[Illustration: YOSEMITE FALLS.] ACROSS AMERICA: OR THE GREAT WEST AND THE PACIFIC COAST. BY JAMES F. RUSLING, _Late Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. V._ [Illustration] NEW YORK: SHELDON & COMPANY. 1874. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by JAMES F. RUSLING, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE. In the summer of 1866, having lately concluded a tour of inspection through the West and South, and awaiting orders in Washington, it was my fortune one morning to receive the following: "QUARTERMASTER-GENERAL'S OFFICE, } "WASHINGTON, D. C., _July_ 10, 1866. } "GENERAL:--You will immediately enter upon a tour of inspection of the affairs of the Quartermaster's Department, as administered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and thence west _via_ Denver City and Salt Lake City to the Pacific Coast, inspecting all intermediate Posts while _en route_. At Denver City you will confer with Brevet Col. Howard, A. Q. M., as to the practicability of breaking up that depot, and removing the stores to other points where needed. Thence to Salt Lake City, where a rigid inspection is needed. Thence to San Francisco, Cal. "Upon reaching the Pacific Coast, you will confer with the Commanding General and Chief Quartermaster of the Military Division of the Pacific, and having procured necessary information relative to the locality, importance, etc. of the various Posts, you will proceed upon a careful inspection throughout California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington and Arizona Territories. Upon completing this duty, you will return to this city, _via_ the Isthmus, and report in person to the Quartermaster-General. "It will be necessary to keep this Office fully informed, in advance, as to your probable whereabouts, so that instructions may be telegraphed to you at the stations where you are on duty when necessary. "You are authorized to take a clerk with you. * * * * * "Very respectfully, "Your ob't serv't., "M. C. MEIGS, "_Quartermaster-General_, } "_Brevet Maj.-Gen., U. S. A._" } "_Brevet Brig.-Gen. James F. Rusling_, } "_Inspector Q. M. Dep't._" } These, my orders, were subsequently endorsed as follows: