Page 81 - Early Naturalists of the Black Range

Thomas H. Webb
Webb, the Secretary of the Joint Commission, contributed much to the zoology collection and collected mineralogical specimens as circumstances would allow (pp. viii - ix, Bartlett, Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua. )
Bartlett had great confidence in Webb’s capabilities. Before moving the Commission to Santa Rita (Copper Mines) he sent Webb ahead to assess the area. Webb returned with a full assessment and a recommendation to relocate there. For our purposes, Webb noted that:
“The botanist, there is every reason for supposing, will, in that quarter, find a large and almost unexplored field, a suitable examination of which will undoubtedly amply repay him for all the time and labor devoted to its examination; and the collection of specimens I made, even on this flying trip, convinces me that, by proper explorations and well directed research, a geologist might make discoveries, and with the industry and perseverance that a true love of the science will inspire, might make collections, both geological and mineralogical, that will prove of interest at home and abroad, and be of permanent value to the country.” (ibid., pp. 179-180)
After leaving the “Giants of the Mimbres”, the Bartlett party stopped at what is now Faywood Hot Springs. Bartlett noted:
“This spring lies with a crater-like opening, twenty feet in diameter, on the top of a mound of tufa about six hundred feet in circumference at its base, and about thirty feet high, all of which seems to consist of the deposits made by its waters. The temperature of the water was 125° Fahrenheit. Its surface was some six or seven feet below the rim of the basin, and its depth I judged to be about the same. Dr. Webb collected the gas which bubbled up from the bottom, and found it to be neither hydrogen nor carbonic acid gas. He consequently judged it to be atmospheric air. The water was not unpleasant to the taste, and would be palatable if cooled. Lower down, upon one side of the hill, a small spring burst out, and at a short distance where it collected in a pool, the water was cool enough to bathe in; but even there I found it literally a hot bath.” (ibid., p. 225)
Seth Eastman/Frank Wheaton/John Bartlett - The tale of a painting
We stay close at hand and venture far away for this entry. Seth Eastman was a military officer who received his training in drawing at the United States Military Academy at West Point in the 1820’s. At that time, drawing was part of the required curriculum at the Academy. That requirement was consistent with education in the country generally. Partly for this reason, it is not unusual to find rather good drawings in correspondence, reports, and diaries of the time. In 1836 Eastman published a book entitled “A Treatise on Topographical Drawing” which became a text at the Academy. In it he described a method of optical projection which assured accurate drawings.
Great Canyon Rio Gila - 1853 - Seth Eastman
Eastman was a famous artist, and his painting of a canyon on the Gila (in Arizona, about eight and a half miles below Coolidge Dam), is both dramatic and well known. If you are familiar with the area you might note that the river is running the wrong way - flowing toward you, instead of away from you. An easy enough mistake if you are working from a drawing and were never at the location yourself, which is the case with Eastman’s painting.
John Bartlett included a drawing of this location in his field material and hired Eastman to make a painting from the drawing (shown on following page). Bartlett was an accomplished artist and could have made a drawing of this caliber. But he didn’t. Bartlett was never at the spot depicted either.
Frank Wheaton, who went on to rise to the rank of General and had a distinguished military career, was a member of the boundary survey. He, too, was an accomplished artist. It is he who made the drawing. It is
possible that Wheaton used a camera lucida (see right) to help make the drawing. Bartlett had procured one for use in documenting the survey.
(The May 2017 issue of True West was used as the initial source of information found in this section “Finding the Great Canyon on the Gila River” by Tom Jonas.)
80