234 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



are pleased to think my familiarity with the country and long consideration of the 

 various projects suggested qualify me to give. My experience in relation to this sub- 

 ject consists in my having made, with Captain Marcy, in 1849, the first survey of the 

 Fort Smith and Zuni route, as far as the Rio Grande, each taking notes for the purpose ; 

 thence, to Zuni, I was alone engaged in the reconnaissance, and in my report of this 

 survey I pointed out, for the first time, the great importance to the Government, on 

 the score of grade and distance, of ordering a further reconnaissance of a route in the 

 same direction all the way to the Pacific. My reports of both these explorations have 

 been published by the Government, and they are available to those who may take any 

 interest in the history of explorations in this country. My views in relation to a 

 Pacific railroad differed very much from those of Colonel Fremont and other officers 

 of the Government ; but as they did not flatter the public mind into the belief that 

 the project was one of immediate accomplishment, but one, if ever made, only to grow 

 out of circumstances which might be made normal to its accomplishment, they, doubt- 

 less, were considered of but little value, and, therefore, excited no attention. It is, 

 however, gratifying to find that the very mode I suggested as being the only one 

 which would bring the railroad at length, if it was to come at all, has, for about two 

 years back, been followed by the Government ; that is, by opening the several routes 

 as military, post, and emigration roads, and thus making the circumstances normal to 

 a proper knowledge of the routes, and of the capability of the country in relation to 

 them. The Fort Smith and Zuni route has, since my exploration and reports, been 

 surveyed by Captain Whipple, who extended it all the way to California, and its 

 extension is now being worked by Mr. E. F. Beale, for a wagon-road, under the direc- 

 tion of the Government. 



Since my exploration of the route referred to, in 1850, I was over the Santa F(± 

 and Fort Leavenworth route on my return to the States. From May, 1851, to June, 

 1856, for five years, I was in charge of the General Government roads in the Terri- 

 tory of Minnesota, one of which extended from Saint Paul to Pembina, another from 

 Point Douglass to Lake Superior, another from Mendota to the mouth of the Big- 

 Sioux River, and several other roads, all of which, of course, gave me an opportunity 

 of knowing something of the country and climate in that quarter. Since then, during 

 the past year, you are aware of my journeyings to Utah, by Fort Kearney and the 

 North Platte, and of my reconnaissance east and west of Camp Floyd. I mention all 

 this to show my experience in the matters of which I am about to treat, so that my 

 discussion of the subject may be regarded for what it is worth. The mail leaves to- 

 morrow morning, and I am, therefore, obliged to write rapidly and not as fully as I 

 could wish, though my convictions are none the less decided, on account of long con- 

 sideration of the several routes. 



DISCUSSION OF THE SUBJECT. 



The public mind has, for a number of years past, ever since the great exodus to 

 California, growing out of the discovery of large deposits of gold in that region, been 

 greatly exercised in relation to the importance and speedy completion of one or more 

 railroads connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean, across the continent of North 



