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cisco mountains, will soon open farms and have stock enough for the mines. All they want is military protection on the road and in that country until they have got a good foothold, then they will take care of themselves.

"I am just commencing active operations against the Navahoes. I enclose an order which organizes the expeditions. You see the new fort will be at Pueblo, Colorado, about twenty-eight miles southwest of old Fort Defiance, and this will be the nearest point for your people to get supplies in case of accident. The sutler there will doubtless have a large stock of goods, and I will tell him about keeping on hand such articles of prime necessity as you all might require. I send you a map of the country, so that you may know about where Fort Canby will be situated. I send you another similar map, on which you can trace your new gold fields.

"If I can be of any service to yourself or party, it will afford me pleasure to help you. If I can help others to a fortune, it will afford me not quite as much happiness as finding one myself, it is true-but nearly as much. My luck has always been not to be at the right place at the right time for fortunes. I have been a little too far ahead, or else a little too much behind, for that. Yourself and your party deserve success for your industry and perseverance. Hoping that each of you will receive abundant reward for your past toil and hardships and danger, I am, captain, very respectfully,

"Your Obedient Servant,

"JAMES H. CARLETON, "Brigadier-General, Commanding.

"Captain Joseph Walker,

"At the Walker Mines, Arizona.
"Erastus W. Wood,

"Captain 1st Vet. Inf. C. V.
"A. A. A. General.'

"Headquarters Department of New Mexico. "Santa Fe, N. M., June 22, 1863.

"Captain:

"I send you a map of New Mexico, on which I desire that you will trace your route to and from the new gold fields, in obedience to orders to go as an escort to Surveyor-General Clark.

"Have great care taken of your animals. When you arrive at the new diggings I want each of your men to prospect and wash, and I want you to report the exact time they severally work and the amount of gold each one obtains in return for his labor during that time. Much reliance will be placed upon these statistics. The people must not be deceived, nor be inveigled into that distant desert country without knowing well what they may expect to find. If the country is as rich as represented-and of this I have no doubt-there will, on your return, be a revolution in matters here which no man now can even dream of. I have written to the authorities at Washington, that if the country is rich as reported, on your return I shall send two companies of California troops to establish a post right in the heart of the gold region. Your company may, perhaps, be one of them. So you will have an eye to the best location for a post of one company of infantry and one of cavalry. In returning by the Whipple route to Albuquerque, mark the country well for the whole way from the gold region. Take your best men with

you, and things to wash with. Send me a few specimens for the War Department on your return. Wishing you good fortune, I am, captain, very respectfully,

"Your Obedient Servant,

"JAMES H. CARLETON,

"Brigadier-General, Commanding.

"Captain Nathaniel J. Pishon,

"First Cavalry California Volunteers,
"Fort Craig, N. M.

"Official:

"Erastus W. Wood,

"Captain 1st Vet. Inf. C. V.
"A. A. A. General."

"Headquarters Department of New Mexico, "Santa Fe, N. M., June 26, 1863.

"General: I have written a letter to Captain Walker, which goes down to Fort Craig to your care. It is hoped and expected that he will come with you as guide on Whipple's route via Zuni.

"Since you left I have seen a gentleman named Groom, who last fall came from the new gold diggings on the Colorado River, ascending Williams' Fork to the San Francisco mountains, and thence in by Zuni to Fort Wingate and Albuquerque. He is very anxious to return to the new gold fields, having always entertained the purpose of doing so as soon as he was able. I have told him to go to Fort Craig and consult with yourself, Colonel Riggs, and Captain Pishon on the subject of your journey. He is firmly of the opinion that he can guide the party to the point indicated in Mr. Benedict's letter as the one where most gold was found-by the route from Zuni. If this can be done, a great

distance will be saved, much very hot weather upon the desert avoided, and, better than all, much time gained. The subject is left wholly to your decision. In case you determine to go from Fort Craig via Zuni, and so on on Whipple's route, Captain McFerran and myself have come to the conclusion that with three good wagons and teams you can take flour, bacon, sugar, coffee, salt &c., enough for the party for seventy-odd days, and travel light. You should take some pack-saddles complete, with ropes, wanties, &c., perfect, that when near the San Francisco mountains, if it becomes necessary or advisable to leave a camp or leave your wagons, you can proceed on to the gold fields without embarrassment. Great care and forecast must be exercised to have everything which will be indispensably necessary, and not an ounce more. In case you conclude to go by the Zuni route, then Mr. Groom can be employed by Colonel Rigg as a guide. From Fort Craig to Zuni there is a wagon-road over which troops have travelled, and Captain McFerran says there are men living at Socorro, and in the neighborhood of Fort Craig, who know this route. One of them, Colonel Rigg can employ to pilot you out on to the Whipple route wherever it may be necessary to strike it, whether at or this side of Zuni. This guide can go through with you. Once on the Whipple route, then Mr. Groom's knowledge will be available. In case no such guide can be found for the country between Fort Craig and the Whipple route, your party can come up the river to Las Lunas and go out on the road via Fort Wingate. In this event, you need take from Fort Craig only rations enough to last to Wingate, and there lay in the supply

for the remainder of the journey. This will save your stock for the rest of the work.

"All these remarks have been made having in view the decision to go via Zuni. In case you go by the Fort West route, as originally suggested, Mr. Groom, being an old and experienced packer, can be employed in that capacity. You will find him a very gentlemanly and intelligent man. He has had misfortunes and is entirely destitute, but from what I have seen of him, and what I have heard of him, he seems to be worthy of consideration, kindness, confidence and help. He is known to Colonel Rigg.

"Great care and vigilance must be exercised with regard to Indians. Never be off your guard; never become careless; be sure when your stock is grazing to have men with arms in their hands always with them, and always on the alert and awake. I cannot impress this matter too strongly upon your mind. In my experience I have found that to travel mornings and evenings, and to lie by in the heat of the day, keeps the stock in better order than to make the whole march without turning out to graze. I wish you

luck.

"I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

"JAMES H. CARLETON, "Brigadier-General, Commanding.

"General John A. Clark,

"Surveyor-General of New Mexico, Fort Craig, N. M.

"Official:

"Erastus W. Wood,

"Captain 1st Vet. Inf. C. V.

"A. A. A. General."

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