G2 LETTER TO LIEUTENANT DONELSON. 



It is important that attention should be given to collections, and particularly to the mineral 

 wealth of the region. Gold is said to be found in the neighborhood of the Hell Gate fork. I 

 desire you to pay especial attention to the Indian duties connected with your position. You are 

 authorized to pay an interpreter at the rate of $500 per year. He should,.as you have suggested, 

 be a guide; and the Flathead, Gahiel, is recommended as competent and reliable: endeavor to 

 secure his services. Your attention is called to the several particulars in relation to which I am 

 directed to make reports in the instructions of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and any 

 information you can afford will be of service. Make an estimate of the probable cost of estab 

 lishing a sub-agency, and the general cost of keeping it up. I shall, however, endeavor to 

 communicate with you again this fall, and may be able to send you additional Indian goods. 



To Lieutenant Grover, who has volunteered to conduct the dog train over these mountains in 

 the winter, and to Mr. Tinkham, who has volunteered to cross the mountains twice by the 

 Marias Pass to Fort Benton, and thence by some southern pass to this point, and thence by the 

 southern Nez Perces to Wallah-Wallah, you will, of course, render all the assistance in your 

 power. Ample supplies .have been provided for them, and I do not think any contingency will 

 arise making it necessary that they should encroach upon your stores. 



By Lieutenant Grover and Mr. Tinkham, I hope you will be able to send reports of your 

 operations, or detached reports, with a statement of your route from Fort Benton to this point, 

 and of your survey to Fort Hall, should it be accomplished before the arrival of Lieutenant 

 Grover. 



You may rely upon my establishing at least a bi-monthly express there this winter, if practi 

 cable, and by which I shall be able to hear from you twice, and perhaps three times, before I 

 see you in the spring. I shall endeavor to visit this place previous to the 15th of June. 



Of the animals (horses and mules) left in your charge, I am confident that as many of them 

 will be serviceable, in a few days, as your duties will require. Should the winter prove mild, 

 all the animals will probably be serviceable in the spring. For the meat rations you will rely 

 mainly upon beef, which is in abundance in this valley. Lieutenant Saxton established the 

 tariff at $60 per head, which meets my approval. 



Yours, truly, 



ISAAC I. STEVENS. 

 Lieutenant MULLAN. 



No. 3. 



FLATHEAU VILLAGE OF ST. MARY S, 



Territory of Washington, October 2_, 1853. 



SIR: According to the verbal instructions you have already received, you are placed in com 

 mand of the principal party to continue the work westward from this point, to connect with 

 Captain McClellan s work eastward, through the Cascade range. The party will be composed 

 as follows: Lieutenant Arnold, U. S. Army, assisted by Mr. Lyman Arnold, and Mr. G. W. 

 Stevens, assisted by Sapper Roach, associated in the charge of the astronomical observations. 



Mr. Lambert, the topographer of the expedition, in charge of the odometer survey, assisted 

 by Mr. Bixly. 



Mr. Lander, civil engineer ; Mr. Moffett, in charge of meteorological observations, assisted by 

 Sapper Davis; Messrs. Kendall, Evans, Evelyn, and West, as general assistants; Sergeant 

 Higgins, pack-master, assisted by Mr. Henderson and Sergeant Martin; Sergeant Lindez, 

 quartermaster, commissary, and ordnance sergeant ; Private Horner, assistant in making col 

 lections ; Private Goercky, of the dragoons, hospital steward ; Corporal Cunningham, Privates 

 Brandnell and Smith, of the sappers and miners; Privates Mathers and Bowers, of the fourth 

 infantry ; Gear, Hudson, and Williams, chargeable, to the survey, and twenty-seven employes 



