CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THIS RECONNAISSANCE WAS CONDUCTED. 27 
of a railroad to Puget Sound no longer lay under the contingency of a terminus upon Lake 
Superior, or the distinctive claim of the shortest distance between termini, but became distinctly 
referrible to the location of a road to California—a proper view of the prospective development 
of the northwestern Territories tending to place the national route to California in a position to 
afford a favorable connexion to a branch railroad to Puget Sound; and the engineering requisi- 
tion being reduced to finding a practicable line by which this important result might be accom- 
plished. 
But this information was needed at once—“ prior to any final action of Congress on the Pacific 
railroad question,’’ and without the delay of communicating with the East, or organizing a costly 
expedition; because, should a decision occur upon the Pacific railway question previous to such 
information being offered, the difficulties existing upon the extreme northern route would evi- 
dently defeat that project; and, should a railroad to California be placed too far south to favor a 
branch connexion, have a fatal effect upon the interests of the important northwestern Ter- 
ritories. 
It therefore became necessary for some professional party to attempt this examination, without 
regard to preliminary formalities, and with sufficient faith in the good sense of the community 
to justify the reasonable expenditure required. 
The whole experience of my professional life had been to demonstrate that the comparison 
of great divisions of country, regarding railway location, did not involve the costly equipment 
of ponderous expeditions, but really referred to the amount of information gained; and that 
the extension of a line of odometer distances and astronomical stations in the vicinity of a 
proposed Pacific railway route, although a highly important, was by no means an absolutely 
necessary procedure to obtain the features of the country regarding facilities for construction; 
that the general tendency or direction of a route might be preserved by minor observations, by 
the aid of which could likewise be pursued the important labor of reconnaissance. 
It was also deeply impressed upon my mind, that the only result of the northern exploration 
in the examination of the entire western division,* extending from the Rocky mountains to 
Columbia river, had been a mere demonstration of what was needed in the premises; and 
although a ponderous and costly expedition had passed through that mountainous country, 
this result might be traced to the labors of a few small parties. 
A like result (regarding only the railway question) could readily be secured, prior to the 
next session of Congress, upon the southern route. 
Therefore, (under a unanimous vote of both branches of the legislature of Washington Ter- 
ritory,) I commenced an examination of the route by the Southern Pass on the 18th of March, 
1854. 
The party organized for conducting the exploration was very small. Three of the men 
accompanying me had already crossed the mountains with the northern expedition; two of 
these were soon disabled, and left at the agency of the Upper Umatilla river, during the first 
reconnaissance of the Blue Mountain range. Saddle horses were procured of the very first class, 
some of which were lightly packed with the mere necessaries of subsistence. Spare horses were 
driven loose, and reserved for side examinations. It was proposed to cover a wide extent of 
country by side-work; to limit the observations to mere railway statistics, and to leave the 
more elaborate delineations of surface to future survey, should the route prove highly practica- 
ble. 
As the reconnaissance was conducted early in the season, when the soil was heavy with recent 
rains, and the weather severe in the mountain passes, and as the party passed directly through 
a hostile Indian country, its success must be attributed, in the one instance, to the manner in 
which the men were mounted and the number of spare horses provided; in the other, to the 
9 This has no reference to the labors of the coast division. 
