LETTER FROM LIEUTENANT MULLAN. 
59 
more complete. I have reason to believe that, even at this time, there is but little snow in 
that pass. 
At Wallah-Wallah I learned definitely of the arrival of Lieutenant Macfeely, in charge of 
Lieutenant Saxton’s return party from Fort Owen, and of Dr. Evans, the geologist of the expe¬ 
dition. Lieutenant Macfeely had much difficulty in finding suitable camps, they being in some 
cases off the route; and he, having no guide with him, and for want of grass, lost many of his 
animals. Dr. Evans came through rapidly, and brought in all his animals in excellent condi¬ 
tion. These gentlemen are now preparing their reports—Lieutenant Macfeely at Columbia bar¬ 
racks, and Dr. Evans at Oregon City. 
I reached the Dalles on the 12th of November, Columbia barracks on the 16th, and this place 
on the 26th ; and have made the following arrangements for continuing the survey to this point, 
for office-work, and for the wintering of animals and the discharge of men : 
1. Forty-five feeble animals placed in good grazing in the Wallah-Wallah valley, under the 
charge of a herdsman; pay, thirty dollars per month and subsistence. 
2. About one hundred and twenty-five animals in grazing at the Dalles, in charge of a master 
herder; pay, sixty dollars per month; and three men, each forty-five dollars per month, with 
their subsistence. 
3. Two small parties by land to Vancouver, under, respectively, Captain McClellan and 
Lieutenant Donelson, and the remainder by the Columbia river. 
4. Quartermaster employes, and gentlemen of the survey whose services are no longer 
required, discharged at Columbia barracks. 
5. The office established at Olympia, and the odometer survey continued by the line of the 
Cowlitz to that point. 
6. The railroad line to he run from the Snoqualme Pass to the sound by Captain McClel¬ 
lan, and a winter post to be established near the pass. 
The parties of Captain McClellan and Lieutenant Donelson have reached Columbia barracks; 
the men not needed have been discharged, and the remainder are on their way to this place. 
The parties of Lieutenant Arnold, Dr. Suckley, and Mr. Tinkham, are expected to reach this 
point in all this month. Lieutenant Gfrover is not expected till late in February or early in 
March, at which time I hope to receive from Lieutenant Mullan a report of his route to Fort 
Hail. I propose, in February, to send Lieutenant Arnold through the Nez Perces country to 
the Cceur d’Alene mission, and from that point make arrangements to ascertain the snows in 
the Cceur d’Alene mountains. 
Apologising for this hastily written and desultory report, I remain, very respectfully, your 
most obedient servant, 
ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
Governor of Washington Territory , in Charge of Exploration. 
Hon. Jefferson Davis, 
Secretary of War. 
No. 1. 
St. Mary’s Village, Washington Territory, 
October 2, 1853. 
Sir: I have the honor to report my arrival at this place at noon of the 30th of September. 
In conformity to your letter of instructions to me, dated at Fort Benton, September 8, 1853, I 
left Fort Benton on the morning of the 9th, and struck the Muscle Shell river on the 13th, 
passing between the Highwood and Girdle mountains, near the base of the western slope of the 
Highwood mountains. Here I found a most excellent prairie road from the Missouri to the 
point where I struck the Muscle Shell river, with the exception of about three miles of “bad 
