Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/559

Rh of large portions of New Mexico and California; but, it must be remembered, that mere tourists for pleasure are far from being reliable authorities. The dry sandy plains of New Mexico will never be redeemed, in all probability, from the curse of barrenness; through all time they must continue to appear as they now do — "blasted with antiquity." Yet the territory is not entirely a desert, nor is the Santa Fé trade, which has been of so much profit to some of our western cities, in past years, a mere fiction. Copper ore abounds in the mountains; coal exists, in large quantities, in the Ratôn range, and at Cerillas and Taos; and there are said to be valuable gold mines south of Santa Fé. The valley of the Rio Grande, from Santa Fé to the southern boundary of New Mexico, throughout its greater extent, is thickly dotted with farm-houses, and lined with fertile fields, with orchards and vineyards; and to the north of Santa Fé, there are extensive pasture lands capable of grazing an immense number of cattle.

Comparatively little information has been so far obtained in regard to the great interior basin of California, lying east of the Sierra Nevada. Between the Sierra and the Pacific, there is a strip of land, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles wide, which is nearly all productive. Wheat is grown in abundance in the territory; wine is produced in the valley of the San Gabriel, and there are vineyards, also, in other parts of the country; the hills and plains are covered