Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-10-02

Trip from NIesilIa 10 brownsville.
From the BrowngriIIe FIag Of the aath Anr.

From the Brownsville Flag of the 18th Aug
A party of four adventurous gentlemen,
Mr. Louis Bucha, merchant. DIR. Bradshaw
dentist, Mr.. Bracket distiller, and MIR Pat
chin, miner, arrived in this city on Saturday
last from the town of Mesilla, in the territory
OF Arizona, after voyage of two months
down the Rio Grande. The party left Mesllla
on the 29lh day of June last. and have been
on the river ever since without stopping at
any place more than day until they arrived
at Davis rancho, where they stopped four
days.
The experiment of navigating the Rio
Grande from Ell Paso, fifty miles this side OF
Mesilla, has often been talked of, but no per-
son has heretofore performed the arduous I'M
dertaking. The gentlemen who arrived here
on Saturday were solely prompted to the voy-
age which they have so successfully accom-
plished, by the desire to do what so many had
| talked of, and which was pronounced an i'm
possible Journey. AT present considerable bets
are pending in Mesilla on the result of the
| undertaking, and many promises of reward
will have to be fulfilled by the public spirited
citizens of that place towards the successful
voyagcrs.
The party first constructed two willow ca
noes, which they dashed together and loaded
with their provisions and baggage. In the
next place, they erected about the sides of
their raft breastwork of hides, to protect
them from the Indians, who were the first
| danger of which they were warned. Thus fit
ted out, the party started upon the u oyel trip.
They foated along with the current, using
the paddles but little, and directing the course
of their raft with a rudder. They travelled
during the day only, always making fast to
the shore and camping on terra firma at night
to avoid accidents in the river.
The Rio Grande did not treat the party
roughly until they came within sixty miles
of Eagle Pass, where, in descending the falls
in the river, the raft upset. The water was
not sufficiently deep, however, to swamp their
baggage, consequently they soon righted
themselves at that place. A short distance
this side of Laredo, the raft capsized again in
descending some falls, but without loss. AT
what is known as the Ten Foot Falls, near
Roma, the raft capsized for the third time,
and the party lost all their baggage, and Dr.
Bradshaw lost valuable set of dental instru-
ments. These falls are commonly understood
to be solitary fall, where the river precipi-
tates itself over shelf ten feet high; but Mr.
Bucha corrects this report, and says that
there are three falls at that point, two of
which are ten feet high, and one If which is
only five feet.
1t is the impression of the gentleman COM
posing the above party, that it will never be
practicable to navigate the Rio Grande above
the Ten Foot Falls, as the current of the
river Is not only very strong, but the depth
of water is very inconsiderable, and the bed
OF the river is Interrupted by frequent falls
and lodges of rocks which no rise of water
will suffice to overcome.
The impression which widely obtains that
there is point in the Rio Grande above
Laredo and below Eagle Pass, where the river
entirely disappears under the mountains, is
incorrect, and the gentleman with whom we
c0nversed accounts for it thus: One or two
parties have started from Ell Paso to descend
the Rio Grande, but they have all failed at
point below Eagle Pass, where the noun
talns approach up to the waters edge, and
where the bed of the stream is very rugged
and the current very swift. At this point
all other expeditions have failed, and from
the place where their boats capsized, looking
down the stream to where the cliffs beetle ov-
er the stream, which makes sudden bend,
the appearance of the scene seems to indicate
that the projecting cliffs overlapped the river
and forces the Rio Grande to make its way
under the oveThanging mountains. But this
is found to be q delusion in descending the
river, as the stream only makes sudden
bend and continues its rough and muddy
course between instead of under the noun
tains
Wild game-snch as deer, turkeys, rabbits
and birds abound On the river, and even if
the voyagers had not found settlements every
hundred or hundred and fifty miles, they
could have subsisted themselves very well
On what wild animals they could have killed
on the river bank. The land in many places
is good.
Speaking in general terms, the gentlemen
express their entire satisfaction with the trip,
and would have no objection to going over
the route again.