28 Joseph Schafer pease, etc., etc., cattle, sheep, swine and horses are very abun- dant, and the fisheries so productive that they would alone afford the inhabitants the means of living if all other resources failed. Salt is procured in the settlement from numerous saline springs in the neighborhood, and maple is so plentiful as to afford large supplies of sugar. The distance from the settlement to York Factory, the company's principal depot on the shores of Hudson's Bay, in communication with England, is about 700 miles. Lake Winnipeg, which is navigable by decked vessels, forms nearly half the distance. From thence to the coast the navigation, by a chain of rivers and lakes, is practically by boats of three and a half to four tons burden. The downward voyage with cargoes is usually performed in about 16 days, and the upward voyage in from five to six weeks. By that route such articles of British produce and manufacture as might be required in the country can be conveyed at a charge of about 15 per cent on English invoice prices. The Company have at Red River Settlement two establish- ments or forts, walled in and protected by bastions of suffi- cient extent to quarter a regiment, and from the facility of obtaining labor and stone, lime, brush, timber and other mate- rials, extensive buildings might be erected there at a very short notice. Red River Settlement is the most favorable situation in the Indian Territory east of the Rocky Mountains for a military depot, and large levies of troops might be there raised from the half caste population and the neighboring Indian tribes, who, when properly disciplined, would form such a force as would overcome many, and greatly harass all, the United States settlements on the Missouri. A detachment of about 200 regular troops, however, I should consider sufficient to form the nucleus of a force of several thousand natives, who from their activity and habits of life, are admirably adapted for guerilla warfare. The result of your own observations on
the spot will, I have no doubt, confirm all I have said on this----
