but we were in the midst of opening spring, flowers blooming in fields on both sides of the Sierra.

Between the point of the mountains and the head of the valley at the Tejon the passes generally are free from snow throughout the year, and the descent from them to the ocean is distributed over a long slope of more than two hundred miles. The low dry country and the long slope, in contradistinction to the high country and short sudden descent and heavy snows of the passes behind the bay of San Francisco, are among the considerations which suggest themselves in favor of the route by the head of the San Joaquin.

The above results embody general impressions made upon my mind during this journey. It is clearly established that the winter condition of the country constitutes no impediment, and from what has been said the entire practicability of the line will be as clearly inferred. A fuller account hereafter will comprehend detailed descriptions of country, with their absolute and relative elevations, and show the ground upon which the conclusions were based. They are contributed at this time as an element to aid the public in forming an opinion on the subject of the projected railway, and in gratification of my great desire to do something for its advancement. It seems a treason against mankind and the spirit of progress which marks the age to refuse to put this one completing link to our national prosperity and the civilization of the world. Europe still lies between Asia and America; build this railroad and things will have revolved about; America will lie between Asia and Europe-the golden vein which runs through the history of the world will follow the iron track to San Francisco, and the Asiatic trade will finally fall into its last and permanent road, when the ancient and the modern Chryse throw open their gates to the thoroughfare of the world.

I am, gentlemen, with much regard, respectfully, yours,
J. C. FREMONT.

WASHINGTON, June 13, 1854.

1st Session.

No. 68.

MEMORIAL

OF A

COMMITTEE OF THE CORPORATION OF GEORGETOWN, D. C.,

Praying that Congress may pass no law allowing the Long Bridge across the Potomac river to be used in connection with a railroad between the depot of the Baltimore and Washington railroad and Alexandria.

JUNE 22, 1854.-Ordered to lie on the table and be printed.

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives:

The memorial of the undersigned, a committee appointed by the Corporation of Georgetown, D. C., to attend to its interests before Congress, most respectfully represents that they have learned with deep concern that a bill is about to be reported by one of the Committees on the District of Columbia to allow the present Potomac bridge to be used in connection with a railroad between the depot of the Baltimore and Washington railroad and Alexandria.

This alarming measure is proposed as one of a temporary character, to continue only until another bridge and railroad shall be made west of Georgetown, for the accommodation of the same travel. It can hardly be supposed that any association of individuals, who have a moderate conception of the value of money, really intend to make a railroad of the length of eight miles for mere temporary use. magnitude of the expenditure is wholly inconsistent with any such purpose.

The

Your memorialists can see no other real object in view than a mere device to secure a permanent bridge at the present objectionable site. The consummation of that design would be immeasurably injurious to a population of 12,000 citizens whom we now represent, and whose welfare has been committed to the peculiar guardianship of your honorable body. It is but an insidious scheme, on the part of our neighbors and rivals, to perpetuate an oppression which our people have endured for nearly fifty years, and of which they have so often, and so unavailingly, complained to Congress.

Your memorialists would most respectfully state that they are aware that majorities in both Houses of Congress regard this bridge, not only as an unjustifiable obstruction to the commerce of Georgetown, but as a nuisance which threatens the health of the residents of the metropolis, and that for these reasons it should be removed. Then why do an act which can have no other effect than to continue its existence and perpetuate its evils?

Your honorable body will readily perceive that when the proposed road shall have been carried through the most populous streets of the

metropolis, and extended six miles beyond the river, it will have acquired claims, real or imaginary, which do not now exist, and which will be sustained by combinations and influences of no ordinary char acter. And you will perceive, too, that the whole scheme is delusive, so far as it promises to be even a temporary public accommodation, as the present condition of the old bridge is so dilapidated and insecure that human life must be all the time fearfully jeopardied unless it be so thoroughly renovated as to render it essentially a permanent structure.

As your honorable body would not tolerate a daily exposure of hundreds of innocent persons to sudden death, while passing over such a frail and tottering structure, owned, too, by the government itself, you would provide for its being put in a state of reasonable safety; then you would be giving stability to a bridge which you are willing to remove as a nuisance to the metropolis, and an intolerable annoyance to the people of Georgetown.

With these views, your memorialists humbly pray that your honorable body will countenance no measure which shall, to any extent, perpetuate such an oppression upon those whose rights and interests have been committed to your protection.

JUNE 21, 1854.

HENRY ADDISON,
ROBERT OULD,
EVAN LYONS,

JUDSON MITCHELL.

W. S. COX,

A. H. DODGE,

W. S. NICHOLLS.

That the Secretary of the Interior may be authorized to examine and settle, upon principles of equity, his claim for beef-cattle furnished by him under a contract with the commissioner of the United States for treating with the California Indians, in 1851, for the use and subsistence of those Indians.

JUNE 22, 1854.-Referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs, and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

The memorial of John Charles Fremont respectfully shows: That in the summer of 1851 this memorialist contracted with Mr. G. W. Barbour, commissioner of the United States for treating with Indians in California, to deliver certain quantities of beef for the use of the Indians within his division of the country, according to treaties. made with these Indians, under which contract the quantity of 1,225,500 pounds (on the hoof) was delivered to the said commissioner personally, in the valley and on the river San Joaquin, and his drafts taken therefor on the Secretary of the Interior, at the rate of fifteen cents a pound, amounting to $183,825; which drafts were protested for want of appropriations to meet them, and the treaties themselves having been rejected by the Senate, no appropriation has since been made, and your memorialist remains a loser to the whole amount of the drafts, and also the damages on the protest, and the heavy accumulation of California interest on a large part which had been negotiated. The memorialist's claim under the treaty being thus ignored by the rejection of the treaties, it becomes his resource to rest his claim upon the transaction itself; upon the actual delivery of the beef cattle to the United States commissioner for the use of the Indians, and in their own country; upon the absolute necessity of that supply to the Indians themselves; upon the great moral obligation of the United States to furnish it; upon its good effects in pacifying the Indians, and saving peace by preventing depredating incursions to rob or find food; and upon the low terms on which the beef was furnished.

First. As to the actual delivery. This was not only acknowledged by the commissioner Barbour in his letters to the Indian department, and in the fact of giving the drafts, but also proved by witnesses, as shown in executive document, (Senate,) 1st session, 32d Congress.