FROM THE COLUMBIA VALLEY TO FORT OWEN. 251 



F. 



SURVEYS FROM THE EASTERN BASE OF THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LOWER 



COLUMBIA. 



17. REPORT OF THE ROUTE OF LIEUTENANT R. SAXTON, u. s. A., FROM THE COLUMBIA VALLEY TO 



FORT OWEN, AND THENCE TO FORT BENTON. 



WASHINGTON, D. C., February, 1854. 



SIR : In obedience to your instructions of April, 1853, appointing me acting assistant quarter 

 master and commissary for the expedition under your command, for the exploration and survey 

 of a route for a railroad from some point on the Mississippi river to Puget sound, and directing 

 me to proceed by the way of the Isthmus of Panama to Columbia barracks, in Washington Ter 

 ritory, and there organize a supply train, and establish a depot of provisions at the Flathead 

 Indian village of St. Mary s, and join you at Fort Benton, proceeding thither by the Blackfoot 

 Pass of the Rocky mountains, I have the honor to submit the following report of my operations 

 in the performance of that duty. 



As incidental to the establishment of a depot of provisions for the use of the main parties 

 engaged in the exploration, I was directed to make such observations with reference to the 

 topography of the country through which I should pass, and the facilities or difficulties it pre 

 sented to the construction of a railroad, as would not interfere with the main object of my 

 expedition. 



The distances stated in the report are only approximations inferred from the pace of a horse, 

 and the directions were determined by the bearings of a pocket compass. They will, however, 

 I trust, give a tolerable, if imperfect, idea of the country through which I passed. 



I left New York on the 5th of May, and proceeded, by the way of the Isthmus of Panama, to 

 San Francisco, California, where I arrived on the 1st of June. It being necessary to procure 

 most of the articles required for the use of the expedition at this place, my arrival in Washington 

 Territory was delayed until June 27th. The abundance of gold in California, and the conse 

 quent high price of labor, made it very difficult to procure men for the expedition, even at the 

 highest rates. But for the assistance afforded by the agents -of the Hudson s Bay Company, I 

 should have been unable to organize a party at all. I applied to Governor P. Ogden, the chief 

 faclor of the company, for aid, which he very readily granted. It is worthy of remark, however 

 little flattering to American pride, that the power and influence of that company over the inhab 

 itants of the country which I traversed is greater than that of the government of the United 

 States. Even the Quartermaster s department is obliged to depend upon them for the transport 

 ation of troops and army supplies. 



On the 2d of July, Lieutenant Arnold, 3d artillery, who had volunteered for the expedition, 

 started up the Columbia river with the greater part of the stores destined for the Flathead village, 

 and twenty-one men employed as packers. In consequence of high water in the river, the 

 passage of the Cascades was exceedingly difficult, and it was necessary to transport all our 

 baggage for a considerable distance on the backs of men. Lieutenant Arnold, with character 

 istic energy, succeeded, after a week s hard labor, in landing his stores at the Dalles of the Colum 

 bia. I completed all the arrangements for the expedition, and with the soldiers detailed as an escort, 

 and the remaining commissary stores, arrived at the Dalles on the 14th of July. As all the 

 animals in the possession of the Quartermaster s department at Fort Vancouver were required by 

 Captain McClellan s parly, we were obliged to depend, in a great measure, upon the Indians for 

 our horses. Reports were in circulation that we were fitting out a war party against them, and 

 they showed great unwillingness to bring in horses. Every aid in their power was promptly 

 rendered by the officers at Fort Vancouver, and the Dalles, to forward the interests of the 

 expedition. 



