EXPLOEATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT 



. Charles McCarthy i 



ing properly prepare* 



To Mr. H. V. A. Von Beckh is assigned the duty of sket. hint; the count r\ in a manner to illustrate its common as 

 well as peculiar characteristics. 



The escort, nnder the orders from the Department of Utah, will be commanded l>.\ Lieut. Ale amler Murry, Tenth 

 Infantry, who has also been charged with the duties of quartermaster and commissary, and directed to see that the 

 expedition is supplied with everything in these departments, according to the requisitions which hive been approved 

 by the proper authority. 



Lieut. J. L. K. Smith will act as ordnance officer, and will obtain from the Ordnance Department the necessary 

 arms and ammunition for the party. 



The expedition we are about to enter upon being an important one, it is expected by the officer commanding that 

 each and every officer, soldier, and riii/en on^a^ed in it. will do his utmost to secure its success. 



Captain Corpi , in Charge of Expedition. 



Camp Floyd, May 2, 1859.— Longitude, 112° 8' 7"; latitude, 40° 13' 18"; eleva- 

 tion above the sea, 4,860 feet; magnetic variation, 17° 10' 8" E. The topographical 

 party under my command left this post at a quarter of 8 a. m., to explore the country 

 intervening this locality and Carson River, at the east foot of the Sierra Nevada, for 

 a new and direct route to California. 



My orders of the 29th ultimo show who my assistants are, and their several voca- 

 tions. The employe's of the party number nine persons, and make the total number 

 of the topographical party, inclusive of assistants, one guide, two Mexican packers, 

 and two Indians of the Ute tribe, twenty -two. 



The escort is composed agreeably to post orders No. 110, above given, and 

 aggregates, rank and file, twenty-two persons. 



We have with us twelve six-mule .quarfermaster-wagons, for the transportation of 

 supplies, three more loaded with forage, for the first five or six days, and one six-mule 

 and one four-mule ambulance, for the conveyance of the instruments. We are 

 rationed for three months, six commissary beeves being driven on foot. The wagons 

 were all parked yesterday for inspection preparatory to being turned over to us by 

 the depot quartermaster, and what parts were found defective supplied by others. 

 The number of teamsters is fourteen, exclusive of the three belonging to the forage- 

 wagons, which are to return to Camp Floyd, and Mr. Henry Sailing is the wagon- 

 master. We have also with us one wheelwright, one blacksmith, and four herders, 

 making the aggregate number of the topographical party, escort, and quartermaster's 

 employe's sixty-four. Included in the number is a commissary sergeant (Miller, 

 Tenth Infantry), and Private Thatcher, Tenth Infantry, hospital steward and acting 

 bugler. 



The topographical party and teamsters are provided each with a navy-revolver. 

 Of course, the military escort has its proper arms. 



Our instruments are, three sextants, three artificial horizons, one astronomical 

 transit, four chronometers (one large box and three pocket), two cistern-barometers, 

 one magnetic dip-circle, or inclinometer, and one magnetometer. This last is the 

 instrument which Dr. Kane had with him on his polar expedition, and has all the 

 dingy, worn appearance which such an expedition would naturally cause. We have 

 also a number of Schmalkalder, or prismatic, and pocket compasses. 



The route we take is that I explored last fall on my return from Short Cut Pass 



