be made eligible; and it is believed that the improvements in the construction of iron houses have been such as not only to render this design feasible, but to afford also, expeditiously, comfortable habitations for our troops in the newly acquired territories, and on all the frontier portions of our country. That description of buildings, however, require the test of use in a warm country before any large expenditures should be made for their purchase. The small number already sent out to California by your order will enable us to decide upon the expediency of substituting that kind of buildings for wooden ones.

To communicate freely with the contemplated posts of the interior, as well as those on the coast and in Oregon, the vessels now in our possession must be set aside for others better adapted for river navigation and expeditious movements along the coast. For the first of these objects two centre-board schooners, of very light draught, to ply on the Sacramento and San Joachin, and in Oregon, at all seasons of the year, for carrying freight, and two small, light-draught steamboats, with high-pressure engines of great power, to be used for express service and for towing sail vessels or the transportation of troops, are much needed. One of the latter would be of invaluable service on the Columbia river as a steamtug, or in crossing our vessels over the bar, and towing them to the depot at Fort Vancouver when wind-bound; and a schooner could be constantly employed as a lighter, or in carrying lumber, stores, &c., to the upper posts or to Puget's sound. Besides these, two low-pressure steamers of great power-one to be used exclusively for sea-service along the coast, and, if necessary, to communicate occasionally with the Sandwich Islands; and the other of lesser size, but so constructed as to be employed on river or coast service-are indispensable to the well-being and completeness of our military establishment on the Pacific. A description of these vessels will be furnished me by Major General Smith, which I shall take pleasure in submitting so soon as it may be received. It is from his views, as expressed to me, that I derive the information herein expressed in regard to the wants of the service on the frontier.

The transfer of the "Massachusetts" and "Edith " from the quartermaster's department has, from the many consequent evils proceeding from the act, taught us the manifest impolicy of relying upon any resource foreign to the command and authority of the military branch of our service.

With the small number of troops in California and Oregon, no expedi tions requiring quick movement can be perfected without greater means of transportation than we now possess in that quarter. The portion of our small army in the Atlantic States is made effective by the facilities which abound there for the congregation of its various fragments, scattered over a vast extent of territory. There, too, the co-operation of the volunteers and militia of the country can at all times be depended upon in times of emergency; but in the thinly settled region on the Pacific, where men can hardly be expected to forego the golden opportunities which exist for the dangers and privations incident to a soldier's life, we must depend upon the regular troops for our defence. To be assured of their efficiency, therefore, we must have all the necessary means within our own power, and not cast ourselves upon the mercy, judgment, or caprice of naval officers for assistance; and it is for this reason I would recommend that not only the steam vessels we have lost be replaced by better ones, but

that the number be increased to meet all the wants of the service, so as to render it efficient and useful to the public.

It may be asked, why the necessity of so many vessels for the service of so small a portion of the army as is now stationed on the Pacific? My answer to which would be, that the facilities of commerce through the agency of the transportation companies have no existence there; that, although there is a very large number of vessels lying in the harbor of San Francisco, they exist only as floating monuments of the deplorable condition of the times, incapable of service for want of sailors to navigate them; or if, peradventure, brought into use, they are not of the class adapted to the navigation of the bays and rivers through which we must send our supplies.

Our military operations on the Pacific must at present, from the nature of circumstances, be carried on as in times of war, depending on our own resources for the want of the assistance to be derived from mercantile establishments, as conducted on the Atlantic.

Another benefit may be conferred upon the inhabitants of California and Oregon (especially the latter) by the free and open communication to be established through the agency of steam navigation in the conveyance of the mails. The postal arrangements between these two sections have been culpably neglected by the contractors and post office agents. Although it is required, by existing contracts, that the mail shall be carried once a month between San Francisco and Oregon, it has been frequently neglected, and I am informed by the chief justice of Oregon that one important mail has been lost, and nearly all have been intrusted to irresponsible persons, travelling by the uncertain and often tardy conveyance of sail-vessels. This is a matter about which the people of Oregon, as well as the officers of the army, loudly and very justly complain.

