s of steel.[119] The Oregon treaty of 1846 brought
part of the coveted land under the jurisdiction of the United States,
and the necessity of a railroad to the Pacific was soon realized. But
sectional interests prevented agreement upon any certain route, and it
was decided to survey the most promising and choose the one agreed upon
by the engineers. Accordingly, the army appropriation bill of 1853
provided $150,000 for this purpose.[120]

Isaac I. Stevens, the newly appointed Governor of Washington Territory,
led the party which examined the country between the parallels of
forty-seven and forty-nine degrees north latitude--called the Northern
Pacific Survey. He left Washington, D. C, on May 9, 1853, and reached
St. Paul on May 27th. According to his instructions he was authorized to
call upon one sergeant, two corporals, one musician, and sixteen
privates of Company D First Dragoons, who were still stationed at Fort
Snelling.[121] Captain Gardiner, who had preceded his leader up the
river, had selected the escort and collected the party on May 24th in
Camp Pierce--a temporary encampment located three miles northwest of the
fort.[122] Early in June camp was broken and the start for the far West
was made, at first, over the Red River Trail, and then across the
prairies to Fort Union, where on August 1st they were joined by others
who had been sent up the Missouri with supplies. Fort Benton was reached
on September 1st There they remained until the twelfth of the month when
Lieutenant Saxton, leading a similar party eastward from
Vancouver, arrived. Thus a survey from the Mississippi to the Pacific
had been completed.[123]

On the journey the entire party had been divided into small groups, who
conducted surveys and explorations in various directions. To each of
these groups were detailed a few of the dragoons, who were in all
respects an integral part of the expedition and not merely a guard for
protection. Accordingly, no special mention of their work was made in
the report.[124]

After thirty years, the distinction of being the most northwestern post
in the upper Mississippi region was lost by Fort Snelling. Other
military stations were erected, and thereafter many of its former
activities were conducted from these stations on the extreme frontier.
Yet in everything contributed by these newer posts, the older had a
part; accounts of them reveal their dependence on Fort Snelling, the
parent post.

As early as 1844