constantly on the increase. The Santa Cruz Valley, in which are
situated the towns of Tueson, Tubac, Tumacacari, and the mining
settlement of Sopori and others, is, next to Mesilla, the mostthickly settled. Tueson was formerly a town of three thousand
inhabitants; but the majority have been driven off by the Apache
Indians. It is fast becoming a thriving American town, and will
before long be a place of more importance than ever before. Real
estate is already held at high rates, and the erection of
buildings shows that American energy is about to change the face
of the last half century. Tubac had been completely deserted by
the Mexicans. It has been reoccupied by the Sonora Exploring and
Mining Company, and now boasts a population of several hundred.
The Calabazas valley is also fast filling up with an American
population, and another year will see the whole centre of the
Territory dotted with settlements. Many of the fine claims on the
San Pedro River have already been located by emigrants under the
general pre-emption law, but until protection is afforded to the
settlers, but little progress will be made in agricultural
pursuits. The Apache Indian regards the soil as his own, and
having expelled the Spanish and Mexican invader, he feels little
inclination to submit to the American. A small settlement of
Americans is growing up at Colorado city, opposite Fort Yuma, at
the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers. This point is
destined to be one of great commercial and pecuniary importance.
Situated at the present head of navigation, at the point where
the overland mail route crosses the Colorado, and where the
Southern Pacific Railroad must bridge the stream, it is a
necessary stopping place for all travel across the country. Here
are transhipped all the ores coming from the Territory, which
find their way to market down the Colorado to the Gulf of
California, thence by steamer or sailing vessel to their