62 
LETTER TO LIEUTENANT DONELSON. 
It is important that attention should he given to collections, and particularly to the mineral 
wealth of the region. Gold is said to he found in the neighborhood of the Hell Gate fork. I 
desire you to pay especial attention to the Indian duties connected with your position. You are 
authorized to pay an interpreter at the rate of $500 per year. He should, as you have suggested, 
he a guide; and the Flathead, Gahiel, is recommended as competent and reliable: endeavor to 
secure his services. Your attention is called to the several particulars in relation to which I am 
directed to make reports in the instructions of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and any 
information you can afford will he of service. Make an estimate of the probable cost of estab¬ 
lishing a sub-agency, and the general cost of keeping it up. I shall, however, endeavor to 
communicate with you again this fall, and may he able to send you additional Indian goods. 
To Lieutenant Grover, who has volunteered to conduct the dog train over these mountains in 
the winter, and to Mr. Tinkham, who has volunteered to cross the mountains twice by the 
Marias Pass to Fort Benton, and thence by some southern pass to this point, and thence by the 
southern Nez Perces to Wallah-Wallah, you will, of course, render all the assistance in your 
power. Ample supplies have been provided for them, and I do not think any contingency will 
arise making it necessary that they should encroach upon your stores. 
By Lieutenant Grover and Mr. Tinkham, I hope you will be able to send reports of your 
operations, or detached reports, with a statement of your route from Fort Benton to this point, 
and of your survey to Fort Hall, should it be accomplished before the arrival of Lieutenant 
Grover. 
You may rely upon my establishing at least a bi-monthly express there this winter, if practi¬ 
cable, and by which I shall be able to hear from you twice, and perhaps three times, before I 
see you in the spring. I shall endeavor to visit this place previous to the 15th of June. 
Of the animals (horses and mules) left in your charge, I am confident that as many of them 
will be serviceable, in a few days, as your duties will require. Should the winter prove mild, 
all the animals will probably be serviceable in the spring. For the meat rations you will rely 
mainly upon beef, which is in abundance in this valley. Lieutenant Saxton established the 
tariff at $60 per head, which meets my approval. 
Yours, truly, 
ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
Lieutenant Mullan. 
No. 3. 
Flathead Village of St. Mary’s, 
Territory of Washington , October 2, 1853. 
Sir: According to the verbal instructions you have already received, you are placed in com¬ 
mand of the principal party to continue the work westward from this point, to connect with 
Captain McClellan’s work eastward, through the Cascade range. The party will be composed 
as follows: Lieutenant Arnold, U. S. Army, assisted by Mr. Lyman Arnold, and Mr. G. W. 
Stevens, assisted by Sapper Boach, associated in the charge of the astronomical observations. 
Mr. Lambert, the topographer of the expedition, in charge of the odometer survey, assisted 
by Mr. Bixly. 
Mr. Lander, civil engineer; Mr. Moffett, in charge of meteorological observations, assisted by 
Sapper Davis; Messrs. Kendall, Evans, Evelyn, and West, as general assistants; Sergeant 
Higgins, pack-master, assisted by Mr. Henderson and Sergeant Martin; Sergeant Lindez, 
quartermaster, commissary, and ordnance sergeant; Private Horner, assistant in making col¬ 
lections; Private Goercky, of the dragoons, hospital steward; Corporal Cunningham, Privates 
Brandnell and Smith, of the sappers and miners; Privates Mathers and Bowers, of the fourth 
infantry; Gear, Hudson, and Williams, chargeable, to the survey, and twenty-seven employes 
