Apurímac River

“ The Apurimac, across which Maita-Ccapac swung the first American suspension bridge, has its source in the Laguna de Vilafro, fourteen thousand feet above sea level, in the Department of Arequipa. It receives many affluents, and, as it descends into the lower valleys, drains a country rich in agriculture, one of the most productive regions of Peru. It was on the border of this river that General Sucre and his army were encamped by Bolivar’s orders, when the news of the royalist army’s approach led to the rapid change of plans which resulted in General Sucre’s becoming the hero of Ayacucho. ”

“ On the north of Abancay, and on the east of the Cordillera, named the Andes de Cuzco, the Vilcamaya, Urubamba, or Quillabamba river, at about 12° 30' south latitude, throws itself into the Apurimac, which, having pursued a north-west course through Cuzco, Quispicanchi and Abancay, suddenly turns, after meeting the Vilcamayo, to the north-east; and on the eastern shores of the Apurimac are the small towns Vilcabamba, Urubamba and Calca. ”

“ By these impediments of the ground, the march was so retarded, that the troops seldom accomplished more than two leagues a day. *9 Fortunately, the distance was not great; and the president looked with more apprehension to the passage of the Apurimac, which he was now approaching. This river, one of the most formidable tributaries of the Amazon, rolls its broad waters through the gorges of the Cordilleras, that rise up like an immense rampart of rock on either side, presenting a natural barrier which it would be easy for an enemy to make good against a force much superior to his own. ”

“ Through these we caught brief [Pg 271] glimpses of the grand and solemn mountains on the opposite side of the cañon, and through them came in also, hoarse and sullen, the deep voice of the river. I am uncertain as to how far this tunnel may be ascribed to the Incas, but feel sure that their bridge across the Apurimac was at precisely the same point with the present one. We were fully two hours in ascending the steeps, and reached the high mountain-circled plain in which stands the straggling town of Curahuasi, a well-watered village buried among trees and shrubbery. ”

“ The Central Cordillera is the true divide, forming the continental watershed. A single river, the Marañon, breaks through in its lower northern part, while 20 coast streams rising in the Central cut the Maritime range; the East Cordillera is fractured by six Peruvian rivers, the Marañon, Huallaga, Perené, Mantaro, Apurimac, Vilcamayu, and Paucartambo, all but the first being affluents of the Ucayali, which some authorities call a tributary of the Marañon. Oftener these two are said to unite to form the Amazon. ”

“ Apurimac (a ̇-pö-rē-ma ̇k ́) , a river of South America, which rises in the Andes of Peru, and, being augmented by the Vilcamayu and other streams, forms the Ucayale, one of the principal head-waters of the Amazon.—The department of Apurimac in Peru has an area of 8187 sq. miles, and a pop. of 177,887.
Aq ́ua (Lat. for water) , a word much used in pharmacy and old chemistry.—Aqua fortis (= strong water) , a weak and impure nitric acid. It has the power of eating into steel and copper, and hence is used by engravers, etchers, &c.—Aqua marina, a fine variety of beryl. ”

“ But these lakes, after the manner of other bodies of water, generally, in the high elevations of the American Cordilleras—Titicaca, in Peru, to wit—are gradually perishing by evaporation, their waters diminishing century by century. The Valley of Mexico, however, of recent years has received an artificial hydrographic outlet in the famous drainage canal and tunnel, which conducts the overflow into a tributary of the Panuco river, and so to the Gulf of Mexico. ”

“ Many small high basins are only within the limits of potato cultivation. They also receive proportionately more rain. Hence irrigation is unnecessary. According as the various basins take in one or another of the different product levels (Fig. 35) their life is meager and unimportant or rich and interesting.
The deep-valley type of climate has the basin factors more strongly developed. Below the Canyon of Choqquequirau, a topographic feature comparable with the Canyon of Torontoy, the Apurimac descends to 3,000 feet, broadens to several miles, and has large alluvial fans built into it. ”

