New Tracks in North America. A journal of travel and adventure whilst engaged in the survey for a Southern Railroad to the Pacific Ocean during 1867-8

Front matter

NEW TRACKS IN NORTH AMERICA Q journal of Sra(«I anb gibbtuluu WHILST ENGAGED IN THE SURVEY FOR A SOUTHERN RAILROAD TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN DURING 1867—8. By WILLIAM A. BELL, M.A., M.B. Cantab., FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL AND ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. Laying the Track. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON : CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY 1860. [All Rights Reserved.] LONDON PBINTED EY V1KTUE AND CO., CITY EOAD. Sfeis §ooIt I DEDICATE TO MT FATHER IN ENGLAND, AND TO GENERAL W. J. PALMER, OF ST. LOUIS, IN AMERICA. To General W. J. Palmee. My deap. General, It gives me great pleasure to associate my Father's name with that of the most valued of my American friends, whose intercourse contributed so much to make my sojourn in the Far West a period to which I shall ever look back with the brightest recollections. Believe me to remain, My dear General, Ever yours very sincerely, W. A. BELL. New University Club, St. James's Street, May loth, 1869.

Preface

. In placing this book of travels before the public there are some points to be explained, some indulgencies to be asked for, and many friends to be named whose assistance merits my warmest gratitude. It is right at the outset to remind my readers that they must not criticise a book of travel too severely as a literary production. Whilst the novelist and the historian are always using their pen, the traveller of necessity isolates himself from all literature, and yet when he does write he finds num bered amongst his readers the man of science, the lover of adventure, and the practical public. In order, if possible, to make the following pages acceptable to all, I have tried to arrange my subjects in such a way that any special topic can be omitted without difficulty by those whom it does not interest.

The success with which the Eoyal Geographical Society has for years been conducting its meetings has made that branch of science quite popular, at least amongst the reading public of London. I feel, therefore, that no apology is

PREFACE.

. Viii necessary for having devoted the first fifty pages to Physical Geography, pure and simple. In like manner another fifty pages at the end of the first volume have been given to Ethnology — to a terse account of aboriginal tribes, well worthy of study. As the different races of man are at the present time occupying much public attention, this will, I trust, be acceptable. I have been in considerable perplexity as to the best way of treating the bulk of my narrative, chiefly because it was impossible to forget the fact, that whatever interest the book might excite would be shared by the American as well as the English reader. I have used - many words which are foreign to ourselves ; I have often transgressed in like manner the ordinary phraseology of our Atlantic cousins. I have also borne in mind -from the commencement, and indeed it was impossible for an eye-witness to forget, that the country of which I treat, though it is almost without tillage or inha bitants, is not like Africa, Central Asia, or even South America, in being far removed from the present limits of Anglo-Saxon occupation ; but that it contains cradles for nations which are destined to spring from our own hardy and prolific stock, and that practical and special knowledge about it is desired, in the first place, by the Americans them selves ; in the second place by our own nation, supplying, as it does, at least two-thirds of the emigrating population of Europe.

PREFACE.

. IX In reading some of the chapters in the second volume, it must not be supposed that because the scenes there related are unusually strange, they are of necessity highly coloured, for this is not the case. I have kept closely to fact through out, and even in choosing my illustrations have taken great pains that everything should be true to nature. Here and there a figure has been introduced by the artist, but with very few exceptions all are exact copies from photographs taken on the spot. My best thanks are due to Dr. John Le Conte, of Phila delphia, through whose personal influence I became a member of the expedition to survey a route for the Southern Trans-continental Eailway. To Mr. Aubrey Smith, of Phdadelphia, I am indebted for having taken charge of my little botanical collection ; for having, with infinite trouble, obtained the names of nearly all the plants from the most distinguidied botanists in the Ens ted States ; and for having sent them to me, thus named, in the best possible condition.

General Palmer, of St. Louis, has not only given me access to all the documents connected with the railway survey, and offered me all possible assistance, but he has contributed one of the most thrilling incidents related in the following pages. These services, however, I value as nothing compared with the warm friendship which our travels together have matured. To Captain Colton I offer my best thanks for the valuable

PREFACE.

. X contributions which, true to his promise, he has sent me relative to a district over which I did not pass. I gratefully acknowledge the service rendered to me by Mr. John Browne, of Philadelphia, who, as an amateur, has acquired a high reputation amongst photographers. Mr. Browne not only initiated me into the art, but sent out after me all the necessary instruments and chemicals. It is with great pleasure also that I thank Major Calhoun and Dr. Parry for then valuable contributions, both in the field of adventure and science. Lastly, I shall not soon forget the debt of gratitude I owe to my fellow-coimtryman and friend Mr. E. K. Cautley, whose assistance during the production of this book has been unceasing. W. A. BELL. 18, Hebtford Steeet, Mateair, London, May, 1869. CONTENTS.

Introduction

. PAGE I. Sketch of the Rotte xv II. Physical Geography of the Mississippi Basin and of the Rocky Mountains xxii III. Physical Geography of the Colorado Basin . . . xxxviii IV. Physical Geography of the "Great Basin Region" . . lvii

Chapter II

Eastern Kansas 11 CHAPTER HI. Life on the Plains 23 CHAPTER TV. General Features of the Far-western Plains . . 41

CHAPTER V.

A Fortnight at Fort Wallace 51

CHAPTER VI.

Crossing the Desert from Fort Wallace to the Arkansas River CONTENTS. XII

CHAPTER VII.

page The Valley of the Purgatoire CHAPTER Vm. The Raton Mountains 94

CHAPTER IX.

Red River Valley 1°4

CHAPTER X.

The Rocky Mountain Coal-fields 112

CHAPTER XI.

Fort Union • 120

CHAPTER XII.

The Placer Mountains 135

CHAPTER XIII.

Santa Fe 143

Part II. Tee Native Races Of New Mexico And Arizona. Chapter I

The Semi-civilised Tribes 157 CHAPTER n. The Wild Tribes 178

Chapter III

The Aztec Ruins of New Mexico and Arizona .... 190 CHAPTER TV. New Mexico when discovered by the Spaniards .... 204