V,** /^fe'- V.c-^* -'^Va- -e. ^«'»^ 9n the 5th of July, 1838, to increase the military estab- lishment. The fourth section required that the corps of topographical engineers should be or- ganized and increased, by regular promotion in the same, so that the said corps should consist of one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, four ma- jors, ten captains, ten first lieutenants, and ten EAKLY HISTORY. 19 second lieutenants ; and the fifth section or- dained that the vacancies created by said organization, over and above those which could be filled by the corps itself, should be taken from the army, and from such as it may be deemed advisable of the civil engineers em- ployed under the act of the 30th of April, 1824. This latter clause let in Mr. Fremont. It was probably designed to do so, as his friend and patron, Mr. Poinsett, was then Secretary of War. He was accordingly commissioned, two days afterwards, on the 7th of July, 1838, as a sec- ond lieutenant of the topographical engineers. About this time, he had been transferred to the theatre of his fame, the field where his great work in life was to be done. A thorough exploration and survey of the vast region north of the Missouri, and west of the Mississippi, was deemed by the administra- tion to, have become necessary, and arrange- ments were made to accomplish it. Mr. Nicho- let, a learned and distinguished astronomer, and man of science, a member of the French Acad- emy, and a gentleman of great general accom- plishments and worth, then residing in St. Louis, was appointed to conduct the service. He re- quested to have associated with him a younger person, to act as his assistant, with the requisite qualities of science, energy, courage, and enter- prise. Mr. Poinsett offered the situation to 20 LIFE OF FREMONT. Lieutenant Fremont, who promptly and gladly accepted it. The years 1838 and 1839 were spent in this field, and the whole country was explored up to the British line. Mr. Fremont participated zealously in the work, and in mak- ing the map of that region, which was presented to the government by ]\Ir. Nicholei In the course of these surveys there were seventy thou- sand meteorological observations, and the topog- raphy was minutely determined by the proper calculations at innumerable points. The map thus constructed has been the source from which all subsequent ones relating to that region have been derived. In the spring of 1841, Lieutenant Fremont went in command of a small party to survey the Desmoines River. On the 19th of October, 1841, he was mamed> in the city of "Washington, to Jessie, daughter of the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, a Senator in Congress from the State of Missouri. It is not at all strange that objections Avere made to the match. A second lieutenant, — in a corps where promotion is very slow, and having no other means of support than the unreasonably small pay allowed to subordinate officers in our army, " — surely had nothing to recommend him, in the way of worldly goods or prospects. He had not then commenced his great career, — no world-wide lustre had begun to emblazon his EARLY niSTOKY. 21 name, — no perilous adventures, on a broad theatre, had drawn out, to general view, his heroic qualities. But the instincts of a pure heart are often the truest wisdom ; and he was preferred before ail that fashion, wealth, and great station could offer. All know the pride and fidelity with which Colonel Benton has, ever since that time, cher- ished the character of his son-in-law. Bereft of his own sons by early death, his heart has gath- ered its affections around Fremont. He has four daughters, all living, and all married. IVIrs. Fremont is the second daughter, and was born in Virginia, at the family seat of her grandfather, Colonel McDowell, on the 31st May, 1824. All that it would be proper to say of her in this work, is all that could be said of any woman, — she is worthy of her origin, and of her lot. We have now reached the point at which Mr. Fremont arrested that universal attention which has followed him ever since. His two first expeditions, on a large scale, will be related mostly in his own language, in consecutive ex- tracts from his Reports published by Congress. The first Report was republished, together with the second, by an order of the Senate of the United States, passed March 3, 1845. These Reports at once established his reputation, as a scientific explorer and heroic adventurer, through- out the world. Large editions of them have been 22 LIFE OE FREMONT. reprinted by booksellers in this country, and also in England, and they have been noticed with the highest commendation in the various literary and scientific journals, at home and abroad. The Smithsonian Institution inserted among its publications a description of the plants col- lected by him, in California, prepared by John Torrey, F. L. S., with illustrative plates, enti- tled " Plantce Fremontiance.''^ Nothing has con- tributed more to the honor of our country than the manner in which its gallant and enlightened officers have conducted various exploring expe- ditions, and prepared reports of them. A rich and interesting body of national literature has thus been accumulated. Fremont's Reports of his first and second expeditions, at once gave him an European reputation, which has not yet been rivalled. When the Reports of the last three expeditions are given to the world, it will be found that his explorations cover mor,e ground, and bring a larger contribution to geo- graphical and other science, than can be claimed for any othernameinour annals. Of the literary style of these Reports, the reader will be able to judge from the following chapters CHAPTER 11. FIRST EXPEDITION PRAIRIES FORT LARAMIE SOUTH PASS ROCKY MOUNTAINS PLATTE OR NEBRASKA RIVER. The first expedition of Lieutenant Fremont, in command of an exploring party on a large scale, occupied the summer of 1842, and embraced the country between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, along the line of the Kansas, and the Great Platte, or Nebraska, river. Hav- ing received his insti'uctions from Colonel J. J. Abert, chief of the corps of topographical en- gineers, he left Washington City on the 2d of May, and arrived at St. Louis, by way of New York, on the 22d of that month, where he made the principal preparations for the service. Hav- ing ascended the Missouri in a steamboat, he proceeded to Choteau's Landing, on the right bank of the Kansas, about ten miles from its mouth, and six miles beyond the western boiuid- ary of Missouri. Here the final arrangements were completed, every requisite point provided (23) 24 LIFE OF FREMONT. for, and the expedition organized into working order and shape. The party, which had been collected in St. Louis, consisted principally of Creole and Cana- dian voyageurs, who had been trained to prairie life and^wilderness adventures in the employ of fur companies in the Indian country, and con-, sisted of twenty-two men. Besides them, there was Mr. Charles Preuss, a native of Germany, who had been thoroughly educated to sketch the topographical features of a country, and to whose extraordinary skill and enthusiasm, in the prose- cution of the service assigned him. Col. Fremont has always borne the most affectionate and grate- ful testimony. Mr. L. Maxwell was engaged as a hunter, and Christopher Carson, celebrated the world over for his genius and exploits as a moun- taineer, and everywhere known as Kit Carson, was the guide of the expedition. Henry Brant, a son of Col. J. H. Brant, of St. Louis, nineteen years of age, and Randolph, a son of Col. Benton, twelve years of age, also accompanied it. The latter, of course, was especially under the charge of Mr. Fremont. Such an experience, it was thought, would be favorable to his physical and mental development ; and it was justly sup- posed that an interesting lad of that age would be a source of amusement and an object of at- tachment to men, v/hose mode of life had given them but little opportunity to enjoy the society FIRST EXPEDITION. 25 of such a companion. Randolph was undoubt- edly the pet and the pride of the party. Eight men conducted as many carts, which contained stores, baggage, and instruments, and were each drawn by two mules. All the rest were well armed and mounted. A few extra horses, and four oxen, as an addition to the stock of pro- visions, completed the train. It started on the morning of Friday, the 10th of June. Mr. Cho- teau accompanied the party until they met an Indian, whom he had engaged to conduct them some forty miles, thus giving them a fair start. It will be well, before entering upon a detail of the adventures of the expedition in its route, to describe the general regulations and ordinary arrangements, in travel and in camp, from day to day. " During our journey, it was the customary practice to encamp an hour or two before sunset, when the carts were disposed so as to form a sort of barricade around a circle some eighty yards in diameter. The tents were pitched, and the horses hobbled and turned loose to graze ; and but a few minutes elapsed before the cooks of the messes, of which there were four, were busily engaged • in preparing the evening meal. At nightfall the horses, mules, and oxen were driven hi, and picketed — that is, secured by a halter, of which one end was tied to a small steel-shod picket, and driven into the ground; the halter 3 26 LIFE OF FREMONT. being twenty or thirty feet long, which enabled them to obtain a little food during the night. When we had reached a part of the country where such a precaution became necessary, the carts being regularly arranged for defending the camp, guard was mounted at eight o'clock, con- sisting of three men, who were relieved every two hours ; the morning watch being horse guard for the day. At daybreak the camp was roused, the animals turned loose to graze, and breakfast generally over between six and seven o'clock, when we resumed our march, making regularly a halt at noon for one or two hours. Such was usually the order of the day, except when acci- dent of countiy forced a variation ; which, how- ever, happened but rarely." The party was now fairly afloat on the bound- less ocean of prairie, the Indian guide had left, and the excitements and perils of the service began. " We reached the ford of the Kansas late in the afternoon of the 14th, where the river was two hundred and thirty yards wide, and com- menced immediately preparations for crossing. I had expected to find the river fordable ; but it had been swollen by the late rains, and was sweeping by with an angry current, yellow and turbid as the Missouri. Up to this point, the road we had travelled was a remarkably fine one, well beaten, and level — the usual road of a FIRST EXPEDITION. 27 prairie country. By our route, the ford was one hundred miles from the mouth of the Kansas River. Several mounted men led the way into the stream, to swim across. The animals were driven in after them, and in a few minutes all had reached the opposite bank in safety, with the exception of the oxen, which swam some dis- tance down the river, and, returning to the right bank, were not got over until the next morning. In the mean time, the carts had been unloaded and dismantled, and an India-rubber boat, which I had brought with me for the survey of the Platte River, placed in the water. The boat was twenty feet long, and five broad, and on it were placed the body and wheels of a cart, with the load belonging to it, and three men with paddles. " The velocity of the current, and the inconven- ient freight, rendering it difficult to be managed, Basil Lajeunesse, one of our best swimmers, took in his teeth a line attached to the boat, and swam ahead in order to reach a footing as soon as pos- sible, and assist in drawing her over. In this manner, six passages had been successfully made, and as many carts with their contents, and a greater portion of the party deposited on the left bank ; but night was drawing near, and, in our anxiety to have all over before the darkness closed in, I put upon the boat the remaining two carts, with thek accompanying load. The man at tlie helm was timid on water, and, in his alarm, 28 LIFE OF FREMONT. capsized the boat. Carts, barrels, boxes, and bales, were in a moment floating down the cur- rent ; but all the men who were on the shore jumped into the water, without stopping to think if they could swim, and almost everything — even heavy articles, such as guns and lead — was recovered. " Two of the men, who could not swim, came nigh being drowned, and all the sugar belonging to one of the messes wasted its sweets on the muddy waters ; but our heaviest loss was a bag of coffee, which contained nearly all our provision. It was a loss which none but a traveller in a strange and inhospitable country can appreciate ; and often afterward, when excessive toil and long marching had overcome us with fatigue and weariness, we remembered and mourned over our loss in the Kansas. Carson and Maxwell had been much in the water yesterday, and both, in consequence, were taken ill." The various aspects and incidents of prairie scenery and life are presented with great felicity of description. The following passages will be read with interest. They had met a party of trappers belonging to the American Fur Com- pany :— " We laughed then at their forlorn and vaga- bond appearance, and in our turn, a month or two afterward, furnished the same occasion for merriment to others. Even their stock of tobac- THE PRAIRIE. 29 CO, that sine qua non of a voyageur, without which the night fire is gloomy, was entirely ex- hausted. However, we shortened their home- ward journey by a small supply of our own provis- ion. They gave us the welcome intelligence that the buffalo were abundant some two days' march in advance, and made us a present' of some choice pieces, which were a very acceptable change from our salt pork. In the interchange of news, and the renewal of old acquaintanceships, we found wherewithal to fill a busy hour ; then we mounted our horses, and they shouldered their packs, and we shook hands and parted. Among them, I had found an old companion on the northern prairie, a hardened and hardly served veteran of the mountains, w^ho had been as much hacked and scarred as an old inoustache of Napoleon's " old guard." He flourished in the sobriquet of La Tulipe, and his real name I never knew. Finding that Tie was going to the States only because his company was bound in that dkection, and that he was rather more willing to return with me, I took him again into my ser- vice." La Tulipe, so graphically described by Fre- mont in the foregoing extract, belongs to a class of men who add much to the romantic interest of the great * interior wilds of our continent. The sailors of the prairie, their only home is 9n those mighty wastes, their life is spent in 3* 30 LIFE OF FREMONT. wandering from point to point, their eyes delight in the boundless landscape, their hearts in scenes of peril and adventure. They are as completely severed from the ties of locality, and the re- straints of ordinary life, as the sailor ; they are as familiar with physical suffering, and with ex- posure to storm and death, as free from care, and as brave, generous, and noble-hearted. " At our evening camp, about sunset, three figures were discovered approaching, which our glasses made out to be Indians. They proved to be Cheyennes — -two men, and a boy of thir- teen. About a month since, they had left their people on the south fork of the river, some three hundred miles to the westward, and a party of only four in number had been to the Pawnee villages on a horse-stealing excursion, from which they were returning unsuccessful. They were miserably mounted on wild horses from the Arkansas plains, and had rfo other weapons than bows and long spears ; and had they been dis- covered by the Pawnees, could not, by any possibility, have escaped. They v/ere mortified by their ill success, and said the Pawnees were cowards, who shut up their horses in their lodges at night. I invited them to supper with me, and Randolph and the young Cheyenne, who had been eyeing each other suspiciously and curiously, soon became intimate friends. " A few miles brought us into the midst of the t^heyenne Family — a Warrior, hii? Mother, Wife aiul Child. THE PRAIKIE. 31 buffalo, swarming in immense numbers over the plains, where they had left scarcely a blade of grass standing. Mr. Preuss, who was sketching at a little distance in the rear, had at first noted them as large groves of timber. In the sight of such a mass of life, the traveller feels a strange emotion of grandeur. We had heard from a dis- tance a dull and confused murmuring, and, when we came in view of their dark masses, there was not one among us who did not feel his heart beat quicker. It was the early part of the day, when the herds are feeding ; and everywhere they were 4n motion. Here and there a huge old bull was rolling in the grass, and clouds of dust rose in the air from various parts of the bands, each the scene of some obstinate fis^ht. Indians and buf- falo make the poetry and life of the prairie, and our camp was full of their exhilaration. In place of the quiet monotony of the march, relieved only by the cracking of the whip, and an * avance done ! enfant de garee I ' shouts and songs re- sounded from every part of the line, and our evening camp was always the commencement of a feast, which terminated only with our de- parture on the following morning. At any time of the night might be seen pieces of the most delicate and choicest meat, roasting en appolas^ on sticks around the fire, and the guard were never without company. With pleasant weather and no enemy to fear, and abundance of the most 32 LIFE OF FEEMONT. excellent meat, and no scarcity of bread or to- bacco, they were enjoying the oasis of a voy- ageur's life. Three cows were killed to-day. Kit Carson had shot one, and was continuing the chase in the midst of another herd, when his horse fell headlong, but sprang up and joined the flying band. Though considerably hurt, he had the good fortune to break no bones ; and Maxwell, who was mounted on a fleet hunter, captured the runaway after a hard chase. He was on the point of shooting him, to avoid the loss of his bridle, (a handsomely mounted Span- ish one,) when he found that his horse was able to come up with him. Animals are frequently lost in this way ; and it is necessary to keep close watch over them, in the vicinity of the buffalo, in the midst of which they scour off to the plains, and are rarely retaken. One of our mules took a sudden freak into his head, and joined a neighboring band to-day. As we were not in a condition to lose horses, I sent several men in pursuit, and remained in camp, in the hope of retiovering him ; but lost the afternoon to no purpose, as we did not see him again. Astro- nomical observations placed us in longitude 100^ 05' 47^', latitude 40^ 49' 55^\ " Mt/ 1. As we were riding quietly along the bank, a grand herd of buffalo, some seven or eight hundred in number, came crowding up from the river, where they had been to drink, and com- PRAIEIES. 33 menced crossing the plain slowly, eating as they went. The wind was favorable ; the coolness bf the morning invited to exercise ; the ground was apparently good, and the distance across the prairie (two or 'three miles) gave us a fine opportunity to charge them before they could get among the river hills. It was too fine a prospect for a chase to be lost; and, halting for a few moments, the hunters were brought up and saddled, and Kit Carson, Maxwell, and I started together. They were now somewhat less than half a mile distant, and we rode easily along- until within about three hundred yards, when a sudden agitation, a wavering in the band, and a galloping to and fro of some which were scattered along the skirts, gave us the inti- mation that we were discovered. We started together at a hand gallop, riding steadily abreast of each other, and here the interest of the chase became so engrossingly intense, that we were sensible to nothing else. We were now closing upon them rapidly, and the front of the mass was already in rapid motion for the hills, and in a few seconds the movement had communicated itself to the whole herd. " A crowd of bulls, as usual, brought up the rear, and every now and then some of them faced about, and then dashed on after the band a short distance, and turned and looked again, as if more than half inclined to stand and fight< 34 LIFE OF FREMONT. In a few moments, however, during which we had been quickening our pace, the rout was uni- versal, and we were going over the ground lil^e a hurricane. When at about' thirty yards, we gave the usual shout, (the * hunter's battle-cry,) and broke into the herd. We entered on the side, the mass giving way in every direction in their heedless course. Many of the bulls, less active and less fleet than the cows, paying no attention to the ground, and occupied solely with the hunter, were precipitated to the earth with great force, rolling over and over with the violence of the shock, and hardly distinguish- able in the dust. We separated on entering, each singling out his game. " My horse was a trained hunter, famous in the west under the ' name of Proveau, and, with his eyes flashing, and the foam flying from his mouth, sprang on after the cow like a tiger. In a few moments he brought me alongside of her, and, rising in the stirrups, I fired at the distance of a yard, the baU entering at the termination of the long hair, and passing near the heart. She fell headlong at the report of the gun, and checking my horse, I looked around for my companions. At a little distance. Kit was on the ground, engaged in tying his horse to the horn? of a cow which he was preparing to cut up. Among the scattered bands, at some distance Delow, I caught a glimpse of Maxwell ; and PRAIRIES. 