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144 and do they overflow, and are they timbered?

                                                Very respectfully
                                                 Your obdt. servant
                                         (Sgd)  G. B. Russell
                                                    Aide-de-Camp

______________________________________________________ ANSWERS to the foregoing questions in Circular Letter. ______________________________________ Hd. Qrs. Fort Sill, I. T. December 9, 1874.

A. Adj't. General, Dep't. of Texas, Sir:

         I have the honor to submit the following Answers to the queries contained in your Circular of the 8th inst., addressed to myself and Officers of my Command.
    1st.,     the water of McClellan Creek and the Sweetwater is good, abundant and permanent.  That of the North Fork is not permanent above the mouth of McClellan Creek.
    2nd.     there is no timber on any of these streams, fit for anything but firewood.  What there is, is principally Cottonwood, but enough on the three to furnish a post, on one of them, for some years to come.
    3rd.,     the Sweetwater has the best and most abundant grass.
    4th.,     I know of no suitable building stone in the vicinity of either and the soil contains too much sand for adobes.
    5th.,     the character of the country in the vicinity of these streams is about alike, rolling sand hills.
    6th.,     I saw no evidences of coal in the vicinity of these streams.