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Vol. II, Part III, pp. 1-45: An introduction to and a synopsis of a report of the Reconnaissance of a railroad route from Puget Sound via the South Pass to the Mississippi River by Fred W. Lander, civil engineer, who undertook the exploration at his own expense. In view of the importance of his reconnaissance and its scientific character the Legislature of Washington Territory instructed its delegate to present the report to Congress and to procure its publication as a public document.

Vol. VI, Part II, chapter VII, pp. 53-60: Report on the general geology of the Columbia Valley. Chapter VIII, pp. 60-85, a report on the economical geology of the Puget Sound region, including a catalogue of minerals and fossils.

Vols. VIII, IX and X embody a report upon the zoology of the several Pacific routes. "Specimens collected were transmitted to the Smithsonian Institution and preserved until the return of the parties. The series of special reports prepared by the naturalists of the expedition were necessarily incomplete. It was deemed advisable to furnish a general systematic report upon the collection as a whole, and for the purpose materials were entrusted to competent individuals, necessary drawings being made by a skillful artist within the walls of the Smithsonian Institution."

In the introduction of Vol. VIII is a general sketch of the lines explored, that on the 47th parallel being designated as No. 1, page

xiii.

The general report on zoology is divided into four parts:

Part I, on Mammals, by Spencer F. Baird, fills Vol. VIII, and is accompanied by a number of plates, a systematic index of common names, a list of authorities and an alphabetical list of localities.

Part II, on Birds, compiled by Spencer F. Baird, fills Vol. IX, and is accompanied by lists of species, authorities and indices in addition to some beautiful colored plates.

Parts III and IV on Reptiles and Fishes, respectively, are found in Vol X. The report accompanying Part III was omitted since it had been extended beyond the limits originally contemplated.

Vol. XI contains a brief account of each of the exploring expeditions from 1800 to 1857, by Lieut. G. K. Warren, with topographical maps, profiles and sketches to illustrate the various reports and surveys. Chapter IV, pp. 63-70, deals with the exploration of Washington Territory. For further information on this portion of the country, the student is referred to the alphabetical index on page 111 and to profile maps Nos. 1, 2 and 3 on the route of the 47th and 49th parallels.

Although the reports on the northern routes, as previously stated, are more exhaustive than those of other routes and fill a larger space in the printed volumes, many detailed reports are given on each of the other surveys. The most important reports with their pagina

tions are as follows:

Report of Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith upon the route near the 38th and 39th parallels, explored in 1853 by Captain J. W. Gunnison, who with other members of the party was killed by the Indians in Utah. The report is a detailed narrative of the explorations with a minute and general description of the topographical features of the region from the mouth of the Kansas River to Sevier Lake in the Great Basin, of the flora, fauna and Indians. The report which includes tables of distances, altitudes and barometric observations, is followed by official letters of Captain Gunnison and explanations of the maps by Lieutenant Beckwith, Vol. II, chapters I-X, pp. 1-88.

A report of a survey of the route near the 41st parallel by Lieutenant Beckwith, 1854, with reference to the character of the country, its resources and its practicability for a railroad, pp. 9-66, of a new pagination.

Reports and letters on the geology of the explorations of 1853 and 1854,including a letter on infusorial fossils by Prof. J. W. Bailey, a report on the botany of the routes surveyed by Captain Gunnison and Lieutenant Beckwith, pp. 120-132.

Report of the survey near the 32d parallel from the Red Pine to the Rio Grande by Brevet Captain John Pope, corps of engineers, 1854, beginning a new pagination, pp. 1-156. This survey was made for the purpose of examining the military features of the route and made manifest the necessity of providing more ample means of accommodation and protection to the immense rush of immigration to the Pacific Ocean. The botanical report is found on pages 157-178; the geographical report in a new pagination, pp. 7-50.

Report of Lieutenant John G. Parke on the explorations of the route near the 32d parallel, pp. 3-26.

Extract from the report of a military reconnaissance made in 1846 and 1847 by Lieutenant Colonel W. H. Emory describing the route from the junction of the latter with the Colorado of the West, pp. 1-20, separate pagination.

Report of Lieutenant A. W. Whipple with explanatory notes and reports by Captain A. A. Humphrey, Vol. III, Parts I-VI, giving the itinerary of the survey, a description of the topographical features of the country and an account of the numbers, modes of subsistence, traditions and superstitions of the Indians. Part IV con

tains the special geological report from the Arkansas River via Santa Fe to California, with a resume and field notes by Jules Marcom.

Reportof a further survey near the 35th parallel by Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, 1853-4, followed by the botanical and zoological reports, is embodied in Vol. IV, Parts V and VI.

Report of Lieutenant R. S. Williamson upon the routes in California to connect with the routes near the 32d and 35th parallels with lithographs and woodcuts, Vol. V, Part I. Reports on geology, botany and zoology are given in Parts II, III and IV, respectively.

Report written by Lieutenant Henry L. Abbott from the surveys made by Lieutenant R. S. Williamson from the Sacramento River to the Columbia to determine the practicability of connecting the two river valleys by rail. Vol. VI, Part I, chapters I-VII; geology of the country bordering the Columbia is found in chapter VII, pp. 53-68.

