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TO MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN A, DIX,

President of the Union Pacific Railroad Company ;

American Minister to the Court of France, etc.

GENERAL: The following narrative of personal inci-
dents, connected with a professional visit to the Rocky
Mountains, and Laramie Plains, during the months of
September, October and November of the past year, in
company with Hon. Jesse L. Williams, Government
Director, and Gen. G. M. Dodge, Chief Engineer of the
Union Pacific Railroad, was originally written for, and
all but the last three numbers, published in the “ New
York Times.”

Your appointment by the President of the United
States, as Foreign Minister, made it necessary for you to
leave the country before the numbers were all published ;
and also prevented you, much to the disappointment of
yourself as well as of your associates in the management
of the road, from participating in the great celebration
of the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad to the
one hundredth meridian of longitude, which is imper-
fectly described in the last numbers.

I have, therefore, taken the liberty of collecting,
revising, and dedicating them to you, in their present