30 
LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 
On the junction of Lieutenants Donelson and Multan’s parties with the party at St. Mary’s, 
leaving at that post for the winter the animals unable to proceed, I shall have sufficient trans¬ 
portation to mount well every member of the survey, and with good packs he able to push for¬ 
ward, making forced marches of thirty-five and forty miles per day, if the season compels us 
to move so rapidly. 
The unexpected arrival of Lieutenant Saxton with the information he has brought, changes, 
in several respects, my plans announced in letters written at this point on the 8th of September, 
and sent forward by Dr. Evans, who left on the 10th with packs for Oregon, and will connect 
with the mails to the Atlantic States some fortnight earlier than myself. I cannot do better at 
this time than enclose those copies, and make them part of this letter. I apprehend, however, 
that this will reach you before they possibly can. 
In those letters I have briefly referred to our progress up to this point, and have frankly 
given a statement of the balance of the allotment of the appropriation for the survey intrusted 
to my charge. By the middle of October that will have been exhausted, and I have sent my 
estimates of what I regard actually necessary to continue the survey. I must refer you to Lieu¬ 
tenant Saxton in person for much valuable information in connexion with our work—its progress, 
and its certainty of success. I must earnestly recommend the appropriation, at an early date 
in the session, of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to continue all the surveys for the 
fiscal year ending June 30, 1854; and, should they make such appropriation, forty thousand 
as the allotment for this survey. The information brought by Lieutenant Saxton is of so im¬ 
portant a character that I have thought it advisable to send him to Washington city to jDrepare 
his report, and communicate in person with the departments. He will be accompanied by Mr. 
D. S. Hoyt, his assistant in the quartermaster’s department, and Sergeant Collins, of the 
detachment of sappers and miners, who will assist him in his office work. 
I have concluded to send back from this point four non-commissioned officers and thirteen 
dragoons, whose services are no longer required, and they have been placed in charge of Lieu¬ 
tenant Saxton. Four discharged quartermaster’s employes, who crossed the mountains with 
him, and three of my party who desired to be relieved from duty at this place, also go down 
the river to St. Louis. Sergeant Collins, who has been connected with the main party, has 
been unable to cross the mountains, in consequence of a severe attack of dysentery. Too much 
cannot be said in commendation of his merits since his connexion with the party. Lieutenant 
Donelson, in his report of the survey of the Missouri, notices his efficient service, and since his 
connexion with the main party as assistant topographer he has performed his duties admi¬ 
rably. 
Of Mr. D. S. Hoyt, connected with Lieutenant Saxton as his assistant, I would merely say, 
that Lieutenant Saxton speaks of his labors as being in the highest degree satisfactory. He 
and Sergeant Collins are detailed for office duty with Lieutenant Saxton in assisting in the pre¬ 
paration of his report, and in resuming the survey next year. The following is a statement of 
the results already accomplished, those which will be gained during the remainder of the season 
and in the winter, and those which may be expected from the continuance of the survey, from 
the resumption of operations in the spring to the close of the next fiscal year. 
RESULTS ALREADY ACCOMPLISHED. 
1. A line drawn from the Dalles of the Columbia to the head of navigation of the Missis¬ 
sippi. 
2. The ascertainment that Cadotte’s Pass, in the Rocky mountains, is nearly 3,000 feet below 
the South Pass, and is a much better route, both in summer and in winter. 
3. That this pass connects by the plateau between the Milk and Missouri rivers, rising gently 
to the mountains west from Fort Benton, and by the valley of the St. Mary’s and other valleys, 
extending for 150 miles along the western base of the Rocky mountains, with the several known 
