those rapids, TO
cruise up and down from the Pecos to Presidio
and that 800 or 400 miles OF frontier. Alter
a million or two has been squaudered in forts
where there is nothing TO defend, as Tor example
in the rocky bsrTens above Las Moras where set
Elements will find no sustenance in half a century
and after the blood Of another two hundred citi
zeps has fertiized these plains and after private
enterprise has labored out the clear and perfect
way this plan which am about TO state will be
adopted. The Rio Bravo on the west and the
most direct line Of communication between Santa
Fe and that coast will enclose between them the
country most 20 be defended in this direction
These great lines resting at their southern ex
tremities on the Gulf Of Mexico, and converging
at their upper exTemties to where the great
traverse from the valley of the Mississippi would
intersect their northern apex, if well defended,
would defend the whole region. Steamers on the
river, on the one side, supported by stationary
forts at such points as command, like Eagle Pass,
q large inlet 70 the most popuous sections, and
connected with the coast by protected trails;
range of temporary forts on the other, or eastern
line, extending from the upper edge of inhabited
Texas, across the paIsable country wa.ersd by
the interockiDg tributaries Of the Colorado and
Rio Bravo, and cross range efforts from the Rio
Bravo eastward, to meet the great land highway
from Santa Fe TO the Gulf is the only sufficient
plan of protection for the wide expsnse of Indian
infested country that separates New Mexico from
her nearest neighbors and the seaboard. Until
we fence out the Gavages by systematic bar