LETTER TO MR. DOTY. 
65 
Pass, and the voyageurs Monroe and Dauphin are assigned to your party. Mr. Doty and Lieu¬ 
tenant Mullan will he directed to afford you every assistance in their power, particularly in 
giving you good animals. Lieutenant Mullan will furnish a Nez Perces guide, and additional 
instructions will await you at Wallah-Wallah. 
Your labors will he arduous, and will contribute greatly to the value and interests of the 
expedition, and you enter upon them with my entire confidence as to their successful accom¬ 
plishment. 
Yours, &c., 
ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
Mr. Tinkiiam. 
No. 6. 
Northern Pacific Railroad Exploration and Survey, 
St. Mary’s Valley, October 3, 1853. 
My Dear Sir : I send you by Mr. Monroe a sketch of the several routes already examined 
from Fort Benton to this point, to which Mr. Tinkham will add, on his arrival at Fort Benton, 
the routes examined by him. 
1st. A route from the Blackfeet fork to the Jocko river; and, 2d, a route by the Marias Pass, 
from this point to Fort Benton. I have requested Mr. Tinkham to make known to you the 
character of these several examinations, and to confer with you in relation to the best direction to 
he given to your work from Fort Benton. Should it he deemed by you practicable, or compatible 
with your other duties, you will accompany Mr. Tinkham to this point to confer with Mr. 
Mullan, and then return to Fort Benton. My object is to bring the operations, by way of con¬ 
ference between the two parties, and the communicability of information, into connexion, so 
that the best results may he accomplished. I earnestly desire this to he done, and I am 
satisfied it is entirely practicable. The Flatheads pass the mountains all through the fall, and 
till after new year’s. All this is, however, left to your own judgment and discretion, in which 
I place entire confidence. It will he necessary that the animals he kept in the best possible 
condition—oxen, horses, and mules. The operations of the winter will he more extensive than 
was anticipated, and it is of the greatest consequence that every animal he in condition for 
service. You may expect Mr. Tinkham by the 20th instant, and it is important that he should 
have an effective train to return. The two ponies which I left with you must not he put to the 
hard work of crossing the mountains, hut the remaining animals may he brought into requisition. 
At this point we leave nearly eighty animals, sixty of which will he effective in the course of 
this month, and will he sufficient for Mr. Tinkham’s route to the Pacific from this point, to 
provide for your return to Fort Benton, and for the operations of Mr. Mullan, who has with 
him fifteen men. 
Our operations to this point have been very successful. The principal party under Lieuten¬ 
ant Donelson moved yesterday. I move to-day to visit Colville, and thence make the best of 
my way to the sound. 
Yours truly, 
Mr. Doty. 
ISAAC I. STEVENS. 
Camp on St. Mary’s River, 
Thirty-three Miles below St. Mary’s Village, October 7, 1853. 
Mr. Tinkham got in last evening, and starts on his examination this morning. 
Since writing the above I have met Victor, the chief of the Flatheads, and nine lodges of 
Flathead Indians. He starts in two days across the mountains on a buffalo hunt, and will 
return in November. His people will remain till after Christmas : so much for these horrible 
mountains. 
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