4 



PERSONAL ACCOUNT. 



observatory at the Punta, and called it Camp Eiley, after the general then commanding in Cali- 



t 



fornia^ to whom we were mucli indebted for affording many facilities in conducting the survey. 

 The infantry company was encamped in the valley near me^ and the dragoons were sent up the 

 valley of the Tia Juana^ to .a point where the grazing was good^ to get in condition for the hard 

 service upon which they were soon to he employed. 

 - The following distribution was made of that portion of the officers and employes of the 

 boundary commission under my direction : Aided by James Nooney and George C. Gardner, 

 I took the personal charge of the determination of the latitude and longitude of Camp Riley, 

 and the triangulation by which that determination was to be carried to the initial point on the 

 Pacific; no convenient place for wood and water, which was at the same time protected from 



Whippl 



Camp 



ham, were assigned to the charge of the party to determine the other extremity of the straight 

 line forming the boundary at the junction of the Gila and Colorado. In addition to his duties 

 as asssistant, Dr. Parry was charged with the geological and botanical investigations to illus- 

 trate the physical geography of the country. 



Capt. E. L. F. Hardcastle, corps Topograx>hical Engineers, assisted by Mr. George 0. Gard- 

 ner^ and escorted by Lieut. Slaughter, with a detachment on foot, was placed in charge of the 

 party to reconnoitre the country, gain a knowledge of the topography, and select elevated 

 points by which the extremities of the line, or the two observatories in charge of Lieut. Whipple 

 and myself, could be connected in longitude by flashes of gunpowder. 



A 



United States surveyor, assisted by Messrs. Whit 



o 



Taylor, and Foster, were employed in surveying the shore-line of the head of the bay, for the 

 purpose of showing on paper the initial point of the boundary on the coast of the Pacific, 

 described in the treaty as being one marine league south of the port of San Diego. 



The portion of the boundary which the commissioner designed to run first, consisted of a 

 straight line from a point on the Pacific ocean, one marine league south of the port of San 

 Diego, to the junction of the Gila and Colorado. The most obvious way of determining the 

 direction of this line was to connect the two points by triangulation, and in this way ascertain 

 their relative positions on the face of the earth, and compute the azimuth of the line joining 

 them. But the character of the intervening country made it impossible to pursue this mode of 

 operating, when the time and means at our disposal were considered. Triangulation is the 

 most accurate, but tlie slowest and most expensive method of surveying, even in old settled 

 countries, where the stations to be selected are easily accessible in wagons. 



such 



tion. 



miles, may 



ing in character, but both unfavorable to geodetic operations. The first, rising in steppes from 



the sea, devoid of water, and covered with 



abrur 



om 



height of five or six thousand feet above the sea in the short distance of thirty miles. F 

 this point, for about thirty miles more, the country is occupied by a succession of parallel ridges. 



bound 



dccn and sometimes 



TO8 



It then falls abruptly to near the level of the sea. The remainder of the line stretches 

 across the desert of shifting sand at the head of the Gulf of California, destitute for the most 



part of both water and vegetation, rendering it impossible to mark the boundary in the usual 

 manner on the erround. 



