acres, a district three times as large as the State of New York.

"The locality of this broad area pre-supposes great metallic wealth. The mountain ranges are the prolongation of those which southward in Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango have yielded silver by millions for centuries past, and which northward in Nevada are now amazing the world by their massive returns of the precious ores. The general direction of the mountains and the veins is northwest and southeast, and there are numerous parallel ranges which form long valleys in the same direction. These and the broad and level bottoms of the rivers, which may be easily and cheaply irrigated by acequias or artesian wells, under which treatment the soils return an immense yield, and are independent of the seasons, produce, so far as tested, every variety of grain, grass, vegetables, fruits and flowers. While it has some barren and desolate country, no mineral region belonging to the United States, not excepting California, has, in proportion to its extent, more arable, pastoral and timber lands. Those who have asserted to the contrary have been either superficial and limited in their observations, or willfully inaccurate in their statements. In the language of a recent editorial in The Arizona Miner:

"For its extent, there is not a section in the United States which more abounds in glades and vales, and wide-spreading plains, suitable for cultivation, and only awaiting the hand of industry to blossom as the rose.

"The climate, considered either in its relations to health and longevity, or to agricultural and mining labor, is unrivaled in the world. Dis

ease is unknown, and the warmest suns of the Gila and Colorado River bottoms are less oppressive and enervating than those of the Middle States. The proportion of fine weather is greater than in any other part of the world I have visited or read of.

"In order to a simple description and clear understanding of the whole Territory, I will speak of it in the several divisions created by the First Legislative Assembly, convened at Prescott, in September last. That body authorized the organization of four counties, each to be named after a leading tribe of Indians residing within its borders.

"PIMA COUNTY.

"This county is bounded on the east by the line of the Territory of New Mexico; on the north by the middle of the main channel of the Gila River; on the west by the line of 113° 20′ west longitude, and on the south by the Sonora line. The seat of justice is established at Tucson.

"Pima County embraces all of 'The Gadsden Purchase' within the Territorial lines, excepting the small portion west of 113° 20′ west longitude (which is in Yuma County), and is the best known portion of Arizona. This comes from its early settlement, the development of its mines, and the extensive travel through its length during the running of the Southern or Butterfield Overland Mail. Its silver veins are among the richest on the continent. Some of them have been worked for centuries, and if they have not constantly yielded a large return it has been more from a lack of prudent management

or the incursions of hostile Indians than from any defect in the quality or quantity of the ore, or in the facilities for extracting and working the same. The ores are chiefly argentiferous galena, and are best adapted to smelting. Some of the mines at a depth, have a silver-copper glance, iodide of silver, and a mineral containing quicksilver. The copper ores of Pima County are surprisingly rich, yielding in some instances as high as 90 per cent of pure copper. They are chiefly red oxides and gray sulphurets.

"Wood and water if not immediately at hand may usually be had at a convenient distance. The Santa Rita Mountains have fine pine forests, and between Tubac and San Xavier is a timber district some miles in width, extending from the Santa Cruz River to the base of the mountains. The timber is mesquit and of a large size; for mining purposes it is well adapted; for building it is too hard and crooked. The cotton-wood is found on the margin of all the streams; it is of rapid growth, and well adapted for building. The adobe or sun-burnt brick is, however, the favorite building material. It is easily and inexpensively made, and laid in thick walls furnishes an enduring and comfortable house; better suited to the climate than any other. The agricultural and pasture lands of Pima County are very extensive. The valleys of the Gila, and Santa Cruz, the San Pedro, and other streams, are large and equal in fertility to any agricultural district in the United States. The San Pedro Valley, over one hundred miles in length, is, perhaps, the best farming district south of the Gila River. The Sonoita Valley,

which opens into the Santa Cruz near Calabazas, is some fifty miles long.

"Mr. Bartlett, United States Boundary Commissioner, thus describes the valley of the Santa Cruz:

"This valley was traversed by the earliest Spanish explorers in 1535, seduced by the flattering accounts of Cabeza de Vaca, Marco de Niza and Coronado, led their adventurers through it in search of the famed cities of Cibola, north of the Gila; and before the year 1600, its richness having been made known, it was soon after occupied as missionary ground. Remains of several of these missions still exist. The mission church of San Xavier del Bac, erected during the last century, is the finest edifice of the kind in Arizona. Tumacacori, a few miles south of Tubac, was the most extensive mission in this part of the country. The extensive buildings, irrigating canals, and broad cultivated domain here at once attest its advantages.

"The same authority pronounces the valley one of the finest agricultural districts, and presenting many advantages for settlers.

"In each of these valleys there is an abundance of water for irrigation, and both whites and Indians had raised large crops with little labor. Some of the old ranches now owned by parties engaged in working the mines, are noted for their exuberant growth of every variety of cereals, vegetables and fruits.

"The table-lands of Pima County are covered with a short and luxurious grass, upon which immense herds of cattle have been and still may be raised, and the grazing districts include many

of the mountain ravines as well as the lesser hills, where gramma-grass is found in abundance, and which is greedily eaten by horses, mules, sheep and horned cattle. This grass is very nutritious, and even when dry and parched by the heat of the summer is eagerly sought after by the animals.

"Tucson, the principal settlement of Pima County, is in the Santa Cruz Valley. It was a prominent station upon the Butterfield route. Of late years it has been much improved, and the recent opening of several rich mines in close proximity to the town will give it increased business and importance. Its population is largely Spanish, and the same may be said of all the settlements in Pima County.

"Other towns in the mining districts south of Tucson and Tubac and upon the Gila River, are becoming of consequence as the agricultural and mineral development of the country progresses.

"Their growth is somewhat retarded, as is the prosperity of the whole country, for the want of an American port upon the Gulf of California, by which route goods and machinery might be speedily and economically received. The great oversight of the United States in the failure to acquire such a port when it might have been had without difficulty or expense is keenly and constantly deplored, and it is the hope of every one living in or interested in Southern Arizona that the government will by negotiation (if coming events do not afford other means) soon secure either the port of Libertad or Guaymas, or both. Indeed, the geographical relations of the State of Sonora to Arizona and our access to the Pacific are such