The chief problems of the Stevens survey lay west of Fort Benton, in the passes of the continental divide. Lieutenant Saxton had left Vancouver early in July, crossed the Cascades with difficulty, and started up the Columbia from the Dalles on July 18. He reached Fort Walla Walla on the 27th, and proceeded thence with a half-breed guide through the country of the Spokan and the Coeur d'Alene. Crossing the Snake, he broke his only mercurial barometer and was forced thereafter to rely on his aneroid. Deviating to the north, he crossed Lake Pend d'Oreille on August 10, and reached St. Mary's village, in the Bitter Root Valley, on August 28. St. Mary's village, among the Flatheads, had been established by the Jesuit fathers, and had advanced considerably, as Indian civilization went. Here Saxton erected his supply depot, from which he advanced with a smaller escort to join the main party. Always, even in the heart of the mountains, the country exceeded his expectations. "Nature seemed to have intended it for the great highway across the continent, and it appeared to offer but little obstruction to the passage of a railroad." Acting on Saxton's advice, Governor Stevens reduced his party at Fort Benton, stored much of his government property there, and started west with a pack train, for the sake of greater speed. He moved on September 22, anxious lest snow should catch him in the mountains. At Fort Benton he left a detachment to make meteorological observations during the winter. Among the Flatheads he left another under Lieutenant Mullan. On October 7 he hurried on again from the Bitter Root Valley for Walla Walla. On the 19th he met McClellan's party, which had been spending a difficult season in the passes of the Cascade range. Because of overcautious advice which McClellan here gave him, and since his animals were tired out with the summer's hardships, he practically ended his survey for 1853 at this point. He pushed on down the Columbia to Olympia and his new territory. The energy of Governor Stevens enabled him to make one of the first of the Pacific railway reports. His was the only survey from the Mississippi to the ocean under a single commander. Dated June 30, 1854, it occupies 651 pages of Volume I of the compiled reports. In 1859 he submitted his "narrative and final report" which the Senate ordered Secretary of War, John B. Floyd, to communicate to it in February of that year. This document is printed as supplement to Volume I, but really consists of two large volumes which are commonly bound together as Volume XII of the series. Like the other volumes of the reports, his are filled with lithographs and engravings of fauna, flora, and topography.