86 EXPLORATIONS FROM A, D. 1852 To A. D. 1857. 
The author, in speaking of the great amount of information required by the members of 
these fur companies, and the little that has been given to the public, says that it has not been 
kept secret from design, but merely from inability to make it public. 
There are many works of travels and adventures on the prairies mentioned in this memoir, 
but I have endeavored to refer to most of those containing accurate information of country not 
covered by the official surveys. 
MARCH OF THE COMMAND UNDER COLONEL STEPTOE FROM FORT LEAVENWORTH TO CALIFORNIA, 1854-55. 
The report of Captain Rufus Ingalls, who was quartermaster to this command, forms a 
portion of the printed annual Executive Document of 1855, part 2. A map showing the routes 
of portions of the command from Salt Lake city west, is also a part of the same document, and 
was furnished by Captain Ingalls. The command started from Fort Leavenworth during the . 
first part of June, 1854, and travelled the usual route via Fort Kearny, Fort Laramie, South 
Pass, and Bear river, to Great Salt Lake city, where they spent the winter. 
It was the intention to take a new route thence to California south of those usually travelled; 
but an examination made near Salt Lake city determined Colonel Steptoe to abandon this idea 
and take the usual emigrant road to the west of the Great Salt lake. This road led him along 
the Humboldt river to the sinks. He crossed the Sierra Nevada between the sources of 
Carson's and American rivers. At Lassen's Meadows Captain Ingalls diverged to the northwest, 
by way of Goose lake, to Fort Jones and Fort Lane, following the Oregon emigrant road. 
Lieutenant S. Mowry, who accompanied Colonel Steptoe, was detached at Great Salt Lake 
city, in the spring of 1855, to conduct some dragoon recruits and animals by the Santa Fé trail to 
Fort Téjon, in California. This duty he performed. His report was rendered to the adjutant 
general, but has not been published. It was not illustrated by any topographical sketches. 
SURVEY OF MILITARY ROAD IN OREGON, BY LIEUTENANT JOHN W. WITHERS, IN 1854. 
The map, with descriptive notes, is on file in the Topographical Bureau. It is drawn ona 
scale of two miles to an inch. "The road is located along the valley of Umpqua river, between 
Scottsburg and Myrtle creek. The report of Lieutenant Withers accompanied the annual 
report of the Colonel of Topographical Engineers for 1855. 
SURVEYS AND RECONAISSANCE BY LIEUTENANT G. H. DERBY, TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, IN OREGON 
AND WASHINGTON TERRITORIES, 1854 AND 1856. 
The principal of these examinations were for a road from Salem to Astoria, in Oregon, and from 
Columbia barracks to Fort Steilacoom, in Washington Territory. The maps are on file in the 
Topographical Bureau, drawn on a scale of 1 to 48,000. There are also reductions of these 
(made in the Topographical Bureau) to a scale of four miles to an inch. These surveys and maps 
were made by direction of Major H. Bache, Topographical Engineers, by Lieutenant Derby, 
assisted by Mr. George Gibbs and C. M. Bache. A brief report in relation to these routes 
will be found in the annual report of the Colonel of Topographical Engineers for 1855. ! 
RECONAISSANCE OF THE ROUTE OF THE SNAKE RIVER ENT در‎ BY LIEUTENANT G. H. MENDELL, 
TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEERS, 18 
I have never seen Lieutenant Mendell’s report. The reconnaissance was probably made by 
means of compass courses and estimated distances, checked by astronomical observations for 
latitude. A tracing from his original map is in the Topographical Bureau. 
