Memoir of the Proposed Territory of ArizonaMowry, Sylvester
History
Memoir of the Proposed Territory of Arizona
Mowry, Sylvester
Arizona -- History -- To 1912; Arizona -- Politics and government; Gadsden Purchase
"The ores of Chihuahua and Sonora [now Arizona. S. M.] are chiefly
sulphuret (lead or iron), or native silver in porphyritic or stratified
limestone rocks passing at greater depths into igneous rocks. From
loose piles lying upon the surface and evidently picked over, I
procured specimens of silver and copper. Three samples representing
points on the line of our exploration about equi-distant from each
other, viz.: the Rio Grande, the neighborhood of Tubac, and within 90
miles of the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers, were submitted
to Dr. I. K. Chilton, of New York, for analysis. He found in one sample
of lead ore (argentiferous galena), by fire assay 71 per cent. of lead,
and the "LEAD YIELDED SILVER EQUIVALENT to 128 ounces, 1 dwt. to the
ton" (of 2000 pounds).
"In another, he found the lead obtained from it to yield silver in the
proportion of 72 ounces 5 dwts. to the ton or 2000 pounds.
"The copper specimen was the red oxide, and yielded as follows:
Copper,............ 71.80
Iron,.............. 7.84
Oxygen,............ 12.34
Silicia, Alumina,.. 8.02
------
100 parts.
"The Papagos and Pimas Indians, by proper management, might be made
very useful, in working upon the road where there is not much rock
excavation. They are unlike the Indians of Texas, or the Apaches,
living in villages and cultivating the soil, besides manufacturing
blankets, baskets, pottery, etc. Quiet and peaceable, they have no
fears except from their enemies, the Apaches, and are very industrious,
much more so than the lower order of Mexicans, and live far more
comfortably. It is astonishing with what precision they construct their
acequias--irrigating canals--some of them, the acequias madre, of very
large size, and without the use of levelling apparatus, but simply by
the eye. Their gardens and farms too are regularly ditched and fenced
off into rectangles and circles, with hedges and trees planted as if
done by more enlightened people."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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