LETTER OF A. W. TINKHAM. 629 



and should not at any rate have felt justified in purchasing fresh animals. More than this, I am 

 able to act intelligibly as to the character of the passes. 



This being celebrated here as New Year s day (in place of the Sabbath,) my letter has been 

 written with fiddling and dancing; and dancing, too, where not only the &quot;fantastic toe&quot; played 

 its part, but where the heel drummed out a vigorous accompaniment. This may apologize for its 

 somewhat dispirited character. 



Arriving at the Sound so much later than the parties which have preceded me, you will not 

 consider it unreasonable for me to request that my early return to the States be facilitated as 

 much as possible, and that it may occur as soon as the accomplishment of my duties will admit. 



Having quite a large mail (fifty communications,) I was obliged to strip all envelopes and 

 waste-paper in order to save weight. You may accordingly find their order of arrangement 

 somewhat disturbed. Everything, however, has been kept from injury, and your several com 

 munications are transmitted in perfect condition. 



My letter I leave open until to-rnorrow. 



January 3. I have nothing of consequence to add. The animals have not yet come in ; but I 

 am constantly expecting them, and expect to swim the river and make camp a short distance from 

 here. Two of the tribe of Wallah-Wallahs go with me as far as the Mission, and there I expect 

 to obtain a fresh guide. The day is fine and the weather mild. 

 Very truly, your obedient servant, 



A. W. TJNKHAM. 



Governor I. I. STEVENS, 



Olympia, Washington Territory. 



OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON TERRITORY, 



February 1, 1S54. 



SIR : I have the honor to submit herewith a brief report of my recent exploration from Fort 

 Wallah- Wallah, Columbia river, to Puget sound, by way of the Snoqualme Pass of the Cascade 

 mountains, regretting that, for causes explained in a former letter to you, I had means only for 

 conducting so meagre a survey. 



Your instructions of December 12, despatched by special messenger from this place, reached 

 me at Wallah- Wallah on the 30th of the same mouth, and the day after my arrival there. The 

 Cascade range, barring up the direct approach to the sound from the open and favorable valleys 

 of the Columbia and its northern tributaries, had, from the earliest consideration of the survey, 

 been to me one of its great features of interest ; and, impelled by the desire to know by actual 

 observation its obstacles or facilities, as affecting the construction of a railroad, I had, previous to 

 the arrival of your despatch, made arrangements to pass through this range of mountains in 

 closing up my route to the Pacific. Your despatch put me in possession of such information as 

 enabled me to proceed intelligently, and at the same time furnished me with such resources as to 

 secure me from any unnecessary risk and exposure to be apprehended from crossing this import 

 ant range of mountains in mid-winter. 



The several members of my little party had cheerfully responded to my wish to attempt the 

 proposed exploration, although they had just escaped from a long and somewhat tiresome deten 

 tion in the mountain snows of the Bitter Root range, and it was from no reluctance on their part 

 that I saw fit to release them from any further winter work in the mountains, and to go forward 

 alone. 



On the 7th of January, with two Wallah-Wallah Indians, I proceeded up the Columbia till it 

 receives the waters of the Yakima river, and then taking this latter stream, turned westvvardly to 

 trace its waters to their source, in the close vicinity of which also spring the headwaters of the 

 Snoqualme and White rivers, emptying into Puget sound. The valley of the Yakima, adjacent 



