164 FORT YUMA 
territory of the Mexican Republic; yet the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
giving to our citizens free ingress to the valleys of the Gila and Colorado, 
through the Gulf, which is the only route available for the purposes’ of 
commerce, makes an early examination of equal importance to that of 
any portion of the coast of our newly acquired territories. 
“Could the sympathies of the Navy Department be enlisted in - 
favor of this examination, and crews assigned to the boats already built 
for the use of the Boundary Commission, the service could be effectu- 
ally and economically performed. 
“Tf, however, the government should not deem such measures desir- 
able, I would respectfully suggest another project, which, though it 
would not possess all the advantages of that already suggested, would 
prove the most economical mode of prosecuting the explorations and 
surveys with the funds which are now, or may be placed hereatter, at 
the disposal of the Interior Department and the Boundary Commis- 
sioner. 
“The second project is as follows: That the four boats should be 
dispatched, in charge of two passed midshipmen and five seamen, in a 
steamer which will sail about the first of December to Mazatlan ; and 
that I should be authorized to proceed to El Paso, where the Commis- 
sion will be compelled to winter, and obtain from the party at that point 
a sufficient number of men to man the boats, and proceed with them 
overland to the port of Guaymas, on the Gulf of California, to which 
points the boats will be conveyed from Mazatlan in a coasting vessel. 
“From Guaymas we could easily ascend the Gulf in our boats to the 
point where it would be desirable to commence our examinations. 
“The advantage of this plan will be its economy ; as it will require but 
a few persons, who may be obtained from the navy, in addition to those 
who are already drawing pay and subsistence from the government. At 
present, the number of men forming the main body of the Commission 1s 
greater than can be advantageously employed; while the scarcity of 
provisions at El Paso, owing to the drought of last season, will make 
their subsistence enormously expensive during the winter. The horses 
and mules now belonging to the Commission, will have to be sold at El 
Paso, or sustained at a heavy expense during the winter: and by em 
. ploying a portion of them to transport the party to Guaymas, nO addr 
tional expense will be entailed upon the Survey, as they and the men cal 
be more economically subsisted on the journey than at El Paso. 
