the commanding general will approve my action. I have directed the commissary at Fort Yuma not to forward any more flour or beans to Tubac. As the stores destined for Forts Goodwin and Bowie will turn off for those posts as Tucson, I will establish a sub-depot at that point, sending one company of the Seventh Infantry to that post. I will direct them to take possession of vacant buildings known to belong to rebels who have left the country. This will obviate the necessity of hiring many. There are no hostile Apaches living in this section of the country. Their homes are principally north of the Gila, a few in the Chiricahua and Huachuca ranges of mountains. They come in here, however, in bands of from ten to seventy, steal and murder. I propose hunting them in their homes, and thus relieve the settlements. To-morrow I start for Fort Bowie, where I shall make a very short stay, and then go to Fort Goodwin, where I learn is a large number of Apaches - those of the Sierra Blanca Mountains, known as Coyoteros, the very Indians who commit most of the depredations in this vicinity - collected, desirous of making peace. This will present many difficulties as to where they can be placed on a reservation, how provided for the coming winter, &c. Unless they can be taken care of for a time, placed on a reservation and protected from the whites on it, and fed for a time, I fear any treaty we may make will be really worthless. The country occupied by them is supposed to very rich in mineral. The miners will follow closely on the heels of the troops, and difficulties with the Apaches will inevitably follow. If they cannot be removed from the Territory, I would suggest taking Fort Buchanan adn the Sonoita, a narrow valley about twenty-five miles in length, containing plenty of arable land, and wood, water, and grass sufficient for their wants. I will report the result of our interview from Goodwin. I have ordered Company L, First California Cavalry, lately stationed at Tubac, to re-enforce Fort Bowie, as it is an important point. I have directed all citizen employes at posts to be discharged, and shall retain in the field only such as are indispensable. I will also be compelled to employ good guides when I can get hold of them, and cannot wait for approval from department headquarters, as the time for the use of their services will have passed. I have therefore respectfully to request some modification of department orders on this subject to meet the immediate wants of the service here. We cannot communicate with department headquarters in less than a month, and I expect to have a large expedition in the Pinal Mountains by that time, and cannot well get along without guides, who, having been prisoners of the Apaches, know their language and their haunts. The usual reports and returns will be forwarded so soon as we can get open communication with the different posts. I am establishing a semimonthly express from the different posts to Prescott, where we connect with the only mail route in the Territory.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. S. MASON,

Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Commanding District of Arizona.

BRIGADE HEADQUARTERS, Sacramento, June 19, 1865.

Colonel R. C. DRUM,

Asst. Adjt. General, Hdqrs. Dept. of the Pacific, San Francisco:

COLONEL: Inclosed herewith is a copy of a letter from General Bidwell, 17th instant. I have ated at once in the matter, as you will see