New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-11-07
TIE TEXAS ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA,
AND THE GADsDEN PURCHASE.

AND THE GADsDEN PURCHASE.
PUEBLO DE Los ANGELES. Cal, Sept. 10.
After three months more al rough road-snd-
c,mp life, during which be has completed the
rest of bis journey across the North American
continent, your correspondent, greatly tired of
pork and beans, bsssit and porpbyry, dilaviun
and sllusium, AIgarObbia gLandKlosa and Cercas
gisasieus, Me1icsns and Indians, Pima boys and
Yuns sirls-reposes, enjoying the kindest hospi-
tsity, in one Of the finest houses OF this beauti-
fully situated and rapidly improvng little town.
trust you will give hum credit for no. forgetting
bis obligations under such seduciDg circumstances,
and, being oblgpg in turn, allow him to pass in
silence over the incidents Of travel over q road
which is now frequented by thousands of wander
ers, and that has lest the attraction Of novelty.
Be it enough to say in this respect that this time,
as before, on other occasions, the Indians have
OILY killed persons not belonging to our party
that tie few men who missed the road IN the
neiehborhoOd of the Gila and died from want OF
water, were likewise not Of the number Of my
companions, and that in ii desert Of the Colorado,
where years are said 20 pass without one drop OF
rain the clouds poured down food upon us,
covering the sterile plains with little pools and
lakes OF delicious water.
So far we have had good luck, and as to me person
ally. DO not doubt that shall have it further
Steamboats, never explode when / am on
board. My friends, however who have brought
here for sale their wagons and mules, or their
cows and sheep, have Travelled for that purpose
across TIE whole continent, run into heavy ex-
penses and endured dangers and hardships, and
then hear the first man this side Of the wilderness
POLITELY tell them: People must be crazy in the
least to bring such things for sale here, are to
be passionated. None Of those, indeed who have
engaged in this kind of speculation, will avoid
considerable losses this season. Those who take
a more northern route may, perhaps. do better;
but even they, if am not mistaken in my calcu-
latons will find it hard to stand the competition
of this southern portion Of the State of California
itself where any quantity of beef cattle may now
be bought at S25 to SOS head. One thousand
head were even sod here few days ago at
S14. which must however, be taken as an excep-
tionsl case.
From the first days Of my arrival my notions Of
California have had to be greatly corrected indeed.
This country not only produces now all the pota.
toes and cabb8ges, turnips and oni)ns, fgs and
grapes, which it is capable of consuming, but
the southern portion raises immense herds OF
cattle and horses, which, if not entirely sufficient
Coming over the pass of San Felipe and after
having passed Warmers Rancho the traveller is
asonished to see hundreds Of square miles covered
with herds Of fine cattle. The possessions OF the
Yorba family, on the Santa Ana River, which are
the first the traveller meets, are said TO contain
near 90, 600 head; their neighbOr, Colonel vii.
liams, may have about 10000; Mr.. Stems here
has 10000, and quite number OF farms IN the
neighbOrhoOd, which all count their lands by
L.. .Iar thair otn al
ranging about 10, 600 head There is no want of
fine horses either, and if those of the native race
are not us large, as beautiful and as swift, as the
finer class of horses imported from the States,
they are more durable and have more spirit. OF
mules, the importation might be justified, as the
country wants far more Of them than ii pro-
duces.
1t appears, however, that sufficient number is
brought by the emigrants, on the northern route,
70 that the chances left to spectators are not very
favorable, and less SO for those who come from
Texas where the race is smaller than in Missouri,
and who arrive in this southern portion where
Sonora is so near and the principal market in the
mining districts, still go distant. The 800 mules
of my friends Messrs. II. Mayer g. Co., were not
sold higher here than they were bought in Texas,
and their 20 wagons, the finest and largest that
ever travelled across the plains, aud the best that
were ever made at Pittsburgh, did not bring by
far what they cost after being landed at Port Lay
acca. 1t is true, the times have been particularly
pnfayorable; but however favorable the change
may be in the state of business in California,
the principal causes influencing these particular
branches appear to be permanent.
The fact that the acquisition of new territory
from the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Sonora
comedies with low tide in California, produces
considerable emigration from here to the acquired
portion of Sonora. AS have Just travelled through
that region your readers will perhaps not dislike
to hear something about it. The greater part of
this addition to the United States consists OF des-
erts unfit for ever becoming the habitaton OF men.
These tracts, it is true, are not exactly without
vegetation; but the character Of this vegetation
is such as to make them even unfit for nourishing
cattle, not to speak of the great want of water,
which it might perhaps be easier to remedy than
the sterility of the soil. Wherever the vegetation
consists Of L0rrea MeIioaHd, FOnquierd sptendeHs,
and certain other shrubs of which l do not know
the Names with the exclusion Of gramlnaceous
plants the soil is always sterile; but here you see
plains of hundreds of miles where even these
shrubs are Of very poor growth. Larger tracts,
indeed are not better than the ill-reputed desert
north Of the Colorado. Nevertheless, the newly
acquired territory contains some very beautiful
and valuable portions. Cooks route, which, with
one single exception, is included in the acquisl-
ton, follows series of watering each sur
rounded by more or less rich pastures, and each
forming Kind Of oasis in the desert. More val
liable still is the valley of the San Pedro River.
The wide basin of its head.witers alone, sur
rounded as it is by high and partly well-tmbered
mountains, reported to be rich in all kinds of ores
is an admirable location for some dozens OF farms.
Artesan wells could produce here very easily
great deal more water than the settlers would
think necessary to have. But even without such
artificial means more water comes out of the
soil here than i have seen at any other place
r. tba