Abizona  origiDally  comprised  a  long,  narrow  strip  of  territory,  south  of
tlie  Gila  River,  extending  from  the  Rio  Grande  on  the  east  to  the  Rio  Col-
orado on  the  west,  just  above  its  entrance  into  the  Gul#  of  California.  It
was  purchased,  in  1854,  of  Mexico,  from  the  northern  part  of  the  state  of
Sonora,  for  ten  millions  of  dollars.  It  was  for  some  time  styled  the  6rac28-
den  Purchase^  out  of  compliment  to  General  Gadsden,  the  American  minis^
ter,  who  negotiated  the  treaty.  It  was  temporarily  attached,  by  congress,  to
the  territory  of  New  Mexico.  It  was  about  500  miles  long,  with  a  width
ranging  from  20  to  130  miles,  and  comprising  31,000  square  miles.  It  was
separated  from  Texas  by  the  Rio  Grande ;  from  Lower  California  by  the
Rio  Colorado ;  and  on  the  south  of  it  were  the  Mexican  states  of  Chihuahua
and  Sonora.
When  it  was  purchased  of  Mexico  there  was  scarcely  any  inhabitants,  ex-
cept a  few  scattered  Mexicans  in  the  Mesilla  valley,  on  the  Rio  Grande,  and
at  the  old  town  of  Tucson,  in  the  center  of  the  purchs^.  The  marauding
Apache  Indians  had  gradually  extirpated  almost  every  trace  of  civilization
in  what  was  once  an  inhabited  Mexican  province.^

In  1854,  congress  formed  the  present  territory  of  Arizona  from  the  west
halves  of  New  Mexico  and  the  Gadsden  Purchase ;  and  the  east  half  of  the
latter  is  now  the  southern  part  of  New  Mexico.  Arizona  has  an  area  of
131,000  square  miles.     The  capital,  named  Prescott,  is  in  the  center  of  the

territoiy.