For

So long as the prices of commodities, especially forage and lumber, remain at the present high rates in the vicinity of the depot, resort must be had to foreign markets, and hence our means of transportation should be increased. If the foregoing recommendations be acquiesced in, and the necessary vessels purchased, provisions will have been made for that branch of our wants. But means of a subordinate character are also required for the navigation of the inlets and small branches of rivers, and for the local duties near and at the depots in California and Oregon. crossing the mountain streams, small India rubber boats, to accompany detachments, (having pack-mules for the transportation of their baggage and provisions) will be very useful, and I recommend that a small number be sent out with the steamers. On the tour of examination through the gold regions, made last autumn by Major General Smith and staff, the cost of ferrying our party over a narrow but deep branch of the American river, by means of one of these boats, was as great as the original cost of it in New York.

Another needful adjunct in land transportation is General Stanton's wagon float. In some parts of the country it may be used at all seasons, but in this it will always be of great service with the supply train in the interior. There is no part of our domain where it can be so often applied beneficially as in the country west of the Rocky mountains. Land transportation, also, to be effective, will necessarily involve heavy expenditure of money while operations are to be carried on in the country contiguous to the mountains. Wagon teams must be arranged in conjunction with

our river transports; and, as the uncertain supplies of grass cannot be depended on as proper food for working animals, grain from the main depot will become the only source for the maintenance of our cavalry horses, the mules of the supply trains, and at the subordinate depots.

Horses, though abundant in the wild state, are not fit for our purposes generally. From the manner in which they are broken to the saddle by the Californians, we cannot make them suitable for dragoon service, and very few have been trained for working in harness.

What are commonly called "American horses" are such as have been brought into the country in the course of emigration from some of the western States, and, from the privations and fatigue of such a journey, are lacking in the requisite qualities to perform further efficient services, and very few of them can be obtained. Working oxen, broke to the "American yoke," have been introduced in like manner, but they are rarely obtainable in numbers large enough to form of them a competent train. They are exceedingly valuable for service in the plains, or where forage is scanty.

Mules, like everything else, command a high price, and are obtained, chiefly, in the manner described above, and with the same objection attached to them. From the Mexican State of Sonora large supplies will, doubtlessly, be carried into California, and sold at reasonable prices when the people of that country discover that they will no longer be tolerated at the mines as gold diggers, which occupation has had its influence over them as well as with our own citizens.

In some of my reports, made while stationed in California, I had occasion to call your attention to the fiscal concerns of the quartermaster's department under my charge. The large sums carried to that country by Major Fitzgerald and myself, were speedily expended. Indeed, I found that on my arrival there the debts contracted by my predecessors were so large as to leave no other resort for means to carry on the current duties of the department than the "civil fund" of California, so called, which had been raised, in part, by military contributions during the Mexican war, and otherwise by the collection of duties at the custom-house.

This fund, being under the control of the governor of the Territory, was placed for safekeeping in the custody of some one of the disbursing officers of the quartermaster's department. As it had accumulated to a cumbrous amount, and, from the character of the buildings at San Francisco, no good place of security could be found in which to deposite it, it was deemed expedient and safe to lend such sums as were needful for the urgent wants of the army, to be replaced at a subsequent and convenient period by remittances from the United States. But for this resource the operations of the quartermaster's department would have been much impaired if not entirely stopped for want of funds. And such had been the extravagant wants of the department, by the unforeseen increase of the demands upon it-extending beyond any, even the wildest conjectural estimates that could have been formed-that the drafts upon this fund had at one time become alarming, and I was apprehensive that the sums so expended might exceed the appropriations for that division of the army. Being assured, however, by the general commanding, that any excess of expenditures would be provided for by future appropriations by Congress, the "civil fund" continued to be our reliance. In relation to this subject I have written extensively enough before to render further remarks un

necessary; yet, as it may not be well understood how the civil fund has been created, I will remark that in its accumulation it may be classed under three distinct heads, viz:

1st. The money received from military contributions during the war with Mexico;

2d. The amount derived from the collection of duties on imports under the administration of Colonel Mason, without the authority of law, and subsequent to the treaty of peace with Mexico, and prior to the arrival of Major General Smith; and

3d. The amount which accrued from the collection of customs after the 1st of March, 1849, under the circular letter of General Smith, which made the duties collected subject to the future action of Congress-the sums being voluntarily deposited by the importers in the hands of the agents of the government.

All draughts upon these deposites by the disbursing officers of the army have been considered as loans, to be replaced after the action of Congress shall have been had in relation to the fund.

