40 INSTRUCTIONS TO LIEUTENANT SAXTON. 



nexion with that gained by our parties moving westward from the Mississippi, has established 

 in all our minds the conviction that a council should be held next year at this point, to enter 

 into a treaty with all the Indians north of the Missouri not included in existing arrangements, 

 and those immediately west of the mountains, providing that hereafter they should cease warring 

 upon each other, and continue, for all time to come, the friends of the whites. The time is ripe 

 for such a consummation. I desire you to devote your energies to call the attention of the 

 department and of Congress to this subject. In a letter which I shall send by you to the Com 

 missioner of the Indian Bureau, I shall urge that Congress be asked to appropriate money 

 early in the session to defray the expenses of this council, and that a steamer, applicable to the 

 service generally of the Indian bureau on the Missouri, be chartered or purchased to reach this 



Seventh. It is hoped that appropriations will also be made early in the session to continue 

 the survey, in which case you are requested to make the best practicable arrangements to reach 

 this point with the assistants, Mr. Hoyt and Sergeant Collins, now on duty with you, for the 

 purpose of exploring the region west. If appropriations be made early in the session for con 

 tinuing the survey and for holding a council, it is believed that the best interests of the two 

 services would make it absolutely necessary to secure a steamer to insure efficiency to each. To 

 that end, much is expected from your experience and judgment. 



Eighth. On reaching Pugct sound, and ascertaining the condition of the work at the close of 

 the season, I shall send more full instructions in relation to the place of continuing the survey 

 and the supplies, instruments, and assistance required to be brought to this point. One thing 

 is certain : a letter from Washington addressing me that appropriations have been made, and 

 that a steamer will be placed upon the river, will give me notice two weeks before it will be 

 necessary to leave Olympia for Fort Benton to meet it. 



Ninth. Going down the Missouri, you will be able to collect many valuable facts in reference 

 to its general character, as to the steamer adapted to navigate it, as to depots for wood and the 

 best method of supplying them, and as to the probable time required to make the trip, both up 

 and down the river, which will add much to the value of your report. 



Tenth. I shall, at the earliest practicable moment, submit a report on the navigability of the 

 Missouri, based on the surveys of Lieutenants Donelson and Grover, and your own observa 

 tions ; but should not this report be received before you have to act, I will express the opinion 

 that you can reach Fort Benton by the middle of June, leaving St. Louis early in Mav, with a 

 steamer drawing eighteen inches of water. 



Eleventh. A. Culbertson, special agent among the Blackfeet Indians, goes with you, under 

 instructions from me to repair to Washington as soon as his other arrangements will permit, 

 to urge the importance of entering, without delay, into treaty arrangements with these Indians 

 and those west of the mountains. His experience of twenty years among these Indians, and 

 his known force of character, will give great weight to his views. I expect that there will be 

 the most cordial co-operation between you in relation to these Indian questions. He knows 

 thoroughly the river, and will put his hand to the helm. 



Twelfth. William Graham and Henry Beaubien, who have at this point, at their request, 

 been relieved from their connexion with the expedition, will accompany you, and be furnished 

 with transportation and subsistence to St. Louis. 



Yours, &c., 



ISAAC I. STEVENS, 



Governor of Washington Territory, in Charge of Exploration. 

 Lieut. RUFUS SAXTON, 



4^A Artillery, Fort Benton. 



