44-1Military AffairsReport on a Military Wagon Road. [1710] In Wyoming; Indian supplies to the Shoshone. Blackfeet, and Crow agencies.1876-11

House of Representatives Report No. 616, 44th Congress, 1st Session (1876)

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44TH CONGRESS, } 1st Session. HOUSE OF REPRESE:NTATIVES. MILITARY W AGO:N-ROAD. {REPORT :No. 616. JuNE 1, 1876.-Committed to a Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed. ::\lr. JonN HEILLY, from the Committee on ::\1ilitary Affairs, submittea the following REPORT: [To accompany bill H. R. 180.] The Committee on lllilitary Affairs, to u·hmn u·as referred the above-namul b·ill, ttcould respectfully reJJOrt as follou,s : The route proposed for the road was diseovered by Capt. W. A. Jones in 1873, in making suryeys in Wyoming Territory. The road will pass the military posts of Camp Stambaugh and Camp Brown, and the Shoshone Indian agency to Fort Ellis, beyond which is Fort Shea, Camp Baker, and the Blackfeet and Crow Indian agencies. The mili-tary and Indian supplies for all points in the vicinity and south of Fort Ellis would pass over this route~ saving to Fort Ellis 250 miles in rail-road-transportation, and, with the estimated distance to Fort Ellis from Corinne, (480 miles,) 30 miles of wagon-transportation. The Acting Quartermaster-General estimates the sa,ing in railroad-transportation alone, of troops and Army supplies, at $5,000 per annum to the posts in l\Iontana. This does not include the Indian supplies, in the movement of which there would be a proportionate saving. The distance saved to Yellowstone Lake, in the Great National Yellowstone Park, is 555 miles, 305 of which is by stage and 250 by rail. The following letter of Captain JonP.s describes fully the route and its advantages to the Gov-ernment and the country through which it passes: WASHINGTON, D. C., June 12, 1874. Sm: I have tbe honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this uate upon the subject of a proposed military wagon-road in \Vy01ning. The road proposed by this uill is over tbe line discovered by me last year while mak-ing the reconnaissance of Northwestern \Vyoming. I consider it a perfectly practi-cable project, which can be attaineu at a reasonable expense. The road will leave the Union Pacific Railroad near Green River City, \Vyo., at such a point (prouably Point of Rocks) as will give the shortest distance from the railroad to the mouth of Wind River Valley. This valley is followed up to its hen.d, where there is a pass over which the grades are perfectly easy and practicable. It is prob-able that this pass will be practicable for winter travel, as it lies in such position that the prevalent winds are intercepted by neighboring mountain-ranges, and cannot reach it with sufficient force to drive the snow into drifts that will be serious obstructions. It is the testimony of miners, freighters, and others in the Territories, that winter roads can easily be maintained in the mountains, provided the snow does not drift badly. \Vhether thiR should prove true or not, the proposed ro-ad woulfl remain opeu as long as the present route via Corinne, and longer thltn the :Missouri River route. From this pass the roau will proceed northerly to Yellowstone Lake, following down its eastern shore, and thence down the Yellowstone River, passing the Great Falls and along the crest of the Grand Caiion, aud by the Mammoth Hot Springs on Gardi-ner's River to Fort Ellis, Bozeman City, and the Crow Inuian agency. ]<'rom here there are good roads to the principal cities and miuing towns of Montana. 'rhe route traverses the \Vincl River Valley, (avoiding the present mountain-road between Camp Stambaugh and Camp Brown,) where the soil is quite well aLlapted to agriculture anu grazing, as bas been proved by experieu0e, anll the climate is ex:ceptiotmlly milfl; the Teton Bdsin. a thoroughly well-watered aud well-timbereu area of country, where the soil is quite rich, and min falls with sufficient eqmtbility to render irrigation unneces-2 MILITARY W AGOX-ROAD. sary probably; the Yellowstone National Park, passing all of its wonderful pl.Jenomena except the geyser basins. which can be reached h,y a short si1le road, and a stretch of country in Yellowstone Valley, north of the park, wllich is now cultivated with suc-cess. Gold, (in veins and diggings,) coal, coal-oil, iron, and gypsum occur in the Wind River country, fine coal in the Teton Basin, and golt.l, (in veins and diggings,) lead, and silver in the Yellowstoueregion. It will thus be seen that this :roat.l will open up and develop a country of consider-able and varied resources. It will also fumisll the shortest and a most agreeable route to the Yellowstone Na-tional Park. The present approaches to Montana from the east are only twG : viz : (1.) The Mis-souri River route, which involves wagon-transportation from Port Benton, or from Car-roll, over a desolate count.ry. This latter affords alJout. the same wagon-road distance to Fort Ellis as the one from Fort Benton, and, should it prove available, will super-sede it. (2.) The land-route via the Union and Central Pacific Railroads to Corinne, Utah, and thence to Montana by wagons. The road proposed by the bill is an improvement upon this, as will be seen from the following tables, and will thus bring the two main routes into a closer competition, giving the mining and agricultural interests of Montana an improved outlet and bet-ter competing lines of land and water travel, and affording all of the attendant ad-vantages in the transaction of business, settlement of new country, and the shipment of Army and Indian supplies. It is fraught with lasting benefit to the peple of Mon-tana and Northern Idaho, and will hasten the utilization of the Yellowstone National Park as a place of summer resort. TableB. ( By rail: Miles. 