VI 
INDEX. 
Page. 
Snow upon the Yakima Pass... 46,47,48 
Examination of route in detail, from the crossing of the Columbia to Puget Sound, by the pass of the Columbia river. 48 
Total length of the route. 49 
Soil. 49,50,51 
Climate..... 51,52,53 
Characteristics of the route. 53,54 
General elevations. 53 
Sum of ascents and descents, &c... 53,54 
Lumber. 54 
Fuel. 54 
Tunnels. 55 
Estimated cost of road, with remarks. 55 
CHAPTER II. 
Route near the forty-first and forty-second parallels of north latitude. 
General description of the route from the Missouri river to Fort Bridger, on a tributary of Green river. 56 
Examination of route in detail from the Missouri river to Fort Bridger, (comprising topographical description, 
grades, character of work, supplies of building material, fuel, water, snow, estimate of cost, &c). 56,57 
Examination of route in detail from Fort Bridger, through the Walisatck mountains, to the south end of the Great 
Salt lake. 57,58 
General description of the Great Basin near the latitudes of 41° and 42°. 58,59 
Examination of route in detail from the south end of the Great Salt lake to the foot of the eastern slope of the Sierra 
Nevada. 59 
Plateau of the Sierra Nevada. 59,60 
Examination of the Madelin Pass from the eastern foot of the Sierra Nevada to Round Valley, on the Sacramento 
river. 60 
Examination of route in detail along the Sacramento river from Round Valley to 18 miles above Fort Reading.. 60 
Detailed description of the Sacramento river through the mountain district... 61 
Total length of the route. 62 
Timber, building materials, &c. 62 
Fuel. 62 
Snow, climate, and water. 62,63,64 . 
Soil.-............. 64,65 
Estimate of probable cost of road. 65,66 
Characteristic features of the route. 66 
Sum of ascents and descents. (See table, page 107.) 
Supplement to the examination— 
Description of the Rocky Mountain plateau on the route.. 66, 67 
Description of the country east of the plateau, to the Mississippi river. 67,68 
Description of the route from the Missouri river to Fort Bridger, by the South Pass. 68,69 
Ditto by Bridger’s Pass. 69,70 
Lengths, sums of ascents and descents, &c.. 70 
Connexion of the South Pass with the head-waters of Green river, and connexion with the Columbia river.... 70 
CHAPTER III. 
Route near the thirty-eighth and thirty-ninth parallels of north latitude. 
General considerations determining the position of the route. 71 
Features of the country from the Rocky mountains to the Great Basin . 71 
Great Basin. 71 
Timber, building materials, &c. 71 
Soil. 71,72 
Coal. 72 
Elevations of the Rocky Mountain passes, grades, tunnels, and construction of the road from the Coo-che-to-pa Pass, 
in the Rocky mountains, to Sevier lake, in the Great Basin... 72 
Length of route. 72 
Sum of ascents and descents. 72 
Examination of route in detail from the western foot of the Wahsatch mountains to San Francisco by the Tay-ee- 
chay-pah Pass, in latitude 35°, and by the Madelin Pass; lengths, sums of ascents and descents, and position and 
length of the shortest line from St. Louis to San Francisco. 73 
