40 
INSTRUCTIONS TO LIEUTENANT SAXTON. 
nexion with that gained by our parties moving westward from the Mississippi, has established 
in all our minds the conviction that a council should he held next year at this point, to enter 
into a treaty with all the Indians north of the Missouri not included in existing arrangements, 
and those immediately west of the mountains, providing that hereafter they should cease warring 
upon each other, and continue, for all time to come, the friends of the whites. The time is ripe 
for such a consummation. I desire you to devote your energies to call the attention of the 
department and of Congress to this subject. In a letter which I shall send by you to the Com¬ 
missioner of the Indian Bureau, I shall urge that Congress he asked to appropriate money 
early in the session to defray the expenses of this council, and that a steamer, applicable to the 
service generally of the Indian bureau on the Missouri, be chartered or purchased to reach this 
point. 
Seventh. It is hoped that appropriations will also be made early in the session to continue 
the survey, in which case you are requested to make the best practicable arrangements to reach 
this point with the assistants, Mr. Hoyt and Sergeant Collins, now on duty with you, for the 
purpose of exploring the region west. If appropriations be made early in the session for con¬ 
tinuing the survey and for holding a council, it is believed that the best interests of the two 
services would make it absolutely necessary to secure a steamer to insure efficiency to each. To 
that end, much is expected from your experience and judgment. 
Eighth. On reaching Puget sound, and ascertaining the condition of the work at the close of 
the season, I shall send more full instructions in relation to the place of continuing the survey 
and the supplies, instruments, and assistance required to be brought to this point. One thing 
is certain : a letter from Washington addressing me that appropriations have been made, and 
that a steamer will be placed upon the river, will give me notice two weeks before it will be 
necessary to leave Olympia for Fort Benton to meet it. 
Ninth. Going down the Missouri, you will be able to collect many valuable facts in reference 
to its general character, as to the steamer adapted to navigate it, as to depots for wood and the 
best method of supplying them, and as to the probable time required to make the trip, both up 
and down the river, which will add much to the value of your report. 
Tenth. I shall, at the earliest practicable moment, submit a report on the navigability of the 
Missouri, based on the surveys of Lieutenants Donelson and Grover, and your own observa¬ 
tions ; but should not this report be received before you have to act, I will express the opinion 
that you can reach Fort Benton by the middle of June, leaving St. Louis early in May, with a 
steamer drawing eighteen inches of water. 
Eleventh. A. Culbertson, special agent among the Blackfeet Indians, goes with you, under 
instructions from me to repair to Washington as soon as his other arrangements will permit, 
to urge the importance of entering, without delay, into treaty arrangements with these Indians 
and those west of the mountains. His experience of twenty years among these Indians, and 
his known force of character, will give great weight to his views. I expect that there will be 
the most cordial co-operation between you in relation to these Indian questions. He knows 
thoroughly the river, and will put his hand to the helm. 
Twelfth. William Graham and Henry Beaubien, who have at this point, at their request, 
been relieved from their connexion with the expedition, will accompany you, and be furnished 
with transportation and subsistence to St. Louis. 
Yours, &c., 
ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
Governor of Washington Territory , in Charge of Exploration. 
Lieut. Rufus Saxton, 
4 tli Artillery , Fort Benton. 
