baker.] HISTORY OF THE SURVEY. 17 
In the season of I860 the surveying and marking of the entire land 
boundary was nearly or quite completed. I have not found any 
statement as to just when the field work ended. The Auditor's 
accounts indicate that a considerable number of laborers, axmen, 
packers, etc., were employed during 1861, of whom 22 were dis- 
charged on March 31 and 14 on June 30. Others received their final 
pay at various dates in L861, the latest being in September. General 
Parke, who came out with the last party, tells me that on reaching 
the Columbia Plains he heard of the first battle of Bull Run. It seems 
to me likely, therefore, that the field work closed late in 1800 or early 
in 1861. During this season, then, the surveying and marking of the 
line was carried on over a distance of 170 miles — between the summit 
of the Rocky Mountains and the Columbia River. 
As to the disbanding of the field parties and their return to Wash- 
ington we gather some facts from the Auditors accounts, so often 
cited here. It appears that all returned via the Isthmus of Panama, 
the fare being $258 from San Francisco to New York and $7.50 from 
New York to Washington. Commissioner Campbell, Secretary War- 
ren, Geologist Gibbs, and Artist Alden left the field November 25, 
I860, and reached Washington January 10, 1861, the journey taking 
forty-six days. Henry Custer, Charles T. Gardner, T. Hudson, and 
James Noone} r left the field April 30, 1861, and G. Clinton Gardner on 
May 10, 1861. All these came direct to Washington. Finally, in the 
last quarter of 1861 (exact date not given), General Parke, J. S. Harris, 
J. V. Wurdemann, and John J. Major returned to Washington. With 
these returning parties came instruments, records, collections, bag- 
gage, etc. There is a charge for freight on "41 packages instruments 
and baggage" and "21 boxes natural-history specimens." 
Arrived in Washington, the commission rented rooms and estab- 
lished an office over a store at the SE. corner of Pennsylvania avenue 
and Twentieth street NW., and there proceeded with the plattings, 
computations, drawing of maps, and preparation of the final report. 
The scientific reports appear to have been completed in 1862 and the 
drawing of the final maps, at least of the land boundary, late in 
1865 or early in 1866. The work upon the report, however, con- 
tinued, and there began to be some good-natured raillery as to when 
it would be completed. Finally, on January 13, 1869, the House of 
Representatives, by a resolution, requested information as to expendi- 
tures on account of the Northwestern Boundary Survey. The reply 
to that request has furnished the chief source of information for this 
history. 1 In October, 1869, the work was brought to a close and the 
results deposited in the State Department. But the report, unfortu- 
nately, was not published, and the manuscript has for many years 
1 House Ex. Doc. No. 86, Fortieth Congress, third session. 
Bull. 171 2 
