the safety of troops and stores which must usually be transported by sea requiring these guides to navigation. He recommended the survey of a railroad to the Pacific, or at least of a wagon-road, and that it should cross the Rocky Mountains about latitude 38°, deflect to the Humboldt Valley, and follow that direction until it should send off a branch to Oregon by way of the Willamette Valley, and another by way of the Sacramento Valley to the bay of San Francisco.[1]
Before the plans of General Smith for the distribution of troops could be carried out, one hundred and twenty of the riflemen deserted in a body, with the intention of going to the mines in California. Governor Lane immediately issued a proclamation forbidding the citizens to harbor or in any way assist the runaways, which caused much uneasiness, as it was said the people along their route were placed in a serious dilemma, for if they did not sell them provisions they would be robbed, and if they did, they would be punished. The deserters, however, having organized with a full complement of officers, travelled faster than the proclamation, and conducted themselves in so discreet a manner as to escape suspicion, imposing themselves upon the farmers as a company sent out on an expedition by the government, getting beef cattle on credit, and receiving willing aid instead of having to resort to force.[2]
- ↑ Before leaving California Smith had ordered an exploration of the country on the southern boundary of Oregon for a practicable emigrant and military road, and also for a railroad pass about that latitude, detailing Captain W. H. Warner of the topographical engineers, with an escort of the second infantry under Lieutenant-Colonel Casey. They left Sacramento in August, and examined the country for several weeks to the east of the head-waters of the Sacramento, coming upon a pass in the Sierra Nevada with an elevation of not more than 38 feet to the mile. Warner explored the country east and north of Goose Lake, but in returning through the mountains by another route was killed by the Indians before completing his work. His name was given to a mountain range from this circumstance. Francis Bercier, the guide, and George Cave were also killed. Lieut. R. S. Williamson of the expedition made a report in favor of the Pit River route. See 31st Cong., 1st Sess., Sen. Doc. 2, 17–22, 47.
- ↑ Steele's Rifle Regiment, MS., 7; Brackett's U. S. Cavalry, 127; Or. Spectator, May 2, 1850.
