the redemption and expensive cultivation of all the
available lands, and that irrigation produces immensely greater crops
than the other method of planting. Throughout the whole of Utah,
irrigation has been resorted to with the greatest success. The soil in
Utah, in no place that the writer saw it, could in any way be compared
to that of the bottom lands of Arizona.
Captain Whipple in his valuable report of exploration for the Pacific
Railroad, published by order of Congress, crossed the upper part of the
region alluded to, and which is watered by the Rio Verde and Salinas.
He fully sustains me in my remarks on those rich valleys.
"We are in the pleasantest region we have seen since leaving the
Choctaw country. Here are clear rivulets, with fertile valleys and
forest trees. The wide belt of country that borders the Black Forest,
and probably extends along the Rio Verde to the Salinas and Gila, bears
every indication of being able to support a large agricultural and
pastoral population. The valley of the Rio Verde is magnificently
wooded with furs and oaks, affording excellent timber. Ancient ruins
are said by trappers to be scattered over its whole length to the
confluence with the Salinas. We, therefore, seem to have skirted the
boundary of a country once populous, and worthy of becoming so again.
Besides the advantages already enumerated, the mountains in this
vicinity bear indications of mineral wealth. Vol. 3, p. 93."
The notes before referred to, in the possession of the writer, speak of
great farming and grazing establishments scattered over the whole face
of the Territory, between 1610 and 1800, which produced abundant crops
of cereals, fruits, and grapes. These statements are confirmed by the
testimony of Major Emory and his report, where he enumerates several of
the most extensive--by Gray, Bartlett, Parke, and Col. Bonneville. Many
of the Ranches, deserted by the Mexicans on account of the Apache
Indians, have upon them large, well-built adobe houses which must have
cost the builders thousands of dollars. Many of these have been
occupied under squatter titles by emigrants within the last few years.
Of others, only the ruins remain, having been destroyed by the
depredations of the Indians, or by the heavy rains of the succeeding
years.
The greater portion of these lands on the Santa Cruz and San Pedro are
covered by Mexican titles--and many of these again by squatter claims.
It is absolutely necessary
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