“ Thus the delicate ferns and other Alpine plants are commingled with those of the burning climes below, and finally deposited in the wide estuary forming the delta of the Orinoco. When future generations shall disentomb them in a petrified state, their geologists will no doubt attribute this singular agglomeration to wonderful changes in the temperature of the earth.
The river Apure, properly speaking, is formed by the confluence of two other streams, the Sarare and Uribante. ”

“ The shepherds and small farmers near the plantation are more dependent upon the planter for supplies, and also their wants are more varied and numerous. Hence they pay for their better location in free labor and in produce sold at a discount.
So deep are some of the main canyons, like the Apurimac and the Cotahuasi, that their floors are arid or semi-arid. The fortunes of Pasaje are tied to a narrow canal from the moist woodland and a tiny brook from a hollow in the valley wall. Where the water has thus been brought down to the arable soil of the fans there are rich plantations and farms. ”

“ When the river has reached the mouth of the Apure in that very low ground where the slope towards the north is met by the counter-slope towards the south-east, that is to say, by the inclination of the plains which rise imperceptibly towards the mountains of Caracas, the river turns anew and flows eastward. ”

“ The temple of the speaker was in ruins long before Spanish days.
Like other streams of the west coast, the great river Rimac has run through the gamut of all zones. Hurrying down from the cordillera, it spreads fertility far and wide over the dry shore-valley. As far away as Chorillos, “little water jets,” the water of the Rimac filters through, led astray for irrigation. But its own journey to the sea is vain. The mountain water is so precious to the desert that by the time the stream has reached the shore, it has not force enough left to make an outlet across the beach into the ocean. ”

“ The Chalchijalpa is a large river, whose different sources come from the direction of the Chimalapa Mountains. Señor Moro says: 'The Indians of Santa Maria ascend it on rafts to a point 38 miles distant from their village.'
Although it may be possible to utilize isolated portions of the river for the canal, even in these high points, it is my opinion that flood-gates and other accessory works will overbalance the economy of excavations. Be it as it may, future surveys must determine these points, with the study of details. ”

“ Therefore, if the present major streams reach the sea, it may also be concluded that those of an earlier period reached the sea, provided the topography indicates the perfect adjustment of streams to structure. Lacustrine sediments are absent throughout the Tertiary section. Such through-flowing streams, discharging on a stable coast, would also have mature valleys as a consequence of long uninterrupted erosion at a fixed level. The Majes river must have cut through the Coast Range at Camaná then as now. Likewise the Vitor at Quilca must have cut straight across the Coast Range. ”

“ The heaviest piece of work on the canal is a rock cut through the “divide” on the eastern portion of the summit level, commencing about four miles to the west of lock No. 3. This cut is about 2·9 miles long and the average depth is about 150 feet, involving a removal of about 2,150,000 cubic yards of earth, and 7,500,000 cubic yards of rock.
Lake Nicaragua has a watershed of 8000 miles. The only outlet of the lake is the San Juan river, which discharges, at its lowest stage, near the close of the dry season, 11,390 cubic feet of water per second. ”

“ It flows first north-easterly, then north-westerly past Cuzco to the mouth of the Perené tributary, thence east and north to its junction with the Ucayali at 10° 41′ S. lat., and 73° 34′ W. long. It is known as the Apurimac only down to the mouth of the Mantaro tributary, 11° 45′ S. lat. and 1325 ft. above sea-level. ”

“ A brisk wind from the east sprung up early in the morning of the 22d: we then hoisted all sail, and made for the mouth of the Rio Negro. This noble stream, at its junction with the Amazons, seems, from its position, to be a direct continuation of the main river; while the Solimoens, which joins it at an angle, and is somewhat narrower than its tributary, appears to be a branch, instead of the main trunk, of the vast water-system. ”

“ They took this salt by the valley of Aburra to the provinces to the eastward, which have not been discovered or seen by the Spaniards to this day. This salt has made the Indians exceedingly rich.
In the province of Caramanta, which is not very distant from the town of Anzerma, there is a fountain which rises out of a river of sweet water, and turns some of its water into a vapour resembling smoke, which assuredly must arise from there being some metal in that part. ”