35 while I was looking, a light wreath of white smoke curled away from his gun, from which T was too far to hear the report. Nearer, and be- tween me and* the hills, towards which they were directing their course, was the body of the herd, and giving my horse the rein, we dashed after them. A thick cloud of dust hung upon their rear, which filled my mouth and eyes, and nearly smothered me. In the midst of this I could see- nothing, and the buffalo were not distinguishable until within thirty feet. They crowded together more densely still as I came upon them, .and rushed along in such a com- pact body, that I could not obtain an entrance, — ^the horse almost leaping upon them. In a few moments the mass divided to the right and left, the horns clattering with a noise heard above every thing else, and my horse darted into the opening. Five or six bulls charged on us as we dashed along the line, but were left far behind, and singling out a cow, I gave her my fire, but struck too high. She gave a tre- mendous leap, and scoured on swifter than be- fore. I reined up my horse, and the band swept on like a torrent, and left the place quiet and clear. Our chase had led us into dangerous ground. A prairie-dog village, so thickly settlied that there were three or four holes in every twenty yards square, occupied the whole bot- tom for nearly two miles in length. Looking 36 LIFE OF FREMONT. around, I saw only one of the hunters, nearly out of sight, and the long dark line of our cara- van crawling along, three or four miles distant." The expedition had now rea(!hed the heart of the prairie country, and the report contains graphic descriptions of the scenery and general features of the landscape. The botanical rich^ ness of these vast plains is one of their most striking attractions. " Along our route the amorpha has been in very abundant but variable bloom — in some places, bending beneath the weight of purple clusters ; in others, without a flower. It seems to love best the sunny slopes, with a dark soil and southern exposure. Everywhere the^ rose is met with, and reminds us of cultivated gardens and civilization. It is scattered over the prairies in small bouquets, and, when glittering in the dews and waving in the pleasant breeze of the early morning, is the most beautiful of the prairie flowers. The artemisia, absinthe, or prairie sage, as it is variously called, is increasing in size, and glitters like silver, as the southern breeze turns up its leaves to the sun. All these plants have their insect inhabitants, variously colored ; taldng generally the hue of the flower on which they live. The artemisia has its sniall fly accompa- nying it through every change of elevation and latitude ; and wherever I have seen the asclepias tuberosa, I have always remarked, too, on the PRAIRIES. 37 flower a large butterfly, so nearly resembling it in color, as to be distinguishable at a little. dis- tance only by the motion of its wings." As they approached the regions where danger from Indian hostility was to be apprehended, the men were practised, dm-ing the noon and evening halts, at target-shooting, and increased vigilance was exercised by the guards. " We had travelled thirty-one miles. A heavy bank of black clouds' in the west came on us in a storm between nine and ten, preceded by a violent wind. The rain fell in such torrents that it was difficult to breathe facing the wind, the thunder rolled incessantly, and the whole sky was tremulous with lightning ; now and then illu- minated by a blinding flash, succeeded by pitchy darkness. Carson had the watch from ten to midnight, and to him had been assigned our young compagnons de voyage^ Messrs. Brant and R. Benton. This was their first night on guard, and such an introduction did not augur very auspiciously of the pleasures of the expedition. Many things conspired to render their situation uncomfortable ; stories of desperate and bloody Indian fights were rife in the camp ; our position was badly chosen, surrounded on all sides by timbered hollows, and occupying an area of sev- eral hundred feet, so that necessarily the guards were far apart ; and now and then I could hear Randolph, as if relieved by the sound of a voice 4 38 LIFE OF FREMONT. in the darkness, calling out to the sergeant of the ^uard, to direct his attention to some imagi- nary alarm ; but they stood it out, and took their tm'n regularly afterward." The incidents of camp and prairie life are pleasantly told in the following passages : — ^'July 4. The morning was very smoky, the sun shining dimly and red, as in a thick fog. The camp was roused with a salute at daybreak. While we were at breakfast, a buffalo calf broke through the camp, followed by a couple of wolves. In its fright, it had probably mistaken us for a band of buffalo. The wolves were obliged to make a circuit around the camp, so that the calf got a little the start, and strained every nerve to reach a large herd at the foot of the hills, about two miles distant ; but first one, and then an- other, and another wolf joined in the chase, until his pursuers amounted to twenty or thirty, and they ran him down before he could reach his friends. There were a few bulls near the place, and one of them attacked the wolves, and tried to rescue him ; but was driven off immediately, and the little animal fell an easy prey, half de- voured before he was dead. We watched the chase with the interest always felt for the weak ; and had there been a saddled horse at hand, he would have fared better. " As we were riding slowly along this after- noon, clouds of dust in the ravines, among the PRAIRIES. 39 hills to the right, suddenly attracted our attention, and in a few minutes column after column of buffalo came galloping down, making directly to the* river. By the time the leading herds had reached the water, the prakie was darkened with the dense masses. Immediately before us, when the bands first came down into the valley, stretched an unbroken line, the head of which was lost among the river hills on the opposite side ; and still they poured down from the ridge on our right. From hill to hill, the prairie bottom was certainly not less than two miles wide ; and allowing the animals to be ten feet apart, and only ten in a line, there were already eleven thousand in view. Some idea may thus be formed of their number when they had occupied the whole plain. In a short time they surrounded us on every side ; extending for several miles in the rear, and forward as far as the eye could reach ; leaving around us, as we advanced, an open space of only two or three hundred yards. This movement of the buffalo indicated to us the presence of Indians on the North fork. " I halted earlier than usual, about forty miles from the junction, and all hands were soon busily engaged in preparing a feast to celebrate the day. The kindness of our friends at St. Louis had provided us with a large supply of excellent pre- serves and rich fruit-cake ; and when these were added to a macaroni soup, and variously prepared 40 LIFE OF FREMONT. dishes of the choicest buffalo meat, crowned with a cup of coffee, and enjoyed with prairie* appetite, we felt, as we sat in barbaric luxury around our smoking supper on the grass, a greater sensation of enjoyment than the Roman epicure at his perfumed feast. But most of all it seemed to please our Indian friends, who, in the unre- strained enjoyment of the moment, demanded to know if our " medicine days came often." The route of the expedition had been along the southern side of the Kansas about one hun- dred miles, then across that river ; after contin- uing some time near its northern side, across the country to Grand Island, in the Platte, then along the course of that river to the junction of its north and south forks, and then up the south fork. At the distance of about forty miles from the junction, on the 5th of July, Mr. Fremont divided his party. With Mr. Preuss, Maxwell, Bernier, Ayot, and Basil Lajeunesse, he continued up the course of the south fork, taking with him the Cheyennes, as their home was in that direction. The residue of the party was placed under the command of Clement Lambert, who was directed to cross over to the north fork, and at some con- venient place, make a cache of everything not absolutely necessary to the further progress of the expedition. It is the custom of parties trav- elling far into the wilderness, at points which they expect to pass again on their route, to con- PRAIRIES. 41 ceal, by burying, or in any way covering, so as to protect and preserve them, such articles as* may be dispensed with in the mean time. These places of hidden deposit are called caches. After attending to this, Lambert was instructed to make his way to the American company's fort at the mouth of Laramie's Fork, and there wait the arrival of Fremont, who designed to reach the fort in season to observe certain occultations that were to take place on the nights of the 16th and 17th of July. "Jw/t/ 5. Before breakfast all was ready. We had one led horse in addition to those we rode, and a pack mule, destined to carry our instru- ments, provisions, and baggage ; the last two articles not being of very great weight. The instruments consisted of a sextant, artificial hor- izon, &c., a barometer, spy-glass, and compass. The chronometer I of course kept on my person. I had ordered the cook to put up for us some flour, coffee, and sugar, and our rifles were to furnish the rest. One blanket, in addition to his saddle and saddle blanket, furnished the mate- rials for each man's bed, and every one was pro- vided with a change of linen. All were armed with rifles or double-barrelled guns ; and, in ad- dition to these, Maxwell and myself were fur- nished with excellent pistols. Thus accoutred, we took a parting breakfast with our fiiends, and Bet forth. 4 * 42 LIFE OF FREMONT. " Our journey the first day afforded nothing of any interest. We shot a buffalo toward sun- set, and, having obtained some meat for our evening meal, encamped where a little timber afforded us the means of making a fire. Having disposed our meat on roasting sticks, we pro- ceeded to unpack our bales in search of coffee and sugar, and flour for bread. "With the excep- tion of a little parched coffee, unground, we found nothing. Our cook had neglected to put it up, or it had been somehow forgotten. Tired and hungry, with tough bull meat without salt, (for we had not been able to kill a cow,) and a little bitter coffee, we sat down in silence to our miserable fare, a very disconsolate party ; for yesterday's feast was yet fresh in our memories, and this was our first brush with misfortune. Each man took his blanket, and laid himself down silently. To-day we had travelled about thu*ty-six miles. " July 6. Finding that our present excursion would be attended with considerable hardship, and unwilling to expose more persons than neces- sary, I determined to send Mr. Preuss back to the party. His horse, too, appeared in no condi- tion to support the journey; and accordingly, after breakfast, he took the road across the hills, attended by one of our most trusty men, Bernier. The ridge between the rivers is here about fifteen miles broad, and I expected he would probably PRAIRIES. 43 strike the fork near their evening camp. At all events, he would not fail to find their trail, and rejoin them the next day." After his people had composed themselves for the night, and silence and slumber had fallen upon the camp, it was the invariable practice of the commander, when the condition of the atmo- sphere, the state of the weather, and the aspect of the heavens allowed, to get out his instru- ments, take astronomical observations, and deter- mine and record the latitude and longitude. " My companions slept rolled up in their blankets, and the Indians lay in the grass near the fire ; but my sleeping-place generally had an air of more pretension. Our rifles were tied together near the muzzle, the butts resting on the ground, and a knife laid on the rope, to cut away in case of an alarm. Over this, which made a kind of frame, was thrown a large In- dia rubber cloth, which we used to cover our packs. This made a tent sufficiently large to receive about half of my bed, and was a place of shelter for my instruments ; and as I was careful always to put this part against the wind, I could lie here with a sensation of satisfied enjoyment, and hear the wind blow, and the rain patter close to my head, and know that I should be at least half dry. Certainly, I never slept more soundly. The barometer at sunset was 26.010, thermometer 81^, and cloudy ; but 44 LIFE OF FREMONT. a gale from the west sprang up with the setting sun, and in a few minutes swept away every cloud from the sky. The evening was very fine, and I remained up to take some astronomical observations." The following passage brings the incidents of wild prairie life, and some traits and aspects of Indian character and habits, vividly before the mind. " There were some dark-looking objects among the hills, about two miles to the left, here low and undulating, which we had seen for a little time, and supposed to be buffalo coming in to water ; but, happening to look behind, Max- well saw the Cheyennes whipping up furiously, and another glance at the dark objects showed them at once to be Indians coming up at speed. " Had we been weU mounted, and disencum- bered of instruments, we might have set them at defiance; but as it was, we were fairly caught. It was too late to rejoin our friends, and we endeavored to gain a clump of timber about half a mile ahead ; but the instruments and the tired state of our horses did not allow us to go faster than a steady canter, and they were gaining on us fast. At first they did not appear to be more than fifteen or twenty in number, but group after group darted into view at the top of the hills, until all the little emi- nences seemed in motion, and, in a few minutes PRAIRIES. 45 from the lime they were first discovered, two or three hundred, naked to the breech-cloth, were sweeping across the prairie. In a few hundred yards we discovered that the timber we were endeavoring to make was on the opposite side of the river ; and before we could reach the bank, down came the Indians upon us. " I am inclined to think that in a few seconds more the leading man, and, perhaps, some of his companions, would have rolled in the dust ; for we had jerked the covers from our guns, and our fingers were on the triggers; men in such cases generally act from instinct, and a charge from three hundred naked savages is a circumstance not well calculated to promote a cool exercise of judgment. Just as he was about to fire, -Maxwell recognized the leading Indian, and shouted to him in the Indian lan- guage : ' You're a fool ; don't you know me ? ' The sound of his own language seemed to shock the savage, and, swerving his horse a little, he passed us like an arrow. He wheeled, as I rode out toward him, and gave me his hand, striking his breast and exclaiming ' Ara- paho ! ' They proved to be a village of that nation among whom Maxwell had resided as a trader a year or two previously, and recognized him accordingly. We were soon in the midst of the band, answering as well as we could a multitude of questions ; of which the very first 46 LIFE OF FREMONT. was, of what tribe were our Indian companions who were coming in the rear ? They seemed disappointed to know that they were Che- yennes, for they had fully anticipated a grand dance around a Pawnee scalp that night." ^ The party ascended the South Fork, arriving, late in the evening of the 10th, at St. Vrain's Fort, which is at the foot of the mountains, about seventeen miles from Long's Peak. On the morning of the 12th, it started across the> country in the direction of Fort Laramie, which was reached by the evening of the 15th. They passed on the way some of those wonderful natural formations, which the face of the rocks and outlines of the mountains often present in the interior of the continent. " The hill on the western side imitates, in an extraordinary manner, a massive fortified place, with a remarkable fulness of detail. The rock is marl and earthy limestone, white, with- out the least appearance of vegetation, and much resembles masonry at a little distance ; and here it sweeps around a level area two or three hundred yards in diameter, and in the form of a half-moon, terminating on either ex- tremity in enormous bastions. Along the whole line of the parapets appear domes and slender minarets, forty or fifty feet high, giving it every appearance of an old fortified town. On the waters of White River, where this formation FORT LARAMIE. 47 exists in great extent, it presents appearances which excite the admiration of the solitary voyageur, and form a frequent theme of theii conversation when speaking .of the wonders of the country. Sometimes it offers the perfectly illusive appearance of a large city, with numer- ous streets and magnificent buildings, among which the Canadians never fail to see their cabaret; and sometimes it takes the form of a solitary house, with many large chambers, into which they drive* their horses at night, and sleep in these natural defences perfectly secure from any attack of prowling savages. Before reach- ing our camp at Goshen's Hole, in crossing the immense detritus at the foot of the Castle Rock, we were involved amidst winding passages cut by the waters of the hill ; and where, w^ith a breadth scarcely large enough for the passage of a horse, the walls rise thirty and forty feet per- pendicularly. This formation supplies the dis- coloration of the Platte." . Upon reaching Fort Laramie, Fremont found the residue of his party there. They had ar- rived on the evening of the 13th. Mr. Preuss, with his companion Bernier, had intercepted them at the expected point. Some extracts from Preuss's journal will be read with interest, and prepare the mind to appreciate the energy and decision of character of Fremont, and the heroic fidelity of those of his followers who resolved to 48 LIFE OF FREMONT. share with him the now imminent dangers and increasing hardships of the enterprise. It seems that after leaving Fremont, on the 6th of July, Preuss and Bernier reached the north fork of the Platte, in about six hours. There was no sign that Lambert's party had passed. Bernier rode down along the river to find them, leaving Preuss, who was too much exhausted to accompany him. The night ap- proached and Bernier did not return. Of course there is always more or less danger in those vast unknown regions w^hen parties get sepa- rated and out of sight, and where all are liable to be suddenly cut off, of not meeting again. Preuss describes his situation and feelings on the occasion : — " The sun went down ; he did not come. Un- easy I did not feel, but very hungry ; I had no provisions, but I could make a fire ; and, as I espied two doves in a tree, I tried to kill one ; but it needs a better marksman than myself to kill a little bird with a rifle. I made a large fire, however, lighted my pipe — this true friend of mine in every emergency — lay down and let my thoughts wander to the far east. It was not many minutes after when I heard the tramp of a horse, and my faithful companion was by my side. He had found the party, who had been delayed by making their cache.) about seven miles below. To the good supper which he FORT LARAMIE. 