LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OP WAR. 27 



Reserving to a subsequent portion of this report some account of Lieutenant Saxton s admira 

 ble reconnaissance, one made under many difficulties, it will be sufficient for me to state that 

 our mutual congratulations were of the most cordial character. He left Washington in April 

 with instructions to organize a supply train on the Columbia, to establish a depot of animals 

 and provisions at the St. Mary s village, and, passing over the Blackfeet trail, to meet me at 

 Fort Benton. 



It was in Washington determined to direct our first exploration on this pass. As we 

 approached it from this side of the mountains, we called it Cadotte s Pass, from Cadotte, one of 

 our guides, who passed over it two years since. My first thought, on reaching Fort Benton, was 

 to send forward Lieutenant drover to ascertain whether he had reached St. Mary s, or was on 

 liis way to this point. I point to the circumstance of their actual meeting within three miles 

 of the dividing ridge, as some evidence of the goodness of the pass, and how well it was under 

 stood in the first instructions. 



Cadotte s Pass is, by the barometer measurements of Lieutenant Saxton, nearly 3,000 feet 

 below the South Pass,, and is a much better route both in summer and in winter. It presents 

 not the slightest difficulty to the passage of a railroad. 



A copy of my Order No. 18, published on Lieutenant Saxton s arrival, shows the apprecia 

 tion which we have of his labors. 



I learned from Lieutenant Saxton that the passes in the Bitter Hoot and Cascade ranges were 

 more difficult than those in the Kocky mountains; that they could not be crossed later than 

 October, and that the greatest despatch must be used to reach the Pacific before the setting in 

 of winter. I also learned that Captain McClellan was probably still struggling in the passes 

 of the Cascade range, north of the Columbia, to ascertain the most practicable one, and that 

 he could not be expected to push his line east of the Columbia the present season. 



My previous arrangements had been based on the winter not setting in till the middle or last 

 of November, and on having before me at least a working season of eight weeks. I found it 

 to be reduced, at the very outside, to six, and as regards the Bitter Root range, where snows 

 fall on the 20th, and sometimes as early as the 10th of October, to five weeks. The plateau 

 between the Milk and the Missouri rivers rises gently, and is, in almost every direction, prac 

 ticable for a railroad. 



The St. Mary s valley connects with other valleys running both north and south at the base 

 of the mountains, an aggregate distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Thus Cadotte s Pass 

 connects all the railroad lines north of the Missouri with all the lines from the Columbia to 

 Puget sound. Accordingly I determined to leave my wagons at this point, to resort entirely 

 to packs to send my whole force through Cadotte s Pass with the greatest despatch, and direct 

 them on several routes westward through the Bitter Boot and Cascade ranges to ascertain the 

 best pass, and to connect with Captain McClellan s work, and thus endeavor to collect the 

 present season the data to establish the practicability of a railroad from the headwaters of the 

 Mississippi to Puget sound. 



The survey of the Marias Pass was deferred, and Mr. Lander, under orders for this service, 

 was directed to report to Lieutenant Donelson, who was, by my orders of the 14th instant, a 

 copy of which I herewith enclose, continued in charge of the main party operating in Cadotte s 

 Pass. It was with great reluctance I abandoned the survey of the Marias Pass. I am sanguine 

 that it will prove the best pass, and it more naturally connects with the line of Clark s fork of 

 the Columbia river. The great obstacle to the survey of all these passes, and especially the 

 Marias Pass, is in the immense forests which in all directions obstruct the way. The super 

 abundance of nature has to be done away with in a measure before the full measure of her gifts 

 can be known. The Indians pursue the best trails they can find ; but they have not axes to hew 

 their way, nor, finding one pass practicable, have they the patience to search for better ones. 



To reach the valley of Clark s fork, a road from Cadotte s Pass must make a considerable 

 deflection to the north, and it is believed that in no other direction can a road be run to the 



