rivers of the Territory form parts of the water systems of both the Atlantic and Pacific slopes; those on the eastern side of the dividing range emptying into the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Canadian and Mississippi Rivers and the Rio Grande del Norte, and those on the west flowing into the Gulf of California by way of the Gila and Colorado Rivers. The principal river of New Mexico is the Rio Grande del Norte, which flows from north to south entirely through this Territory and nearly in its center, entering from Colorado near the 106th degree of west longitude from Greenwich, and leaving at about 106° 30' to form the boundary between Mexico and Texas, its main affluents in the Territory being the Puerco and Chama Rivers. The Pecos River, which empties into the Rio Grande near its mouth, waters the southeastern portion of New Mexico, having numerous considerable affluents, as the Rio Hondo, Rio Callines, and Rio Penasco. The Canadian and its tributaries, the Rio Mora, Beaver Creek, Bajarita Creek, and Rio Ocate, constitute the water system of the northeastern portion of the Territory; the Rio San Juan, a tributary of the Colorado, flows through the northwestern part, collecting the waters of numerous minor streams; and the Gila and San Domingo are found in the southwestern part.

The valley of the Rio Grande is bordered on the east by the Jumanes, Dei Cabello, and other minor ranges of the Rocky Mountain chain, and on the west by the Sierra Madre, the sections of the Territory east of these principal ranges being traversed by the Guadalupe, Sacramento, and Organ Mountains, and the Sierras Blanca, Hueca, and other divisions forming the western boundary of the Pecos Valley; while on the west of the Sierra Madre is a series of detached ranges bordering valleys possessing great fertility of soil, and known to embrace great wealth of mineral deposits, although almost entirely undeveloped, this section having been as yet but very imperfectly explored. One of the most noted elevations of this magnificent mountain country is Mount Taylor, situated northwest from Santa Fé, in the Sierra Madre range, rising to a height of 10,000 feet above the valley of the Rio Grande, this valley having itself an elevation of between 5,000 and 6,000 feet above the level of the sea in its northern extension toward the Colorado boundary, 4,800 at Albuquerque, in latitude 350, and 3,000 at El Paso, in the Mexican State of Chihuahua, near the southern boundary of New Mexico. The general altitude of the mountain chains rising on each side of the valleys of the Rio Grande and Pecos Rivers is between 6,000 and 8,000 feet, and sometimes, especially in the northern sections of the Territory, they reach to the height of 10,000 and 12,000 feet above the level of the sea, and into the regions of perpetual snow, their slopes in the summer season presenting almost unbounded varieties of vegetation, changing as ascent is made from the succulent and luxuriant fruits of southern skies, through the gradations of the semi-tropic and temperate flora to the scanty herbage and dwarfed timber of the frigid zone, while the wide-stretching fields of snow and ice, capping with white the lesser heights, which vary in color from bright green in the immediate vicinity of the observer to deep blue in the distance, furnish a never-failing supply of the purest water to the many streams coursing down the mountain sides, and uniting in considerable rivers in the valleys beneath, supplying the means of irrigation and other demands of agricultural and domestic economy. The portion of the Territory adjoining the western boundary is principally constituted of elevated table-lands, or mesas, as they are called by the Mexican inhabitants, traversed by chains of mountains and diversified with broad valleys, in many of which are considerable streams, having their margins

fringed with cottonwood and other timber, and bordered with luxuriant meadows, the principal of the rivers of this section being the Gila and Rio San Juan, tributaries of the Colorado of the West. Owing to the mountainous character of the surface of New Mexico, its streams are generally rapid and shallow, and therefore unnavigable, except for lightdraught canoes and flat-boats; but their rapidity gives them great waterpower, rendering them especially adapted to the purposes of manufacturing, and their considerable fall lessens the labor consequent upon the necessity of employing their waters during the dry mouths of early summer in irrigation of the growing crops of the agriculturist, and also to supply the watering-places of cattle and sheep, and meet the requirements of the rancherias or farm-houses.

The climate of New Mexico is considerably varied by the changes of latitude and by the elevation of the surface of the country, the winters in the northern part, the surface of which is generally of great altitude above the sea-level, being long and severe, although not subject to the sudden changes of temperature frequently occurring in more humid climates. The thermometer in this section ranges from 100° to 75° F. above zero, while in the southern part of the Territory the temperature is mild, seldom falling below the freezing point, although very rarely reaching the opposite extreme of excessive heat, as the low latitude is balanced by considerable elevation of the surface, securing clear skies, a dry atmosphere, cool nights, and refreshing breezes. The salubrity of the climate of this portion of our undeveloped territory is remarkable, and constitutes one of its most attractive features; the malarious maladies occasional in some localities of the Mississippi Valley, and elsewhere where the soil is imperfectly cultivated and surplus vegetation allowed to decay on the surface, being entirely unknown in New Mexico, and seldom are persons here affected with pulmonary or hepatic diseases, while the presence of numerous mineral springs, thermal and otherwise, possessing extraordinary curative powers, promises to render it, as soon as their virtues shall have become as well known to the public as now to the explorer and pioneer, one of the most popular places of resort by those residents of our cities and towns whose physical health is impaired and who seek recuperation, and the beauty of its natural scenery must attract many who desire relief for minds overtaxed with the care and labor of arduous professions or engrossing mercantile pursuits.

