[The Lander's Wagon Road Expedition, Alta California, May 17, 1860]

 

The Lander's Wagon Road Expedition.

            By the last mail steamer, at our readers have already been advised, Col. F. W. Lander arrived with his officers and men, for the purpose of prosecuting his expedition under orders from the General Government. During his brief sojourn here, the Colonel has been perfecting all his arrangements, and left for the scene of his labors on the Sacramento boat last evening. He did not apply to Brigadier General Clark, of the United States Army, for arms and ammunition, as was erroneously elated by a cotemporary. He did, however, hold a conversation with him on the subject, at which both agreed that the General had no authority to furnish them in this emergency, except under a War Department requisition. Col. Lander, however, sent a telegraphic dispatch to General J. P. Haven, for such arms as he might require, that officer having been provided by the General Government with them from the Arsenal at Benicia. Up to the hour of his departure yesterday, no answer had been received, so that Col. Lander himself assumed the responsibility of purchasing a stock, of rifles and revolvers, with which to arm the men under his command.

            The force composing this expedition are picked men, and although all told, number but thirty-five or forty souls, they are fully equal to double that number of inexperienced recruits. The officers are thoroughly acquainted with the section of country through which they pass, and familiar with Indian warfare.

            The risk run by this party will be greater than might at first be supposed. The fishing grounds of these hostile tribes lie directly in line of Lander's march. It is here where the squaws and papooses of the bucks undoubtedly are located, and to this place have gone the main body of the savages engaged in the recent massacre of the whites on the Truckee River.

            As the wagon road expedition is composed of so few men, and these isolated from other military parties, whose destination is to the southward, it is possible we may have to chronicle another unfortunate result. Of this fact, however, we may rest assured, to wit, that the ability, courage, and long experience of Col. Lander, and the soldier-like qualities of his men, together with the invariable success which has heretofore attended his expeditions, are a guarantee of his not having taken the field without valid and justifiable reasons. Moreover, he will find most of his old employes on his way over the mountains, and feels confident that he shall have an organization which will give a good account of itself.

            The expedition, after being fitted out in Sacramento with animals, wagons and other necessaries, will proceed to Oroville, and thence to Susan Valley, and so on through Noble's Pass into Utah, entering that Territory above Pyramid Lake, at a point some eighty miles north of the late battle ground. The reasons alleged by Colonel Lander for taking the Northern, or Noble's, Pass, are, that William West, the express rider and agent sent as an avant courier reports this route already in passable condition for vehicles, whilst, at this time, the Placerville road is not. And, furthermore, the difficulty of obtaining forage at Carson City, and the fact of the grass being eaten out of the valley, render it impracticable for the expedition to pass through the El Dorado Pass. The present plan, however, may be modified after reaching Sacramento. If the information obtained in that city renders the passage over the Placerville route feasible, it will be taken in preference to the Noble's Pass. If the late exaggerated reports of the Indian difficulties are renewed in an authentic manner, the expedition may organize with packs, and more with forage. This, however, would necessitate a return for other loads, thereby causing much delay in the progress of the expedition.

            This enterprise is fraught with immense importance to the vast tide of emigration which must be setting across the Plains, for many years to come, from the older States of the Confederacy, and, if successfully carried out will be a sure precursor of the railway that is to span the continent.