Proceedings of the Senate and Documents Relative to Texas, from which the Injunction of Secrecy Has Been Removed Page: 60 of 119

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about the same,distance; the second is comprised in a small strip, extending
a few miles above and below the Passo del Norte, and in magnitude is
insignificant.
* The desert separating these portions, called the "Desert of Muerto,"
-commences at Christobal, and extends 90 miles south without water; it
also extends , or 50 miles north of the same point.
t Santa Fe is distant from Independence, in Missouri, 840 miles, and
from Santa Fe to Passo del Norte is 310 miles; thence to Chihuahua is
180 miles; and carriages can pass the whole distance from Independence
to Chihuahua.
The northern division of this province is very cold for the latitude, the
river there being frozen for months together hard enough to bear horses
and wagons. It is fertile, however, and very healthy. Its population
live chiefly in walled towns, where they rally to expel the warlike bands
of savages that descend from the hills for plunder.
This life has made them a bolder and a hardier race than their more
southern countrymen.
Its isolated position, and the easy defence which its narrow gorges present,
make it a voluntary dependency upon Mexico.
t There is but one gold and one copper mine worked here now, yielding
about 600 or 700 dollars a day.
*The lower portion, that about the Passo del Norte, is irrigated by
canals from the river, and grows luxuriantly corn and wheat, figs, peaches,
apples, pears, and grapes; and the wine is represented the best in Mexico.
Climate very dry.
North and west of this province, including the mountain region, is
The Eutaw band.
Population, ,o000. They are brave and warlike, and are advanced in
agriculture and the manufacture of coarse woollens.
t STATE OF CHIHUAHUA.
Area (square miles) - 72,500
Population - - . 120,000
Chief towtns.
Population.
Chihuahua, the capital, about 70 miles from Mexico - - 25,000
Santa Rosa de Cosequiriachi - - - - 10,700
Bnenventura - - 1,500
Paoral, or St. Jose de Paoral 7,000
Ville de Valle de St. Bartolome - - 28,000
From this it will be perceived that the mass of the population resides in
towns.
This State comprises a large portion of the plains of Chihuahua and the
mountain ridge of Sierra Madre.
* Humboldt, Pike, Folsom. j Folsom's Mexico in 1842.
t Survey U. S. commissioners.