49 brought with him I did ample justice. He had forgotten salt, and I tried the soldier's substitute in time of war, and used gunpowder; but it answered badly — bitter enough, but no flavor of Idtchen salt. I slept well; and was only dis- turbed by two owls, which were attracted by the fii'e, and took their place in the tree under which we slept. Their music seemed as disagreeable to my companion as to myself; he fired his rifle twice, and then they let us alone." Under date of July 8, Preuss relates as fol- lows : — " Our road to-day was a solitary one. No game made its appearance — not even a buffalo or a stray antelope ; and nothing occurred to break the monotony until about five o'clock, when the caravan made a sudden halt. There was a galloping in of scouts and horsemen from every side — a hurrying to and fro in noisy con- fusion ; rifles were taken from their cover ; bul- let pouches examined ; in short, there was the cry of ' Indians ' heard again. I had become so much accustomed to these alarms, that now they made but little impression on me ; and before I had time to become excited, the new-comers were ascertained to be whites. It was a large party of traders and trappers, conducted by Mr. Bridger, a man well known in the history of the country. As the sun was low, and there was a fine grass patch not far ahead, they turned back 5 60 LIFE OF FREMONT. and encamped for the night with us. Mr. Bridger was invited to supper; and we listened with eager interest to an account of their adventures. What they had met, we would be likely to encounter ; the chances which had befallen them, would probably happen to us ; we looked upon their life as a picture of our own. He informed us that the condition of the country had become exceedingly dangerous. The Sioux, who had been badly disposed, had broken out" into open hostility, and in the preceding autumn his party had encountered them in a severe engagement, in which a number of lives had been lost oiv both sides. United with the Cheyenne and Gro& Ventre Indians, they were scouring the upper country in war parties of great force, and were at this time in the neighborhood of the Red Buttes, a famous landmark, which was directly on our path. They had declared war upon every living thing which should be found westward of that point, though their main object was to attack a large camp of whites and Snake Indians, who had a rendezvous in the Sweet- water valley. Availing himself of his intimate knowledge of the country,* he had reached Lara- mie by an unusual route through the Black Hills, and avoided coming into contact with any of the scattered parties. This gentleman offered his services to accompany us so far as the head of the Sweetwater; but the absence of our FORT LARAMIE. 51 leader, which was deeply regretted by us all, rendered it impossible for us to enter upon such arrangement. In a camp consisting of men whose lives had been spent in this country, I expected to find every one prepared for occur- rences of this nature ; but, to my great surprise, I found, on the contrary, that this news had thrown them all into the greatest consternation, and on every side I heard only one exclamation, * 11 rCy aura pas de vie pour nous,'' — ' There will be no more life for us,' ' our days are numbered.' All the night, scattered groups were assembled around the fires, smoking their pipes, and listen- ing with the greatest eagerness to exaggerated details of Indian hostilities ; and in the morn- ing I found the camp dispuited, and agitated by a variety of conflicting opinions. A majority of the people were strongly disposed to return ; but Clement Lambert, with some five or six others, professed their determination to follow Mr. Fremont to the uttermost limit of his jour- ney. The others yielded to their remonstrances, and, somewhat ashamed of their cowardice, concluded to advance at least so far as Laramie Fork, eastward of which they were aware no danger was to be apprehended." Upon Fremont's reaching the fort, a variety of circumstances, related to him by Mr. Boudeau, the gentleman in charge of that station — corrobor- ated by the testimony of all who had means of 52 LIFE OF FREMONT. knowledge — confirmed the alarming statements made by Mr. Bridger. Extracts from Fremont's Journal will enable the reader to realize the pressure made upon him at Fort Laramie to prevent the further prosecution of his journey : — " Thus it w^ould appear that the country was swarming with scattered war parties ; and when I heard, during the day, the various contradic- tory and exaggerated rumors which were inces- santly repeated to them, I was not surprised that so much alarm prevailed among my men. Carson, one of the best and most experienced mountaineers, fully supported the opinion given by Bridger of the dangerous state of the country, and openly expressed his conviction that we could not escape without some sharp encounters with the Indians. In addition to this, he made his wiU ; and among the circumstances which were constantly occurring to increase their alarm, this was the most unfortunate ; and I found that a number of my party had become so much intimidated, that they had requested to be dis- charged at this place. " So far as frequent interruption from the Indians would allow, we occupied ourselves in making some astronomical calculations, and bringing up the general map to this stage of our journey ; but the tent was generally occupied by a succession of our ceremonious visitors. Some came for presents, and others for information of FORT LARAMIE. 53 our object in coming to the country ; now and then, one would dart up to the tent on horseback, jerk off his trappings and stand silent at the door, holding his horse by the halter, signifying his desire to trade ; occasionally, a savage would stalk in with -an invitation to a feast of honor, a dog feast, and deliberately sit down and wait quietly until I was ready to accompany him. I went to one ; the women and children were sit- ting outside the lodge, and we took our seats on buffalo robes spread around. The dog was in a large pot over the fire, in the middle of the lodge, and immediately on our arrival was dished up in large wooden bowls, one of which was handed to each. The flesh appeared very glutinous, with something of the flavor and appearance of mutton. Feeling something move behind me, I looked round and found that I had taken my seat among a litter of fat young puppies. Had I been nice in such matters the prejudices of civilization might have interfered with my tran- quillity ; but, fortunately, I am not of delicate nerves, and continued quietly to empty my platter. " During our stay here, the men had been engaged in making numerous repairs, arranging pack-saddles, and otherwise preparing for the chances of a rough road and mountain travel. All things of this nature being ready, I gathered them around me in the evening, and told thun 5* 54 LIFE OF FREMONT. that ' I had determined to proceed the next day. They were all well armed. I had engaged the services of Mr. Bissonette as interpreter, and had taken, in the circumstances, every possible means to insure our safety. In the rumors we had heard, I believed there was much exaggera- tion ; and then, they were men accustomed to this kind of life and to the country ; and that these were the dangers of every day occun-ence, and to be expected in the ordinary course of their service. They had heard of the unsettled condition of -the country before leaving St. Louis, and therefore could not make it a reason for breaking their engagements. Still, I was unwilling to take with me, on a service of some certain danger, men on whom I could not rely ; and as I had understood that there were among them some who were disposed to cowardice, and anxious to return, they had but to come forward at once, and state their desire, and they would be discharged with the amount due to them for the time they had served.' To their honor be it said, there was but one among them who had the face to come forward and avail himself of the permission. I did not think that the situation of the country justified me in taking our young companions, Messrs. Brant and Benton, along with us. In case of misfortune, it would have been thought, at the least, an act of great imprudence; and therefore, though reluctantly, FORT LARAMIE. 55 I determined to leave them. Randolph had been the life of the camp, and the petit garcon, was much regretted by the men, to whom his buoyant spirits had afforded great amusement. They all, however, agreed in the propriety of leaving him at the fort, because, as they said, he miafht cost the lives of some of the men in a fisht with the Indians. " We were ready to depart ; the tents were struck, the mules geared up, and our horses saddled, and we walked up to the fort to take the stirrup-cup with our friends in an excellent home-brewed preparation. While thus pleasantly engaged, seated in one of the little cool chambers, at the door of which a man had been stationed to prevent all intrusion from the Indians, a number of chiefs, several of them powerful fine-looking men, forced their way into the room in spite of all opposition. Handing me the following letter, they took their seats in silence : — *roRT Platte, July 1, 1842. * Mr. Fremont : The chiefs having assembled in council, have just told me to warn you not to set out before the party of young men which is now out shall have returned. Furthermore, they tell me that they are very sure they will fire upon you as soon as they meet you. They are expected back in seven or eight days. Excuse me for making these observations, but it seems 56 LIFE OF FREMONT. my duty to warn you of danger. Moreover, the chiefs who prohibit your setting out be- fore the return of the warriors are the bearers of this note. * I am your obedient servant, * Joseph Bissonette, ' By L. B. Chartrain. ^ Names of some of the chiefs. The Otter Hat, the Breaker of Arrows, the Black Night, the BuU's Tail.' " After reading this, I mentioned its purport to my companions ; and, seeing that all were fully possessed of its contents, one of the Indians rose up, and having first shaken hands with me, spoke as follows : — ' You have come among us at a bad time. Some of our people have been killed, and our young men, who are gone to the mountains, are eager to avenge the blood of their relations, which has been shed by the whites. Our young men are bad, and, if they meet you, they will believe that you are carrying goods and ammu- nition to their enemies, and will fire upon you. You have told us that this will make war. We know that our great father has many soldiers and big guns, and we are anxious to have our lives. We love the whites, and are desirous of peace. Thinking of all these things, we have determined to keep you here until our warriors FORT LARAMIE. 67 return. We are glad to see you among us. Our father is rich, and we expected that you would have brought presents to us — horses, and guns, and blankets. But we are glad to see you. We look upon your coming as the light which goes before the sun ; for you will tell our great father that you have seen us, and that we are naked and poor, and have nothing to eat ; and he will send us all these things.' He was followed by the others to the same effect. " The observations of the savage appeared reasonable ; but I was aware that they had in view only the present object of detaining me, and were unwilling I should go further into the country. In reply, I asked them, through the interpretation of Mr. Boudeau, to select two or three of their number to accompany us until we should meet their people — they should spread their robes in my tent and eat at my table, and on our return I would give them presents in reward of their services. They declined, saying that there were no young men left in the village, and that they were too old to travel so many days on horseback, and preferred now to smoke their pipes in the lodge, and let the warriors go on the war-path. Besides, they had no power over the young men, and were afraid to interfere with them. In my turn I addressed them : * You say that you love the whites ; why have you killed so many already this spring ? You 58 LIFE OP FEEMONT. say that you love the whites, and are full of many expressions of friendship to us ; but you are not willing to undergo the fatigue of a few days' ride to save our lives. We do not believe what you have said, and will not listen to you. Whatever a chief among us tells his soldiers to do, is done. We are the soldiers of the great chief, your father. He has told us to come here and see this country, and all the Indians, his children. Why should we not go ? Before we came, we heard that you had killed his people, and ceased to be his children ; but we came among you peaceably, holding out our hands. Now we find that the stories we heard are not lies, and that you are no longer his friends and children. We have thrown away our bodies^ and will not turn hack. When you told us that your young men would kill us, you did not know that our hearts were strong, and you did not see the rifles which my young men carry in their hands. We are few, and you are many, and may kill us all ; but there will be much crying in your villages, for many of your young men will stay behind, and forget to return with your warriors from the mountains. Do you think that our great chief will let his soldiers die, and forget to cover their graves ? Before the snows melt again, his warriors will sweep away your villages as the fire does the prairie in the autumn. See I I have pulled down my white houses^ and my FORT LARAMIE. 59 people are ready; when the sun is ten paces higher, we shall be on the march. If you have any thing to tell us, you will say it soon.' I broke up the conference, as I could do nothing with these people; and, being resolved to pro- ceed, nothing was to be gained by delay. Accom- panied by our hospitable friends, we returned to the camp. We had mounted our horses, and our parting salutations had been exchanged, when one of the chiefs (the Bull's Tail) arrived to tell me that they had determined to send a young man with us ; and if I would point out the place of our evening camp, he should join us there. ' The young man is poor,' said he ; 'he has no horse, and expects you to give him one.' I described to him the place where I intended to encamp, and, shaking hands, in a few minutes we were among the hills, and this last habitation of whites shut out from our view." The intrepid resolution evinced by Fremont on this occasion is truly remarkable. He was a young man, and life had charms and ties as strong as ever could have appealed, in any heart, to the motives of self-preservation. A fond wife, and a dependent and devoted mother, were anxiously awaiting his safe return. There was ample justification, had he concluded to return. Indians, traders, hunters, his own people, even the stoutest of them all, conspired with one voice to implore him not to expose him and them to 60 LIFE OF FREMONT. what they regarded as all but certain death It is, indeed, hard to tell upon what principles, or by what processes of reasoning, he was led to his inflexible determination. Like rnany other instances in his history, it illustrates an extraor- dinary sagacity and firmness of mind. He often exhibited similar daring, and was always justi- fied by the result. The decision at Fort Lara- mie was the tm'ning-point in his destiny. K he had yielded to the fears that had overcome all other minds, failure would have been stamped upon him forever. But as it was, he won the glory of inflexible and invincible resolution in the hearts of his admiring followers, and gave to the savages and all others who dealt with him an impression they ever after retained, that he was indeed a brave, and that nothing could prevent his accomplishing whatever he undertook. At Fort Laramie, an Indian lodge, about eighteen feet in diameter, and twenty in height, was procured in place of the tents, which had been found too thin to protect the instruments from the penetrating rains, or to withstand the violent winds prevalent in that region. These lodges constitute a warm and dry shelter in cold and storms, and are so constructed as to allow the lower part of the sides to be lifted up, per- mitting the breeze to pass freely through them in warm weather. They are particularly com- fortable, then, as mosquitoes are never known to PLATTE RIVER. 61 enter them. At the encampment, on the close of the first day's march, while the men were busily attempting to put up the lodge, Mr. Bis- sonette, a trader resident at Fort Laramie, who had agreed to accompany the party to a limited point, overtook them. The Indian who had been engaged as a guide, accompanied by his wife, came in with Mr. Bissonette. Upon seeing the men engaged in their unaccustomed work, attempting to put up the lodge, she laughed heartily at their awkwardness, at once took hold herself, and pitched it with an expertness which it was some time before they learned to equal. The point where the Platte leaves the Black Hills, presents a most remarkable and beautiful scene. The breadth of the stream, generally occupying nearly the whole width of the chasm through which it flows, is from two to three hundred feet. The wall on each side is of per- pendicular rock, sometimes even overhanging, of a bright red color, from two to four hundred feet high, crowned with green summits, fringed with occasional pines. The river flows through with a swift stream of perfectly clear water, occasionally broken into rapids. Here, as in all other portions of those vast plains, the surface of the .fields is often covered with thickly set clumps of artemisia, and the whole air is saturated with the odor of camphor and spirits of turpentine proceeding from that 62 LIFE OP FREMONT. plant. The aromatic fragrance is found favor- able to the restoration of invalids, particularly to persons threatened with consumptive complaints. '^July 28. We continued our way, and four miles beyond the ford Indians were discovered again ; and I halted while a party was sent for- ward to ascertain who they were. In a short time they returned, accompanied by a number of Indians of the Oglallah band of Sioux. They gave us a very discouraging picture of the coun- try. The great drought, and the plague of grasshoppers, had swept it so that scarce a blade of grass was to be seen, and there was not a buffalo to be found in the whole region. Their people, they further said, had been nearly starved to death, and we would find their road marked by lodges which they had thrown away in order to move more rapidly, and by the carcasses of the horses which they had eaten, or which had perished by starvation. Such was the prospect before us. " When he had finished the interpretation of these things, Mr. Bissonette immediately rode up to me, and urgently advised that I should en- tirely abandon the further prosecution of my ex- ploration. ' The best advice I can give you, is to turn back at once.' It was his own intention to return, as we had now reached the point to which he had engaged to attend me. In reply, I called up my men, and communicated to them PLATTE RIVER. 63 fully the information I had just received. I then expressed to them my fixed determination to proceed to the end of the enterprise on which I had been sent ; but as the situation of the coun- try gave me some reason to apprehend that it might be attended with an unfortunate result to some of us, I would leave it optional with them to continue with me or to return. " Among them were some five or six who I knew would remain. We had still ten days' provisions ; and, should no game be found, when this stock was expended, we had our horses and mules, which we could eat when other means of subsistence failed. But not a man flinched from the undertaking. ' We'll eat the mules,' said Basil Lajeunesse ; and thereupon we shook hands with our interpreter and his Indians, and parted. With them I sent back one of my men, Dumes, whom the effects of an old wound in the leg rendered incapable of continuing the journey on foot, and his horse seemed on the point of giving out. Having resolved to disencumber ourselves immediately of everything not absolutely neces- sary to our future operations, I turned directly in toward the river, and encamped on the left bank, a little above the place where our council had been held, and where a thick grove of willows offered a suitable spot for the object I had in view. " The carts having been discharged, the covers and wheels were taken off, and, with the frames, 64 LIFE OF FREMONT. carried into some low places among the willows, and concealed in the dense foliage in, such a man- ner that the glitter of the iron work might not attract the observation of some straggling Indian. In the sand, which had been blown up into waves among the willows, a large hole was then dug, ten feet square and six deep. In the mean time, all our effects had been spread out upon the ground, and whatever was designed to be carried a;long with us separated and laid aside, and the remaining part canied to the hole and carefully covered up. As much as possible, all traces of our proceedings were obliterated, and it wanted but a rain to render our cache safe beyond discovery. AU the men were now set at work to arrange the pack-saddles and make up the packs. " The day was very warm and calm, and the sky entirely clear, except where, as usual along the summits of the mountainous ridge opposite, the clouds had congregated in masses. Our lodge had been planted, and, on account of the heat, the ground-pins had been taken out, and the lower part slightly raised. * Near to it was standing the barometer, which swung in a tripod frame ; and within the lodge, where a small fire had been built, Mr. Preuss was occupied in ob- serving the temperature of boiling water. At this instant, and without any warning, until it was within fifty yards, a violent gust of wind dashed down the lodge, burying under it Mr. Preuss and SOUTH PASS. 65 about a dozen men, who had attempted to keep it from being carried away. I succeeded in sav- ing the barometer, which the lodge was carrying off with itself, but the thermometer was bl'oken." On the return of the party, a month after- wards, this cache was found unmolested. Following up the Platte, they passed the lofty escarpments of red argillaceous sandstone, called the Red Buttes. The Hot Spring Gate is about four hundred yards in length. The river flows through with a quiet and even current. On each side is a smooth green shelf of prairie. The walls areof white sandstone, rise perpendicularly, and are about seventy yards apart. The height of the lower one of the two was found to be three hundred and sixty feet. On the 31st of July they left the Platte, and crossed to the Sweetwater River. The next day they reached the vicinity of Rock Independence, an isolated mass of granite, about six hundred and fifty yards long, and forty high. A few miles further is the Devil's Gate. The length of the passage is about three hundred yards, and its width thirty-five yards. The walls are vertical, of granite, about four hundred feet in height. On the 8th of August they entered the South Pass. " About six miles from our encampment brought us to the summit. The ascent had been so gradual, that, with all the intimate knowledge 6* 66 LIFE OF FREMONT. possessed by Carson, who had made this country his home for seventeen years, we were obliged to watch very closely to find the place at which we had reached the culminating point. This was between two low hills, rising on either hand fifty or sixty feet. When I looked back at them, from the foot of the immediate slope on the western plain, their summits appeared to be about one hundred and twenty feet above. From the im- pression on my miind at this time, and subse- quently on our return, I should compare the elevation which we surmounted immediately at the Pass, to the ascent of the Capitol hill from the avenue at Washington. It is difficult for me to fix positively the breadth of this pass. From the broken ground where it commences, at the foot of the Wind River chain, the view to the southeast is over a champaign country, broken, at the distance of nineteen miles, by the Table Rock ; which, with the other isolated hills in its vicinity, seems to stand on a comparative plain. This I judged to be its termination, the ridge recovering its rugged character with the Table Rock. It will be seen that it in no manner re- sembles the places to which the term is common- ly applied; nothing of the gorge-like character and winding ascents of the Alleghany passes in America ; nothing of the Great St. Bernard and Simplon passes in Europe. Approaching it from the mouth of the Sweetwater, a sandy ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 67 plain, one hundred and twenty miles long, con- ducts by a gradual and regular ascent, to the summit, about seven thousand feet above the sea ; and the traveller, without being reminded of any change by toilsome ascents, suddenly finds himself on the waters which flow to the Pacific Ocean. By the route we had travelled, the distance from Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty miles, or nine hundred and fifty from the mouth of the Kansas." From the South Pass, the route continued be- hind, or to the westward of the Wind River Mountains, among the head streams of the Colo- rado. But here Fremont must be allowed to tell his own story : — ^'August 10. The air at sunrise is clear and pure, and the morning extremely cold, but beau- tiful. A lofty snow peak of the mountain is glittering in the first rays of the sun, which has not yet reached us. The long mountain wall to the east rising two thousand feet abruptly from the plain, behind which we see the peaks, is still dark, and cuts clear against the glowing sky. A fog, just risen from the river, lies along the base of the mountain. A little before sunrise the thermometer was at 35*^, and at sunrise 33^. Water froze last night, and fires are very com- fortable. The scenery becomes hourly more interesting and grand, and the view here is truly magnificent ; but, indeed, it needs something to 68 LIFE OF FREMONT. repay the long prairie journey of a thousand miles. The sun has just shot above the wall, and makes a magical change. The whole valley is glowing and bright, and all the mountain peaks are gleaming like silver. Though these snow mountains are not the Alps, they have their own character of grandeur and magnifi- cence, and wiU doubtless find pens and pencils to do them justice. In the scene before us, we feel how much wood improves a view. The pines on the mountain seemed to give it much additional beauty. I was agreeably disappointed in the character of the streams on this side of the ridge. Instead of the creeks, which descrip- tion had led me to expect, I find bold, broac? streams, with three or four feet water, and 9 rapid current. The fork on which we are ee camped is upwards of a hundred feet wide, timbered with groves or thickets of the low wil- low. We were now approaching the loftiest part of the Wind River chain ; and I left the valley a few miles from our encampment, intend- ing to penetrate the mountains as far as possible with the whole party. We were soon involved in very broken ground, among long ridges cov- ered with fragments of granite. Winding our way up a long ravine, we came unexpectedly in view of a most beautiful lake, set like a gem in the mountains. The sheet of water lay trans- versely across the direction we had been pursu- ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 69 ing; and, descending the steep, rocky ridge, where it was necessary to lead our horses, we followed its banks to the southern extremity. Here a view of the utmost magnificence and grandeur burst upon our eyes. With nothing between us and their feet to lessen the effect of the whole height, a grand bed of snow- capped mountains rose before us, pile upon pile, glowing in the bright light of an August day. Immediately below them lay the lake, between two ridges, covered wdth dark pines, which swept down from the main chain to the spot where we stood. Here, where the lake glittered in the open sunlight, its banks of yellow sand and the light foliage of aspen groves contrasted well with the gloomy pines. ' Never before,' said Mr. Preuss, ' in this country or in Europe, have I seen such magnificent, grand rocks.' I was so much pleased with the beauty of the place, that I determined to make the main camp here, where our animals would find good pasturage, and ex- plore the mountains, with a small party of men. Proceeding a little further, we came suddenly upon the outlet of the lake, where it found its way through a narrow passage between low hills. Dark pines, which overhung the stream, and masses of rock, where the water foamed along, gave it much romantic beauty. Where we crossed, which was immediately at the outlet, it is two hundred and fifty feet wide, and so deep 70 LITE OF EREMONT. that with difficulty we were able to ford it. Its bed was an accumulation of rocks, boulders, and broad slabs, and large angular fragments, among which the animals fell repeatedly. " The current was very swift, and the water cold, and of a crystal purity. In crossing this stream, I met with a great misfortune in having my barometer broken. It was the only one. A great part of the interest of the journey for me was in the exploration of these mountains, of which so much had been said that was doubtful and contradictory; and now their snowy peaks rose majestically before me, and the only means of giving them authentically to science, the object of my anxious solicitude by night and day, was destroyed. We had brought this ba- rometer in safety a thousand miles, and broke it almost among the snow of the mountains. The loss was felt by the whole camp — all had seen my anxiety, and aided me in preserving it. The height of these mountains, considered by the hunters and traders the highest in the whole range, had been a theme of constant discus- sion among them ; and all had looked forward with pleasure to the moment when the instru- ment, which they believed to be true as the sun, should stand upon the summits, and decide their disputes. Their grief was only inferior to my own. "As soon as the camp was formed, I set about KOCKY MOUNTAINS. 71 endeavoring to repair my barometer. As I have already said, this was a standard cistern-barome- ter, of Troughton's construction. The glass cistern had been broken about midway; but as the instrument had been kept in a proper posi- tion, no air had found its way into the tube, the end of which had always remained covered. I had with me a number of vials of tolerably thick glass, some of which were of the same diameter as the cistern, and I spent the day in Blowly working on these, endeavoring to cut them of the requisite length ; but as my instru- ment was a very rough file, I invariably broke them. A groove was cut in one of the trees, where the barometer was placed during the night, to be out of the way of any possible dan- ger, and in the morning I commenced again. Among the powder-horns in the camp, I found one which was very transparent, so that its con- sents could be almost as plainly seen as through glass. This I boiled and stretched on a piece of wood to the requisite diameter, and scraped it very thin, in order to increase to the utmost its transparency. I tlien, secured it firmly in its place on the instrument, with strong glue made /rom a buffalo, and filled it with mercury, prop- erly heated. A piece of skin, which had covered one of the vials, furnished a good pocket, which was well secured with strong thread and glue, and then the brass cover was Screwed to its 72 LIFE OF FREMONT. place. The instrument was left some time to dry ; and when I reversed it, a few hom's after, I had the satisfaction to find it in perfect order ; its indications being about the same as on the other side of the lake before it had been broken. Our success in this little incident diftused pleasm'e throughout the camp ; and we immediately set about our preparations for ascending the moun- tains. " I was desirous to keep strictly within the scope of my instructions; and it would have required ten or fifteen additional days for the accomplishment of this object; our animals had become very much worn out with the length of the journey ; game was very scarce, and, though it does not appear in the course of the narrative, (as I have avoided dwelling upon trifling inci- dents not connected with the objects of the ex- pedition,) the spirits of the men had been much exhausted by the hardships and privations to which they had been subjected. Our provisions had wellnigh all disappeared. Bread had been long out of the question ; and of all our stock, we had remaining two or three pounds of coffee, and a small quantity of macaroni, which had been husbanded with great care for the moun- tain expedition we were about to undertake. Our daily meal consisted of dry buffalo meat, cooked in tallow ; and, as we had not dried this with Indian skill, part of it was spoiled; and ROOKY MOUNTAINS. 73 what remained of good, was as hard as wood, having much the taste and appearance of so many pieces of bark. Even of this, our stock was rapidly diminishing in a camp which was capable of consuming two buffaloes in every twenty-four hom's. These animals had entirely disappeared ; and it was not probable that we should fall in with them again until we returned to the Sweetwater. " Our arrangements for the ascent were rap- idly completed. We were in a hostile country, which rendered the greatest vigilance and cir- cumspection necessary. The pass at the north end of the mountain was generally infested by Blackfeet; and immediately opposite was one of their forts, on the edge of a little thicket, two or three hundred feet from our encampment. We were posted in a grove of beech, on the margin of the lake, and a few hundred feet long, with a naiTow prairillon on the inner side, bor- dered by the rocky ridge. In the upper end of this grove we cleared a circular space about forty feet in diameter, and with the felled tim- ber and interwoven branches, surrounded it with a breastwork five feet in height. A gap was left for a gate on the inner side, by which the animals were to be driven in and secured, while the men slept around the little work. It was half hidden by the foliage ; and, garrisoned by twelve resolute men, would have set at defiance 7 74 LIFE OP FREMONT. any band of savages which might chance to dis- cover them in the interval of our absence. Fif- teen of the best mules, with fourteen men, were selected for the mountain party. Our provis- ions consisted of dried meat for two days, with our little stock of coffee and some macaroni. In addition to the barometer and a thermome- ter, I took with me a sextant and spy-glass, and we had, of course, our compasses. In charge of the camp I left Bernier, one of my most trust- worthy men, who possessed the most deter- mined courage. '•''August 12. Early in the morning we left the camp, fifteen in number, well armed, of course, and mounted on our best mules. A pack animal carried our provisions, with a coffee-pot and kettle, and three or four tin cups. Every man had a blanket strapped over his saddle, to serve for his bed, and the instruments were carried by turns on their backs. We en- tered directly on rough and rocky ground ; and, just after crossing the ridge, had the good for- tune to shoot an antelope. We heard the roar, and had a glimpse of a waterfall as we rode along ; and, crossing in our way two fine streams, tributary to the Colorado, in about two hours' ride we reached the top of the first row or range of the mountains. Here, again, a view of the most romantic beauty met our eyes It seemed as if, from the vast expanse of unin- • ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 75 teresting prairie we had passed over, Nature had collected all her beauties together in one chosen place. We were overlooking a deep valley, which was entirely occupied by three lakes, and from the brink the surrounding ridges rose precipitously five hundred and a thou- sand feet, covered with the dark green of the balsam pine, relieved on the border of the lake with the light foliage of the aspen. They aU communicated with each other; and the green of the waters, common to mountain lakes of great depth, showed that it would be impossi- ble to cross them. The surprise manifested by our guides when these impassable obstacles suddenly barred our progress, proved that they were among the hidden treasures of the place, unknown even to the wandering trappers of the region. Descending the hill, we proceeded to make our way along the margin to the southern extremity. A narrow strip of angular fragments of rock sometimes afforded a rough pathway for our mules, but generally we rode along the shelving side, occasionally scrambling up, at a considerable risk of tumbling back into the lake. " The slope was frequently 60° ; the pines grew densely together, and the ground was cov- ered with the branches and trunks of trees. The air was fragrant with the odor of the pines; and I realized this delightful morning the plea- sure of breathing that mountain air which makes 76 LIFE OF FREMONT. a constant theme of the hunter's praise, and which now made us feel as if we had all been drinking some exhilarating gas. The depths of this unexplored forest were a place to delight the heart of a botanist. There was a rich un- dergrowth of plants, and numerous gay-colored flowers in brilliant bloom. " We had reached a very elevated point, and in the valley below, and among the hills, were a number of lakes at different levels ; some, two or three hundred feet above others, with which they communicated by foaming torrents. Even to our great height, the roar of the cataracts came up, and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. From this scene of busy waters, we turned abruptly into the still- ness of a forest, where we rode among the open boUs of the pines, over a lawn of verdant grass, having strikingly the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, after a time, among masses of rock which had no vegetable earth but in hollows and crevices, though still the pine forest contin- ued. Toward evening, we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the mountains, entirely shut in by dark pine-covered rocks. " Our table service was rather scant ; and we held the meat in our hands, and clean rocks made good plates, on which we spread our macaroni. Among all the strange places on which we had occasion to encamp during our EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 77 long journey, none have left so vivid an impres- sion on my mind as the camp of this evening. The disorder of the masses which surrounded us ; the little hole through which we saw the stars overhead ; the dark pines where we slept; and the rocks lit up with the glow of our fires, made a night-picture of very wild beauty. '•'•August 13. The morning was bright and pleasant, just cool enough to make exercise agreeable, and we soon entered the defile I had seen the preceding day. It was smoothly car- peted with a soft grass, and scattered over with groups of flowers, of which yellow was the pre- dominant color. Sometimes we were forced, by an occasional difficult pass, to pick our way on a narrow ledge along the side of the defile, and the mules were frequently on their knees ; but these obstructions were rare, and we journeyed on in the sweet morning air, delighted at our good fortune in having found such a beautiful entrance to the mountains. This road contin- ued for about three miles, when we suddenly reached its termination in one of the grand views, which, at every turn, meet the traveller in this magnificent region. Here the defile up which we had travelled, opened out into a small lawn, where, in a little lake, the stream had its source. " It is not by the splendor of far-off views, which have lent such a glory to the Alps, that 7* 78 LIFE OF FREMONT. these impress the mind ; but by a gigautie disorder of enormous masses, and a savage sub- limity of naked rock, in wonderful contrast with innumerable green spots of a rich floral beauty, shut up in their stern recesses. Their wildness seems well suited to the character of the people who inhabit the country. " I determined to leave our animals here, and make the rest of our way on foot. The peak appeared so near, that there was no doubt of our returning before night ; and a few men were left in charge of the mules, with our provisions and blankets. We took with us nothinsr but our arms and instruments, and, as the day had become warm, the greater part left our coats. Having made an early dinner, we started again. We were soon involved in the most ragged precipices, nearing the central chain very slowly, and rising but little. The first ridge hid a succession of others ; and when, with great fa- tigue and difficulty, we had climbed up five hundred feet, it was but to make an equal de- scent on the other side; all these intervening places were filled with small deep lakes, which met the eye in every direction, descending from one level to another, sometimes under bridges formed by huge fragments of granite, beneath which was heard the roar of the water. These constantly obstructed our path, forcing us to make long dStours ; frequently obliged to ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 79 retrace our steps, and frequently falling among the rocks. Maxwell was precipitated toward the face of a precipice, and saved himself from going over by throwing himself flat on the ground. We clambered on, always expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to reach the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed, until about four o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the shore of a little lake, in which there was a rocky island, " By the time we had reached the further side of the lake, we found ourselves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much to the satisfaction of the whole party, we encamped. The spot we had chosen was a broad, flat rock, in some measure protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and the trmiks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires. Near by was a foaming torrent, which tumbled into the little lake about one hundred and fifty feet below us, and which, by way of distinction, we have called Island Lake. We had reached the upper limit of the piney region ; as, above this point, no tree was to be seen, and patches of snow lay everywhere around us on the cold sides of the rocks. The flora of the region we had traversed since leaving our mules was extremely rich, and, among the char- acteristic plants, the scarlet flowers of the dodC' catheon dentatum everywhere met the eye in great abundance. A small green ravine, on the 80 LIFE OF FREMONT. edge of which we were encamped, was filled with a profusion of alpine plants in brilliant bloom. " I was taken ill shortly after we had encamped, and continued so until late in the night, with violent headache, and vomiting. This was probably caused by the excessive fatigue I had undergone, and want of food, and perhaps, also, in some measure, by the rarity of the air. The night was cold, as a violent gale from the north had sprung up at sunset, which entirely blew away the heat of the fires. The cold, and our granite beds, had not been favorable to sleep, and we were glad to see the face of the sun in the morning. Not being delayed by any prepar- ation for breakfast, we set out immediately. , " On every side as we advanced was heard the roar of waters, and of a torrent, which we fol- lowed up a short distance, until it expanded into a lake about one mile in length. On the north- ern side of the lake was a bank of ice, or rather of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had been our guide into the mountains, and, agreeably to his advice, we left this little valley, and took to the ridges again ; which we found extremely broken, and where we were again involved among precipices. Here were ice- fields ; among which we were all dispersed, seeking each the best path to ascend the peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the upper ROCKY MOlINTAmS. 81 edge of one of these fields, which sloped away at an angle of about twenty degrees ; but his feet slipped from under him, and he went plung- ing down the plane. A few hundred feet below, at the bottom, w^ere some fragments of sharp rock, on which he landed ; and though he turned a couple of somersets, fortunately received no injury beyond a few bruises. Two of the men, Clement Lambert and Descoteaux, had been taken ill, and lay down on the rocks a short dis- tance below ; and at this point I was attacked with headache and giddiness, accompanied by vomiting, as on the day before. Finding myself unable to proceed, I sent the barometer over to Mr. Preuss, who tvas in a gap two or three hun- dred yards distant, desiring him to reach the peak, if possible, and take an observation there. He found himself unable to proceed further in that direction, and took an observation, where the barometer stood at 19.401 ; attached ther- mometer 50*^, in the gap. Carson, who had gone over to him, succeeded in reaching one of the snowy summits of the main ridge, whence he saw the peak towards which all our efforts had been directed, towering eight or ten hundred feet into the air above him. In the mean time, finding myself grow rather worse than better, and doubtful how far my strength would carry me, I sent Basil Lajeunesse, with four men, back to the place where the mules had been left. 82 LIFE OP FREMONT. " We were now better acquainted with the topography of the country, and I directed him to bring back with him, if it were in any way possible, four or five mules, with provisions and blankets. With me were Maxwell and Ayer ; and after we had remained nearly an hour on the rock, it became so unpleasantly cold, though the day was bright, that we set out on our return to the camp, at which we all arrived safely, straggling in one after the other. I con- tinued ill during the afternoon, but became better towards sundown, when my recovery was completed by the appearance of Basil and four men, all mounted. The men who had gone with him had been too much fatigued to return, and were relieved by those in charge of tlie horses ; but in his powers of endurance Basil resembled more a mountain goat than a man. They brought blankets and provisions, and we enjoyed well our dried meat and a cup of good coffee. We rolled ourselves up in our blankets, and, with our feet tm'ned to a blazing fire, slept soundly until morning. " August 15. It had been supposed that we had finished with the mountains ; and the even- ing before, it had been arranged that Carson should set out at daylight, and return to break- fast at the Camp of the Mules, taking with him all but four or five men, who were to stay with me and bring back the mules and instruments. ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 83 Accordingly, at the break of day they set out. With Mr. Preuss and myself remained Basil Lajeunesse, Clement Lambert, Janisse, and Descoteaux. When we had secm-ed strength for the day by a hearty breakfast, we covered what remained, which was enough for one meal, with rocks, in order that it might be safe from any marauding bird ; and, saddling our mules, turned our faces once more towards the peaks. This time we determined to proceed quietly and cautiously, deliberately resolved to accomplish our object if it were within the compass of human means. We were of opinion that a long defile which lay to the left of yesterday's route would lead us to the foot of the main peak. Our mules had been refreshed by the fine grass in the little ravine at the Island camp, and we intended to ride up the defiJe as far as possible, in order to husband our strength for the main ascent. Though this was a fine pas- sage, still, it was a defile of the most rugged mountains known, and we had many a rough and steep sUppery place to cross before reaching the end. In this place the sun rarely shone ; snow lay along the border of the small stream which flowed through it, and occasional icy passages made the footing of the mules very insecure, and the rocks and ground were moist with the trickling waters in this spring of mighty rivers. We soon had the satisfaction to 84 LIFE OF FREMONT. find ourselves riding along the huge wall which forms the central summit of the chain. There at last it rose by our sides, a nearly perpendicular wall of granite, terminating 2,000 to 3,000 feet above our heads in a serrated line of broken, jugged cones. We rode on until we came almost immediately below the main peak, which I denominated the Snow Peak, as it exhibited more snow to the eye than any of the neighbor- ing summits. Here were three small lakes of a green color, each of perhaps a thousand yards in diameter, and apparently very deep. These lay in a kind of chasm ; and, according to the barom- eter, we had attained but a few hundred feet above the Island lake. The barometer here stood at 20.450, attached thermometer 70^. " We managed to get our mules up to a little bench about a hundred feet above the lakes, where there was a patch of good grass, and turned them loose to graze. During our rough ride to this place, they had exhibited a wonder- ful surefootedness. Parts of the defile were filled with angular, sharp fragments of rock, three or four and eight or ten feet cube ; and among these they had worked their way, leap- ing from one narrow point to another, rarely making a false step, and giving us no occasion to dismount. Having divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we commenced the ascent. This time, like experienced travel- ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 85 lers, we did not press ourselves, but climbed leisurely, sitting down so soon as we found breath beginning to fail. At intervals, we reached places where a number of springs gushed from the rocks, and about 1,800 feet above the lakes came to the snow line. From this point our progress was uninterrupted- climbing. Hitherto, I had worn a pair of thick moccasins, with soles of parfleche ; but here I put on a light thin pair, which I had brought for the pm-pose, as now the use of our toes became necessary to a further advance. I availed myself of a sort of cpmb of the moun- tain, which stood against the wall like a buttress, and which the wind and the solar radiation,, joined to the steepness of the smooth rock, had kept almost entirely free from snow. Up this I made my way rapidly. Our cautious method of advancing in the outset had spared my strength ; and, with the exception of a slight disposition to headache, I felt no remains of yesterday's illness. In a few minutes we reached a point where the buttress was over- hanging, and there was no other way of sur- mounting the difficulty than by passing around one side of it, which was the face of a vertical precipice of several hundred feet." Parfleche is the name given to buffalo hide. The Indian women prepare it by scraping and drying. It is exceedingly tough and hard, and 8 86 LIFE OP FREMONT. receives its name from the circumstancfc th^t it cannot be pierced by arrows or spearsc The en- tire dress of Fremont and liis party, on their as- cent to the " top of America," consisted of a blue flannel shkt, free and open at the neck, the collai turning down over a black silk handkerchief tied loosely, blue cloth pantaloons, a slouched broad- brimmed hat, and moccasins as above described. It was well adapted to climbing, — quite light, and at the same time warm, and every way com- fortable. " Putting hands and feet in the crevices be- tween the blocks, I succeeded in getting over it, and, when I reached the top, found my compan- ions in a small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated me into an immense snow-field five hundred feet below. To the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice ; and then, with a gradual fall, the field sloped off" for about a mile, until it struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest, about three feet in width, with an inclination of about 20^^ N. 51° E. As soon as I had gratified the first feehngs of curiosity, I descended, and each man ascended in his turn for I would only allow one at a time to mount, the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath would hur] into the abyss below. ' We ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 87 mounted the barometer in the snow of the sum- mit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the national flag, to wave in the breeze where never flag waved before. Daring our morning's ascent, we had met no sign of animal life, except a small bird having the appearance of a sparrow. A stillness the most profound and a terrible solitude forced themselves constantly on the mind as the great features of the place. Here, on the summit, where the stillness was ab- solute, unbroken by any sound, and the solitude complete, we thought ourselves beyond the re- gion of animated life ; but while we were sitting on the rock, a solitary bee [hromus^ the humble bee) came winging his flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men. " Around us, the whole scene had one main striking feature, which was that of terrible con- vulsion. Parallel to its length, the ridge was split into chasms and fissures, between which rose the thin, lofty walls, terminated with slen- der minarets and columns, which is correctly represented in the view from the camp on Island Lake. According to the barometer, the little crest of the wall on which we stood was three thousand five hundred and seventy feet above that place, and two thousand seven hundred and eighty above the little lakes at the bottom, im- mediately at our feet. Our camp at the Two Hills (an astronomical station) bore south 3*^ 88 LIFE OF FREMONT. east, which, with a bearing afterward obtained from a fixed position, enabled us to locate the peak. The bearing of the Trois Tetons was north 50'^ west, and the direction of the central ridge of the Wind River Mountains south 39^ east. The summit rock was gneiss, succeeded by sienitic gneiss. Sienite arid feldspar suc- ceeded in our descent to the snow line, where ■we found a feldspathic granite. I had remarked that the noise produced by the explosion of our pistols had the usual degree of loudness, but was not in the least prolonged, expiring almost instantaneously. Having now made what obser- vations our means afforded, we proceeded to de- scend. We had accomplished an object of laud- able ambition, and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We had climbed the loftiest peak of the R-ocky Mountains, and looked down upon the snow a thousand feet below, and, standing where never human foot had stood before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It was about two o'clock when we left the summit; and when we reached the bottom, the sun had already sunk behind the wall, and the day was drav/ing to a close. It would have been pleasant to have lin- gered here and on the summit longer ; but we hurried away as rapidly as the ground would perniit, for it was an object to regain our party as soon as possible, not knowing what accident the next hour might bring forth. Hoisting the American Flag on the highest peak of the llock> ■^^.^nnta^Ila ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 89 " We reached our deposit of provisions at nightfall. Here was not the inn which awaits the tired traveller on his return from Mont Blanc, or the orange groves of South America, with their refreshing juices and soft fragrant air ; but we found our little cache of dried meat and coffee undisturbed. Though the moon was bright, the road was full of precipices, and the fatigue of the day had been gTcat. We therefore aban- doned the idea of rejoining our friends, and lay down on the rock, and, in spite of the cold, slept soundly. ^^ August 16. We left our encampment with the daylight. We saw on our way large flocks of the mountain goat looking down on us from the cliffs. At the crack of a rifle they would bound off among the rocks, and in a few minutes make their appearance on some lofty peak, some hun- dred or a thousand feet above. It is needless to attempt any further description of the countiy ; the portion over which we travelled this morning was rough as imagination could picture it, and to us seemed equally beautiful. A concourse of lakes and rushing waters, mountains of rocks naked and destitute. of vegetable earth, dells and ravines of the most exquisite beauty, all kept green and fresh by the great moisture in the air, and sown with brilliant flowers, and everywhere, thrown around all, the glory of most magnificent scenes ; these constitute the features of the placfe, 8* 90 LIFE OF FREMONT. and impress themselves vividly on the mind of the traveller. It was not until 11 o'clock that we reached the place where onr animals had been left when we first attempted the mountains on foot. Near one of the still burning fires we found a piece of meat, which our friends had thrown away, and which furnished us a mouth- ful — a very scanty breakfast. We continued directly on, and reached our camp on the moun- tain lake at dusk. We found all well. Nothing had occurred to interrupt the quiet since our departure, and the fine grass and good cool water had done much to re-establish our animals. All heard with great delight the order to turn our faces homeward; and toward sundown of the 17th, we encamped again at the Two Buttes." The Peak which had thus been reached was found to be, by the barometer, 13,570 feet above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and is sup- posed to be the highest point of the E-ocky Mountains. On the north, within the range of the eye, were the snow-clad mountains that con- tain the sources of the Columbia and Missouri, on the west the inumerable- lakes and streams that feed the Colorado of the Gulf of California, and on the east the springs of the Yellow Stone branch of the Missouri. On the south the head- waters of the Platte or Nebraska gush from their fountains, and not far beyond them are the orig- ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 91 inal mountain reservoirs of the Arkansas. It is the great central summit of the continent, and is properly marked, on ail maps, in honor of the first man that ever stood upon it, Fremont's Peak. The reader will notice, when we reach the period just prior to the opening of the California war, that it also fell to the lot of Fremont to un- furl the banner of our country for the first time from the top of the Sierra, on a mountain range near the Pacific coast, at Hawk's Peak. It is, by the way, an interesting fact that the Indians have a superstitious awe of the craggy, cavernous, and perilous recesses and declivities of these great mountain ranges. Hidden cata- racts and torrents produce sounds and echoes that appall the untutored imagination. The whole scene is felt to be the abode of supernatural beings, and the savage shr^inks from ascending the slopes, or threading their broken passages. We may consider it certain, therefore, that no Indian had ever attempted to climb Fremont's Peak. On the 19th, the returning party repassed the point where the waters divide, to seek the At- lantic and Pacific, and reached Rock Indepen- dence on the evening of the 22d. Except in a depression on the summit, where there is a scanty growth of shrubs, and a solitary dwarf pine, the rock is entu'cly bare. Wherever the jfcurface is sufficiently smooth, and in some in- 92 LIFE OF FREMONT. stances as high up as sixty or eighty feet, the names of visitors are inscribed. Those of traders, missionaries, and scientific travellers, are legible at all points. " Here," says Fremont, in his Journal, " not unmindful of the custom of early travellers and explorers in our country, I engraved on this rock of the Far West a symbol of the Christian faith. Among the thickly inscribed names, I made on the hard granite the impression x)f a large cross, which I covered with a black preparation of India rubber, well calculated to resist the in- fluence of wind and rain. It stands amidst the names of many who have long since found their way to the grave, and for whom the huge rock is a giant gravestone. " One George Weymouth was sent out to Maine, by the Earl of Southampton, Lord Arundel, and others, and in the narrative of his discoveries he says : * the next day, we ascended in our pinnace that part of the river which lies more to the westward, carrying with us a cross, — a thing never omitted by any Christian traveller, — which we erected at the ultimate end of our route.' This was in the year 1605 ; and in 1842 I obeyed the feeling of early travellers, and left the impression of the cross deeply engraved on the vast rock, one thousand miles beyond the Mississippi, to which discoverers have given the. national name of Hock Independence.-' NEBRASKA RIVER. 93 Having planted the Flag of the Union on the topmost peak of the central mountains, and in- scribed the symbol, dear to all believing hearts, upon the mighty monumental rock at theii' base, he had fulfilled the holiest aspirations of patri- otism and piety, and, as the Explorer of the vast interior of North America, had pledged and consecrated it to Republican Freedom and Christian Civilization. As his instructions required him to survey the course and bed of the Platte, if possible, he sent the main body of his men across the country to Goat Island, with orders to remain there until he rejoined them, and with Mr. Preuss, and five of his best men, namely, Clement Lambert, Basil Lajeunesse, Honore Ayot, Benoist and Desco- teaux, he pursued the descending river. The India-rubber boat was filled with air, and placed in the water, with what was necessary for their purpose, and they put forth upon its current. The thrilling adventures of the voyage, he relates as follows : — " There appeared no scarcity of water, and we took on board, with various instruments and baggage, provisions for ten or twelve days. We paddled down the river rapidly, for our little craft was light as a duck on the water ; and the sun had been sometime risen, when we heard before us a hollow roar, which we supposed to be that of a fall, of which we had heard a vague 94 LIFE OF FREMONT. rumor, but whose exact locality no one had been able to describe to us. We were approaching a ridge, through which the river passes by a place called ' canon,' (pronounced kanyon^) a Spanish word, signifying a piece of artillery, the barrel of a gun, or any kind of tube ; and which, in this couijtry, has been adopted to describe the passage of a river between perpendicular rocks of great height, which frequently approach each other so closely overhead as to form a kind of tunnel over the stream, which foams along below, half-choked up by fallen fragments. Between the mouth of the Sweetwater and Goat Island, there is probably a fall of three hundred feet, and that was principally made in the canons before us ; as, without them, the water was com- paratively smooth. As we neared the ridge, the river made a sudden turn, and swept squarely down against one of the wails of the caiion with a great velocity, and so steep a descent, that it had to the eye the appearance of an inclined plane. When we launched into this, the men jumped overboard, to cheek the velocity of the boat, but were soon in water up to their necks and our boat ran on ; but we succeeded in bring ing her to a small point of rocks on the right, at the mouth of the caiion. Here was a kind of ele- vated sand beach, not many yards square, backed by the rocks, and around the point the river swept at a right angle. Trunks of trees depos* NEBRASKA RIVER. 95 ited on jutting points twenty or thirty feet above, and other marks, showed that the water here frequently rose to a considerable height. The ridge was of the same decomposing granite already mentioned, and the water had worked the surface, in many places, into a wavy surface of ridfi^es and holes. We ascended the rocks to reconnoitre the ground, and from the summit the passage a,ppeared to be a continued cataract foaming over many obstructions, and broken by a number of small falls. We saw nowhere a fall ansv/ering to that which had been described to us as having twenty or twenty-five feet; but still concluded this to be the place in question, as, in the season of floods, the rush of the river against the wall would produce a great rise, and the waters, reflected squarely off, would descend through the passage in a sheet of foam, having every appearance of a large fall. Eighteen years previous to this time, as I subsequently learned from himself, Mr. Fitzpatrick, some- where above on this river, had embarked with a valuable cargo of beaver. Unacquainted with the stream, which he believed would conduct him safely to the Missouri, he came unexpectedly into this canon, where he was wrecked, with the total loss of his furs. It would have been a work of great time and labor to pack our bag- gage across the ridge, and I determined to run the caiion. We all again embarked, and at 96 LIFE OF FREMONT. first attempted to check the way of the boat ; but the water swept through with so much vio- lence that we narrowly escaped being swamped, and were obliged to let her go in the full force of the current, and trust to the skill of the boat- men. The dangerous places in this canon were where huge rocks had fallen {rom above, and hemmed in the already narrow pass of the river to an open space of three or four and five feet. These obstructions raised the water consider- ably above, which was sometimes precipitated over in a fall ; and at other places, where this dam was too high, rushed through the contracted opening with tremendous violence. Had our boat been made of wood, in passing the narrows she would have been staved ; but her elasticity preserved her unhurt from every shock, and she seemed fairly to leap over the falls. " In this way we passed three cataracts in succession, where, perhaps, one hundred feet of smooth water intervened; and finally, with a shout of pleasure at our success, issued from our tunnel into the open day beyond. We were iSO delighted with the performance of our boat, and so confident in her powers, that we would not have hesitated to leap a fall of ten feet with her. We put to shore for breakfast at some willows on the right bank, immediately below the mouth of the canon ; for it was now eight o'clock, and we had been working since daylight, NEBRASKA RIVER. 97 and were all wet, fatigued, and hungry. While the men were preparing breakfast, I went out to reconnoitre. The view was very limited. The com'se of the river was smooth, so far as I could see ; on both sides were broken hills ; and but a mile or two below was a^nother high ridge. The rock at the mouth of the caiion was still the decomposing granite, with great quantities of mica, which made a very glittering sand. " We reembarked at nine o'clock, and in about twenty minutes reached the next canon. Land- ing on a rocky shore at its commencement, we ascended the ridge to reconnoitre. Portage was out of the question. So far as we could see, the jagged rocks pointed out the course of the caiion, on a winding line of seven or eight miles. It was simply a narrow, dark chasm in the rock ; and here the perpendicular faces were much higher than in the previous pass, being at this end two to three hundred, and further down, as we afterward ascertained, five hundred feet in. vertical height. Our previous success had made us bold, and we determined again to run the caiion. Every thing was secured as firmly as possible ; and, having divested ourselves of the greater part of our clothing, we pushed into the stream. To save our chronometer from accident, Mr. Preuss took it, and attempted to proceed along the shore on the masses of rock, which in places were piled up on either side ; but, after d 98 LIFE OF FREMONT. he had walked about five minutes, every thing (ike shore disappeared, and the vertical wall came squarely down into the water. He there- fore waited until we came up. An ugly pass lay before us. We had made fast to the stern of the boat a strong rope ^about fifty feet long ; and three of the men clambered along among the roclvs, and with this rope let her down slowly through the pass. In several places high rocks lay scattered about in the channel ; and in the narrows it required all our strength and skill to avoid staving the boat on the sharp points. In one of these, the boat proved a little too broad, and stuck fast for an instant, while the water flew over us ; fortunately it was but for an instant, as our united strength forced her immediately through. The water swept overboard only a sextant and a pair of saddlebags. I caught the sextant as it passed by me ; but the saddlebags became the prey of the whirlpools. We reached the place where Mr. Preuss was standing, took him on board, and, with the aid of the boat, put the men with the rope on the succeeding pile of rocks. We found this passage much worse than the previous one, and our position was rather a bad one. To go back, was impossible ; before us, the cataract was a sheet of foam ; and, shut up in the chasm by the rocks, which in some places seemed almost to meet overhead, the roar of the water was deafening. We pushed off NEBRASKA RIVER. 99 again; but, after making a little distance, the force of the current became too great for the men on shore, and two of them let go the rope. Lajeunesse, the third man, hung on, and was jerked headforemost into the river from a rock about twelve feet high y and down the boat shot like an arrow, Basil following us in the rapid current, and exerting all his strength to keep in raid channel — his head , only seen occasionally like a black spot in the white foam. How far w^e went, I do not exactly know ; but we suc- ceeded in turning the boat into an eddy below. ' ' Cre DieUy said Basil Lajeunesse, as he arrived immediately after us, ' Je crois Men que fai nage im demi mile,^ — 'I believe, indeed, that I have swum half a mile.' *He had owed his life to his sldll as a swimmer; and I determined to take him and the others on board, and trust to skill and fortune to reach the other end in safety. We placed ourselves on our knees, with the short paddles in our hands, the most skilful boatman being at the bow ; and again we com- menced our rapid descent. We cleared rock after rock, and shot past fall after fall, our little boat seeming to play with the cataract. We be- came flushed with success and familiar with the danger ; and, yielding to the excitement of the oc- casion, broke forth together into a Canadian boat song. Singing, or rather shouting, we dashed along ; and were, I believe, in the midst of the 100 LIFE OF FREMONT. chorus, when the boat struck a concealed rock immediately at the foot of a fall, which whuied her over in an instant. Three of my men could not swim, and my first feeling was to assist them, and save some of our effects ; but a sharp con- cussion or two convinced me that I had not yet saved myself. A few strokes brought me into an eddy, and I landed on a pile of rocks on the left side. Looking around, I saw that Mr. Preuss had gained the shore on the same side, about twenty yards below ; and a little climbing and swimming soon brought him to my side. On the opposite side, against the wall, lay the boat bottom up ; and Lambert was in the act of saving Descoteaux, whom he had grasped by the hair, and who could not swim ; 'Lache ])asj said he, as I afterward learned, ' lache pas^ clier frere^ — ' Don't let go, don't let go, dear brother.' ' Grains pas^ was the reply, '■Je rnJen vais mourir avant que de te Idcherj' — ' Fear not, I will die before I let you go.' Such was the reply of courage and generosity in this danger. For a hundred yards below, the current was covered with floating books and boxes, bales of blankets, and scattered articles of clothing; and so strong and boiling was the stream, that even our heavy instruments, which were all in cases, kept on the surface, and the sextant, circle, and the long black box of the telescope, were in view at once. For a moment, I felt somewhat disheartened. All our books — NEBRASKA RIVER. 101 almost every record of the journey — our journals and registers of astronomical and barometiical observations — had been lost in a moment. But it was no time to indulge in regrets ; and I immediately set about endeavoring to save some- thing from the wreck. Making ourselves under- stood as well as possible by signs, (for nothing could be heard in the roar of waters,) we com- menced our operations. Of every thing on board, the only article that had been saved was my double-baiTclied gun, which Descoteaux had caught, and clung to with drowning tenacity. The men continued down the river on the left bank. Mr. Preuss and myself descended on the side we were on ;x and Lajeunesse, with a pad- dle in his hand, jumped on the boat alone, and continued down the caiion. She was now light, and cleared every bad place with much less difficulty. In a short time, he was joined by Lambert; and the search was continued for about a mile and a half, which was as far as the boat could proceed in the pass. " Here the walls were about five hundred feet high, and the fragments of rocks from above had choked the river into a hollow pass but one or two feet above the surface. Through this and the interstices of the rock, the water found its way. Favored beyond our expectations, all of our registers had been recovered, with the excep- tion of one of my journals, which contained the -9* 102 LIFE OF FREMONT. notes and incidents of travel, and topographica, descriptions, a number of scattered astronomical observations, principally meridian altitudes of the sun, and our barometrical register west of Laramie. Fortunately, our other journals con- tained duplicates of the most important barome- trical observations which had been taken in the mountains. These, with a few scattered notes, were all that had been preserved of our meteoro- logical observations. In addition to these, we saved the circle ; and these, with a few blankets, constituted every thing that had been rescued from the waters. " The day was running rapidly away, and it was necessary to reach Goat Island, whither the party had preceded us, before night. In this uncertain country, the traveller is so much in the power of chance, that we became somewhat uneasy in regard to them. Should any thing have occurred, in the brief interval of our separa- tion, to prevent our rejoining them, our situation would be rather a desperate one. We had not a morsel of provisions — our arms and ammuni- tion were gone — and we were entirely at the mercy of any straggling party of savages, and not a little in danger of starvation. We there- fore set out at once in two parties. Mr. Preuss and myself on the left, and the men on the opposite side of the river. Climbing out of the canon, we found ourselves in a veiy broken NEBRASKA RIVER. 103 country, where we were not yet able to rec- ognize any locality. In the course of our descent through the cailon, the rock, which at the upper end was of the decomposing granite, changed into a varied sandstone formation. The hills and points of the ridges were covered with frag- ments of a yellow sandstone, of which the strata were sometimes displayed in the broken ravines which interrupted our course, and made our walk extremely fatiguing. At one point of the caiion the red argillaceous sandstone rose in a wall of five hundred feet, surmounted by a stra- tum of white sandstone ; and in an opposite ravine a column of red sandstone rose, in form like a steeple, about one hundred and fifty feet high. The scenery was extremely picturesque, tind, notwithstanding our forlorn condition, we were frequently obliged to stop and admire it. Our progress was not very rapid. We had emerged from the water half naked, and, on arriving at the top of the precipice, I found myself with only one moccasin. The fi-agments of rock made walking painful, and I was fre- quently obliged to stop and pull out the thorns of the cactus, here the prevailing plant, and with which a few minutes' walk covered the bottom of my feet. From this ridge the river emerged into a smiling prairie, and, descending to the bank for water, we were joined by Benoist. The rest of the party were out of sight, having taken 104 LIFE OF FREMONT. a more inland route. We crossed the river repeatedly — sometimes able to ford it, and some- times swimming — climbed over the ridges of two more canons, and towards evening reached the cut, which we here named the Hot Spring Gate. On our previous visit in July, we had not entered this pass, reserving it for our descent in the boat ; and when we entered it this evening, Mr. Preuss was a few hundred feet in advance. Heated with the long march, he came suddenly upon a fine bold spring gushing from the rock, about ten feet above the river. Eager to enjoy the crystal water, he threw himself down for a hasty draught, and took a mouthful of water almost boiling hot. He said nothing to Benoist, who laid himself down to drink ; but the steam from the water arrested his eagerness, and he escaped the hot draught. We had no ther- mometer to ascertain the temperature, but I could hold my hand in the water just long enough to count two seconds. There are eight or ten of these springs, discharging themselves by streams large enough to be called runs. A loud hollow noise was heard from the rock, which I supposed to be produced by the fall of the water. The strata immediately where they issue is a fine white and calcareous sandstone, covered with an incrustation of common salt. Leaving this Thermopylae of the West, in a short walk we reached the red ridge which has been NEBRASKA RIVER. 105 described as lying just above Goat Island. Ascending this, we found some fresh tracks and a button, which showed that the other men had akeady arrived. A shout from the man who first reached the top of the ridge, responded to from below, informed us that our friends v^ere all on the island ; and we were soon among them. We found some pieces of buffalo stand- ing around the fire for us, and managed to get some dry clothes among the people. A sudden storm of rain drove us into the best shelter we could find, where we slept soundly, after one of the most fatiguing days I have ever experi- enced." A week afterwards, at a point of course much lower down, another attempt was made to sur- vey the river, which is thus described : — "At this place I had determined to make another attempt to descend the Platte by water, and accordingly spent two days in the construc- tion of a bull-boat. Men v/ere sent out on the evening of our arrival, the necessary number of bulls killed, and their skins brought to the camp. Four of the best of them were strongly sewed together with buffalo sinew, and stretched over a basket frame of willow. The seams were then covered with ashes and tallow, and the boat left exposed to the sun for the greater part of one day, which was sufficient to dry and con- tract the sldn, and make the whole work solid 106 LIFE OF FREMONT. and strong. It had a rounded bow, was eight feet long and five broad, and drew with four men about four inches water. On the morning of the 15th we embarked in our hide-boat, Mr. Preuss and myself, with two men. We dragged her over the sands for three or four miles, and then left her on a bar, and abandoned entirely all further attempts to navigate this river. The names given by the Indians are always remark- ably appropriate; and certainly none was ever more so than that which they have given to this stream — ' The Nebraska, or Shallow Eiver.' Walking steadily the remainder of the day, a little before dark we overtook our people at their evening camp, about twenty-one miles below the junction. The next morning we crossed the Platte, and continued our way down the river bottom on the left bank, where we found an excellent, plainly beaten road." On the morning of October 1, the cow-bells were heard at the break of day on the Missourian farms. St. Louis was reached on the 17th, and Lieut. Fremont reported himself to the chief of his corps at the city of Washington on the 23d of October. CHAPTER HI. SECOND EXPEDITION KANSAS SALT LAKE CO- LUMBIA RIVER CENTRAL BASIN SIERRA NE- VADA CALIFORNIA^KIT CARSON WAHSATCH* MOUNTAINS THREE PARKS. Early in the spring of 1843, Mr. Fremont started on his Second Expedition. His iiastruc- tions were to connect his explorations of the pre- ceding year with the surveys of Commander Wilkes on the coast of the Pacific, so as to give a connected view of the great interior tracts of the continent. The party was placed in a state of final prep- aration for its long march at the town of Kansas, near the junction of the river of that name with the Missouri. Mr. Thomas Fitzpatrick, whom an experience of many years' hardship and ex- posure in the western regions fitted for the post, was selected as guide, and proved of invalu- able service in all respects and at all times. Mr. Charles Preuss was attached to the expedi- tion in the same capacity as in the former one. Mr. Theodore Talbot, of Washington City, and (107) 108 LIFE OF FREMONT. Mr. Frederick Dwight, of Massachusetts, accom- panied the party. Jacob Dodson, a free young colored man of Washington City, who volun- teered for the service, was found most useful and worthy of confidence, in all the perils and trials of the journey to its end. L. Maxwell, who had accompanied the former expedition, and was on his way to Taos, joined the party at Kansas. Two Delaware Indians — a fine-looking old man and his son — were engaged as hunters. There were thirty-two men in the body of the party^ constituting in all forty persons besides the com mander. They w«3re generally armed with Hall\ • carbines, and took with them a brass twelve- pound howitzer. The hunters and Delawares had rifles. The camp equipage and provisions were transported in twelve carts, drawn each by two mules ; and a light, covered spring-wagon, well mounted, carried the instruments. The expedition started on the morning of the 29th of May. A few days afterwards Mr. Gil- pin, of Missouri, joined it. Its route was along the line of the Kansas, to the mouth of the Re- publican Fork, which it followed some distance, and thence across the country to St. Vrain's Fort, on the south fork of the Platte, which it reached on the 4th of July. On the 6th it left St. Vrain's, and continued on up the Platte. On the 10th, snow fell heavily during tlie night on the mountains, and in the morning Pike's Peak ARKANSAS RIVER. 109 was covered, from the summit as far down as it was visible, with glittering white, giving it a luminous and grand appearance. On the 14th the party reached the point where the Boiling Spring River enters the Arkansas. Here Fre- mont was delighted to meet and again secure the services of Kit Carson. Having discovered that it would not be possible to obtain supplies from Taos, he determined, without delay, to re- turn to St. Vrain's, having first despatched Car- son to procure, if possible, a reinforcement of mules from Mr. Charles Bent, whose post was about seventy-five miles lower down on the Ar- kansas, and rejoin him at St. Vrain's. On the 16th the party resumed its journey up the Boil- ing Spring River, so called in consequence of some very remarkable springs, which Mr. Fre- mont visited the next day, and describes as fol- lows : — " Leaving the camp to follow slowly, I rode ahead in the afternoon in search of the springs. In the mean time the clouds, which had been gathered all the afternoon over the mountains, began to roll down their sides ; and a storm so violent burst upon me that it appeared I had entered the storehouse of the thunder-storms. I continued, however, to ride along up the river until about sunset, and was beginning to be doubtful of finding the springs before the next day, when I came suddenly upon a large smooth 10 110 LIFE OF FREMONT. rock about twenty yards in diameter, where the water from several springs was bubbling and boiling up in the midst of a white incrustation with which it had covered a portion of the rock. As this did not correspond with a description given me by the hunters, I did not stop to taste the water, but, dismounting, walked a little way up the river, and, passing through a narrow thicket of shrubbery bordering the stream, stepped directly upon a huge white rock, at the foot of which the river, already become a torrent, foamed along, broken by a small fall. A deer which had been drinking at the spring was startled by my approach, and, springing across the river, bound- ed off up the mountain. In the upper part of the rock, which had apparently been formed by de- position, was a beautiful white basin, overhung by currant-bushes, in which the cold, clear water bubbled up, kept in constant motion by the escaping gas, and overflowing the rock which it had almost entirely covered with a smooth crust of glistening white. I had all day refrained from drinking, reserving myself for the spring ; and as I could not well be more wet than the rain had already made me, I lay down by the side of the basin, and drank heartily of the delightful water. The water has a very agreeable taste, which Mr. Preuss found very much to resemble that of the famous Selter Springs in the grand-duchy of Nassau, a country famous for wine and mineral ARKANSAS RIVER. Ill waters;' and it is almost entirely of the same character, though still more agreeable than that of the famous Bear Springs, near Bear River of the Great Salt Lake. The following is an anal- ysis of an incrustation with which the water had covered a piece of wood lying on the rock : — Carbonate of lime .... 92.25 Carbonate of magnesia . . . 1.21 Sulphate of lime ^ Chloride of calcium > . . .23 Chloride of magnesia ) * Silica * . 1.50 Vegetable matter .... .20 Moisture and loss .... 4.61 100.00 ^' July 20. We continued our march up the stream along a green sloping bottom, between pine hills on the one hand, and the main Black Hills on the other, towards the ridge which separ- ates the waters of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. As we approached the dividing ridge, the whole valley was radiant with flowers ; blue, yellow, pink, white, scarlet, and purple vied with each other in splendor. Esparcette was one of the highly characteristic plants, and a bright- looking flower (gaillardia aristata) was very frequent ; but the most abundant plant along our road to-day was geranium maculatum, which is the characteristic plant on this portion of the 112 LIFE OF FREMONT. dividing grounds. Crossing to the waters of the Platte, fields of blue flax added to the magnifi- cence of this mountain garden ; this was occa- sionally four feet in height, which was a luxu- riance of gTowth that I rarely saw this almost universal plant attain throughout the journey.'^ Mr. Fitzpatrick had been left behind a month before, to follow on with twenty-five men, and the heavier baggage of the expedition. " Reaching St. Vrain's Fort on the morning of the 23d, we found Mr. Fitzpatrick and his party in good order and excellent health, and my tru^ and reliable friend, Kit Carson, who had brought with him ten good mules with the necessary pack- saddles. Mr. Fitzpatrick, who had often endured every extremity of want during the course of his mountain life, and knew well the value of pro- visions in this country, had watched over our stock with jealous vigilance, and there was an abundance of flour, rice, sugar, and coffee in the camp ; and again we fared luxuriously. Meat was, however, very scarce ; and two very small pigs, which we obtained at the fort, did not go far among forty men. Mr. Fitzpatrick had been here a week, during which time his men had been occupied in refitting the camp ; and the repose had been very beneficial to his animals, which were now in tolerably good condition. " I had been able to obtain no certain informa tion in regard to the character of the passes in TRAPPERS. 113 this portion of the Rocky Mountain range, which had always been represented as impracticable for carriages, but the exploration of which was incidentally contemplated by my instructions, with the view of finding some convenient point of passage for the road of emigration, which would enable it to reach, on a more du-ect line, the usual ford of the Great Colorado — a place considered as determined by the nature of the country beyond that river. It is singular, that, immediately at the foot of the mountains, I could find no one sufliiciently acquainted with them to guide us to the plains at their western base ; but the race of trappers who formerly lived in their recesses has almost entirely disappeared — dwin- dled to a few scattered individuals — some one or two of whom are regularly killed in the course of each year by the Indians. You will remem- ber that, in the previous year, I brought with me to their village near this post, and hospitably treated on the way, several Cheyenne Indians, whom I had met on the Lower Platte. Shortly after their arrival here, they were out with a party of Indians, (themselves the principal men,) which discovered a few trappers in the neigh- boring mountains, whom they immediately mur- dered, although one pf them had been nearly thirty years in the country, and was perfectly well known, as he had grown gray among them." • 10* 114 LIEE OF FREMONT. Having determined to traverse the eastern side of the Medicine Bow Mountains to find, if pos- sible, a pass through them, Mr. Fremont again divided his party, sending Fitzpatrick with a large portion of it to the mouth of the Laramie, and thence by the usual emigrant route to Fort Hall, there to await his arrival. " Our Delaware Indians having determined to return to their homes, it became necessary to provide this party with a good hunter; and I accordingly engaged in that capacity Alexander Godey, a young man about twenty-five years of age, who had been in this country six or seven years, all of which time had been actively em- ployed in hunting for the support of the posts, or in solitary trading expeditions among the Indians. In courage and professional skill he was a for- midable rival to Carson, and constantly after- wards was among the best and most efficient of the party, and in difficult situations was of in- calculable value. " For my own party I selected the following men, a number of whom old associations ren- dered agreeabfe to me : — " Charles Preuss, Christopher Carson, Basil La- jeunesse, Francois Badeau, J. B. Bernier, Louis Menard, Raphael Proue, Jacob Dodson, Louis Zindel, Henry Lee, J. B. Derosier, Francois La- jeunesse, and Auguste Vasquez." Going through what is called the Medicine GREAT SALT LAKE. 115 Butte Pass, Fremont followed the Platte and Sweetwater, and crossed the dividing ridge, along the southern border of the South Pass, which is about twenty miles in width. He then directed his course towards Bear River, a tributary of the Great Salt Lake on the north. Many of his animals died during this part of the tour, and it was not accomplished without con- siderable difficulty and hardship. On the 21st of August, they reached the fer- tile and picturesque valley of Bear River, the principal tributary of the Great Salt Lake. " We were now entering a region which, for us, possessed a strange and extraordinary in- terest. We were upon the waters of the fam- ous lake which forms a salient point among the remarkable geographical features of the coun- try, and around which the vague and supersti- tious accounts of the trappers had thrown a de- lightful obscurity, which we anticipated pleasure in dispelling, but which, in the mean time, left a crowded field for the exercise of our imagina- tion. " In our occasional conversations with the few 1 Id hunters who had visited the region, it had been a subject of frequent speculation ; and the wonders which they related were not the less agreeable because they were highly exaggerated and impossible. " Hitherto this lake had been seen only by trap- 116 LIFE OF FREMONT. pers, who were wandering through the country in search of new beaver streams, caring very little for geography ; its islands had never been visited ; and none were to be found who had entirely made the circuit of its shores ; and no instrumental observations, or geographical sur- vey of any description, had ever been made anywhere in the neighboring region. It was generally supposed that it had no visible outlet ; but among the trappers, including those in my own camp, were many who beheved that some- where on its surface was a terrible whirlpool, through which its waters found their way to the ocean by some subterranean communication. All these things had made a frequent subject of discussion in our desultory conversations around the fires at night ; and my own mind had be- come tolerably well filled with their indefinite pictures, and insensibly colored with their ro- mantic descriptions, which, in the pleasure of excitement, I was well disposed to believe, and half expected to realize. " In about six mUes' travel fi'om our encamp- ment, we reached one of the points in our jour- ney to which we had always looked forward with great interest — the famous Beer Springs, which, on account of the effervescing gas and acid taste, had received their name from the voyageurs and. trappers of the country, who, in the midst of their rude and hard lives, are fond GREAT SALT LAKE. IIY of finding some fancied resemblance to the luxm'ies they rarely have the good fortune to enjoy. " Although somewhat disappointed in the ex- pectations which various descriptions had led me to form of unusual beauty of situation and scenery, I found it altogether a place of very great interest ; and a traveller for the first time in a volcanic region remains in a constant ex- citement, and at every step is arrested by some- thing remarkable and new. There is a con- fusion of interesting objects gathered together in a small space. Around the place of encamp- ment the Beer Springs were numerous ; but, as far as we could ascertain, were entirely confined to that locality in the bottom. In the bed of the river, in front, for a space of several hundred yards, they were very abundant; the efferves- cing gas rising up and agitating the water in countless bubbling columns. In the vicinity round about were numerous springs of an en- tirely different and equally marked mineral char- acter. In a rather picturesque spot, about 1,300 yards below our encampment, and immediately on the river bank, is the most remarkable spring of the place. In an opening on the rock, a white column of scattered water is thrown up, in form like a jet-d'eau, to a variable height of about three feet, and, though it is maintained in a constant supply, its greatest height is attained 118 LIFE OF FREMONT. only at regular intervals, according to the action of the force below. It is accompanied by a subterranean noise, which, together with the motion of the water, makes very much the im- pression of a steamboat in motion ; and, with- out knowing that it had been already previously so called, we gave to it the name of the Steam- boat Spring. The rock through which it is forced is slightly raised in a convex manner, and gathered at the opening into an urn-mouthed form, and is evidently formed by continued de- position from the water, and colored bright red by oxide of iron. " It is a hot spring, and the water has a pun- gent and disagreeable metallic taste, leaving a burning effect on the tongue. Within perhaps two yards of the jet-d'eau^ is a small hole of about an inch in diameter, through which, at regular intervals, escapes a blast of hot air with a light wreath of smoke, accompanied by a reg- ular noise." As they approached the lake they passed over a country of bold and striking scenery, and through several "gates," as they called certain narrow valleys. The " standing rock" is a huge column, occupying the centre of one of these passes. It feU from a height of perhaps 3,000 feet, and happened to remain in its present up- right position. At last, on the 6th of September, the object GREAT SALT LAKE. 119 for which their eyes had long been straining, was brought to view. " SejH. 6. This time we reached the butte without any difficulty; and, ascending to the summit, immediately at our feet beheld the ob- ject of our anxious search, the waters of the Inland Sea, stretching in still and solitary gran- deur far beyond the limit of our vision. It was one of the great points of the exploration ; and as we looked eagerly over the lake in the first emotions of excited pleasure, I am doubtful if the followers of Balboa felt more enthusiasm when, from the heights of the Andes, they saw for the fii'st time the great Western Ocean. It was certainly a magnificent object, and a noble terminus to this part of our expedition ; and to travellers so long shut up among mountain ranges, a sudden view over the expanse of silent waters had in it something sublime. Several large islands raised their high rocky heads out of the waves ; but whether or not they were timbered was still left to our imagination, as the distance was too great to determine if the dark hues upon them were woodland or nailed rock. During the day the clouds had been gathering black over the mountains to the westward, and while we were looking a storm burst down with sudden fury upon the lake, and entkely hid the islands from our view. " On the edge of the stream a favorable spot 120 LIFE OF FREMONT. was selected in a grove ; and, felling the timber, we made a strong coral^ or horse-pen, for the an- imals, and a little fort for the people who were to remain. We were now probably in the coun- try of the Utah Indians, though none reside upon the lake. The India-rubber boat was re- paired with prepared cloth and gum, and filled with air, in readiness for the next day. " The provisions which Carson had brought with him being now exhausted, and our stock reduced to a small quantity of roots, I deter-r mined to retain with me only a sufficient num^ ber of men for the execution of our design ; and accordingly seven were sent back to Fort Hall, under the guidance of Frangois Lajeunesse, who, having been for many years a trapper in the country, was an experienced mountaineer. " We formed now but a small family. With Mr. Preuss and myself, Carson, Bernier, and Basil Lajeunesse had been selected for the boat expedition — the first ever attempted on this inte- rior sea; and Badeau, with Derosier, and Jacob, (the colored man,) were to be left in charge of the camp. We were favored with most delight- ful weather. To-night there was a brilliant sun- set of golden orange and green, which left the western sky clear and beautifully pure ; but clouds in the east made me lose an occultation. The summer frogs were singing around us, and the evening was very pleasant, with a tempera- GREAT SALT LAKE. 121 ture of 60° — a night of a more southern autumn. For our supper we had yanipah, the most agree- ably flavored of the roots, seasoned by a small fat duck, which had come in the way of Jacob's rifle. Around our fire to-night were many spec- ulations on what to-morrow would bring forth ; and in our busy conjectures we fancied that we •should find every one of the large islands a tan- gled wilderness of trees and shrubbery, teeming with game of every description that the neigh- boring region afforded, and which the foot of a white man or Indian had never violated. Fre- quently, during the day, clouds had rested on the summits of their lofty mountains, and we believed that we should find clear streams and springs of fresh water ; and we indulged in an- ticipations of the luxurious repasts with which we were to indemnify ourselves for past priva- tions. Neither, in our discussions, were the whirlpool and other mysterious dangers forgot- ten, which Indian and hunters' stories attributed to this unexplored lake. The men had discov- ered that, instead of being strongly sewed, (like that of the preceding year, which had so triumph- antly rode the caiions of the Upper Great Platte,) our present boat was only pasted together in a very insecure manner, the maker having been allowed so little time in the construction that he was obliged to crowd the labor of two months into several days. The insecurity of the boat 11 122 LIFE OF FREMONT. was sensibly felt by us ; and, mingled with the enthusiasm and excitement that we all felt at the prospect of an undertaking which had never be- fore been accomplished, was a certain impression of danger, sufficient to give a serious character to our conversation. The momentary view which had been had of the lake the day before, its great extent and rugged islands, dimly seen* amidst the dark waters in the obscurity of the sudden storm, were well calculated to heighten the idea of undefined danger with which the lake was generally associated. " Sept. 8. A calm, clear day, with a sunrise temperature of 41°. In view of our present en- terprise, a part of the equipment of the boat had been made to consist of three air-tight bags, about three feet long, and capable each of con- taining five gallons. These had been filled with water the night before, and were now placed iu the boat, with our blankets and instruments, con- sisting of a sextant, telescope, spy-glass, ther- mometer, and barometer. " In the course of the morning we disco veered that two of the cylinders leaked so much as to require one man constantly at the bellows, to keep them sufficiently full of air to support the boat. Although we had made a very early start, we loitered so much on the way — stopping every now and then, and floating silently along, to get a shot at a goose or a duck — that it was late in GREAT SALT LAKE. 123 the day when we reached the outlet. The rivei here divided into several branches, filled with fluvials, and so very shallow that it was with difficulty we could get the boat along, being obliged to get out and wade. We encamped on a low point among rushes and young willows, where there was a quantity of driftwood, which served for our fires. The evening was mild and clear ; we made a pleasant bed of the yojang willows ; and geese and ducks enough had been killed for an abundant supper at night, and for breakfast next morning. The stillness of the night was enlivened by millions of water-fowl. " September 9. The day was clear and calm ; the thermometer at sunrise at 49.° As is usual with the ti'appers on the eve of any enterprise, our people had made dreams, and theirs hap- pened to be a bad one — one which always pre- ceded evil — and consequently they looked very gloomy this morning ; but we hmTied through our breakfast, in order to make an early start, and have all the day before us for our adventure. The channel in a short distance became so shal- low that our navigation was at an end, being merely a sheet of soft mud, with a few inches of water, and sometimes none at all, forming the low-water shore of the lake. AU this place was absolutely covered with flocks of screaming plover. We took off our clothes, and, getting overboard, commenced dragging the boat — mak- 124 LIFE OF FREMONT. ing, by this operation, a very curious trail, and a very disagreeable smell in stirring up the mud as we sank above the knee at every step. The water here was still fresh, with only an insipid and disagreeable taste, probably derived from the bed of fetid mud. After proceeding in this way about a mile, we came to a small black ridge on the bottom, beyond which the water became sud denly salt, beginning gradually to deepen, and the bottom was sandy and firm. It was a re- markable division, separating the fresh water of the rivers from the briny water of the lake, which was entirely saturated with common salt. Push- ing our little vessel across the narrow boundary, we sprang on board, and at length were afloat on the waters of the unknown sea. " We did not steer for the mountainous is- lands, but directed our course towards a lower one, which it had been decided we should first visit, the summit of which was formed like the crater at the upper end of Bear River valley. So long as we could touch the bottom with our paddles, we were very gay ; but gradually, as the water deepened, we became more still in our frail batteau of gum cloth distended with air, and with pasted seams. Although the day was very calm, there was a considerable swell on the lake ; and there were white patches of foam on the surface, which were slowly moving to the southward, indicating the set of a current in that GREAT SALT LAKE. 125 direction, and recalling the recollection of the whirlpool stories. The water continued to deepen as we advanced; the lake becoming almost transparently clear, of an extremely beautiful bright-green color; and the spray, which was thrown into the boat and over our clothes, was directly converted into a crust of common salt, which covered also our hands and arms. ' Captain,' said Carson, who for some time had been looking suspiciously at some whitening appearances outside the nearest is- lands, ' what are those yonder ? — won't you just take a look with the glass ? ' We ceased pad- dling for a moment, and found them to be the caps of the waves that were beginning to break under the force of a strong breeze that was com- ing up the lake. The form of the boat seemed to be an admirable one, and it rode on the waves like a water bird ; but, at the same time, it was extremely slow in its progress. When we were a little more than half-way across the reach, two of the divisions between the cylinders gave way, and it required the (Constant use of the bellows to keep in a sufficient quantity of air. For a long time we scarcely seemed to approach our island, but gradually we worked across the rougher sea of the open channel, into the smoother water under the lee of the island ; and began to discover that what we took for a long row of pelicans, ranged on the beach, were only 11* • 126 LIFE OP FREMONT. low cliffs whitened with salt by the spray of the waves; and about noon we reached the shore, the transparency of the water enabling us to see the bottom at a considerable depth. " The cliffs and masses of rock along the shore were whitened by an incrustation of salt where the waves dashed up against them ; and the evaporating water, which had been left