PART I. 



REPORTS FROM THE FIELD 



UPPER MISSISSIPPI, 

 Steamer Nominee, Hay 27, 1853. 



DEAR SIR : I have the honor respectfully to inform the department, that I left Washington 

 city on the 9th instant, stopped in New York one day to transact business, and taking the route 

 of Lake Erie and Chicago, reached St. Louis on the loth. I remained in St. Louis until the 

 departure of the Fur Company s hoat on the 21st, which carried up ten thousand rations to Fort 

 Union, and a small party, consisting of Lieutenant Donelson, Lieutenant Mullan, Mr. Graham, 

 and six sappers and miners. Lieutenant Donelson is instructed to make the best possible 

 survey of the Missouri, and of the country in the vicinity of Fort Union, from the White Earth 

 to the Porcupine rivers. Whilst at St. Louis I secured the services of Alexander Culbertson, 

 Esq., as a special agent among the Blackfeet Indians. He has lived in the country twenty 

 years, and knows by name every adult male in each tribe. He -estimates the number to be from 

 fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred lodges. I found him to be a reliable, steadfast, calm man. 

 He joins the main party at Fort Union, and accompanies us to Fort Benton. The Fur Company 

 make the trip, 400 miles, in twenty days, four mules drawing 1,600 pounds. The grasses in 

 the Blackfeet region are exceedingly good, the country is well watered, and wagons can be 

 taken to the very base of the mountains. 



The Blackfeet tribes know all the passes in the mountains, and Mr. Culbertson assures me 

 that we shall have no difficulty in securing the confidence of, and controlling the Blackfeet. 

 With vigilance and firmness, I entertain no apprehensions whatever. 



Dr. John Evans, who is intrusted with the geological reconnaissance of Oregon, under the 

 supervision of the General Land Office, for which Congress has made a special appropriation, 

 has accepted the position of geologist of my expedition. He will, on his way to Oregon, go 

 through the &quot;Mauvaises Terres,&quot; exploring the routes in that interesting region, connecting 

 it with the Missouri by two lines, leading respectively to Fort Pierre and Fort Union, and 

 making for my exploration collections of the highest value to geological science. The topo 

 graphical information which he will collect will be a great assistance in enabling me to deter 

 mine the best route for my return party. Dr. Evans will place at the disposal of the expedi 

 tion all his topographical notes and barometrical observations crossing the mountains, and thus, 

 at very small expense, the expedition will derive from his labors great aid in both its direct and 

 incidental objects. 



I shall reach St. Paul s this evening, where I expect to find all the arrangements well ad 

 vanced to commence the exploration, and from which place I hope to start, at the furthest, by 

 the first of June. I will communicate again with the department as I leave the settlements, 

 and will at the same time enclose a statement of expenditures up to that point. 



I enclose, herewith, printed copies of the instructions given in each branch of the survey. 

 As the party was quite numerous, and each member receives copies of them, in addition to 