1 Omaha to Co~'~nne, Union Pa~ific Rai.lroad.:................ .. . ... ...• 1, 05~ I J Omaha to Pomt of Rocks, Unwn Pacific Railroad. . . . . . . . • . . • . . . . . . . . . . Suo ., ------1 Distance saved by raiL..... . . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . • • . . . • • . . . . 250 l ----( Omaha to Yellowstone Lake, present route: I Omaha to Corinne ...•.....••........................................ a 1 Coduneto Fort Ellis ............................................... . I Fort Ellis to Yellowstone Lake ..................................... . I Omaha to Yellowstone Lake ................................... .. I Proposed ron te : · Omaha to Point of Rocks ................................... . Point of Rocks to Yellowstone Lake ........................ .. Miles. 805 280 I Omaha to Yellowstone Lake ................................... .. I Distance saved from Yellowstone Lake .......................... . 1,055 403 118 1, 576 1,094 482 II. ~ Omah~t~~~r~~u~~~~~~~~~:~~~~~1~~ :_r~~~~1.t. ~~~~~ .=....... .. .. .. . . ... . . 1, 055 a II Corrine to { ~~~!~~~l~s } .................... _ ......... ___ .... _ . _. __ .. ----4~ Omaha to { ~~~!!~l~s ~ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 45~ I Proposed route : .Jlile8, Omaha to Point of Hocks...... .. .. .. .. . .. . . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . . . t:>Or-> . 5 Fort Ellis ( . I Pomtofllocksto {Bozeman 5 ...... ...... ..... ...... ...... 4:37 Omaha to Bozeman............................................... 1, 242 I Distance saved to { t~~~!~~s ~ .............................. .. 216 l ( *Passenger-rates, (railroad :) 1 Omaha to Corrine, Utah...... . .. . .. .. .. .. .. . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . $79 25 III.< Omaha to Point of Rocks, Wyoming.................................. 57 25 t Amount saved per man ........................ - ................ . 22 00 *As the distance (wagon-road) is abont the same in the two cases, thesaving eft'ected c..tn ver,y fairly be represented by the saving over 250 miles of railroad. MILITARY WAGON-ROAD. ( * Freight rates, (railroad:) I Omaha to Corinne, (third-class,) per ton ...............•.............. IV.\ Omaha to Point of Rocks, (third-class,) per ton .... -- ..... -........ --. l Amount saved per ton ...•....•...••... · .....•••.. -- .... - •. -.- .. 3 $42 20 32 20 10 00 To sum up: The proposed wagon-road saves 250 miles of railroad ; 482 miles of dis-tance to the Yellowstone National Park; and 216 miles to Fort Ellis, Bozeman, and the principal cities of Montana, which is one of the most productive mining regions of the West; is the shortest and most practicable road to the Yellowstone National Park and Montana; is heavily timbered through the belt of country where the heavy snows fall, indicating a probable winter route, while, at present, there is none; opens up a large tract (2,000,000 acres) of low-lying timber-land-a very important feature ; will open to settlement the Wind River Valley, the Teton Basin, and the valley of the Up-per Yellowstone; will hasten the attainment of the objects for which the Yellowstone Park was created by law; and will afford better competing lines of travel to the min-ing and other industries of Montana. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, The CHIEF Ol!' ENGINEERS, United States Anny, 1Vash-ington, D. C. W. A. JONES, Capta·in of Enginem·s. The distance from Corinne to Fort Ellis is believed to be (from the best evidence we can get) 480 miles, instead of 403, making the dis-tance 77 miles shorter via the proposed route than is given in the tables of Captain Jones. The Chief of Engineers, in his report, states that the Missouri River route is open but a few months in the year, and · the navigation uncertain and unreliable, and goods sent by that route are frequently detained for long periods of time; he states that if the labor of troops can be utilized, a road which would be equal to the com-mon roads in the Territories, can be constructed for the amount named in the bill, ($60,000,) and in one working season, and would be chiefly required for grading, corduroying marshes, and bridging streams with timber which is conveniently available, and in cutting trees and ex-tracting· their stumps, over a distance of about 50 miles. The average amount of freight from Union Pacific Railroad to Mon-tana for four years ending with 1873, was 3,000 tons, about one-twelfth of which was Army supplies, the balance individual shipments and In-dian supplies. The saving on this amount of freight (if it all came from the East) would be $30,000 annually in)·ailroad-transportation alone, to say nothing of passengers or troops; with the better and shorter route proposed, it is believed that a large amount of the freight which now passes up the Missouri River in the spring would pass over this route ; this freight, for three years ending with 1873, amounted to from 3,000 to 6,500 tons per annum. The saving of 250 miles of railroad-travel and over 300 miles of stage-traYel to the Great Yellowstone Na-tional Park, the great wonders of which will, without doubt, make it a great popular resort in the near future, would. be sufficient to justify the expenditure, independent of the value of the road to the War and Indian Departments, and the citizens of Wyoming and 1\'Iontana. The passage of the bill is recommended by General Ord, commander of De-partment of the Platte, Lieutenant-General Sheridan, and the Secre-tary of War. The committee recommend the passag1e of the bill as amended, re-ducing the amonnt appropriated to $50,000. 0 

Military wagon road

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Military wagon road

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