San Andreas independent., 1857-08-08

regions, void of wood, water or grass.
But hear wha. Messrs. Butter6eld & Co.
themselves say to the Post Master General, in
regard to the Southern Route
"We have no knowledge of methods to alle-
viate the desolation and horrors of the Llano
Estacado, of the tornado del Muerta, of the sand
plains of the Gadsden Purchase or of the great
California Desert West of the Colorado. The
Journal Of Commerce quotes Lieut. Whipple, of
the corps of engineers, as writing, on the 10th
of October, l849, from an extreme Southern
point of the border route, in the following terms:
'The horn encasing the reading lens of my
micrometer of the zenith sector snapped and
| flew from my fingers in three pieces, owing to
the excessive dryness of the atmosphere. All
the wooden boxes in which the instruments
were packed are being destroyed. The nicely
seasoned and we'll finished cases of the English
instruments made many years since, have
shrunk SO, from the aridity of the air, as not to
admit the original contents
awe should scarcely know what to do to
preserve in good repair vehicles less thorough
ly seasoned than the costly cases of English iu-
struments; nor should we feel assured of the
ability of our men, or of our animals, to endure
labor under the ravs of such torrid SUM- Far
removed not only from provisions for both men
and animals, but also destitute, in such a cli-
mate, of abundant supplies of pure water, we
feel ourselves unable to estimate the cost of
maintaining the necessary ten-me stations re-
quired by the law for the support of an efficient
and swift line of four-horSe semi-Weekly coach
es. In fact, we scarcely conceive how hor-
ses can be made to retain their strength and
swiftness in such regions but at cost which
we have no means at hand to estimate, eren #
it possible to be done at all, uhich seriously
doubt"
Again, they say, after referring to some of
the horrors depicted by Capt. Gray:
Z" How passengers and mails at any reasona-
BILE cost can be carried over region like that,
does not appear to us. We fear that we should
be unable to persuade travellers to ride in our
coaches over a country so desolate and uncom-
fortable most of them, we fear, would dislike
to encounter the inconvenience that would be
likely to follow untoward accidents and mis-
haps in a region so unpromising."
The first great obstacle which stages viii en-
counter in the Llano Estacado, or staked plain,
through which the mail route passes, Captain
Pope Typographical engineer, remarks:
:! This famous desert, apithom scood acater,
extends from the vicinity of the goth to about
the 35th parallel of latitude is about hundred
and serenity fue miles at ats point Of greatest
| acidth, and divides the Rio Grande and its trib
utaries from the aff1uents of the Mississippi
and the streams of eastern Texas"
And again "Llano Estacado presents no in
ducements to cultiOation, under any circumstan-
ces." This is East of the Rio Grande. What
does ex-Secretary Davis himself admit, in speak
ing of his favorite route, from the Rio Grande
to the Gila:
% The great difficulty experienced in crossing
this district as an the long distances phtch NO
WATER IS found at certain The survey
by Lieutenant Parke was made during the dry
est season of the year, and irrespective of the
springs found at intermediate points, the whole
distance between the two rivers Rio Grande
and Gila, may be divided into spaces, carrying
from 80 to SO miles IN length, at the termination
of which large permanent supplies OF water are
found at the most unfavorablc season of the
year.
"These spaces and points are:
From the Rio Grande to the Rio Mmbres, II miles
From the Rio Mimbres to the stream OF the
From the yallev de- sauz to the San Pedro SO miles
From the San Pedro to Tuezon, So miles,
From Tuezon to the Gila ~ miles,
Thus, at FIVE points, in distance ofthree hund-
red and sixty-four miles, water, grass and fuel
year; at least such an inference would be drawn.
Yet, according to Lieut.. Parke, the rivers MINI
bres and Sauz are both insignificant streams
OF the former, he says; " 1t is about six feet
wide and one foot deep its waters disappear
soon after leaving the mountains, sinking into
the sands short distance below the road. =
And of the Sauz: "There is no main bed or
channel, the water ramifying through small
narrow ditches or spreading itself over the sur
face of the bottom, rendering it marshy and
miry Grass is scarce and salty"
Over such a waste of barren lands, forming
as il were. a chain of deserts, must stage coach
es pass to reach the drifting sand-hills of the
Gila river, where Maj. Emory says !" the hills
and mountains appeared entirely destitute of
vegetation, and on the plains could be seen, |
only at long intervals, few sunted tufts OF Lar
rea Mexicana, wild wormwood and artanisia"
And after all these, the Colorado desert has
still to be crossed. Yet, over such unlnvltlng
regions does the overland mail route to Cali |
tornia pass, and the Government, in its magma
nlmlty, grants to the contractors presumption to
certain quantity of land at intervals of ten
iniies, Tor the purpose of establishing stations
ana relays OF horses. What use they can make |
Oh their pre-emption rights amid the moving
SAND ridges of the Llano Estacado. the barren
plans lying between the Rio Grande and the
CHA, or on the baked and scorchng Colorado
desert, we are at as great loss to know as
we are to understand why the contract was
awarded to the route extending along the bor-
ders of the Torrid Zone We hone tho antou
prise may succeed, while We know that great
injustice has been done to the interests Of Cali
fornia and feel that as far as mail facilities arc
concerned, we have no prospect of being better
! ataI |