ments should be founded as proposed in the last century. In Arizona, all settlements except those at Tucson and Bac which were protected by soldiers, were abandoned, but at these two settlements a few soldiers still managed to live. Beyond these, no settlements remained in what is now Arizona. Hamilton says that they were finally abandoned by decree of the government in 1828. Bancroft says the order of expulsion against the Spaniards probably caused the departure of some of the friars in 1827-8 and that the management of the temporalities was taken away from them, and some of the establishments, including all in Arizona, were abandoned. CHAPTER VII. THE SANTA FE TRAIL-EARLY EXPLORATIONS AND EXPLORERS. LIEUTENANT ZEBULON M. PIKE-AGRICULTURE- -GOVERNOR ALLENCASTER-FIRST EXPEDI- WITH FREMONT-MEXICAN WAR-GENERAL The opening of the Santa Fe Trail from Independence, Missouri, to Santa Fe, has such a bearing upon the subsequent explorations in Arizona, that I think it proper to give a short description of what is known as the "Commerce of the Prairies," over this trail, and the causes which led up to it. The first attempt to explore the western boundaries of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase, was made by Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, of the Sixth U. S. Infantry, who, in 1806, was sent with 22 men to explore the country of the Arkansas and Red Rivers, and to establish a good understanding with the Indian tribes, particularly the Comanches. Of this trip, extending as far as Santa Fe, he published a full account in 1810. His book gave to Americans the first information in detail concerning that isolated region of which nothing had been heretofore known. He describes the territory inhabited by the Mexicans in New Mexico as being 400 miles in length, and 50 miles in breadth, along the Rio del Norte, and broken by a desert of more than 250 miles. The fertility of the country, as he regarded it, is of special interest to those who inhabit this section at the present day. "The cotton tree," he says, "is the only tree of this province, except some scrubby pines and cedars at the foot of the mountains. The former borders the banks of the Rio del Norte and its tributary streams. All the rest of the country presents to the eye, a barren wild of poor land, scarcely to be improved by culture, and appears to be only capable of producing sufficient subsistence for those animals which live on succulent plants and herbage." In reference to mining, he says: "There are no mines known in the province, except one of copper, situated in a mountain on the west side of the Rio del Norte in latitude 34 degrees. It is worked and produces 20,000 mule-loads of copper annually. It also furnishes that article for the manufactories of nearly all of the internal province. It contains gold, but not quite enough to pay for its extraction, consequently it has not been pursued." The population of New Mexico at that time, he estimated at 30,000 souls. Of its commerce, he says: "The province sends out about 30,000 sheep annually, tobacco, dressed deer and cabrie (goat) skins, some fur, buffalo robes, salt, and wrought copper vessels of a superior quality. The journey with loaded mules from Santa Fe to Mexico and returning to Santa Fe takes five months." * "They manufacture rough leather, segars, a vast variety and quantity of potters' ware, cotton, some coarse woolen cloths, and blankets of a superior quality. All those manufactures are carried on by the civilized Indians, as the Spaniards think it more honorable to be agriculturists than mechanics. The Indians likewise far exceed their conquerors in their genius for an execution of all mechanical operations. New Mexico has the exclusive right of cultivating tobacco." It is probably from these Indians that the Navajos learned the art of manufacturing the Navajo blanket. Lieut. Pike devoted considerable space to the irrigation process in the Rio Grande Valley, and says: "They cultivate corn, wheat, rye, barley, rice, tobacco, vines and all the common culinary plants cultivated in the same latitude in the United States. They are, however, a century behind us in the art of cultivation; for, notwithstanding their numerous herds of cattle and horses, I have seen them frequently breaking up whole fields with the hoe. Their oxen draw by the horns after the French mode. Their carts are extremely awkward and clumsily made. During the whole of the time we were in New Mexico, I never saw a horse in a vehicle of any description, mules being made use of in carriages as well as for the purposes of labor." It can truly be said that in many parts of Mexico they have not improved on these methods of agriculture up to the present time. Concerning the method of irrigation, he says: "Both above and below Albuquerque, the citizens were beginning to open the canals to let in the water of the river to fertilize the plains and fields which border its banks on both sides; where we saw men, women and children of all ages and sexes at the joyful labor which was to crown with rich abundance their future harvest and insure them plenty for the ensuing year. The cultivation of the fields was now commencing and everything appeared to give life and gaiety to the surrounding scenery. About the irrigation at El Paso, he says: "About two miles above the town of the Paso del Norte, is a bridge over the river, where the road passes to the west side, at which place is a large canal, which takes out an ample supply of water for the purpose of cultivation, which is here car |