Page:History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana.djvu/416

 In Jan. 1858 an appropriation was asked to construct a road from Fort Townsend down the west side of Hood Canal to intersect the road to Cowlitz landing and Vancouver, which was refused. The legislature of 1859-60 combined two rejected projects in one, and asked in vain for a military road from Baker Bay, at the mouth of the Columbia, via Shoal water Bay and Gray Harbor, to Port Townsend. Again a military road was asked from Port Townsend to False Dungeness, where the town of Cherbourg was located, afterward called Port Angeles, with a like failure. Another memorial in 1866 prayed for an appropriation for a military road from Port Angeles to Gray Harbor, upon the ground that the character of the Indians in Clallam co. deterred settlement and improvement; and also that in the event of a blockade of the straits by a foreign power a road to Gray Harbor would be useful in transporting military stores to any point on Puget Sound. But as no foreign war threatened, the other reasons were found lacking in cogency.

By act of congress approved Feb. 5, 1855, $30,000 was appropriated, at the recommendation of Stevens and others connected with the Northern Pacific railroad survey, for the construction of a military road from the great falls of the Missouri to Fort Walla Walla, a distance not far short of 700 miles, John Mullan being the officer assigned to the survey. See Mullan's Military Road, in which he relates the inception of this project. Mullan was a member of Stevens' exploring party. His report contains a great deal of information, and the topographical map accompanying it, the Avork of T. Kolecki, is the best in the whole series of transcontinental explorations. This expedition determined the existence of an atmospheric river of heat, varying in breadth from one to a hundred miles, giving mild winters in the lofty regions of the Rocky Mountains. This work was interrupted by the Indians. In the success of this road the people of Washington saw the realization of their dream of an immigrant highway from the east direct to Puget Sound, the northern location being peculiarly acceptable to them for the reason that it made necessary the completion of a route over the Cascade Mountains.

No difficulty seems to have been experienced in procuring appropriations for this road, which was looked upon as the forerunner of a Pacific railway, besides being useful in military and Indian affairs. As to its use in peopling the Puget Sound region, it had none. A few troops and one small party of immigrants entered the territory by the Mullan road previous to the coming of the gold-seekers, who quickly peopled two new territories. Next to the original immigrant road, it has been a factor in the history of the north-west. Mullan was assisted in his surveys by A. M. Engell and T. H. Kolecki topographers, C. Howard civil engineer, B. L. Misner astronomer, J. Mullan physician and geologist, Talalem and Smith general aids, and E. Span gler wagon-master. Or. Statesman, "^laij, 1859. His escort consisted of 100 men of the 9th infantry under N. WicklifTe. Lewis Taylor was assistant surgeon, George E. Hale private secretary, Augustus Sohon and Kolecki topographical engi- neers. David Williamson superintended the advance working party. S. F. Bulletin, May 26, 1861. The cost of the road was ^S"23O,O00. Mulian's rept, in Sen. Doc.y 43, 37th cong. 3d sess.; Bancroft's Hand- Book, 1863, 321.

In Jan. 1859 the legislature memorialized congress relative to a military road from Seattle via the Yakima pass to Fort Colville. The merits of this pass had long been understood. Its repute among the Indians had deter- mined the location of Seattle. BeWs Settlement of Seattle, MS., 7. McClellan, in 1853, had surveyed it and pronounced it practicable for a wagon-road or railroad. In the summer of 1859 the citizens of King co. had expended about $1,300 in opening a wagon-road from Snoqualimich prairie to Rattlesnake prairie, but failed to receive an appropriation for their work. In the summer of 1860 some settlers of the Snohomish Valley explored a route through the Cascade Mountains between the sources of the Skihomish River aud the Wanatchee. Snoqualimich pass was explored in 1862 through the efforts of Robert Smallman, who circulated a petition and obtained the means to open a horse-trail by this route to the east side of the mountains, an appropriation of two townships of land being asked for the following year to construct a