No. 1. 
REPOET OE EXPLORATIONS EROM SAN ERANCISCO BAY TO LOS 
ANGELES. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Having secured the services of the assistants authorized, and procured the instruments 
necessary for the prosecution of the field duties, the party sailed from New York in the mail 
steamer of the 5th of October, and arrived in San Francisco on the 1st of the following month. 
To organize and furnish the party with the required stores, camp equipage, and transportation, 
detained us until the 20th of November, when we started from Benicia, crossing the Straits of 
Carquinez to Martinez, and proceeding thence by the wagon road to the Pueblo of San Jose at 
the southern end of the Bay of San Francisco, where we entered upon the field of survey for 
determining the practicability of locating a line of railroad from the Bay of San Francisco to 
Los Angeles, lying wholly west of the Coast Range. 
From San Jose, the initial point of the survey, we followed along the Santa Clara valley to 
a tributary of the Pajaro, and thence down the valley of this stream to near the mission of San 
Juan Bautista. From this point the examination of the Pajaro was continued down to its 
opening upon the Bay of Monterey. Lines were also run over the hills, west of the mission, 
which separate the valley of the Pajaro from the plains of the Salinas. Having made this con¬ 
nexion we moved to the Rio Salinas, and ascended it to a point about nineteen miles above the 
mission of Soledad, where the party was divided, one taking the wagon road over the hills on 
the left bank of the river, via San Antonio, while a small party with pack mules continued 
up the valley, and joined the main party at the mission of San Miguel. Thence we followed 
the road to the rancho of Santa Margarita, where a depot camp was established, from which 
various explorations were extended and surveys made. 
Our first object was to trace the Salinas to its source; this being done, and an apparently 
practicable connexion found between its left fork and the Cuyama plain, which is on the direct 
line towards the San Fernando and Los Angeles plains, a compass and level survey was there 
made, so that a complete chain of observations for profiles might be established, should the 
final link be found practicable. While this was being accomplished, a reconnoissance was 
made up the Estrella, the right fork of the Salinas, debouching at San Miguel. It was found 
that this fork had a course nearly parallel to the Salinas, and headed further to the south, and 
opposite to the Cuyama plain, from which its valley is separated by a single divide, giving but 
one summit to be crossed instead of three, as are encountered on the first line of survey. This 
new summit and approaches were surveyed, establishing the connexion between the Salinas 
plain and the Cuyama, via the Estrella and Panza ranchos. In addition to the main ex¬ 
plorations, simultaneous side trips were made in order to develop more fully the topography 
and geology of the country. These duties occupied the party thirty days, throughout which 
time meteorological observations were taken at the permanent or depot camp. 
IT 
