South of the route of Lieutenant Whipple, the thirty-second parallel survey was run to the Fort Yuma crossing of the Colorado River. No attempt was made in this case at a comprehensive survey under a single leader. Instead, the section from the Rio Grande at El Paso to the Red River at Preston, Texas, was run by John Pope, brevet captain in the topographical engineers, in the spring of 1854. Lieutenant J. G. Parke carried the line at the same time from the Pimas villages on the Gila to the Rio Grande. West of the Pimas villages to the Colorado, a reconnoissance made by Lieutenant-colonel Emory in 1847 was drawn upon. The lines in California were surveyed by yet a different party. Here again an easy route was discovered to exist. Within the states of California and Oregon various connecting lines were surveyed by parties under Lieutenant R. S. Williamson in 1855. The evidence accumulated by the Pacific railway surveys began to pour in upon the War Department in the spring of 1854. Partial reports at first, elaborate and minute scientific articles following later, made up a series which by the close of the decade filled the twelve enormous volumes of the published papers. Rarely have efforts so great accomplished so little in the way of actual contribution to knowledge. The chief importance of the surveys was in proving by scientific observation what was already a commonplace among laymen--that the continent was traversable in many places, and that the incidental problems of railway construction were in finance rather than in engineering. The engineers stood ready to build the road any time and almost anywhere. The Secretary of War submitted to Congress the first instalment of his report under the resolution of March 3, 1853, on February 27, 1855. As yet the labors of compilation and examination of the field manuscripts were by no means completed, but he was able to make general statements about the probability of success. At five points the continental divide had been crossed; over four of these railways were entirely practicable, although the shortest of the routes to San Francisco ran by the one pass, Cochetopa, where it would be unreasonable to construct a road.