LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. 



Washington, February f>, 1SI>1. 



Sir: Under date of December 28, 1858, I hud the honor to submit to the head- 

 quarters of the Department of Utah a map and report of my explorations and open- 

 ing, under instructions from Bvt. Brig-. Gen. A. S. Johnston, commanding the depart- 

 ment, of a new wagon-route from Camp Floyd to Fort Bridger, Utah, by the way of 

 Timpanogos River Canon and White Clay Creek, and of my explorations west of 

 Camp Floyd, as far as Short Cut Pass, preparatory to more extended explorations 

 during the ensuing year for a direct wagon-route from that post to ('arson A alley.* 



I have now the honor to submit a report and map of my -explorations and open- 

 ing, in 1859, of two new wagon-routes across the Great Basin of Utah, from Camp 

 Floyd to Carson Valley, by means of which the traveling distance from Camp Floyd 

 to San Francisco, when compared with the old Humboldt River route, has been short- 

 ened, in the case of my more northern route, 283 miles, and in the case of my more 

 southern route, 254 miles. 



The orders of the Hon. John B. Floyd, Secretary of War, sanctioning the explora- 

 tions, and the instructions of General Johnston, commanding the Department of Utah, 

 directing the movement, will be found inserted in their proper place in the sequel. 



The report will be found also to include the exploration, by direction of General 

 Johnston, of a new pass from the valley of the Timpanogos River over the Uintah 

 range of mountains into the Green River Valley, by means of which, it is believed, 

 a wagon-route can be obtained thence to Denver City, in Kansas, and thus, by this 

 route, in connection with my route across the Great Basin, a more direct route be 

 obtained across the continent to San Francisco than any which at the present time 

 exists. 



The above are the most notable results of the expedition, but embraced in the 

 report will be found information respecting the history, geography, topography, geology, 

 meteorology, botany, zoology, ethnology, and statistics of the country traversed, which 

 will not be without interest, as I trust, to the scientific as well as popular mind. 



All these subjects are indicated in the Table of Contents, and under each head, in 

 the report, will be found presented the discus sions, descri ptions, pictorial sketches, 



* This report forms Senate Ex. Doc. No. 40, 35th Cong., 2d Sess. 



