14 MAPS ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT. 



From Myrtle creek, in Umpqua valley, to Jacksonville, in Rogue River valley, our field 

 work has been checked by a sketch of the military road, located in 1853 by Brevet Major B. 

 Alvord, 4th infantry. This sketch, which I think was never published, was kindly furnished 

 by Major Alvord. 



The trail of Brevet Major H. W. Wessels, 2d infantry, on his expedition of 1852, from 

 Sonoma to Humboldt Bay, and thence up Klamath river to the head of Scott s river, has been 

 laid down from a rough copy of a sketch by George Gibbs, Esq., who accompanied the command 

 as topographer. 



The topography near Rogue river, for about twenty-five miles above the mouth, has been 

 taken from a sketch made by Lieut. J. G. Chandler, 3d artillery, to show the routes followed 

 by the command of Brevet Lieut. Col. R. C. Buchanan, 4th infantry, during his campaign 

 against the Indians in 1856. I am indebted to Colonel Buchanan for this sketch, which is now 

 published for the first time. 



Lieut. Williamson formerly spent several years in California, attached to the staff of the 

 commanding general. During this time he made many reconnaissances, the results of which 

 were never published. Several of the trails have been laid down on our map from his original 

 field notes. The latitudes of many points were fixed by astronomical observations, and the 

 accuracy of the topography may be relied upon. They form a valuable addition to the map. 

 His route from Yreka to Lower Klamath lake was surveyed in 1852, and that from Yreka, 

 east of Shasta Butte, to the Sacramento valley, in 1851. The trail from Port Orford to Coquille 

 and Rogue rivers, and thence to the settled portion of Rogue River valley, was examined in 

 1851 and 1852. A small portion of this trail was explored by Lieut. George Stoneman, 1st 

 dragoons. In 1849, Lieut. Williamson accompanied Captain W. H. Warner, Topographical 

 Engineers, on the disastrous expedition on which he was killed by the Indians, near Goose 

 lake. Lieut. Williamson prepared a map of the regions traversed, and the upper portion of Pit 

 river, with the vicinity, has been reduced from the original sketch upon our map. 



PROFILES ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT. 



Two sheets of profiles have been constructed to illustrate this report. They contain profiles of 

 the most important portions of the routes travelled over by the surveying parties, and also of 

 the most favorable railroad lines found in the vicinity of the trails. The horizontal scale of 

 each profile is the same as that of the maps, being twelve miles to the inch, or 1:760320 ; the 

 vertical scale is 1:15206.4. They are, therefore, distorted fifty times. 



The altitudes of the different stations were all determined by barometric observations. The 

 method by which they have been computed is fully explained in the sixth chapter of this 

 report, and the original data are given in Appendix D. 



It only remains to notice discrepancies between the results of this survey and those of former 

 surveys with which it connects. Gov. Stevens gives 57.6 feet for the altitude of Columbia 

 barracks above the level of the sea. That the fort should not be higher than this above the 

 Columbia appeared incredible to me when there ; and as it is situated nearly 100 miles above 

 the mouth of the river, there can be, I think, no doubt that this altitude is too low. The 

 height of Lieut. Williamson s camp, situated upon the river bluff opposite the barracks, 

 and sixty feet above the water surface, was shown, by numerous observations, to be 105 feet. 

 1 have been unable to find, in any part of Gov. Stevens report, the height of Fort Dalles. 

 The altitude of 350 feet, however, is given in the Army Meteorological Register as that 



