In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, the report of Lieutenant Colonel Graham on the subject of the boundary line between the United States and Mexico. AUGUST 27, 1852.-Referred to the Select Committee on the subject. FEBRUARY 17, 1853.-Ordered that 2,000 additional copies be printed. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, August 25, 1852. SIR: In answer to the resolution of the 2d instant, calling upon me to transmit to the Senate a copy of the report made by Lieutenant Colonel Graham, of the topographical corps of engineers, on the subject of the boundary line between the United States and Mexico, together with all papers in the department on that subject, I have to state that, at the date of said resolution, no report, such as is described in the resolution, existed on the files of this department. On the 19th instant, however, such a report was filed in the Topographical Bureau, and the copy which I herewith transmit was sent to my office the next day, though I was not aware of it until yesterday, and am ignorant of its contents. I will add that Colonel Graham was not called upon by me to make a report of his proceedings while employed in the boundary survey, as I conceived that any such report, if made, ought properly to have been addressed to the Department of the Interior. It appears, however, that the head of the bureau, conceiving that some censure was cast upon Colonel Graham by the course of the Secretary of the Interior, in requesting that he should be recalled and another officer sent to relieve him on that duty, called upon him, without my knowledge, for an explanation. This report was, as I am informed, made in consequence of that order. There are no papers on file in this department relating to the bound ary line. The only papers in the department, having any reference to the survey, are the correspondence, orders, and reports relative to the officers to be detailed on that duty, which it is presumed the resolution does not embrace. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. M. CONRAD, Secretary of War. Hon. W. R. KING, President of the Senate. Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Graham's report, addressed to Colonel J. J. Abert, WASHINGTON, June 18, 1852. SIR: In answer to your call, under date of the 3d of March last, I have the honor to make to you the following report, availing myself of the papers which accompanied your letter (hereto attached, marked Nos. 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, and 184) for reference. You are already aware that the time which has elapsed between your call and this reply has been owing to certain papers, which were required by me for reference, and which were left with some of my baggage to be shipped to me from Indianola to this place, having failed to arrive here until within a few days past. I was assigned to duty as principal astronomer and head of the scientific corps, on the part of the United States, for the survey and demarcation of the boundary between the United States and Mexico, under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the 21st of October, 1850.* On the 23d of that month, I received my instructions from the Department of the Interior, placing me on duty in connexion with this boundary.† I was verbally asked at the department, how soon I would be ready to start for the field of operations. I replied, verbally, that I could be ready in a few days, provided all necessary preparations for the fieldwork had been perfected by my predecessors. I particularly asked to be informed as to what astronomical and surveying instruments had been carried out to the boundary by Mr. Commissioner Bartlett, when he went out, in August, 1850. The department had no knowledge as to what apparatus had been taken out at that time, beyond a few articles which Lieutenant Whipple was authorized to take from the custom-house at New York, and from the Messrs. Bond, of Boston, in addition to those which had been turned over by Brevet Major W. H. Emory to Lieutenant Whipple, at San Diego, about the time of the adjournment of the joint commission, on the 15th of February, 1850. I pointed out the fact that the aggregate of these formed a very insufficient equipment for the extent of line to be surveyed. I spoke of the great importance of proper preparation with regard to instruments, and stated that it was a matter which ought to be well understood and settled before I started for El Paso. I asked to be allowed to look at Mr. Commissioner Bartlett's returns to the department, in order to see what instruments he had actually carried out with him. After a good deal of search, the clerks reported that no such returns could be found in the department. My instructions from the Department of the Interior, of October 23, 1850, (No. 12,) required me to look into the files of that office and to satisfy myself in relation to this matter; and after completing the equipment of instruments, to join the commission in the field. This examination made it necessary for me to peruse the whole of the correspondence relating to the boundary commission, from its first organization down to the time of my being detailed for duty on it, embracing a period of near two years. A great part of this correspondence was in the original manuscript letters, which were not * See Appendix, No. 9. + See Appendix, Nos. 12 and 13. I C folded in form, nor were they endorsed so as to show the nature of their contents; consequently all of