Report of exploration for a route from San Francisco Bay to Los Angeles, Cal., west of the Coast Range and from Pimas Village no the Gila to the Rio Grande near the 32d parallel by Lieutenant John G. Parks, assisted by Albert H. Campbell, Part 1, Vol. VII.

Report by Thos. Antisell on the geology of the Santa Barbara Mountains, the Cordilleras and the plains of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Bernardino, Part II, pp. 1-204. The report on botany by John Torrey is given in Part III, pp. 1-116, of a separate pagina

tion.

In studying the railroad reports one is impressed by the number of men taking part in the surveys, who later won a place in the nation's history. It is doubtful whether there were ever railroad parties put in the field which contained so many future great men. Governor Stevens became a major-general in the Civil War and fell in the battle of Chantilly, Sept. 1, 1862, bearing in his hands the colors of the 79th Highlanders.

Captain George B. McClellan became Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Potomac and later Democratic candidate for President. Lieutenant C. Grover was a major-general of volunteers and a colonel in the regular army.

Lieutenant R. Saxton was made brigadier-general of volunteers and military governor of the department of the South from 1862-5. Dr. Suckley was staff surgeon 1862-5. F. W. Lander was a brigadiergeneral and died in 1862 while preparing an attack on the enemy. Captain John Pope held the rank of brigadier-general in the Civil War and was later in command of the Army of the Potomac. Lieutenant E. G. Beckwith was chief of commissariat of the 5th Army

Corps, and of the army of Virginia, and was in command of the defenses of New Orleans, receiving the brevet rank of brigadier-general, United States Army, 1865, for his services during the war. Lieutenant Colonel W. H. Emory was made brigadier-general of volunteers, and raised to the rank of major-general of volunteers at the close of the war. Lieutenant G. K. Warren rose from the rank of lieutenant-colonel of volunteers to that of chief of engineers of the Army of the Potomac and was later made a major-general. Lieutenant A. W. Whipple served as chief of topographical engineers on the staffs of McDowell and McClellan and lost his life at the battle of Chancellorsville. Lieutenant R. S. Williamson became chief of topographical engineers with the Army of the Potomac and later served on the Pacific Coast as superintending engineer of various surveys of rivers, harbors and sites for fortifications. Lieutenant John G. Parke rose from the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers to that of major-general and chief of staff under General Burnside. Captain A. A. Humphreys rose to the rank of major-general of volunteers and served as chief of staff under General Meade. After the war he was made brigadier-general and given command of the corps of engineers, the highest scientific appointment in the United States Army, with charge of the engineering bureau in Washington.

Aside from giving some idea of the contents of the reports of the surveys, the main purpose in writing this article is to bring to the notice of students one of the most valuable sources of information on the history and geography of our state. The thirteen formidable looking volumes entitled, "Pacific Railroad Reports," are not so lifeless as they might at first appear, but are teeming with the spirit of the dauntless men who braved the mountain winters and the trackless regions of the West to furnish their country with a detailed account of the characteristic features and resources of its western domain. The student is urged to become acquainted with these reports which served as a basis of operations when the government began the construction of the transcontinental lines which today link the East and the West.

PEARL RUSSELL.

DAVID THOMPSON'S JOURNEYS IN THE SPOKANE

COUNTRY

On the 25th day of March, 1812, at Spokane House, near the present city of Spokane the stock of furs that had been gathered during the previous year in trade with the Indians and free hunters of what is now Northwestern Montana, Northern Idaho and Northeastern Washington was being prepared for shipment to Fort William on Lake Superior. Spokane House was a trading post of the NorthWest Company of Montreal and the gentlemen (bourgeois or partners) of the Company in charge of the business in the Columbia River district were David Thompson and John George McTavish, the former of Welsh and the latter of Scotch descent. Mr. McTavish had been at the House all winter and David Thompson had arrived only the day before from Saleesh House in Montana (See this Quarterly for October, 1918).

The earlier publications in this series have indicated the usual route traveled up to that time-between Spokane House and the Columbia River at Kettle Falls, a distance of at least seventy miles overland. This was the road traveled at this time also, but before using it Mr. Thompson seems to have had in mind building boats or canoes at Spokane House or a little further down and traveling down the Spokane River to the Columbia, it being the practice of the fur traders to travel by water whenever possible. He therefore sent a man to examine the falls in the river below the House, (where the Long Lake dam of the Washington Water Power Company has since been built) and other men to report on cedar timber said to be growing at some distance. He himself on the morning of the 27th followed, evidently with men and tools to saw out the boards for canoes. Cedar timber is not plentiful in the Spokane country, and his search for it was not a success, but this excursion carried him eastward to within a mile or two of Post Falls on the Spokane River. The details of this journey are given in the journal entries now printed, but the entries covering the journey from Spokane House to Kettle Falls are omitted, being largely repetition of what has already been given.

It has been remarked in these articles that David Thompson was one of the most remarkable men whose name is connected with the Columbia River. The only book that contains an adequate account of the career of this man is "David Thompson's Narrative," published by the Champlain Society of Toronto in 1915. In that narra

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