“ Although the pororóca breaks as far up the Araguarý as midway between the Veados and the entrance to the Apureminho, its violence seems to be checked by the narrowing of the stream below the Veados, by the turns in the river, and by the vegetation along the banks.
This vegetation is of a kind against which it seems to be least effective—namely, bamboos. They grow next the stream from near the mouth to the foot of the falls above the colony, and for much of the distance form a fringe to the heavy, majestic forest behind them, than which nothing could be more strikingly-beautiful. ”

“ You'll want views of that."
"We sure will!" cried Blake.
"Isn't it all wonderful!" exclaimed Joe, who was deeply impressed by all he saw.
"It is, indeed!" agreed the Spaniard. "Your nation is a powerful and great one. It is a tremendous achievement."
Aboard the tug they went around toward the great dam that is really the key to the Panama Canal. For without this dam there would be no Gatun Lake, which holds back the waters of the Chagres River, making a big lake eighty-five feet above the level of the ocean. It is this lake that makes possible the operation of a lock canal. ”

“ The south-east drainage basin, which is smaller and economically less important than that of the Madeira, discharges into the Paraguay and extends from the Sierras de Chiquitos south to the Argentine frontier, and from the Cordillera Oriental east to the Paraguay. It possesses only one large river in Bolivia, the Pilcomayo, which rises on the east slopes of the Cordillera Oriental opposite the south end of Lake Pampa Aullaguas and flows east and south-east through the sierra region to the Bolivian Chaco. ”

“ Examining the affidavits and other evidence introduced in this case, it is clear to us that the Rio Grande is not navigable within the limits of the territory of New Mexico. The mere fact that logs, poles, and rafts are floated down a stream occasionally and in times of high water does not make it a navigable river. ”

“ The soil and climate are so genial that less labor is required than in other countries; but a great deal of the fertility of the beautiful valley must be ascribed to the ingenious system of irrigation, which is produced by a dam constructed in the river above El Paso, which turns a large body of water into a canal. This canal, spreading into numerous branches and re-uniting again, provides all the cultivated land with a sufficiency of moisture. ”

“ Another characteristic stream of Mexico is the River Nazas, whose waters, nearly all absorbed by the irrigation canals of the Laguna region, where the famous cotton plantations are, fall in times of flood into the Lagoon of Parras, where they evaporate, the system forming a hydrographic entity, without outlet either to the Pacific or Atlantic watershed. Thus it is seen that most Mexican rivers simply rise in and descend on one or the other slopes of the country; and as the fall is rapid their courses are interrupted by numerous cascades. ”

“ On our arrival at Apurito, we found the river quite swollen with the recent showers and already extending from bank to bank. The first business was to select among our men and horses the strongest and most capable of enduring the fatigue and of guiding through the boisterous waves of the Apure the various lots into which the cattle were divided for the purpose. Our next step was to assemble at the pass a sufficient number of canoes with expert paddlers to act in concert with the leading men and horses, by flanking the swimmers in the river. ”

“ Two days after passing Puelec, whence the river Cobu-leubú takes a southerly course, and having gone about seventy-four leagues by their daily computation from Antuco, the travellers reached the river called by the Indians Chadi-leubú, or the Salt River (probably a continuation of the Atuel) , which, uniting with the Desaguadero, or Drain of the Diamante, about five leagues below where they crossed it, discharges itself into a vast lake about ten leagues further south, called by the Indians the Urré-lauquen, or the bitter lake. ”

“ The fall of the river is seldom used as motive power, except for some flour mills, which are oftener worked by mules than by water. The principal advantage which is at present derived from the river is for agriculture, by their well managed system of irrigation. As to its navigation in New Mexico, I doubt very much if even canoes could be used, except perhaps during May or June, when the river is in its highest state, from the melting of the snow in the mountains. The river is entirely too shallow, and interrupted by too many sand bars, to promise anything for navigation. ”