Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-02-19
O. 0 m NJ unitate6.
For the Sentinel.
The Gadsden Treaty-Sketch of the new
Territory.

-.
The Gadsden Treaty-Sketch of the new
Territory.
The treaty lately concluded with Mexico, and
now before the Senate with proposed amend
| ments for ratification, is a subject of deep and
paramount Importance to the country. 1t is
not only important as it regards final adjust
ment OF our boundary difficulties growing out
of the Mesilla valley affair, the quietus put
upon any claims of Mexico under the treaty OF
| Guadalupe Hidalgo for Indian spoliations
and as furnishing us better field for operations
against the Indians, but it is highly important
on account Of the acquisition of one of the
finest agricultural and grazing countries in
northern Mexico, and as furnishing the most
direct and practicable route for a railroad to
the Pacific.
| The New York Herald characterizes it as q
"margin of the deserts of chihuahua and
Sonora as ''waste and bowling wilderness"
| 1t is to be presumed that the editor of the
Herald has never read the reports of Captain
st. George Cooke and Lieutenant Emory, and
that he has never sought to extend his know
ledge of the country by resort to other sources
OF reliable information.
The public, through the Opposition press,
have been greatly misnformed as it regards
the character of the country purchased by the
treaty Instead Of being desert, it really en-
braces the best portion of Chihuahua and
Sonora. twas formerly populated and under
cultivation much more than it is now. The
ruins of Ranches are met with on every stream,
and traces of former agricultural prosperity
and wealth abound from the Rio del Norte to
the Colorado. The cause of the abandonment
of many of the settlements in this territory was
not sterility or barrenness Of soil; for even now
i 4 Il. LII .ol A.
these deserted ranches, run wild on the rich
1 and luxuriant pasturage. Vegetation hourishes
rankly in ruined gardens and fields and by dry
neglected aceg,ias. 1t is a country of great
pastoral excellence and beauty. The climate
is delicious and healthy The rich grama grass
clothes every valley, and is found with bunch
grass on every isolated mountain. Nature has
formed it for one of the greatest cattle and
sheep-raising countries in the world, far supe.
rior to New Mexico; for the climate is milder
and the growth Of grass more luxuriant and
extended.
The country embraces an elevated plateau
/ in which the streams flowing southwest towards
the gulf Of California, and those northwest to-
wards the Gila, have their sources. Over this
plateau isolated mountains, without order or
system, occasionally arise. There are occa-
sional depressions or basins and ravines mark
ing the courses Of the streams.
II is characteristic of the rivers of all north
ern Mexico, that the valleys near their sources,
are the richestand the most extensive. The water
| is more abundant, and the vegetation fresher
4 for the streams, as they flow towards the Gulf
| gradually diminish in their volume ofwater, the
soil becomes more sandy and assumes the char
acter of a desert, and frequently the waters are
absorbed in the dry soil and never reach the
Gulf Sometimes these rivers terminate in,
| shallow lakes, in a desert.like country, as the
Mary's or Humboldt river, Cornus river, and
other rivers in the great central basin of Utah.
Indeed, the great plateau of northern Sonora
is similar in topography and geographical char
acier 10 the basin Of Utah. Of the streams
which head in the territory under consideration,
there is rarely more than one, the Huaqui,
whose waters reach the Gulf
The line proposed by the treaty, running
| south OF the Lake Gnzman to the intersection
| OF the 3lst parallel Of latitude with the lllth
degree ofiongitude, and thence to the head Of
| the Gulf of California, includes the valleys on
! the sources OF all the streams flowing into the
/ Laguna 0jo de Calienie, the Gull, and the ella.
| Ii embraces the most fertile and the best wa
tered valleys in that portion OF Mexico; for the
| streams below this line diminish in volume,
and the country is generally barren and worth
less. The lands on the Huaqui and the San
| Ygnacio, the largest Of the streams below that
line are nothing like rs rich or valuable as they
are above.
Twill describe the country more in detail, and
not from garbled statements derived from IN
/ terested parties
/ The Mcsilla valley has been often described.
| The immediate valley of the del Norte is rich.
and can DO easily irrigated The B,esas or
table land, rising from this towards the west,
possess great pastoral capacities, as they are
/ covered by 6ne grama and bunch grass. This
j table land is some two hundred feet above the
valley, and Is level save where indenied by the
mountain streams. There the soft and deli
cate winter grama hourishes and, in the Ian
I gnage OF Lieut. Emory, United States topograph-
/ ical engineer. . the streams arr clear. lmpid,
and cool" They are borderea with cotton
wood, evergreen, oak, ash, and block walnut
Vide Emorys report, pare 5Il From this
table land, proceeding towards the kIo Mlmbres
in a southwest direction, the country - " beau
tifally rolling, traverscd by small streams Of
pure water aud fringcd with walnut, live Oak,
and ash. The coil In the valleys and 20 The
hill.tcps, o. the best quality, covered With
luxuriani growth of grama' Emory, hi
The valley of the Mimbrcs Is rich aud beau
tifal of fertile soil. densely covered with cotton
wood. walnut. ash, Ac. II affords wafer suf.
fccnt 20 irrigate ia beautiful valley.
The country arornd Lake Guzman Is rich.
and affords very abundant pasturagc. Between
Lake Guxman and the Lagnna Ojo de Caliente.
the country presents succession Of hills and