Captain Douglas to P. B. Johnson, April 14, 1862

First Lieut. JOHN HANNA, Jr.,

LIEUTENANT: I have the honor to report that in obedience to your letter of instructions dated April 3, 1862, I have made a thorough examination of the ground at Simmons’ ranch. The ground, or rather bench of the mountain, contains about six acres of gently sloping land, bounded on three sides by Redwood Creek and on the remaining side by a very steep and rugged mountain. The elevation above the waters of the creek at the present time is full seventy-five feet perpendicular, and at only one point is there sufficient slope to admit of reaching the water without sliding down the almost pérpendicular bank. At this point the old Weaverville trail passes up the hill. The ground is covered with a dense and heavy growth of underorush from ten to fifteen feet in height, sprinkled with heavy dead pines, the outskirts of the bench being pretty heavily timbered. A small space of one or two acres has been burned over, and the stumps of the brush stick out of and cover the ground from one to two feet in height. A small garden has been inclosed on the side hill and a small corral erected below it. A small dwelling and milk house once stood on the ground below the corral, the remains of each being now visible. A small spring, over half a mile up the mountain, formerly furnished water enough for the use of the family, but I do not think it would supply the wants of a company. During the latter part of summer it generally dries, as I have been informed. The building of a military post at that point would involve an immense expenditure of time and labor, to say nothing of the extra expense over the erection of one at the point where I am now encamped. To clear the ground sufficiently to pitch the tents of my command would take nearly the same amount of tin.e and labor as it will to erect comfortable log barracks at this point, and to supply the command with water for a year, including the necessary conduit pipes from the spring,and the labor of a man and team hauling water after a road has been dug to the bed of the stream would go far toward completing an elegant set of officers’ quarters at this point. The necessary article of water can be obtained at this point at all seasons of the year by carrying it up a dozen steps or by means of a common well pump. But little oak wood 1s procurable at that point, while at this place there is an abundance to be obtained, ready cut, for a very moderate sum. Timber for building purposes is the only article easier of access than at this point. There it can be procured in abundance from the outskirts of the tract; here it is necessary to haul it across Redwood Creek, which can be done with ease at low water. The pasturage at that point is not as abundant or accessible as at this place. The crossing at that place I could not very well deterinine, being on foot, but should judge from the looks of the stream that in high water it is as dangerous and impassable as at this point. Upon making inquiries of the packers and others who have been more or less in the habit of passing over this country for the last eight or ten years, I learn that the trail running past that place does not shorten the distance to Weaverville more than ten miles; that it was not abandoned on account of the Indian dangers alone, but because it was without accommodations of any kind, and above all, because it did not pay. The trail leading via Liscombe’s Hill, Minor’s, and Hoopa Valley, is the only one that can be traveled by freight trains and passengers between Humboldt Bay, Hoopa Valley, Salmon River mines, New River, and the intermediate points, and with the exception of being some ten miles longer, is equal in every respect to the trail through to Weaverville by way of Simmons’, which leads over the mountains and strikes the Trinity River above Hoopa Valley in the vicinity of Willow Creek: If Fort Anderson is removed to Simmons’ ranch, the Hoopa Valley trail passing here from Arcata will ın a measure have to be abandoned, to the great detriment of the large number of inhabitants at Hoopa Valley, Salmon River, and New River mines, and the numbers of people engaged in trading with and between those places. The only way of approaching that location from this side is over an immense landslide, full sixty rods across, or by going upon the mountain and coming down to it from above by the Weaverville trail.

By order of Captain Douglas: