238 
EL PASO 
Unable to send any more parties into the field, in 
consequence of the non-arrival of Colonel Graham, I 
determined to make the most of my time by visiting 
the frontiers of the State of Sonora. In this trip my 
object was fourfold, viz. : 
1. To ascertain from personal examination the con- 
dition of the route known as “ Cooke’s road,” from the 
Rio Grande to the Pacific, and particularly that por- 
tion of it leading to the River Gila ; in order to deter- 
mine whether it was practicable to transport by it the 
provisions needed for the parties engaged in surveying 
this river. 
2. To learn if any, and to what extent, supplies of 
corn, flour, cattle, sheep, vegetables, &c., could be 
furnished to the Commission ; and on what terms they 
could be delivered here, or to the engineering parties 
on the Gila. 
3. To induce the people of that State to renew the 
trade formerly carried on with the Copper Mines. 
4. To obtain a supply of anti-scorbutics — i. e., 
vegetables and fruits, fresh or dry. 
The protracted sojourn on the Gila, which the 
surveying parties must necessarily make, would re- 
quire so large a supply of provisions, and the risk and 
expense of transportation by pack-mules would be so 
great, that I believe it would tend greatly to the ad- 
vantage of the Commission to convey the supplies as 
far as possible by wagons. There is no road near 
the Gila along its whole course, and that point of 
Cooke’s road where it strikes the river (midway be- 
tween the Copper Mines and its junction with the 
Colorado) would furnish a good and central location 
for a depot of provisions. 
