492 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



that, great as these embarrassments have been, they 

 have been greatly increased by the want of line and 

 staff officers. 



In consequence of the extraordinary prices of labor, 

 and the consequent enormous expenditures in this coun 

 try, young officers of the line should not be, injustice to 

 the service and themselves, as they have unnecessarily 

 been, encumbered, in addition to their company duties, 

 with money and property responsibilities to a very 

 great amount. Experienced officers of the quarter 

 master's department are required at San Francisco, 

 San Diego, and with the commands on the upper Sa 

 cramento and San Joaquin Rivers. I have now but 

 one officer, Captain Kane, of that department, under 

 my control ; and he is necessarily detained at depart 

 ment headquarters in the preparation of my estimates 

 for the services of the ensuing year. Quarters must 

 soon be erected at several of the posts in this depart 

 ment ; and I cannot spare line officers for this duty, 

 without destroying their efficiency with their compa 

 nies, even were it proper to do so. There are no topo 

 graphical engineers on duty in this department, and, 

 in consequence of the want, I have been able to per 

 form very little of the duty devolved upon me by the 

 lllth paragraph general orders No. 49, of 1848. A 

 reconnoissance of a portion of the valleys of the Sacra 

 mento and San Joaquin Rivers, undertaken for the 

 purpose of determining the position to be occupied, as 

 recommended in my report to division headquarters 

 of April 16, to the War Department of the 25th of 

 the same month, has strengthened my opinion of the 

 importance of giving the country a most thorough 

 examination before any military posts are permanently 

 located in the interior. The whole district of country 



