government.

The silver ore brought to San Francisco from our mines, has been tested by a dozen different officers, in as many different ways, and no result falls BELOW FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS PER TON OF ORE.

Senator Gwin goes on to Washington soon, and will corroborate my statements. He has a piece of the silver, the first smelted in San Francisco, showing $8,735 20—EIGHT THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE 20-100 DOLLARS PER TON OF ORE. Mr. Dunbar is getting the petition to Congress signed—and moving in the affairs of the Territory in connection with Mr. Ehrenberg and our friends—but the government came near "crushing us out" by sending a Custom House Collector to consume and destroy what little we had saved from the Apaches. Can nothing be done to rid us of a Custom House? It is no protection. The Territory (as yet) produces nothing but minerals—and we have to pay duty upon every article of consumption. This is a very onerous tax upon our first feeble efforts to develop the resources of this remote and unprotected country.

Very truly yours,
C. D. Poston.

To Lieut. Mowry, U. S. A., Washington, D. C.

"We are living without the protection of law or the ameliorations of society. New Mexico affords us no protection. We have not even received an order for election. Every one goes armed to the teeth, and a difficulty is sure to prove fatal. In this state of affairs it is impossible to hold a convention."

Tueson, Oct. 1, 1857.

We are pleased to hear that the prospect for Arizona is so bright. If you should succeed in getting a separate organization for Arizona, you will lay the people under many obligations to you. You have no doubt received many petitions for Congress, and also your certificate of election as delegate for this purchase. You received the entire vote; there was no difference of opinion among the voters.

Your ob't serv't,
J. A. Douglas.

Lt. Mowry, U. S. A.
Tucson, Oct. 25, 1857.

I send you the last petition from the Territory. The work is now in your hands, and we say, God speed it.

G. H. Oury.

Tueson, Arizona Territory, Oct. 17, 1857.

Every thing begins to look up in the Territory notwithstanding the difficulties we labor under. The Indians the other day came within eight hundred yards of Fort Buchanan and remained some time, and when they left carried off with them all the horses and mules in the valley for six or eight miles below. Try your hand in this matter of our Territory, and see if some change cannot be wrought to some benefit—we need it greatly.

Very truly yours,
G. H. Oury.

Tueson, Oct. 2, 1857.

We have heard from Mesilla and they fully concur with us in all we have done, showing that you are the person chosen to act for them and to represent their interest in this matter. The people here are very much elated at the turn things are taking, and every one seems to be highly pleased with the course you have pursued. An election was held on the first Monday in September, at which you received all the votes given, and a certificate of your election, signed by the judges and clerks, has been forwarded to you. The country is being settled very fast, and there is somewhat of a stir to obtain cultivated lands. The lands already under cultivation are now fifty per cent. higher than a short time back. The great misfortune we labor under is want of protection. Thousands and thousands of acres of land, as rich and fertile as any on the face of the globe, lie idle and useless because they are not protected from the Apaches. We want only one thing besides the Territorial organization, and that is PROTECTION.

Very truly yours,
S. Warner.

Oct. 8, 1857.

The guerilla warfare on the Sonora frontier continues with increased aggravation. We look for the happiest result from the exploration of this interesting region of the Colorado, about to be explored by Lieut. Ives, U. S. A. The ores from the Heintzelman mine took the premium at the mechanics' fair in San Francisco, just closed, where the ores from California and the western coast were on exhibition. So, Arizona leads California, the great mineral State.

All we need is good government and honest, liberal legislation to make Arizona equal in production of precious metals, if not exceed, California.

Yours truly,
C. D. Poston.

Lt. Mowry, U. S. A.
Fort Yuma, June 2, 1857.

News has just come in from the Arizona which represent an awful state of affairs. During the time Mr. Belknap was below at Sonora it was unsafe for him to go out unless accompanied by his friend, Don Gaudaloupe Orosco, and even then it was very dangerous. No news from Sonora nor even an arrival for the last twenty days. God knows what is going on; though of one thing we are certain—no American, never mind whatsoever he may be, can go into Sonora, with or without a passport.

Very sincerely yours,
P. R. Brady.

Aug. 5, 1850.

The condition of the purchase has been extremely bad since the unfortunate and injudicious expedition of Crabbe into Sonora, and at the present time is but little better than a field of guerilla warfare, robbery and plunder.

The exasperated state of feeling between the Mexicans and Americans prevents intercourse and commerce, upon which the Territory is dependent. Americans are afraid to venture into Sonora for supplies, and Mexicans afraid to venture over the line. Americans who had nothing to do with the fillibustering invasion have been treated badly in Sonora and driven out of the country, and Mexicans coming into the purchase with supplies and animals have been robbed and plundered by the returned fillibusters.

The Americans in the Territory are by no means harmonious on these subjects—some in favor of filibustering and others opposed to it; some in favor of murdering and robbing Mexicans wherever found, and others opposed to it.

It results that we are in a state of anarchy, and there is no government, no protection to life, property, or business; no law and no self-respect or morality among the people. We are living in a perfect state of nature, without the restraining influence of civil or military law, or the amelioration of society.

There have not been many conflicts and murders, because every man goes armed to the teeth, and a difficulty is always fatal on one side or the other. In the midst of all this, the Government has blessed us with a custom house at Calabazos to collect duties upon the necessaries of life which, by chance and "running the gauntlet," we may get from Sonora.

God send that we had been left alone with the Apaches. We should have been a thousand times better off in every respect.

In this state of affairs it is scarcely to be expected that the people will meet together in a convention; there was no arrangement for that purpose up to the time of my leaving, and none could be made.

We have never had any orders of election from Santa Fe, nor heard of any convention.

Yours truly,
C. D. Poston.

Major Fitzgerald, U. S. A., whose long experience on the Pacific coast makes his opinion very valuable, in a letter dated Fort Buchanan, Arizona, Sept. 17th, 1854, says:

"The citizens of this country are very desirous of a territorial organization, with its courts, &c. Murders are committed and stock is