Pittsburgh 20^th Ap^l [undecipherable] S[ir] I have now the honour of answering your letter the [undecipherable]. It is necessary for me to [undecipherable], in order to [undecipherable] you [undecipherable] giving the information required by you, that the [Q?]Master Department for Pittsburgh and its dependencies has been. Conducted by [undecipherable] without any responsibility and consequently without any direction. Previous to your arrival at this place I had directed [undecipherable] to bring up his accounts to the first of this month. I [undecipherable] him that from [that?] time I should assume the direction & responsibility of the [Q?]Master Department throughout these Posts. — In consequence of [undecipherable] I received returns from him, but they were not so full as required by you, which induced me to get [undecipherable] enable me to give you information on the several points you proposed with tolerable accuracy. — You have already had a return of [undecipherable] at this place [with?] its immediate dependencies, which will answer your first head. — The [undecipherable] heads of your requisition will be answered by the enclosed return which I received from [undecipherable]. — I [undecipherable] you an exact enumeration of the persons employed in the [Public?] [Service?] [at?] these several Stations, rations, and daily & monthly [pay?] & subsistence, together with the contingent disbursements, permanent and incidental, including [undecipherable] & [undecipherable]. — I can not, pass this part without observing, that I contemplated on my assuming the Responsibility of the [Q?]Master's department for this [port?] & its dependencies, a considerable reduction of expenses. — There are at present a great many boats which are navigated between this place & [Le Boeuf?] on freight — The rate per hundred pounds from [undecipherable] to [Le Boeuf?] is about two and half Dollars — a boat navigated by [undecipherable] seven men will carry from six to seven tons, & will perform a trip in twenty two days — The Navigation opens about the 15^th [undecipherable] & continues good to the last of May — In the fall of the year the navigation may be calculated on with tolerable certainty from the [1^st?] of Novem^r to the Middle of December — I will [undecipherable] that the navigation of the [undecipherable] to [Fort?] [Franklin?] [undecipherable] and that [Fort Franklin?] [undecipherable] so as to render the navigation much longer than the periods before mentioned. — There never has been a wagon road opened from this place to the [Boeuf?], but an idea of the expense of [transporting?] [undecipherable] may be formed from the distance & the kind of road that may be established. — A good wagon road can be made from this place to [Le Boeuf?], & the distance will not exceed one hundred & twenty miles — An [ox?] team of three [pairs?] of oxen will perform a trip from this place to [undecipherable] [Le Boeuf?] in twenty days & carry eight Barrels of [flour?] — this team is worth three & a half Dollars per day, which would be twenty Dollars for the trip, will make the [cost?] of [freight?] for a Barrel of [flour?] eight Dollars & [undecipherable] cents, or four Dollars & thirty seven & a half cents per hundred pounds — an ox team will carry eight Barrels Barrels of [flour?] from [Le Boeuf?] to [Presque Isle?], & perform the trip in three days, which at four Dollars per day for the team, would make the cost of carrying a barrel of [flour?] one Dollar & fifty cents, or seventy five cents per hundred Pounds. — I have the honour to be with Great respect your Very Hum[ble?]. Ser[van]t. Jn^o. Wilkins Jun[ior?]. [Q?]Master Gen^l Gen^l James Wilkinson Commander in Chief United States Army