The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1878-07-25
LETTER FROM SUNDoWN.
A Dry and Thirsty Land-Mojave
Desert-The New e Dorado
What Shall We Do with Il?
Correspondence of the Citizen.l
- ~ ,-a

Fort YUMA, July 4th, rs.
Here l am, away off in the neigh
borhood of sundown, just across a
mountain range and a desert from
the waters of the Pacific. This is
the place to which the dead soldier
returned from Hades in search of q
blanket to make his climate tolera-
bic. Judging from the torrid heat
that bursts thermometers and blis-
ters the skin, this wandering ghost
may have had good reason on his
side.
To the west and north and south
of us lies a fearful desert-"a dry
and thirsty land where no water is. T"
This is the region of perpetual bar
renness which my friend DR.. Wor-
encraft proposes to make blossom
as the rose. This broad belt ex-
tending up several hundred miles
from the Gulf of California, was
once the bed of this great arm of
the ocean; and being left by the re-
ceding waves of the Pacific, has be-
come.a treeless, verdureless, wa
terless, baked and burned up desert,
whose heated air is like the sirocco
from the African Sahara, and has
killed many man and animal that
attempted to cross it in the summer
season. If the soil could be irri-
gated 1t would be the most beauti
full and fruitful in the world, pro-
ducing crops of grain and tropical
fruits unknown on the American
continent. The DR.. proposes to
achieve this grand result by turn
ing portion of the water of the
Colorado river into a canal, and to
have this canal traverse the desert,
atfording with its numerous branch
es, sufficient supply to irrigate
many thousand acres of desert land
that are now, not only barren, but a
standing menace of all travellers.
MoJAvE DESERT.
"The journey of death" is better
name for this than q similar district
in New Mexico. Even coming
across it by the Southern Pacific
railway, passengers are reduced to
an exhausted, falnting condition by
the furnace heat poured down by
the suns rays and radiated from
the parched earth. There is not
redeeming feature in the whole
landscape. The sun is like the red
eye of fierce furnace, and the air
quivers with the waves of calbric,
and even the moon and stars look
hot. No lake or stream or foun-
tain, pool, or even puddle, no blade
of grass, no leaves of trees rustling
in the evening wind, no evening
wind to make them rustic; no focks,
no herds, no living thing; no rain
clouds in the sky, no dew on the
earth, no jolly travellers camping at
night or pushing forward through
the day, no sound of bird or bee or
flying insect; no flower in all the
land; whitened bones of victims
scattered here and there with few
snakes and tarantulas to poison and
devour each other. This is truly
the Tornado del Muerto, "the journey
of death"
But 1 did not commence this let
ter to talk about deserts, but to say
something of the fertile plains and
rich mines that lie IN the country
east of this, especially in the south
ern portion of Arizona and New
Mexico. The late discoveries and
explorations made in Arizona prove
that this territory, instead of being
fit only for wandering savages, is
probably the richest mineral dis
trict in America. The mineral
wealth of Arizona is no new discov-
cry. Three centuries ago the indie
fatigable missionaries that went out
from Cortes conquering hosts in
Mexico, explored Arizona and
Southern California, establishing
missions, and in the latter region,
producing even with their rude
tools and machinery large quanti-
ties of silver.
In one case piece of almost pure
silver was found, weighing 2,70O
pounds. But the red handed Apa-
ches were a perpetual terror to ex-
plorers, and until very lately but
little has been done to discover the
rich treasures hidden in the noun
tain ranges of Arizona. Since,
however, the Apaches have been
settled in a reservation, the spirit |
of discovery and enterprise has |
broken out with wonderful power,
and more than a thousand mining
claims have been located. In spite
of the difficulty of travel and of
transportation in this region, large |
numbers of capitalists, miners and
common laborers are already flock
ing to these new treasure fields, and
ere long the rush will probably
equal that to Nevada in 1859.
WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH IT2
Here, IN a parallelogram two hun
dred miles wide by six hundred
miles long, is treasure enough to
enrich the proudest empire of the
world. But "the dark unfathomed
caves of ocean bear" treasures of
still greater magnitude; yet are they
utterly useless to the generations of
men. Rich galleons have gone
down, freighted not only with hu-
man lives, but with gold, silver and
precious stones incalculable in their
immense value, but they are of no
more worth to the world than the |
rough Stag of an iron furnace. Ar
iona and New Mexico are at pres
ent much in the same condition. |
The full development of their min
eral wealth would not only enrich |
the nation, but stimulate into high |
activity every industry and interest !
of the United States. But how can |
this development be secured? Even
gold and silver ores will not bear a |
thousand miles of wagon transpor
tation. Nothing but a railroad can |
make this region the true treasure
field of the continent. Nothing bat
a railroad along the 32d parallel
can redeem Arizona and New Mex
leo from bsrbarism, make them
more productive of gold, silver and
copper than any other district of
the United States, and at the same
time build up trade worth annual
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