New trails in Mexico : an account of one year's exploration in north-western Sonora, Mexico, and south-western Arizona, 1909-1910 / by Carl Lumholtz.

  • Lumholtz, Carl, 1851-1922.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: New trails in Mexico : an account of one year's exploration in north-western Sonora, Mexico, and south-western Arizona, 1909-1910 / by Carl Lumholtz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Drs. D. T. MacDougal and W. T. Hornaday made a month’s trip from Tucson, Arizona, to the Pinacate region both publishing descriptions which were accompanied by maps by Mr. Godfrey Sykes. These gentlemen, accord- ing to their own reports, had no opportunities for extensive explorations of the Papagueria, which I found of such in- terest that my expedition occupied me over a year. The extreme western part of this region, the sandy country between Pinacate and the Colorado River, so far as my knowledge goes, had not before been investigated. The travels here of the Jesuit fathers during the seventeenth century did not extend much south of the present Mexican boundary. Some of that country probably had not be- fore ever been visited by a white man, and I have there- fore described that part of my journey in greater detail, thinking that an accurate account may prove of value and even of practical interest. This region, no doubt, recently had a less arid climate, with much greater rainfall than at the present time. It seems impossible to explain otherwise the recent great accumulation of detritus at Sonoita, at the origin of the little river of the same name, or the marked effect of the action of the water on the hard rocks of Tinaja de los Papagos. That country is a desert, on account of the scarcity of rain, but the soil is in places extremely fertile and I doubt not that through human agency large parts of it will some day delight the eye with waving fields of grain and orchards of fruit. Although most of that arid region will always remain suitable only for cattle and horse raising, still there is