"East of the Tinaja Alta or high tank range, lie the famous Sierras del Ajo, now United States territory. These mountains derive their name from the vast deposits of red oxide and green carbonate of copper found about them, and which the Indians have made use of to paint (ajo) themselves with. The mines are unquestionably of great value, and must become important, more particularly from their being situated in the neighborhood of the contemplated railway. The tall Cereus Giganteus and Agave Americana are found in abundance. From the latter plant the natives make the pulque, mezcal and agua-diente; and the petahaya or cereus, produces a fruit from which is made a very pleasant preserve. At the Pimo and Maricopa villages are found wheat, corn, tobaco, and cotton, besides melons, pumpkins, beans, etc. The nature of the soil for great distances in the Gila valley is of a reddish loam; some parts coated with a beautiful crystallization of salt, a quarter to half an inch thick. This seems to be more particularly the case below the Maricopa villages and toward the Rio Salado. The cotton, of which I procured specimens, though cultivated by the Indians in the most primitive manner, exhibited a texture not unlike the celebrated Sea Island cotton. Its fibre is exceedingly soft and silky, but not of the longest staple. Large tracts of land on the Gila and in other portions of this district, appear to possess the same properties of soil; and where, I have no doubt, the finest cotton will soon be extensively raised and brought to its highest state of perfection by proper cultivation." The climate is thus referred to by Gray: "One of the most favorable features upon the route in the vicinity of the 32nd degree proposed for the Pacific railway is, its accessibility at all times, admitting of labor being performed in the open air at each season. The nature of the climate through Texas to the Rio Grande has already been referred to, and from thence to the Santa Cruz valley half way to the Colorado, over the elevated plateau of the Sierra Madra, it is equally salubrious and temperate. The rainy season falls in the summer months, and but seldom is snow seen even upon the mountain tops. Towards the Colorado river it is much drier and more torrid, but by no means unhealthy; nor does it prevent out door work the whole of the day during the heated term of summer. "The great riches of the country, however, are a total waste at the present time, but which the Pacific railroad will at once develop, and make to itself the foundation of a vast revenue. I refer to its metallic wealth, the silver, gold, and copper mines that abound in almost every mountain and valley, between the Rio Grande and the Gulf of California.