RESULT OF THE RECONNOISSANCE OF A NEW ROUTE. 261 



Having now brou2;lit our reconnoissance for a new route from 

 the waters of the Pacific to a point where its results can be at 

 least approximately ascertained, it is very gratifying to be able to 

 state that these results are, in a high degree, satisfactory ; more so, 

 indeed, than I had anticipated. 



It has been ascertained that a practicable route exists through 

 the chain of the Rocky Mountains, at a point sixty miles south of 

 that now generally pursued, and in a course as much more direct 

 as the chord of an arc is than the arc itself. A glance at the map, 

 and a little attention to the table of latitudes, will show that from 

 Great Salt Lake City to the head of Lodge-pole Creek, a distance 

 of four hundred and eighty-four miles, the difference of latitude is 

 but 35' 42'' ; and that while the greatest northing made by the 

 proposed line is but little more than 20' north of Lodge-pole 

 Creek, the greatest deviation to the south is but little more than 

 three miles : so that the entire route through that long distance 

 varies but a trifle from a straight line. When extended to the 

 junction of Lodge-pole with the South Fork of the Platte, it will 

 appear to be the chord of an arc formed by the present course of 

 emigration. The distance from Fort Bridger to Fort Laramie, by the 

 present route, is four hundred and eight miles ; while, by the 

 new route from Fort Bridger to the eastern base of the Black 

 Hills, (a point equidistant with Laramie from the forks of the 

 Platte,) it is but three hundred and forty-seven miles : so that a saving 

 is effected, in the total distance, of just sixty-one miles. It must 

 be kept in mind, too, that the distance thus ascertained was mea- 

 sured by an odometer, following all the undulations of the natural 

 surface, in the course of a very rapid reconnoissance, without any 

 minute knowledge of the localities, or any endeavour whatever to 

 make even an approximate location for a road. When these locali- 

 ties come to be minutely examined, and the comparative advan- 

 tages of different courses ascertained and duly weighed, there can 

 be no doubt that even this large saving in distance may be still 

 further increased, by shortening the route wherever it shall be 

 found practicable. The examination of the country proved it be 

 more favourable than we had at first supposed. For even after so 

 successfully crossing the summit dividing the Pacific from the At- 

 lantic waters, serious fears were still entertained lest some formi- 

 dable, if not insurmountable obstruction, should be encountered in 

 the character of the ridge of the Black Hills, intervening as it 

 does between the Laraniie Plains on the west and the great slope 



