134 
COST OF TRANSPORTING TROOPS, ETC. 
From Fort Leavenworth to Fort Fillmore, $13 75 per 100 lbs. 
From Fort Leavenworth to Albuquerque, $10 83 per 100 lbs. 
From Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union, $7 96 per 100 lbs. 
No transportation has ever been paid for men, as they march, the only cost being for the 
transportation of their baggage, subsistence, &c., on the route. This may be estimated at 
about $15 per man to Albuquerque. The above are about the average rates for several years 
past, and it may be presumed will be those for the future. 
As to what was the cost of transporting artillery and supplies from the city of New York to 
the northern frontier in the war of 1812-’14, this office furnishes no information, and I think 
it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain what were the average rates. 
There were no permanent or Macadamized roads in northern New York during that period, 
and the passage of heavy-loaded wagons, at the best of times, extremely difficult and slow. It 
may be fair to presume that each ton cost at the rate of $5 (the daily cost of a wagon and 
team) for each ten miles of distance from Albany to the different points on the frontier when 
the roads were in the best condition, and double this in the spring and fall of the year—say 
from fifty cents to one dollar a mile for each ton transported. 
For General Harrison’s army on the northwestern frontier, there were instances when the 
teams, loaded with forage, not only consumed all they were transporting to that army, but 
had to draw forage from the army depots to enable them to return. Much of the subsistence 
intended for the army was also consumed by the teamsters and escorts en route. 
Since writing the above, I have information from New York that heavy freight can now be 
sent to San Francisco at about $15 a ton, and 30 cents per foot for measurement goods, and 
that a vessel could be chartered for Fort Vancouver at $20 a ton. These rates should not, 
however, be taken as ruling for the coming year, freight of all kinds being extremely low at 
this time. 
I have the honor to be your obedient servant, 
TH. S. JESUP, 
Quartermaster General, 
Hon. Jeffn. Davis, 
Secretary of War. 
