Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1858-03-06
Arlzona.

Iepring into existence. The howl
ing wilderness Of yersterday is to
day the field Of cage: speculation,
and the subject Of Congressional
contention.
! It is curious to look over the
maps by the a;d Of which one
studio1 the geography Of n ort Anne
RIGA ouly few years ago.
We have before us one such rel
ic Of departed boyl1ood. Its title
page declares it to have been print
cd in 1898 33--only twenty-five years
ago. Upon it the names OF Wis
consin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska,
Kansas, the Indian Territory, ETC.,
are unknown. The. boundaries Of
the western part Of the United
States are ambitiously extended to
| fifty four forty,'' but Mexico
stretches Northward to the latitude
Of Connecticut and eastward to the
Sabine. Across what asozo con-
| pr;ses the teelning valleys Of Cali
tornia and the vast plains Of Utah,
are written the words "UxExpLoEED
REGION" Some wild conicctures
are embodied respecting this un~
known region. Thus in the place
where Great Salt Lake ought to be,
is represented 8 sheet Of water
some two hundred miles long, en-
titled Lake Tjtnpanagos,'' y with u
river flowing out Of it to the west
ward, right across what We now
| know t. be the high ridge Of the
Sierra Nevada, into the "Bay Of
SIR Francis Drake"-that is our
Bay OF San Francisco Along that
Wild Pacific coast there is no yes
tiga Of q city, or any settlement,
laid down, but two lonely whale
ships are represented ploughing
their way northvard, as if
They were the first, that ever burst
Iuto that silent sea"
How great the contrast now!
And yet something ofthe wider
ness Of this picture was owing to
the ignorance OR indifference Of the
geograpller' i portion Of lais I'm
explored segion'' had been tray
ersed by Spanish discoveries nearly
three centuries before, and Spanish
settlements had existed there for at
least two Centuries. Nothing is
more remarkable in those regions
than the extent to which they were
settled by Europeans and the pro-
gress made at an early period in
agriculture, mining, cattle breeding
and the like, and the subsequent
docIino or destruction Of these set
Elements BY the lncursions ot' the |
fierce Apachea and CamancI1es. |
These remarks apply especially |
to the proposed Territory OF Ari- I
zona, which is beginning to excite
SO much interest. This name is ap-
piled TO g vast region extending
from the Rio Grande to the Colora-
do Of the West, lying mainly north
Of the ella, but including also the
''Gadsden purchase,'' south OF that
river It is elaborateIy described
in letter recently published from
Mr.. John +. Bartlette who was
lately the Commissioner Of the
United States for .ascertailing the
boundary between our territory and
that Of Mexico. Speaking O, The :
nalley of the Santa Cruz lie says:
s'rI1e valley was traversed BY the
earliest Spanish explorers ia 1856,
seduced by the fattering accounts
of Cabeca de Vaca. Marco dc
Mia and Coronado led the adven-
,urors through it il search Of the
AIMED cities Of Cibo1a, north of the
zjla; and before the year 1900, its
.lchness having been made known,
t was sooz. after occupied as mis-
'<o11ary~ ground. Remains Of sew
,ral Of these missions still exist. j
''Ehe towns and settlements in +
he santa Cruz valley are Santa Is
Jruzand San Lorenzo, (south of t
,ur Iino,) Calabazas, Iunoacacori, +
rubac, Sopo1'i, the mission Of San K
Xavier, and Tucson. Santa Cruz, f
|'ubac, and Tucson were presidios.
Y ith the excentlonof Santa Cruz /
nd Ineson this entire valley was t
Ibanaoned to the savage Apaehes /
Il ]. l .