LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OP WAR. 
537 
Perces’ camp, I can arrive at but one conclusion—that the route is thoroughly and utterly im¬ 
practicable for a railroad route. 
From the head of Lo-Lo’s fork to the Clearwater the country is one immense bed of rugged, 
difficult, pine-clad mountains, that can never be converted to any purpose for the use of man. 
This is the route followed by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, in 1804, and by Dr. Evans, the United 
States geologist for Oregon, in 1850. In a conversation with the latter named gentleman, he told 
me that it is by far the most difficult and uninviting country that he has ever examined in all his 
tours through the Rocky mountains; and I am compelled to say that, in all my explorations in 
that region, I have never met with a more uninviting or rugged bed of mountains. The whole 
country is densely timbered, save at a few points where small patches of prairie occur suffi¬ 
ciently large to afford camping grounds ; but beyond this it cannot be converted to any useful pur¬ 
pose. The country from the point where I crossed the Clearwater to Fort Wallah-Wallah is a 
high-rolling prairie, and is well adapted to agricultural and grazing purposes, and affords an excel¬ 
lent home for the Indians inhabiting that region. 
Having examined three routes across the Bitter Root mountains, I pronounce the one by the 
Coeur d’Alene country to be the most feasible and practicable; the only obstruction from the 
Bitter Root valley to the Snake river being the divide of the Bitter Root mountains, which would 
involve a tunnel of a mile to a mile and a half long, and the crossing or bridging of the Bitter Root 
or St. Mary’s river. Should the line along the Coeur d’Alene lake and Spokane river be the link 
from the mission, no bridging of streams would be necessary save that of the Spokane river, 
which, during low water, is fordable, and which never rises over four feet; it has good banks on 
either side, and in many places could be bridged by a single span or arch. But should the lines 
direct to Wallah-Wallah be the route chosen, it would involve the necessity of bridging the two 
guts of the Coeur d’Alene lake, which could be done by a single arch each. I refrain from enter¬ 
ing into details at this point of the route, since it has been examined and will be reported upon 
by Mr. Doty. 
Accompanying this I submit a map of the country travelled from Cantonment Stevens to Fort 
Dalles, together with a series of sketches characteristic ol the different points of my route. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
J. MULLAN, 
Governor I. I. Stevens, 
In Charge of Northern Pacific Railroad Survey. 
Lieutenant United States Army. 
LETTER OF GOVERNOR I. I. STEVENS TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, ADVISING THE CONDITION 
OF THE SURVEY, AND TRANSMITTING REPORTS OF LIEUTENANT JOHN MULLAN, U. S. A., AND 
MR. GEORGE W. STEVENS. 
Olympia, W. T., January 3, 1855. 
Sir: I have been prevented, by delays on the route from Washington city to this place, and 
the time required to examine reports and adjust accounts, advising you earlier of the condition of 
the survey of my route. 
The winter parties returned in October. The reports of Lieut. Mullan have been handed in, 
and will be forwarded by this mail. Those of Mr. Doty will be ready in a few days. By the 
next mail I hope to be able to forward them to the department. I will observe that, for the want of 
the proper instruments, the field barometers being either broken or out of order, no profile was 
brought in by either party, and, excepting the observations at the fixed stations, no additional 
observations were made to test the profiles submitted by me, and of which the observations have 
been lost. 
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