The necessity for using the civil fund grew out of the sudden influx of troops and supplies, the payment of large contracts for lumber and other building materials, the establishment of new posts, the purchase of horses, mules, &c., the hire of laborers, mechanics, and teamsters, but especially the enormous price of wages consequent upon the foregoing. These had not been anticipated seasonably enough to be prepared for them.

The original cause of the singular condition of affairs in California, in respect to high prices for the ordinary necessaries of life, may be traced to the diversion of labor from its legitimate channels to be absorbed in a single pursuit, (gold digging,) from which no social benefits are to be derived, inasmuch as there is no community of interests in a multitude of adventurers, each acting for himself, in a search requiring manual efforts alone for its success. Hence, the mechanic and day-laborer must receive as wages an equivalent to the daily gains to be acquired at the gold placers. And this will be applicable to every variety of operatives in the mechanical arts, trades, agriculture, and commerce.

In our expenditures we have no greater return for our money than we received in times before the discovery of gold. We have no set-off nor equivalent for the high prices we have been paying during the past year; and I can perceive no way open to escape from the evil but to withdraw the troops from the Pacific country. As this, however, is hardly to be thought of, we should study to ameliorate the severity of the times by sending from the United States all the articles needed for the use of the army, which may require manual labor for their fabrication or construction, previously prepared in a manner to avoid expense in their adaptation to the purposes designed after they shall have been landed in California. Especially is this to be recommended for barracks and quarters, should it be determined to erect them in that country, in lieu of the temporary buildings which have recently been constructed.

An expedition was fitted out in the early part of September last, by orders of Major General Smith, for the relief of a large number of emigrants from the United States, who had been reported to be in a very deplorably suffering state from the want of food and means of transportation. Subsistence stores, beef cattle, wagons, &c., were promptly provided by Major Rucker, assistant quartermaster, aided by able assistants, and

Part ii-17

carried to the mountains in season to succor many who would have perished but for this generous and humane undertaking.

To quote the language of Major Rucker in his report to Major General Smith," a more pitiable sight than those wearied, diseased, and starving emigrants, I had never before beheld. There were cripples from scurvy and other discases, women prostrated by weakness, and children who could not move a limb. In advance of wagons were men, mounted on mules, who had to be lifted on and off their animals, so entirely disabled had they become from the effects of scurvy. No one could view this scene of helplessness without commending the foresight that dictated the relief, without which some of the recipients would have inevitably perished in the snows. It would have been difficult for the most healthy to have worked their way in through the storm without assistance, much less those who had been deprived of the use of their limbs."

This expedition cost about $100,000, after selling off the property purchased for it; and the money was drawn from the "civil fund."

Another expedition, under the late Captain Warner, topographical engineer, for the exploration of the Sierra Nevada, was attended by an expense of $50,000, (derived from the same fund also,) and the loss of that most valuable officer's life, at a moment when he had accomplished, most successfully, the object of his search.

From the views of Major General Smith, as expressed to me, I am enabled to state that, when the country shall have become settled by a fixed population, devoted to the usual employments of agriculture and trade, by which the most favorable localities will have been discovered and occupied, permanent posts for their protection will be established; but, in the mean time, two interior depots should be provided for-one to be situated at a favorable point on the emigrants' trail leading into California from the Oregon route, and the other in the southern part of the Territory, where it can be most useful to the bodies of troops operating for the defence of the new settlements.

At present no well-defined plans for military occupation can be formed. Projects for towns and cities are as various and undetermined as are the points on the bays and rivers which, in the dry seasons, are above highwater mark. Time and the good sense of our citizens will soon cause a development of the most eligible localities, and the ascertainment of military positions must immediately follow. Nevertheless, for the two depots above mentioned, two officers of the department will be required in California in addition to the number already there; and I respectfully recommend that they be ordered to that country accordingly. At present there are but three assistant quartermasters on duty in California. That number is too small for the growing necessities of the service; and the want of an officer for incidental and itinerary duties, to take the place of less experienced agents, has been felt in more than one instance. There should be at least five assistant quartermasters and a quartermaster in California, with one of the higher grades of field officers as chief director, to reside at division headquarters-the quartermaster to be stationed at the principal depot; one assistant quartermaster to aid him; one at Monterey; one at each of the depots in the interior; and one to be employed for general purposes, such as purchasing forage in South America, superintending the steamers and sail vessels in their arrangement, repairs, &c. To carry the last named object into complete effect, and to insure any degree