INTRODUCTION TO REPOBT AND JOURNAL. 25 



line some thirty miles farther south, along the fool of mountains Been in thai direction, 



be the rase myself. 1 am clearly of the opinion that a suitable officer could, by ft 



proper reconnaissance, lav out a road passing by 'Uusli \ alley, turning southward 

 and going by New River, Walker's Lake, into Carson Valley, and Bave 200 miles dis- 

 tance. 



"This route having been declared impracticable, the colonel decided to pass 

 around the north end of the lake, and thence by the Humboldt to (/arson Valley."* 



It thus seems that Colonel Steptoe was deterred from attempting a direct route 

 across the Great Basin toward San Francisco by the reports which he had received, 

 and took the old roundabout road by way of the Humboldt River/ 



I have now, as I believe, exhausted the subject of the explorations in and around 

 the Great Basin up to the time of my reporting for duty with the army under General 

 A. S.Johnston in Utah. This history shows that, up to this period, a direct road 

 toward San Francisco, from Great Salt Lake or ('amp Moyd across the < .reat^Basm, 

 had never been thoroughly attempted, but that in every instance, trom tear ot encoun- 

 tering reported deserts, explorers had shrunk back from the task. It was universally 

 believed in Utah that, at this period, not even a Mormon had ventured to cross the 

 Basin in this direct manner toward Carson or Walker's Lake, though their settlements 

 in Carson Valley made such a route so desirable. 



Some individuals, more venturous than others, had made a less circuitous bend 

 than the old route by the Humboldt River, but yet a direct journey across not one 

 had effected. 



It was this failure on the part of others to accomplish this desirable exploration, 

 as well as the possible advantages of a new and short road to San Francisco, which 

 stimulated me to submit, through General Johnston, a project of exploration to the 

 War Department, which had in view the accomplishment of this very enterprise, and 

 thus, if possible, the opening of a wagon-road which would be of benefit to the Army 

 and country. This project of exploration is inserted in the first page of my journal, 

 and to it do I refer for particulars. Suffice it here to remark, it was approved by 

 General Johnston, and met w^ith the sanction of the Secretary of War, Hon. John B. 

 Floyd, and upon the authority of the latter the expedition was ordered, and received 

 the thorough outfit it did at the hands of the former. 



The result of the expedition has been the opening of a wagon-route which, start- 

 ing from Camp Floyd, branches 28 miles distant into two generally parallel routes, 

 which come together again at a distance from Camp Floyd of 286 miles, and thence 

 are generally coincident the rest of the way to Genoa, at the east foot of the Sierra 

 Nevada. The distance from Salt Lake City to Genoa, by my more northern or out- 

 ward route, and the cuts-off which I made on my return, is 571 miles, and from Cam p 



( C ) See AppeudTx^Q^terniaster-General's Report, accompanying Secretary of War's Annual Report, 1855, vol. 

 i part ii, constituting Ex. Doc. No. 1, House of Reps., p. 156, 34th Cong., 1st Sess. 



(/) Mr. John Kirk, superintendent of a road- unctions from the Interior ^Department, 



passed over the road from Honey Lake, by way of the Hnmboldt River, to the City of Rocks. H 13 ass.stant engineer, 

 Mr. Francis N. Bishop, in his report refers to the reports of Fremont and Beckwith for information respecting tbe 

 country traversed. (|ee Report npon I • Albert H. Campbell, General Superintendent, Lx. Doc. 



No. 108, H. R., 35th Cong., 2d Sess., pp. 36, 38.) 

 4 BTJ 