them had to be perused with care, in seeking after the desired information-a task which required, therefore, much time and attention. When this examination was completed, it was found that these papers contained no information whatever on the subject of the instruments taken out by Mr. Bartlett, except those already alluded to in the possession of Lieutenant Whipple. I must here remark that, in January, 1849, under the orders of the State Department, I turned over to Brevet Major W. H. Emory all the instruments which had been used on the northeastern boundary, belonging to that department, and which Major Emory thought would be necessary for running the Mexican boundary line. They embraced a very valuable and complete equipment, which, under the orders of the Department of State, I had, a short time before, caused to be put in a complete state of repair for field service upon this new line. This equipment will appear in full detail by reference to columns Nos. 1 and 2 of the accompanying table marked No. 173.* This equipment was carried to the Pacific for use on this new line; the survey of which was required by the treaty to be commenced at San Diego. The joint commission accordingly began operations there; but, after making a survey of the harbor of San Diego and its vicinity, and a survey of the locality showing the junction of the river Gila with the Colorado, and having determined the latitudes and longitudes of those two points, which are the extremities of the straight line that was to form the southern boundary of our California, the joint commission adjourned on the fifteenth of February, 1850, to meet again at El Paso del Norte on the first Monday of the following November, from whence to resume operations in the field. It was but a few days after the adjournment that the Hon. John B. Weller retired from the charge of the commission on the part of the United States. After the retirement of Mr. Weller, it does not appear that any steps were taken by his successor to transfer the main body of the instruments to the new point of beginning. All that I could gather in regard to this point, from the files of the Department of the Interior, was contained in the concluding paragraph of Major Emory's letter to that department, dated San Diego, April 2, 1850, wherein he says: "In the uncertainty as to the wishes and intentions of the government, I have endeavored to make such disposition of the instruments as will suit any case. There are more than enough left here to push the work from this side, if, contrary to my advice, it should be attempted. Lieutenant Whipple will be ordered to select from those in his charge, and those shipped to Boston, sufficient to set up an observatory at the Paso del Norte as soon as he can get funds; and it would expedite the work if he was sent there immediately and in advance of the commission." (See Senate Doc. No. 34, part 2, 31st Congress, 1st session, page 17.) Here, then, it appears that Lieutenant Whipple was charged with the transfer to El Paso of only instruments enough to set up an observatory at that point. But nowhere could I find any indication of a *See also No. 174, an abstract of No. 173, more convenient for reference. transfer to that point of the main body of the instruments applicable to the surveying department proper. Major Emory's return, found in the department, dated San Diego, March 30, 1850, showed that he had received from me, in January, 1849, as many as two hundred and thirty-three items of instruments, including meteorological and magnetic apparatus, &c. In addition to that number he purchased under the authority of the State Department, at his own request, twenty other items before he left New York in February of that year, making an aggregate of two hundred and fifty-three. Of the two hundred and thirty-three items turned over to him by me for this Mexican boundary service there were 1 large astronomical altitude and azimuth instrument. 3 astronomical transits. 7 chronometers. 1 repeating-circle of reflection. 4 sextants. 1 astronomical telescope of four-feet focal length of telescope, with equatorial mounting. 5 theodolites. 2 smaller theodolites, usually called goniometers, or railroad transits. 1 azimuth instrument, (or field surveying instrument.) 4 surveyor's compasses. 13.prismatic compasses. 13 surveyor's chains. 110 marking-pins. 4 standard-rods for adjusting the chains. 2 reconnoitring spy-glasses. It was very important for me to know, before I departed for El Paso, what portion of this apparatus applicable to the main object in viewnamely, the survey of the line-had been taken to that point. There were no regular returns to be found in the Department of the Interior on this subject. All that could be found in relation to it consisted of detached pieces of paper in the form of receipts, given by Lieutenant Whipple for such items as he had got from the custom-house at New York, and from Mr. Bond, of Boston, and what was charged to him in Major Emory's return of March 30, 1850. The aggregate of these amounted to the following only-applicable to the surveying department and the astronomical observations, viz: 3 astronomical transits. 6 chronometers. 1 repeating-circle of reflection. 2 sextants. 1 astronomical telescope, four-feet focal, and equatorial mounting. No theodolite whatever. No small theodolite or railroad transit whatever. 1 azimuth, or field-surveying instrument, (but it was without its stand for mounting it for use.) 1 surveyor's compass only. |