Excerpt from Inspection by Generals Rusling and Hazen: Letter From the Secretary of War, in Answer to a Resolution of the House of January 3, Transmitting Reports of Inspection Made by Generals Rusling and Hazen I have examined into the question of shipping the supplies from the termini of the railroads, instead of here and Omaha, and think it impracticable this season: first, because of the short distances reached by the roads thus far; second, because the bulk of supplies required have already gone forward; and third, because of the want of accommodations for supplies, as yet, at the termini of the roads. But all this should change next spring; and can, at a large saving to the government, as I think. The plan I suggest is this: to send forward a. Depot quartermaster and station him at the terminus of each road, wherever that may be, early in the spring. Give him tents, teams, mechanics, laborers, and lumber for temporary sheds, or storehouses, and require him to push on from month to month, as the road advances, the same as depot quartermasters in the field during the war established and changed their depots. His stock on hand should never be large, but should be replenished from time to time from Leavenworth or Omaha, which he could strike by telegraph, as supplies were wanted. In other words, I would institute the same plan precisely as worked so success fully during the Atlanta campaign, when Nashville and Chattanooga were the great depots, and Dalton, Kingston, Marietta, were the shipping depots, and supplied from day to day, as Sherman indicated. I see no difiiculty whatever in doing this, and the saving to the government, by the constantly shortening distances over which costly wagon freights are to be paid, commends it to my judgment. To make great depots of Forts Riley and Kearney, on their respective routes, seems to me very unadvisable, for the cost of erecting the usees sary buildings, &c., will be very large, and the whole will be useless as the railroad ad vances, when Riley and Kearney, of course, will become mere passing posts. At the junction of the two roads beyond Denver, whenever that is reached, I think a main depot should be established; also at Fort Ellsworth, on the eastern division of the Union Pacific road, where the Santa. Fe route branches off. But with the exception of these two depots, both of which should be moderate, I recommend that no large depots be established on either road. The reasons are obvious, after what I have said above. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.