N 
EXPLORATIONS FROM A. D. 1852 TO A. p. 1857. 19 
Lieutenant Parke was detached to follow up the Mohave and try to discover a good pass at its 
source. Mr. Smith, civil engineer, was sent to make an accurate survey of the New Pass, 
now known as Williamson's Pass. Lieutenant Williamson examined the Mojave river to the 
cafion where the road leaves the stream, and then returned to the depot camp. After the 
detached parties were again united, Lieutenant Parke was directed to proceed with the wagon 
train through the Cajon and San Gorgonio Passes to Warner's Pass, and then examine the 
latter. This he did, and then proceeded to San Diego. 
Lieutenant Williamson descended the Mojave to Soda lake, and thence followed northward 
to a chain of similar lakes. Having fully determined that there was no Mojave valley reaching 
to the Colorado, he repaired to Warner's ranche, by the usually travelled road, through the 
Cajon, and thence by the way of the towns of San Bernadino and Temecula, to Warner's Pass. 
From this point he proceeded to Fort Yuma, examining the Colorado desert and the Colorado 
river crossing, and then repaired to San Diego, where the expedition terminated. 
RECONNAISSANCE FOR A RAILROAD ROUTE BETWEEN PIMAS VILLAGE AND EL PASO, BY LIEUTENANT J. 
G. PARKE, TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER, IN 1854. 
The report of this reconnaissance forms part of Volume II, quarto edition of the Pacific Rail- 
road Reports. This report is printed in House Ex. Doc. No. 129, 1st session 33d Congress, and 
is there accompanied by a map on a scale of five miles to an inch, and profile on the same hori- 
zontal scale, the vertical being one thousand feet to an inch. 
Lieutenant Parke, assisted by Mr. H. Custer, topographer, and Dr. A. L. Heerman, physician 
and naturalist, and provided with barometers, odometers, and compass, on the 24th of January, 
1854, left San Diego with a party of twenty-three men, exclusive of an escort, under Lieutenant 
Stoneman, of twenty-eight dragoons. They followed the emigrant road, via Warner's ranche 
and Pass, and across the Colorado desert, to Fort Yuma; thence they travelled up the left bank 
of the Gila river to the Pimas and Maricopas villages. Leaving this point, on the 16th of 
February, they turned southeast to the then Mexican towns of Tucson and San Xavier. 
Continuing southeastward they passed through the Cienega de las Pimas to the Rio San Pedro, 
and travelled up that stream thirty or forty miles; thence striking over the hills, on the right 
bank, to the Playa de las Pimas, and crossing it at its southern extremity, they entered the 
Chiricahui mountains, at the Puerto del Dado, south of Dos Cabezas Peaks; thence they 
travelled east, crossing the mountains. on the eastern side of the Valle de Sauz, near the Gavilan 
Peak. Turning now to the northeast, they crossed the next mountain range near the Pyramid 
Peak, and travelled east to the Ojo de Inez, near which they struck Cooke's wagon road, and 
followed it to Fort Fillmore. Lieutenant Parke returned from Fort Fillmore with a small party 
and examined a route direct between that place and Cooke's Spring. From Fort Fillmore the 
party proceeded to El Paso, where the reconnaissance ended. 
RECONNAISSANCE FOR A RAILROAD ROUTE FROM EL PASO TO PRESTON, BY BREVET CAPTAIN JOHN POPE, 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, 1854. 
"The report of this reconnaissance will be found in Volume II of the quarto edition of the 
Pacific Railroad Reports, and is accompanied by a map on a scale of fifteen miles to an inch, 
and a profile on the same horizontal scale, the vertical being fifty times greater. The report, 
with a map and profile, on a scale of ten miles to an inch, also forms part of House Doc. No. 129, 
lst session 33d Congress. 
