The Kansas herald of freedom., 1859-01-08

5cO0peQ OIJ OF the main QOrSai HAAS VI
the Cordillera BY the rivers which bisect
them, are, each one of them, an immense
of singular beauty, fertility
and temperate atmosphere. They APP
proach one another where they rest
against the Cordillera at the extreme
sources of the rivers.
Behold then the panorama which sa-
lutes the vision of one who has surmount-
ed this Supreme focal summit of the Cor
dillera Infinite in variety Of features
each feature intense in the magnitude and !
the grandeur of its mould in front, in |
rear and on either hand, nature ascending !
in all her elements to the standard of SUI
peflati3s sublimity Beneath, the family
of Parcs around, the tadiating backs of
the primeval mountains the primary riv-
ers starting to the seas above, the ethe-
rial canopy intensely blue, effulgent with
the uncI6uded sun by day and stars by
night; to the East, tie ttndulsting plains,
expanding one hundred leagues, Is dip
like the ocean beneath the encircling hor-
lion to the West, the sublime Plateau,
chequered by volcanic peaks and mesas,
cfanneled as labyrinth by the profound
gorges Of the stfeafhs
1t is manifest with what care the pio-
neers, already engaged in mining at the
entrance of the Bayou Salado, will, in
another season, ascend through it to the
Cordillera, surmount its crests and descend
into the Bayou San Luis. They will de-
velop at every step gold in new and in
creasing abundance. Besides, access is
equally facile by the Huerfano, an affluent
of the Arkansas coming down from the
Spanish Peak, 100 miles further to the
South. From New Mexico, the approach
is by ascending the Rio Bravo del Norte.
The snowy battlement of the Sierra San
Juan form the western wall Of the Bayou
San Luis. From its middle flank, the
Sierra San Juan projects to the southwest
chain of remarkable volcanic MOUNTAINS.
known as the Sierra la Plata (silver noun
tain.) This chain divides assunder the
waters of the Great Colorado from the
Rio San Juan, and filling the angle of
their junction forms the perpendicular
wall of the Great Canon.
1t is to this remarkable mountain chain
and its surrounding regions that have
desired to conduct you, and here stop, in
the midst of the veritable arcane Of the
Mountain Formation and its metalliferous
elements.
The Sierra la Plata is 400 miles in
length, having its source W. S. W. Along
its Dorsal crest aud volcanic masses pene-
trating to perpetual snow; its tanks de-
scend by immense terraces of carbonifer-
Gus and sulphurous limestone. All for
nations of the globe here come together,
mingle with one another, acquire harmo-
nv, and arrange themselves side by side
in gigantic proportions. Lava, porphorit-
ic granite, sandstone, limestone, the pre-
cious and base metals, precious stones
salt, marble, coal, thermal and medicinal
streams, fantastic mountains called cyis-
tones, or abrupt peaks, level mesas Of
great fertility, canons, delicious valleys
rivers, and great forests all these, and q
thousand other varieties find room, appeal
in succession, in perfect order, and in per.
fectly graceful proportions. Remotenes:
from the sea, and altitude, secure to this
region tonic atmosphere, warm, cloud
less, brilliant and serene. The aborigina
people are numerous, robust and intelli
gent. They are the Navajos and Zuta In
dams. They have skill in agriculture
and weaving, rear great herds of horses
cattle and sheep, but construct neithe
permanent nor temporary houses, so DIR!
and favorable is the atmosphere. Here
also, occurs remarkable, isolated noun
tain, known to rumor for half century
but only now locally identified. This i
Cerro di Sal, (Salt Mountain.) This rise
among the western spurs of the Sierra !
j Plata, to an altitude of 5000 feet, appear
ing as an irregular cone of great bulk.
: pure, strata6ed mass of rock salt, its flank
, are channeled by the little river Dolore:
/ whose waters, saturated with liquid sal
, yield it again in its lower course, in gran
/ ulated beds of snowy whiteness, tinte
5 with vermilion streaks from the beds {
= selenite with which the salt formation tel
I inmates.
S Such, my fellow citizens, are the fac
: and reflections which have selected f
/ your attention, in speaking upon the COL
region of Pixies Peak and the Sierra Sa
b Juan. The superlative character of tn
: region engaged the enthusiastic pen an
!, patriotic instincts of President Jefferso
t more than half century ago. OvershaC
f ed during this long interval by polite
o and military excitements, which have d.
s Elected elsewhere the progressive column
|, of our pioneer people, it now recurs to r
Y store the preeminent continental charact
!. which inspired the generation who foun,
S ed our republican Union.
e Who and what are these people no
y address We are not the people of Il
e North; we are not the people of t
IS South; nor of the East; nor of the We
g We are emphatically and, par ercellen
IS THE PEOPLE OF THE CENTER! Inspir
= tons, oracular by their source and thu
e antiquity, admonish US to resume our d
1t tributive position, and develop the ent
n gies which assume and keep the lead.
d Look upon this map of the world, up
rs which science delineates the zodiac of Ell
b pires and the Isothermal axis of progres
re We have our homes around the center
l. this our northern continent, the center
Of our continental Union, the center of
rs Mississippi basin. Behold, upon the rig
lie hand, the European continent, with
$. 260, 100000 of people; it slopes tows
I'd our eastern seaboard and faces toward
c. West! Behold, upon the left hand,
st continent of Oriental Asia and its islam
TX with its population of 650,O00,0 900 ;
I'd slopes towards our western seaboard a
as faces the the East These external cor
ne nents, dividing between them the popu
10 ton of the world, both face America, a
b face one another across America We
n. cupy the middle space between them, q
n at once separate them asunder and c
w meet them together. From Paris to
rs kin, travelling by our threshold, is bu
10 journey of 10000 miles. 1t bisects
~ temperate zone-it is the line of Land {
lei way travel of mankind!
h. But fact of profound significance to
Ter revealed by physical geography, rems
. to be considered. 1t is alone the sxii
We the isothermal zone of the Northern He
al- isphere, that the principles Of revea
he civilization make the circuit Of the gle