The plateaus, valleys, and hill-sides of this Territory are usually covered with various indigenous grasses, furnishing the best of pasturage for sheep and cattle, the most valuable and widely distributed of these grasses being a variety called mesquite or gama-grass, which grows during the rainy season of July and August, ripens under the influence of autumnal suns, and dries upon the stalk, bearing a copious abundance. of nutritious seeds, and constituting adequate support for every kind of live stock throughout the entire winter, and until the more rapidly growing herbage of the spring and early summer has attained sufficient growth to attract the animals, by its freshness, from their winter sustenance and furnish the change of food necessary to the most perfect development of animal life. The herdsman and shepherd in this country therefore possess great advantages over the farmer and stock-raiser of the more eastern States, as the latter is compelled to expend a large portion of his time and labor in summer in providing food for the support of his stock during the winter months; besides this advantage there is to be considered the fact that the mildness of the winters and the slight falls of snow render shelter other than that afforded by the

valleys and timber entirely unnecessary for the protection of the herds and flocks, the pure air, wide ranges, and excellent food resulting in an extraordinary healthiness of the animals, among whom the contagious diseases prevalent in other sections are almost entirely unknown, the horses being remarkable for their endurance, and the beef and mutton celebrated for their excellence, while the flesh of the cattle and sheep is readily cured without the use of salt by being hung up in the open air, the rarity of the atmosphere soon producing a state of dryness, which will preserve it in all its natural sweetness and excellence for any reasonable period. The production of wool is at present one of the most profitable branches of industry in the Territory, and the recent introduction of the improved breeds of sheep, with the view of obtaining larger animals and finer qualities of the fleece, will undoubtedly contribute greatly to the advancement of this interest.

There are, certain portions of New Mexico perhaps, unfit for either cultivation or pasturage, but it is certain that almost all the valleys of the rivers, as well as the table lands within the reach of irrigation, are exceedingly productive, the soil possessing elements of great fertility, and the occasional scarcity of water alone preventing the more arid portions from producing excellent crops and superior indigenous herbage. The most abundant crops of the Territory are those of Indian corn, wheat, barley, oats, apples, peaches, melons, apricots, and grapes, all of these grains and fruits thriving readily, and the crops being of excellent quality. The soil, climate, and nature of the surface are especially adapted to the culture of the grape, this being an importaut branch of the husbandry of the country, the yield of fruit being prolific and the wine produced therefrom of excellent quality. Consequent upon the necessity of irrigation, cultivation of the soil is confined to those localities where water from the rivers and streams can be readily obtained, the usual method of securing the necessary supplies being by constructing large canals, called acequias madres, of sufficient capacity for an entire town or settlement, at the cost of all who desire the benefits to be derived therefrom, along the most elevated portions of the valleys or over the greater elevations of the plateaus, adjoining the foot-hills of the mountains, and from this main ditch each farmer constructs his own minor canal to the lands he desires to irrigate, the right of each to the use of the water being confined to certain hours in each week, in order that the supply may be fairly divided, a farmer being able, by the use of these ditches, to thoroughly water about five acres in a day on even ground. The necessity for irrigation is certainly the source of considerable trouble and labor to the agriculturist, but the certainty and excellence of the crops which result from this care, and the comparative freedom from dependence upon the seasons, almost atone for this necessity; but it is gathered from well-tried experiments that when more attention has been given in this section to the planting of fruit and forest trees the climate will be materially changed in this respect, greater supplies of rain following, and its fall being more evenly distributed through the several seasons.

The principal forests of New Mexico are confined to the mountain ranges, being constituted chiefly of pine, cedar, spruce, and other varieties of evergreens; but on the foot-hills extensive tracts of piñon and cedar are found, and in the river bottoms, fringing the margin of the streams, are belts of cottonwood, sycamore, and other deciduous trees, while in the southern parts of the Territory groves of oak and walnut are abundant.

