at Camp Wright by R. R. Dickey, dated at San Bernardino, December 2, 1861, in reference to horses in their possession; also letter from R. H. Ward, directed to the Honorable J. N. Ward, Merced County, unsealed, for his disposal.

E. A. R.

HEADQUARTERS HUMBOLDT MILITARY DISTRICT,
Fort Humboldt, February 4, 1862.

Major R. C. DRUM, U. S. Army,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Pacific:

MAJOR: Since my former letter the routes have become still more impracticable. It has been raining almost without intermission, stopping for three or four days only to cover the mountains and fill up the ravines with snow, in some places to a very great depth. We are here literally on jail limits, some two or three miles in extent, almost as completely cut off from the world-nay, from the rest of my district-as if we were on some desert island. Of course I have had but little news from the interior. I have heard of an instance of Indian depredations upon stock, andof the supposed murder by indians of two or three white men on Eel River. Since my arrival I have had no news from Fort Bragg, the small garrison at Fort Seward, nor from Fort Ter-Vaw, to which I wrote up for a report, by the way of Crescent City, when the steamer was here before. The only news I have had from Fort Gaston is a letter from Captain Johns, of the 5th of January, received by me on the 14th, asking rather urgently for arms and provisions, and speaking of expected Indian difficulties. On the 15th I sent him a supply of both, including subsistence for his command of forty-six men for sixty days, with an escort of eight men. The supplies were packed on mules at Arcata (the terminus on the bay of the trail to Gaston), where they had been stored for some time under a contract with an experienced and energetic train conductor. For the particulars of the contract with him I refer you to Acting Quartermaster Swasey's report to Colonel Babbitt by this mail. The conductor expected to make the trop to Gaston, which is only about forty miles from Arcate, in about four days. Instead of that when last heard from, two or thee days since, they had not been able to get farther than the Redwoods, some ten or twelve miles from Arcata. In the direction of Fort Seward the route must be still worse. Five or six weeks ago, when the cavalry came down from there, their only means of crossing some of the dstreams was by felling some lofty tree near the bank long enough to reach across, on which the men and the entire baggage were passed over, while the animals were made to swim. As it has rained almost incessantly since then, it would seem to be impossible at present to send any supplies to that point from here, even if a mounted messenger could get through. Two or three days since some citizens of Hydesville arrived here on foot, the trail being in such a condition that they would not venture to take the journey on horseback. Hydesville is on the route to Fort Seward, about twenty-two miles from here, and the trail to it has been hitherto much more constantly traveled than any other in the country. From information obtained from different sources I am decidedly of opinion that Fort Seward shoud be abandoned. It is situated about eighty miles from here, near the boundary of Mendocino County, on the farther side of Eel River. To reach there it is necessary to cross several strams, which in the winter season become roaring mountain torrents; but the most important objection