Mindful of these instructions the commission delegated General Luke E. Wright and myself to visit Benguet and familiarize ourselves with conditions by investigation on the ground.  General MacArthur was dubious when we expressed a desire to carry out the instructions of the secretary of war.  He told us that the country was very dangerous, doubtless confusing it with Bangued, the capital of Abra, near which there was at that time a strong and active Insurgent force.

We insisted on going, so he said that he would send a troop of cavalry with us, and he kept his word.  During the last week of July we finally sailed from Manila on a naval vessel for San Fernando in the province of Union.  From this place we expected to go by road as far as Naguilian, in the same province, and thence on horseback to Trinidad and Baguio, in Benguet.

In order to expedite investigations as much as possible we took with us Mr. Horace L. Higgins, president of the Manila and Dagupan Railway Company, who was an engineer of experience, to report on the practicability of constructing a railway to Baguio.  We also took Major L. M. Maus, of the army medical corps, and Dr. Frank S. Bourns, who then held the volunteer rank of major in the same corps, to report on the possibilities of the place as a health resort.  Two young naval officers went along just for the trip.

Major Maus accompanied us only because requested to do so.  Taking the latitude and altitude as a basis for his calculations, he had already determined with a lead pencil and piece of paper just what the climate of Baguio must be, and had demonstrated to his own complete satisfaction that the statements of the members of the Spanish committee above referred to were necessarily false.

His first rude shock came when we were met at San Fernando by a young aide to Colonel [506] Duval, who was in command of the local garrison at that place.  This lieutenant told us that some negro soldiers were stationed at Trinidad and were being kept supplied by an army pack train.  I asked him how they were getting on.  He said very well, except that they could not keep warm.  They had called for all the spare blankets available, but still complained of the cold!

The trail proved to be in execrable condition.  No repair work had been done on it since 1896, and its constant use during the then-existing rainy season by a pack train had completed its destruction.  Much of the way it was a mere V in the earth, with deep mud at the bottom.

We left Naguilian early in the morning and stopped for lunch at a little place properly called Sablan, but unofficially known as “The Bells.”  Aguinaldo had thought at one time of establishing his headquarters in Benguet and had planned to have a gun foundry at Sablan.  His troops accordingly stole most of the church bells in the neighbouring lowland towns, meaning to use them for gun metal, and compelled the unfortunate Benguet Igorots to carry them up the steep trail.  Boiler pipes, which had been used in lieu of carrying poles, had in several instances been badly bent out of shape.  There was even an old vertical boiler which had been lugged up entire for some unknown reason.