LETTER TO THE SECBETARY OF WAR. 
23 
Northern Pacific Railroad Exploration and Survey, 
Fort Benton , Upper Missouri , September 8, 1853. 
Sir: Dr. Evans, tlie geologist of the expedition, will precede me through the mountains, and 
going with a light pack train, will reach the mails a fortnight before me. I have made every 
exertion to prepare my accounts in season for estimates for Congress, at the commencement of 
its session; hut having not yet even met or communicated with the parties west of the mount¬ 
ains, I can only make a conjectural estimate. With great exertion on my part to reduce 
expense and to push through my operations, I am obliged to report that the allotment made of 
$40,000 from the appropriation for the survey will he entirely exhausted by the close and per¬ 
haps by the middle of next month. I do not feel justified to suspend operations. We are on 
the eve of complete success. My parties are now exploring the passes of the mountains. My 
intercourse with the Indians has been of the most satisfactory character. The Blackfeet In¬ 
dians have sent their chiefs and braves to invite me to their camps; not ahorse has been stolen, 
not a man touched ; no private article has been missed. They have brought our disabled ani¬ 
mals into camp, and acted as guides and guards. These Indians sent their war parties to the 
California trail, and horses believed to he stolen from our emigrants by the Crows are actually 
taken to the camps of the formidable Blackfeet, under the 49th parallel. To-day I set out with 
a small party, with Mr. Culbertson, the special agent, to visit a large Piegan camp at their 
most favorite resort, the Cypress mountains, one hundred and twenty miles north of this point. 
My object is twofold: to secure guides for the examination of the Marias Pass; and to bring 
about a general pacification of all the tribes north of the Missouri, and those immediately west 
of the mountains, on the basis of the treaty of Laramie. I shall, in a letter of this date to the 
Commissioner of the Indian Bureau, recommend a council to he held next year at some suitable 
point, say Fort Benton, and shall urge the passage of an appropriation of money to defray the 
expenses. I do not doubt that complete success will attend it, and that hereafter a single man 
will he able to go unmolested through these vast plains. 
In view of the great results which I am of opinion this expedition is on the eve of accom¬ 
plishing, I do not feel that I would fulfil the reasonable expectations of the department by sus¬ 
pending operations. It seems to me my highest obligation is to continue vigorously the work 
placed in my charge, and to get results which will justify the expenditure of means. Believing 
that the department and Congress will sanction this course, I shall vigorously pursue the work, 
reducing the force on the approach of winter to the smallest amount compatible with an efficient 
winter organization, and one which in the spring can at a moment he increased for a full re¬ 
sumption of the work. This I will earnestly recommend. An instrumental survey should he 
made of the best mountain passess, both of the Rocky mountain and Cascade range. The inter¬ 
mediate lines should he reviewed. The astronomical, magnetic, and meteorological observations 
should he continued. A large expenditure has been made; trained men are in the field, and all 
the appliances are at hand. I shall not suspend the work till I receive the instructions of the 
department to this effect. 
Estimate for continuing the work to the close of the present fiscal year is, monthly, as follows: 
October 15 to 30, 1853. $2,500 
November, 1853. 5,000 
December, 1853. 3,000 
January, 1854. 3,000 
February, 1854. 3,000 
March, 1854. 3,000 
April, 1854. 3,000 
May, 1854. 3,500 
June, 1854. 4,000 
30,000 