The mining interests of New Mexico are important, and promise to

constitute in the immediate future one of the chief sources of wealth and prosperity for this Territory, embracing valuable and extensive deposits of gold, silver, copper, iron, and coal. Embarrassments, proceeding from Indian difficulties and from the want of ready means of transportation for supplies and products, have greatly retarded the development of the mines in the past; but recently the country has become more settled and safe, in consequence of the present beneficent Indian policy of the Government and the efficient administration of the same, the result being new discoveries of valuable mines and more profitable working of the older ones, the yield of gold and silver during the past year compar ing very favorably with that of any of the past years in the history of this interest, notwithstanding the suspension of work on some of the principal mines for the purpose of introducing new and improved machinery with the view to their more economical working. The great desideratum in connection with the mining interest is better and cheaper modes of transportation, which can only be furnished by the construction of railroads, and when these shall have been extended through the Territory, as they inevitably soon must be in the light of American progress, the mines of New Mexico will undoubtedly contribute greatly to the aug mentation of the present annual product of the precious metals in the United States. The most advanced developments of the gold and silver mines are in the regions called the Old and New Placers, Pinos Altos, Cimmaron Mining District, Arroyo Hondo, Manzano, and in the Organ Mountains, Sierras Blanca, Carriza, and Jicarrilla, and the Mogollon and Magdalena Mountains. The region called the Old and New Placers is situated in Santa Fé and Bernalillo Counties, extending over about 200 square miles of territory, a large portion of which is claimed under the Cañon del Agua, Ortiz, and San Pedro grants; the principal mines in this district being the Ortiz, Ramirez, Mammoth, and Candelaria. A canal, 60 miles in length, from the Pecos River to these mines, is projected, with a fair prospect of its early construction. This canal will furnish sure and adequate supplies of water for the working of the mines throughout the entire year, and greatly assist in their perfect development, besides providing for the various requirements of the settlements, and assist in the furtherance of the agriculture of this sec-. tion.

At the Placer de Dolores the New Mexico Mining Company were until recently running a forty-stamp mill, obtaining the ore from the Ortiz mine, but have now suspended operations with the view of extending them both in the mining and milling departments. At the Placer de San Francisco a ten-stamp mill is running on gold ore obtained from the Santa Candelaria lode, producing $35 per ton. The Pinos Altos mining district, in Grant County, embraces 200 square miles, and contains mines of gold, silver and copper, the principal of the gold mines being the Pacific, Arizona, Atlantic, Langston, and Aztec, and the chief copper mine the Santa Rita. From $20 to $30 per ton are obtained from the silver ores of this district, while the gold ore occurs in veins which vary from a few inches to four feet in width, possessing great wealth of the precious metal, $50 to the pound of ore having been obtained from thirty pounds taken from the Langston mine.

The copper mines are situated in a belt of feldspathic rock about two miles in width and twenty miles in length; the Santa Rita mine, producing about 3,000 pounds of copper per week, being the only one at present in operation. The Stephenson mine, in the Organ Mountains, yields

ore containing 80 per cent. of lead, besides $50 of silver to the ton. From the Maxwell lode, situated in the Cimmaron district, as high as $15,000 dollars in a week have been obtained, the ore from this lode yielding never less than $30 per ton. This district embraces 400 square miles, and the several mines therein are supplied with the water requisite for their proper working by an artificial sluice, 37 miles in length. Valuable mines of gold, silver, and copper exist in the Manzano Mountains, the most important of these as yet developed being the Carson lode, which yields from $60 to $1,200 in gold per ton. The yield of the mines in the Moreno district has been greatly increased of late by an extension of the canal which furnishes the water for their working to new sources of supply, the Astec mine in this district being one of the most productive in the Territory, there having been obtained by the company owning and working it from 1,000 tons of the rock crushed between the dates of January 21 and April 30, 1870, $75,760 in gold, with a profit above the cost of mining and milling of $62,000. New discoveries of valuable mines are constantly occurring in almost every section of New Mexico, the most recent and remarkable of which are the silver mines at the Cienega, near Fort Bayard; at Ralston, in the Pyramid Mountains, in latitude 32° 19′ 35′′, longitude 108° 44' west; and others further north, on the Gila River. Rich lodes of gold and silver have also been recently discovered in the northeastern and northwestern parts of the Territory.

The extension of the lines of public surveys during the past year has been confined to standard, exterior, and subdivision lines in the valley of the Pecos River, north of Bosque Redondo Indian reservation, there being so great a demand for surveys in this section that much of the surveyed land is reported to have been taken up for actual settlement and cultivation. The appropriation of $5,000, per act of March 3, 1869, and the unexpended balances of former appropriations were covered by these surveys. Of the appropriation of $10,000 for surveying the public lands in New Mexico, per act of July 15, 1870, $5,000 have been covered by a contract for exterior lines in the region of the newly discovered mines in the southwestern part, in the vicinity of the Rio San Domingo and Rio Mimbres, there being a great demand for surveys in this section. The urgent call for subdivisional surveys in various portions of the Territory has induced the surveyor general to retain the remaining available $5,000 for this purpose until it shall have been determined where the necessity therefor is the greatest.

The first public sale of the public lands of New Mexico took place at Santa Fé, commencing August 7, 1870, in accordance with the procla mation of the President dated May 13, 1870'; the larger portion of the surveyed lands adapted to agriculture or grazing having been then disposed of. During the past year two valuable mines have been surveyed, under special deposits made for the purpose, in accordance with the provisions of the third section of the act of July 26, 1866; these mines being the Santa Rita del Cobre and the San Augustin. No additional private land claims have been surveyed during the year, the number remaining the same as at the close of 1869, being 14 Mexican grants and 16 Indian pueblos.

The great desideratum of the land interests of New Mexico, and the most important requisite for the protection and welfare of the actual settlers and cultivators of the soil, seems to be the final determination of all claims to lands arising from Mexican grants in view of the provisions of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and general principles of international law, and the final adjustment of the locus and bounds of