which I passed. I availed myself of the best information I could obtain from trappers and intelligent Indians who were well acquainted with the mountain passes and the course of the rivers. Not having had instruments with me, the maps were necessarily only an approximation to the true position. When I was at the council ground in 1851, on the Platte river, at the mouth of the Horse creek, I was requested by Colonel Mitchell to make a map of the whole Indian country, relating particularly to the upper Missouri, the waters of the upper Platte, east of the Rocky Mountains and of the headwaters of the Columbia and its tributaries west of these mountains. In compliance with this request I drew up the map from scraps then in my possession. The map, so prepared, was seemingly approved and made use of by the gentlemen assembled in council, and subsequently sent on to Washington together with the treaty then made with the Indians. In my humble opinion, therefore, it can be of very little service for your purposes, in which accuracy of instrumental measurement and observation seems to be absolutely necessary. Again, since that time, several scientific exploring parties, sent out by Government, have given the most reliable and accurate information on these subjects.
Should it ever be in my power to afford you any useful information, I not only deem it a duty but also an honorable as well as an agreeable task.
Most respectfully, etc.
Honorable Messrs. ALBERT and CAMPBELL, Department of the Interior, Washington, D. C.
St. Louis University, Jan. 13, 1858.
Mr. E. T. DENIG, Red River of the North, British America:
Dear Friend.- It is useless to make an apology; I must plead guilty, for I should have written to you long ago.