the grade is quite easy. This pass I have taken the liberty to call General Johnston's pass, in honor of the commanding general. From the foot of the pass our course was northeast by east, until we struck Meadow creek, where we encamped, about 4 miles to the south of our camp of the 19th of October, on this same creek. This creek, as well as Rush valley, having been described in my outward journey, nothing more need be said respecting it. Camp No. 9, Meadow Creek, October 28.-Thermometer at 61 o'clock 21 degress. Got off at 7 o'clock a. m. Our course lay generally northeast for about 11 miles, when we struck our outward track, and in 8 miles reached Camp Floyd. Outward journey from Camp Floyd to Short-cut pass having been 81 miles; inward, 641, a difference of 16 miles in favor of the inward route. Results of the exploration and discussion of the different routes from St. Louis to San Francisco. There were no experiments made in relation to the practicability of finding water in the desert by digging wells, for the reason that the general commanding dispensed with this portion of my orders. before I left Camp Floyd, on account of the lateness of the season. Neither can it be said that I accomplished all I expected in the expedition. I discovered on the desert one new spring, (Pleasant Spring,) of which nothing was known before, and on my return brought my wagons through a new pass (General Johnston's pass,) which I got through without difficulty, and which, in point of practicability for wagons, is far superior to the more northern, or Reynolds' pass. Immediately on my return, Mr. Chorpening, the contractor for carrying the mail on the Humboldt route from Utah to California, at the suggestion of the general commanding, went, with a small party, over my track for the purpose of examining it in reference to the transfer of his stock to a more southern route, a measure which had been rendered necessary by the obstructions from snow on the Goose Creek mountains. This party returned some time since, and Mr. Taft, who was one of the number, has informed me, after a good deal of exploration, they could find no better route to connect with the Humboldt route and avoid the Goose Creek mountains than that I went over. Since then they have transferred their mail stock to this route, and are now making use of it as a winter route towards California. Pleasant Spring is one of their stations, and until the Short-cut pass can be made practicable for wagons they will pack the water to the next spring beyond; thence there is no difficulty from want of water to the Humboldt river.* It would appear, then, that my reconnaissance accomplished all that could have been, so far as the determination of the best route over the desert to connect with Captain Beckwith's route at the Goshoot mountains was concerned. But still the range through Since the above was written Mr. Chorpening has been here, and reports that he has got a good hard wagon route all the way to the Humboldt. which the Short-cut pass extends requires further examination towards the south to see if water and grass cannot be found in that direction, and the mountain be turned or passed through, and thus the Short-cut pass be avoided. Mr. Taft informed me that the mail party examined this range for a short 20 miles south, and could find no pass through. It appeared, however, to my guide and myself, that some miles beyond where they examined a pass might be found. Be this as it may, I am by no means discouraged in the idea that water and grass can yet be found further south, and though the localities may not be sufficiently convenient to be of service to connect with Captain Beckwith's route, yet they would be of the greatest value in the possible extension of the route. I have already been over all the way through to California, and this in such a direct course as in connexion with the Fort Laramie route, or that of Lieutenant Bryan, via Fort Kearney, to Fort Bridger, and the new one I have opened thence to Camp Floyd, might, in all probability, furnish a route all the way through from St. Louis to San Francisco, which would be 500 miles shorter than the present post route between those points, by the way of Fort Smith through northern Texas and Arizona. To make this plain, I here give a table of distances between St. Louis and San Francisco on these various routes, carefully prepared from the best sources. And I do this not to disparage said southern post route, but to give the facts just as they are in relation to the northern or Utah routes. California, as well as New Mexico and Arizona, will require a southern mail-route through their territories, and doubtless the facts in relation to that route will be laid before the government. But I think it equally clear that California and Utah will also require one through the Territory of the latter, and therefore it is proper to present the facts of the route just as they are. Besides, the northern route is the great thoroughfare for emigrants to California. In this table it will be noticed I have assumed that a route can be found which would make San Francisco not more than 800 miles from Camp Floyd. At present, the shortest route, which is the northern one, makes the distance 1,020 miles. But the difference of longitude between San Francisco and Camp Floyd is, approximately, 10° 3'; the difference of latitude, 2° 27' 23'. The air-line distance will then be 557 miles. The difference between this and 800 miles, the assumed distance by the proposed route, is 243, or within 35 miles of half the air-line distance. Surely, then, this is enough allowance for deviations from a direct course. But this is not entirely a conjectural supposition. I have inquired of some of the best guides the country affords, such as Mr. John Reese, George H. Bean, and Thomas D. Pitt, men who have been repeatedly over the various routes between this and California, and they not only are firmly of the opinion that a shorter route than any we now have can be obtained, but that it can be found within a distance of 800 miles. The assumption, then, being well founded, the above table will show that the present northern mail route between St. Louis and San Francisco is shorter than the southern between those places, by the way of Fort Smith and Los Angelos, by 259 miles. That the middle route, via Fort Leavenworth, Fort Kearney, Lodge Pole creek, Fort Bridger, Camp Floyd, and the proposed middle route, thence to San Francisco, is shorter by 499 miles. And that even the longest route, through Utah, is shorter by 48 miles. It assuredly, then, becomes a matter of public moment that the middle route should be extended from Camp Floyd to San Francisco in the direction proposed; and whether the route should be found or not, (and I am of the opinion that it can be,) there will have been something gained in respect to the geography of this immense terra incognita, which should no longer remain such under our government and institutions. Besides the element of distance, which would make the middle route superior to either of the others, the northern is impassable at times in the winter on account of snow on the high mountains between Bear river and the Humboldt river, particularly the Goose Creek mountains, while the middle route would doubtless be passable the whole year. In addition to this, Mr. John Reese, who is well acquainted with this northern route, says that as much as 30 per cent. of the stock driven over this route die every year on account of insufficient and poisonous water and grass at the lower portions of the Humboldt, and between it and Carson river. The southern Utah route, besides being objectionable on account of its great length, is as much so on account of a large portion of it being a sandy desert and deficient in water and grass. The middle route would be quite direct to Genoa, on the Carson river. Some 50,000 dollars have already been expended by the people of California in the construction of a road from Genoa to Placerville over the Sierra Nevada; and the telegraph is said to be already in operation between these places. When we consider that Placerville is on the direct route to San Francisco, the bearing of the improvements on the expediency of the new route will be readily perceived. In further |