8 



PERSONAL ACCOUNT. 



had at last received the attention of the authorities at Washington, and that a brighter day 

 was dawning on onr work. Unfortunately for uSj just after these letters were written^ the work 

 was transferred from the Department of State to the Dej^artment of the Interior, and these 

 promising hopes were doomed to disappointment. 



With the organization above described depending chiefly upon the military officers and escort 

 attached to the commission, I comj^leted the determination of the latitude and longitude of the_ 

 two observatories near the extremities of the line, and proceeded to transfer, by triangulation, 

 the determination of Camp Eiley to the initial point on the Pacific. Although this was 

 accomplished by a single triangle, the longest side of which was not five miles, such was the 

 peculiarity of the atmosphere rendering objects near the coast indistinct, that I was nearly two 

 months in completing this work satisfactorily. I had now lost nearly all my assistants, and 

 the computation of the azimuth of the line and the tracing of the line on the face of the earth 



were done witl 



1 



Hardcastle and assistant Gardner and the 



infantry soldiers of the escort. Lieutenant Whipple, with the cavalry escort, was still at the 

 junction of the Gila and Colorado, faithfully aided by the escort and assistants Parry and 

 Ingraham. 



In the mean time Colonel Weller had received official information that he was removed, and 

 a successor, as before stated, was named who was to relieve him. His successor, however, never 

 appeared, and things remained in a state of suspense until the receipt of the following letter : 



Depaetmext op the Interiok, 



WasMngtoUy January 8, 1850. 



Sir: Mr, John B. Weller having been relieved from duty, as head of the commission to 

 survey the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, and the direction of said 

 commission having, therefore, fallen temporarily upon you, I have to request that the persons 

 employed on the work may be reduced to the lowest number consistent with the proper though 

 economical management of the business confided to you, by the discharge of all such as are not 



indispensable to the proper performance of the work, and whose services can therefore be dis- 

 pensed with without detriment. 



The number of surveyors ought not to exceed three ; and in reducing the force you will have 

 a view to the suggestions of Col, Abert to Lieut, Col. McClelland, a copy of which is enclosed. 



I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 



Major W. H. Emory, San Diego ^ California. 



T. EWING, Secretary. 



Upon the faith of these instructions, emanatin;]r, as they did, from the 



authority of the 



Un 



and make arrangements for the continuation of the survey of the line, and placed one efficient 



party in the field, under the charge of Capt. E. L. F. Hardcastle, and organized another to 



send by the most expeditious route to the Paso del Norte, on the Rio Grande, at which point it 



was agreed by the joint commission to meet in November of the same year, (1850,) A schedule 



of the reorganization and an application for funds, with an urgent letter showing our necossi- 



ties, were sent and received by the Department of the Interior, and the following answer was 

 returned : 



