Gila river grows cotton of the most superior kind. Its
nature is not unlike that of the celebrated Sea Island cotton,
possessing an equally fine texture, and, if anything, more of a silky
fibre. The samples I procured at the Indian villages, from the rudely
cultivated fields of the Pimas and Maricopas, have been spoken of as an
extraordinary quality. Wheat, corn, and tobacco, together with beans,
melons, etc., grow likewise upon the banks and in the valleys bordering
the Gila and its tributaries. The sugar cane, too, I believe, will be
found to thrive in this section of the country west of the Rio San
Pedro. A sort of candied preserve and molasses, expressed from the
fruit of the cereus giganteus and agave Americana was found by our
party in 1851, as we passed through the Pinal Llano camps and among the
Gila tribes, to be most acceptable. The candied preserve was a most
excellent substitute for sugar. It is true that there are extensive
wastes to be encountered west of the Rio Grande, yet they are not
deserts of sand, but plains covered at certain seasons of the year with
luxuriant grass, exhibiting green spots and springs not very remote
from each other at all times. There is sufficient water in the Gila and
its branches for all the purposes of irrigation when it is wanted, the
streams being high during the season most needed. The Rio Salado, a
tributary of the Gila, is a bold and far more beautiful river than the
Gila itself, and, from the old ruins now seen there, must have had
formerly a large settlement upon its banks. "To many persons merely
travelling or emigrating across the country, with but one object in
view, and that the reaching their destination on the Pacific, the
country would generally present a barren aspect. But it will be
recollected that the most productive fields in California, before
American enterprise introduced the plough, and a different mode of
cultivation from that of the natives of the country, presented somewhat
similar appearance. Many believed, at first, from the cold and sterile
look of the hills, and the parched appearance of the fields and
valleys, over which the starving coyote is often seen prowling in
search of something to subsist on, that California could never become
an agricultural district, but must depend upon her other resources for
greatness, and trust to distant regions for the necessaries of life
required for her increased population. It was natural enough, too, that
this