pated. Please telegraph me at once the exact condition of affairs in the northwest. I am hoping that I shall succeed in getting more troops for my district.

CLINTON B. FISK,

Brigadier-General.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KANSAS, Fort Leavenworth, May 20, 1864.

Major C. T. CHRISTENSEN,
Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.:

MAJOR: Communications of the Honorable H. P. Bennett, Delegate in Congress, the honorable the secretary of the Interior, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, have, on recommendation of Major-General Halleck, been submitted to me by order of the honorable the Secretary of war for my consideration. the Arkansas band of Arapaho Indians have a reserve on the upper Arkansas, upon which Fort Lyon is located, and I am directed to examine the location with a view to removing the post, which it is said interferes with the proposed cultivation of the soil and the good morals of the Indians. Other duties preventing me from a personal inspection of the surroundings, I have availed myself of the information [ac] quire by officers and Indian traders who have been located for years in the vicinity, and with such assistance I have compiled a map* of the country, which is submitted as an easy reference to the subject.

Fort Lyon, as the map shows, is located on the Santa Fe road, and was intended to guard that great avenue of trade, and also hold the Indians in check and security. It is in a prairie country, but little inhabited, and very remote from the solid settlements of the country. There is nothing very important about Fort Lyon as a military defense, either artificial or natural. When first located, a large body of timber known as big Timber probably induced the selection, and, as stated by Colonel Leavenworth, a few plain buildings of stone have been erected to accommodate the stores and troops. There is little or no timber on the road between Fort Larned and Fort Lyon, a distance of about 200 miles. The map shows where some timber in isolated patches, but sufficient for a post, may be obtained. I have ordered a concentration of Colorado troops at Hickory Rogers' ranch, at the month of the Black Squirrel Creek, where good water, stone, and timber are quite abundant.

There is timber on the Pawnee Fork, about 50 miles west of Fort Larned and from 15 to 20 miles from the traveled road. A garrison could be located on the creek with a picket on the road. There is also considerable timber on the Purgatoire, on the south side of the Arkansas. The timber about Fort Lyon is nearly exhausted and the post can be abandoned without great detriment to the public service. I see nothing to prevent contractors from proceeding with their canal operations for irrigation, although I am informed by persons well posted that these Arapahoes are not an agricultural tribe, and not very likely to avail themselves of such improvements. Understanding the wishes of the Department, and seeing no great objection to a change, I will direct further examination by the troops now col-

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*Not found.

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