LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. 
632 
s 
These instructions will be promptly carried out, and the parties in the field, of Lieutenant 
Grover, Lieutenant Mullan, and Mr. Doty, making winter examinations, will be called in as 
early as practicable. The best arrangements will be made in the spring for the disposition of 
the animals and property. But 1 earnestly submit to the department the importance of the con¬ 
tinuation of these surveys, and indulge the hope that Congress will make liberal appropriations, 
both in a deficiency bill and in the general appropriation bill, in order that the field now so well 
entered upon may be fully occupied. In addition to the suggestions which I made at Fort Ben¬ 
ton, I will respectfully state that the route from the Platte by the South Pass and the Great Salt 
Lake settlement to the Columbia river; that the question as to whether a route can be found 
from the system of roads now pushing westward through Missouri and Iowa, through the Black 
hills, into the region between the Missouri and the Yellowstone, and thence over the low passes 
examined by me to the valley of Clark’s fork, and also that the practicability of a route into this 
same general region, and over the same pass, from the grand plateau of the Bois des Sioux, the 
route proceeding nearly westward, crossing the Missouri and the Black hills, ought, in my judg¬ 
ment, to be thoroughly considered in this general exploration of the region between the Missis¬ 
sippi and the Pacific. 
The preliminary report will be sent, if by the greatest exertion it can be got in readiness, by 
the steamer which will leave San Francisco on the 1st of March, and at the same time the 
accounts of the expenditures in the survey. 
I will respectfully call the attention of the department to the peculiar circumstances of my ex¬ 
ploration, and which will, it seems to me, explain the exceeding of the appropriation, with every 
desire and effort on my part so to arrange the scale and conduct it as not to involve a deficiency. 
The field was almost totally new, rendering it impossible to form an estimate. Much work of 
reconnaissance had to be done which had previously been done for all the other routes, before a 
direction could be given to the railroad examinations and estimates proper. Unforeseen expenses, 
in the. way of presents, &c., had to be incurred to conciliate the Indian tribes; for our route was 
through the onty one, so far as I was informed, that at the time was deemed particularly dan¬ 
gerous, and the investigation of the question of snow was a vital and fundamental one, essential 
to making any reliable report at all, and included within the express requirements of the original 
instructions. I deeply regretted the deficiency which I found impending at Fort Benton, and I 
took at that place that course which I believed Congress and the department would have taken 
under the circumstances. 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient, 
ISAAC I. STEVENS, 
Governor of Washington Territory , in Charge of Exploration. 
Hon. Jefferson Davis, Secretary of War. 
War Department, Washington , April 12, 1854. 
Sir: I have received your letter of the 13th of February. The department does not doubt 
that in the course you pursued in taking measures for prosecuting the survey, you were actuated 
by zeal for the success of the object in your charge. Congress having appropriated a specific sum 
for surveys, the department had no authority to authorize any expenditure beyond it, or the con¬ 
tract of any debts to be paid from future appropriations. An estimate has, however, been sent 
in for an appropriation to pay the arrearage necessarily incurred. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
JEFF’N DAVIS, 
Stcrelary of War. 
Gov. I. I. Stevens, 
Olympia , Washington Territory. 
