KEPOliT AND JOU 



the Army 



are employed in improvin- the road through the pass, and digging for water. 

 Thev have* been dig-ine; for two weeks in different places in the vicinity, and as yel 

 have found none. At the well, near this tent, they bad got down ten feet, and eanu 



to hard rock. The dip of the rocks being decidedly to the other or west side of the 



range* it is more probable, if water can l>e fonnd at all by di-in- which I very inurli 



doubt, it would be found in that quarter. My idea' has been all along that it 



will he found useless to dig for water in these deserts, except where there are Springs, 

 and that when water is fonnd, it will be entirely due to them, and not to a genera 

 8 Ub-8tratum of water. At Camp Floyd, near the spring, there are several wells ol 



water, which have been dug; but about six miles south of the post, in the valley, 

 where General Johnston had several dug, and where there are no signs of springs, no' 



a drop of water could be found, though the earth was penetrated to a depth 

 forty feet. 



" I examined a pass about one-half a mile to the north of Short Cut Pass, whicl 

 is of good grade, and which, if the same amount of labor had been bestowed upon i 

 as upon Short Cut Pass, would have furnished a far better road. I recommended t< 

 the mail-party a change, even now, of the road to this new pass. 



A half-gallon of water per man for night and morning has been distributed to tin 

 different messes, and one-third of a gallon of water and half a ration of forage to eacl 

 animal. 



The solitary mountains and mountain-ranges in the desert, as I have befon 

 remarked, are of igneous origin, entirely denuded of vegetation, and look in some 

 instances as if they have been blasted bv fire. Such is the case with Colonel Thomas 

 vano-e, in the pass~of which we are encamped. More particularly speaking, this rang, 

 is aVombination of stratified and trachvtic rocks, partly semi-fused stratified rocks. 



May fi, Cm> n > X<>. 4, Short Cut Pass.— 1.3 miles west of summit; altitude abov< 



toMTch water as soon as possibly the expedition^ nnder charge of Lieutenant Murry 

 left at twelve midnight on its onward march, myself remaining behind with a Bmal 

 party to look at the country by daylight. I with my party moved at twenty-hv< 

 minutes after live. 



My exploration of last fall only extended from Camp Floyd as far as Short Cu 

 Pass. Thence it is my intention to follow Chorpenning's extension of my route t< 

 Hastings Pass, in the Humboldt Mountains, a distance of 166 miles, and at that poin 



