The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-27
Western SURVEYS,


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Western Surveys.
Denver, Colorado, is jdst now much ex-
cited by the presence Of a number of scientists
and officers, who are gathered there for the
purpose of preparing for the explorations Of
the Great American Desert" under Lieu
tenant WHEELER, United States army, ard
Professor HAYDEN, respectively. Lieutenant
WHEELEK's party will rendezvous at Pueblo,
their base of operations, from which point
they will move forward in five different d.
visions on the 25th Saturday.. The natural
history division, consisting Of Professor
CORE, DR.. YANow, aid assistants, will go inn
mediately to Santa Fe, and from thence pro-
coed to the valley of the Rio Grande, where
they have heard there is large bed Of toS.
sis.
Lieutenant WHEELER is an old and eXpc.
rienced explorer. In 1869, under orders
from General ORD, he explored portions of
Arizona aud Nevada, and assembled the Colo.
RADIO for the distance of 260 miles, suffering
great privations and hardships. His party
was compelled continually to take their
boats out of the water and carry them around
the often-recurring rapids. The success OF
this expedition led to another in 1871, when
Deaths Valley, in Eastern California, was
discovered. This vcritable valley of the
Shadow OF Death comprises about $50 square
miles of territory, situated at distance ave.
raging nearly 100 feet below the level Of the
sea, and hot spring in lis middle exhaes u
mephitic vapor which at times 0yerspreads
the entire vale. 1t was upon this expedition
that young FRED. LoRING, the accomplished
sketcher and correspondent of Appleton's
Journal, was killed and scalped BY the Apa-
che Indians.
In 1872 Lieutenant WHEELER with better
outti. made surveys through Utah and Ne.
vada, from Salt Lake to the Colorado river.
Last year New Mexico, portion of Colorado
and Eastern Arizona were under survey,
and the Sierra Blanca, the supposed fastness
of the Apache Indians, was made the espe-
cial subject of exploration. The scenery in
this range of mountains is grand beyond de-
scription there is not merely the monoto-
nous cliff and canyon Characteristic of ordi-
nary Rocky Mountain scenery, but there is
q combination of foliage and verdure which
so many mountains In this great region are
destitute of. There are great valleys of lin.
dulatipg green diversified by trees of every
variety, alternated with crass and peaks
thrown up in q thousand fantastic
shapes. The climate in summer in the
lower portions of this region, which are at
an elevation of nearly 5000 feet above tho
level of the sea, is delightful, but in winter
it is too cold to admit of its ever becoming
an agricultural country, although there is
water in abundance. The Apaches seldom
occupy it for any length Of time, and they
are the only inhabitants. These Indians are
as mean as carpet-baggers, as dirty as mon
keys, and are altogether as uninteresting as so
many cayotes. Their southern neIghbors,
the Tunis and Moquis tribes, however, are
more advanced in ciyiliz alton, for unless the
officers are given to romancing, they live, j!
not in brown-stone fronts, in houses three
or four stories high, with stairs like frees.
capes on the outside. Their streets are
paved after the invention Of some Indian
McADAM, and they put on some clothes be-
fore they go out to promenade. It is claimed
by enthusiasts that they are the linea de-
scendants of the Aztecs. Professor Core
in exploring this region, found one hundred
and fifty species of vertebrate fossils, of which
one hundred were entirely new to science
Among them were tbs skeletons of the ex
tinct species that roamed these table.land
| when they glowed under the heat Of tropi
cal sun. 49,.
The new expedition, although under com
mand of military man, goes without
military escort, but plcntifully provided Will
topographers, astronomers, naturalists, taxa
-dermists, sc. Experience has proven tba
Indians have great reverence for scientific
men, and that one can produce more efiecl
upon tribe by leYelliHg a transit upon
them than by firing fullload Of grape from
a twenty.four pound bowitzer. With the
lights now before them, aud increased sup.
plies and facilities, valuable discoveries may
be looked for from Lieutenant WHEELER and
his party, and who knows but that this vast
region, when 1t ceases to be a terra is'cognito,
may within o decade or so become the favor.
lite resort of the seekers of health or profit.
President BARNARD, of Columbia College,
told the boys Of the college crew at Saratoga
that they were magnificent advertisement
for the college,