in holes and hollows on the surface of the rocks, was covered with a crust of salt about one eighth of an inch in thickness. " Carrying with us the barometer and other instruments, in the afternoon we ascended to the highest point of the island — a bare rocky peak, 800 feet above the lake. Standing on the summit, we enjoyed an extended view of the lake, enclosed in a basin of rugged mountains, which sometimes left marshy flats and extensive bottoms between them and the shore, and in other places came directly down into the water with bold and precipitous bluffs. " As we looked over the vast expanse of water spread out beneath us, and strained our eyes along the silent shores over which hung so much doubt and uncertainty, and which were so full of "interest to us, I could hardly repress the almost irresistible desire to continue our explora- tion ; but the lengthening snow on the moun- tains was a plain indication of the advancing season, and our frail linen boat appeared so m GREAT SALT LAKE. 127 insecure that I was unwilling to trust our lives to the uncertainties of the lake. I therefore unwillingly resolved to terminate our survey here, and remain satisfied for the present with what we had been able to add to the unknown geography of the region. We felt pleasure also in remembering that we were the first who, in the traditionary annals of the country, had visited the islands, and broken, with the cheer- ful sound of human voices, the long solitude of the place. " I accidentally left on the summit the brass cover to the object end of my spy- glass ; and as it will probably remain there undisturbed by Indians, it will fm*nish matter of speculation to some future traveller. In our excursions about the island, we did not meet with any kind of animal ; a magpie, and another larger bird, prob- ably attracted by the smoke of our fire, paid us a visit from the shore, and were the only living things seen during our stay. The rock constituting the cliffs along the shore where we were encamped, is a talcous rock, or steatite, with brown spar. " At sunset, the temperature was 70°. We had arrived just in time to obtain a meridian altitude of the sun, and other observations were obtained this evening, which place our camp in latitude 41° 10' 42^', and .longitude 112° 21' 05'- from Greenwich. From a discussion of the 128 LIFE OF FREMONT. barometrical observations made during our stay on the shores of the lake, we have adopted 4,200 feet for its elevation above the gulf of Mexico. In the first disappointment we felt from the dissipation of our dream of the fertile islands, I called this Disappointment Island. " Out of the driftwood, we made ourselves pleasant little lodges, open to the water, and, after having kindled large fires to excite the wonder of any straggling savage on the lake shores, lay down, for the first time in a long journey, in perfect security ; no one thinking about his arms. The evening was extremely bright and pleasant ; but the wind rose during the night, and the waves began to break heavily on the shore, making our island tremble. I had not expected in our inland journey to hear the roar of an ocean surf; and the strangeness of our situation, and the excitement we felt in the associated interests of the place, made this one of the most interesting nights I remember during our long expedition. " In the morning, the surf was breaking heavily on the shore, and we were up early. The lake was dark and agitated, and we hurried through our scanty breakfast, and embarked — having first fiUed one of the buckets with water from the lake, of which it was intended to make salt. The sun had risen by ■ the time we were ready to start ; and it was blowing a strong gale of COLUMBIA RIVER. 129 wind, almost directly off the shore, and raising a considerable sea, in which our boat strained very much. It roughened as we got away from the island, and it required all the efforts of the men to make any head against the wind and sea ; the gale rising with the sun ; and there was danger of being blown into one of the open reaches beyond the island. At the distance of half a mile from the beach, the depth of water was 16 feet, with a clay bottom ; but, as the working of the boat was very severe labor, and during the operation of sounding it was neces- sary to cease paddling, during which the boat lost considerable way, I was unwilling to dis- courage the men, and reluctantly gave up my intention of ascertaining the depth, and the character of the bed. There was a general shout in the boat when we found ourselves in one fathom, and we soon after landed." On the afternoon of the 12th they started from their Salt Lake encampment, for the Columbia River, and reached Fort Hall on the 18th, at sunset. Here the party was again united, and preparations were made to push on to the Columbia. " The early approach of winter, and the diffi- culty of supporting a large party, determined me to send back a number of the men who had become satisfied that they were not fitted for the laborious service and frequent privation to 130 LIFE OF FREMONT. which they were necessarily exposed, and which there was reason to believe would become more severe in the further extension of the voyage. I accordingly called them together, and, informing them of my intention to continue our journey during the ensuing winter, in the course of which they would probably be exposed to con- siderable hardship, succeeded in prevailing upon a nuqjber of them to return voluntarily. These were : Charles De Forrest, Henry Lee, J. Camp- bell, Wm. Creuss, A. Vasquez, A. Pera, Patrick "White, B. Tesson, M. Creely, Francois Lajeu- nesse, Basil Lajeunesse. Among these, I re- gretted very much to lose Basil Lajeunesse, one of the best men in my party, who was obliged, by the condition of his family, to be at lome in the coming winter." Fremont, with the residue of his party, started on the 23d of September, and pursued, for the most part, the course of the Snake River, or Lewis's Fork, and came in sight of the Colum- bia on the 2oth of October, at the junction of the Wahlahwahlah, where it was twelve hun- dred yards wide. On the 4th of November they reached the Dalles of the Columbia, so called from the trough-like aspect of the narrow chasm, at one place only fifty-eight yards wide, through which the great river passes between perpendic- ular walls of basaltic rock of an average height of twenty-five feet. From the Dalles to Fort COLUMBIA RIVER. 181 Vancouver the route was pursued in a canoe, Fremont, Preuss, Bernier, and Dodson, with three Indians to whom the canoe belonged, constitut- ing the party. The remainder were left in charge of Carson. After collecting at the fort the necessary pro- visions and supplies to refit and support his party during the winter journey on which they were about to enter, — in which he was aided by the cordial cooperation of Dr. McLaughlin, the executive officer of the Hudson Bay Company, — he started on his return to the Dalles in the afternoon of November 10, his flotilla consisting of a Mackinaw barge and three canoes. '-'-November 13. We had a day of disagree- able and cold rain, and late in the afternoon began to approach the rapids of the cascades. " The current was now very swift, and we were obliged to cor dell e the boat along the left shore, where the bank was covered with large masses of rocks. Night overtook us at the upper end of the island, a short distance below the cas- cades, and we halted on the open point. In the mean time, the lighter canoes, paddled altogether by Indians, had passed ahead, and were out of sight. With them was the lodge, which was the only shelter we had, with most of the bedding and provisions. We shouted, and fired guns, but all to no purpose, as it was impossible foi 132 LIFE OF FREMONT. them to hear above the roar of the river ; and we remained all night without shelter, the rain pouring down all the time. The old voyageurs did not appear to mind it much, but covered themselves up as well as they could, and lay down on the sand-beach, where they remained quiet until morning. The rest of us spent a rather miserable night ; and, to add to our dis- comfort, the incessant rain extinguished our fires and we were glad when at last daylight ap- peared, and we again embarked. " Crossing to the right bank, we cordelled the boat along the shore, there being no longer any use for the paddles, and put into a little bay be- low the upper rapids. Here we found the lodge pitched, and about twenty Indians sitting around a blading fire within, making a luxurious break- fast with salmon, bread, butter, sugar, coffee, and other provisions. In the forest, on the edge of the high bluff overlooking the river, is an Indian graveyard, consisting of a collection of tombs, in each of which were the scattered bones of many skeletons. The tombs were made of boards, which were ornamented with many fig- ures of men and animals of the natural size, — from their appearance constituting the armorial device by which, among Indians, the chiefs are usually known. *' The masses of rock displayed along the shores of the ravine in the neighborhood of the cas- COLUMBIA RIVER. 133 cades, are clearly volcanic products. Between this cove, Y\^hich I called Graveyard Bay, and another spot of smooth water above on the right called LiJders Bay, sheltered by a jutting point of huge rocky masses at the foot of the cascades, the shore along the intervening rapids is lined with precipices of distinct strata of red and vari- ously colored lavas in inclined positions. " A gentleman named LiJders, a botanist, from the city of Hamburg, arrived at the bay I have called by his name while we were occupied in bringing up the boats. I was delighted to meet at such a place a man of kindred pursuits ; but we had only the pleasure of a brief conver- sation, as his canoe, under the guidance of two Indians, was about to run the rapids ; and I could not enjoy the satisfaction of regaling him with a breakfast which, after his recent journey, would have been an extraordinary luxury. All of his few instruments and baggage were in the canoe, and he hurried around by land to meet it at the Graveyard Bay ; but he was scarcely out of sight, when, by the carelessness of the In- dians, the boat was dxawn into the midst of the rapids, and glanced down the river, bottom up, with the loss of every thing it contained. In the natural concern I felt for his misfortune, I gave to the little cove the name of Liiders Bay. ^^Novemher 15. We continued to-day our work at the portage." 12 134 LIFE OP FREMONT. In the afternoon of Nov. 18, they reached the Dalles. The camp was immediately busy with the last preparations for a journey through the unexplored regions between the Columbia River and California, and embracing the central basin of the continent between the Rocky Moun- tains and the Sierra Nevada. It was not origi- nally designed to cross the latter, but to turn homewards over the Rocky Mountains, at some pass near the head waters of the Arkansas. " This was our projected line of return — a great part of it absolutely new to geographical, botani- cal, and geological science — and the subject of reports in relation to lakes, rivers, deserts, and savages hardly above the condition of mere wild animals, which inflamed desire to know what this terra incognita really contained. It was a serious enterprise, at the commencement of win- ter, to undertake the traverse of such a region, and with a party consisting only of twenty-five persons, and they of many nations — American, French, German, Canadian, Indian, and colored — and most of them young, several being under twenty-one years of age. AU knew that a strange country was to be explored, and dangers and hardships to be encountered; but no one blenched at the prospect. On the contrary, courage and confidence animated the whole party. Cheerfulness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedience, characterized all ; nor did any CENTRAL BASIN. 135 i extjemity of peril and privation, to which we were aftenvards exposed, ever belie, or derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave and generous commencement. The course of the narrative will show at what point, and for what reasons, we were prevented from the complete execution of this plan, after having made considerable pro- gress upon it, and how we were forced by desert plains, and mountain ranges, and deep snows, far to the south and near to the Pacific ocean, and along the western base of the Sien'a Nevada ; where, indeed, a new and ample field of explora- tion opened itself before us. For the present, we must follow the narrative, which will first lead us south along the valley of Fall River, and the eastern base of the Cascade range, to the Tla- math lake, from which, or its margin, three rivers go in three directions — one west, to the ocean ; another north, to the Columbia ; the third south, to California. " For the support of the party, I had provided at Vancouver a supply of provisions for not less than three months, consisting principally of flour, peas, and tallow — the latter being used in cook- ing ; and, in addition to this, I had purchased at the mission some California cattle, which were to be driven on the hoof. We had 104 mules and horses — part of the latter procured from the In- dians about the mission ; and for the sustenance of which, our reliance was upon the grass which 136 LIFE OF FREMONT. we should find, and the soft porous wood, which was to be its substitute when there was none. " Mr. Perkins succeeded in obtaining as guide to the Tlamath lake two Indians, one of whom had been there, and bore the marks of several wounds he had received from some of the Indians in the neighborhood ; and the other went along for company. In order to enable us to obtain horses, he despatched messengers to the various Indian villages in the neighborhood, informing them that we were desirous to purchase, and appointing a day for them to bring them in. " We made, in the mean time, several excur- sions in the vicinity. Mr. Perkins walked with Mr. Preuss and myself to the heights, about nine miles distant on the opposite side of the river; whence, in fine weather, an extensive view may be had over the mountains, including seven greai peaks of the Cascade range ; but clouds, on this occasion, destroyed the anticipated pleasure, and we obtained bearings only to three that were visible — Mount Regnier, St. Helens, and Mount Hood. On the heights, about one mile south of the mission, a very fine view may be had of Mount Hood and St. Helens. In order to de- termine their positions with as much accuracy as possible, the angular distances of the peaks were measured with the sextant, at different fixed points from which they could be seen. " The Indians brought in their horses at the CENTRAL BASIN. 137 appointed time, and we succeeded in obtaining a number in exchange for goods ; but they were relatively much higher here, where goods are plenty and at moderate prices, than we had found them in the more eastern part of our voyage. Several of the Indians inquired very anxiously to know if we had any dollars ; and the horses we procured were much fewer in number than I had desired, and of thin, inferior quality; the oldest and poorest being those that were sold to us. These horses, as ever in our journey you will have occasion to remark, are valuable for hardihood and great endurance. " November 24. At this place one of the men was discharged ; and at the request of ]\Ir. Perkins, a Chinook Indian, a lad of nineteen, who was extremely desirous to " see the whites," and make some acquaintance with our institutions, was received into the party under my especial charge, with the understanding that I would again return him to his friends. He had lived for some time in the household of Mr. Perkins, and spoke a few words of the English language. " November 25. We were all up early, in the excitement of turning towards home. The stars were brilliant, and the morning cold, the ther- mometer at daylight 26^. Our preparations had been finally completed, and to-day we commenced our journey. The Uttle wagon which had hitherto carried the in- 12* 138 LIFE OP FREMONT. struments, I judged it necessary to abandon; and it was accordingly presented to the mission. In all our long travelling, it had never been over- turned or injured by any accident of the road ; and the only things broken were the glass lamps, and one of the front panels, which had been kicked out by an unruly Indian horse. The howitzer was the only wheeled carriage now re- maining. We started about noon, when the weather had become disagreeably cold, with flur- ries of snow. Our friend Mr. Perkins, w^hose kindness had been active and efficient during our stay, accompanied us several miles on our road ; when he bade us farewell, and consigned us to the care of our guides. " November 27. A fine view of Mount Hood this morning; a rose-colored mass of snow, bearing S. 85° W. by compass. The sky is clear, and the air cold ; the thermometer 2°. 5 . below zero ; the trees and bushes glittering white, and the rapid stream filled with floating ice." No one can have an adequate idea of the suf- ferings endured, the obstacles encountered, the perilous adventures, and fearful experiences, in this journey, without reading the whole of Fre- mont's Report, referring from point to point to the geography of the country, as exhibited on the map, drawn from his surveys, by his associate Charles Preuss, in 1848, under an order of the Senate of the United States. Of course, in such CENTRAL BASIN. 139 a work as this, only glimpses can be given of what the heroic party went through ; and thai can best be done in extracts frOm the Report of its commander. ^'"December 14. Our road was over a broad mountain, and we rode seven hours in a thick snowstorm, always through pine forests, when we came down upon the head waters of another stream, on which there was grass. The snow lay deep on the ground, and only the high swamp grass appeared above. The Indians were thinly clad, and I had remarked during the day that they suffered from the cold. This evening they told me that the snow was getting too deep on the mountain, and I could not in- duce them to go any further. The stream we had struck issued from the mountain in an easterly direction, turning to the southward a short distance below ; and, drawing its course upon the ground, they made us comprehend that it pursued its way for a long distance in that direction, uniting with many other sti-eams, and gradually becoming a great river. Without the subsequent information which confirmed the opinion, we became immediately satisfied that this water formed the principal stream of the Sacramento River ; and, consequently, that this main affluent of the Bay of San Francisco had its source within the limits of the United States, and opposite a tributary to the Colum- 140 LIFE OF FREMONT. bia, and near the head of the Tlamath River which goes to the ocean north of 42*^, and within the United States. '•^December 15. A present consisting of useful goods afforded much satisfaction to our guides ; and, showing them the national flag, I explained that it was a symbol of our nation ; and they engaged always to receive it in a friendly man- ner. The chief pointed out a course, by fol- lowing which we "would arrive at the big water, where no more snow was to be found. Cross- ing a hard frozen swamp on the further side of the Rond, we entered again the pine forest, in which very deep snow made our travelling slow and laborious. We were slowly but gradually ascending a mountain ; and, after a hard jour- ney of seven hours, we came to some naked places among the timber, where a few tufts of grass showed above the snow, on the side of a hollow ; and here we encamped. Our cow, which every day got poorer, was killed here, but the meat was rather tough. " December 16. We travelled this morning through snow about three feet deep, which, be- ing crusted, very much cut the feet of our ani- mals. The mountain still gradually rose ; we crossed several spring heads covered with quak- ing asp, otherwise it was all pine forest. The air was dark with falling snow, which every- where weighed down the trees. The depths of I CENTRAL BASIN. 141 the forest were profoundly still ; and below, we scarce felt a breath of the wind which whirled the snow through their branches. I found that it reqmred some exertion of constancy to ad- here steadily to one course through the woods, when we were uncertain how far the forest ex- tended, or what lay beyond ; and, on account of our animals, it would be bad to spend another night on the mountain. Towards noon the forest looked clear ahead, appearing suddenly to terminate ; and beyond a certain point we could see no trees. Riding rapidly ahead to this spot, we found ourselves on the verge of a vertical and rocky wall of the mountain. At our feet — more than a thousand feet below — we looked into a green prairie country, in which a beau- tiful lake, some twenty miles in length, was spread along the foot of the mountains, its shores bordered with green grass. Just then the sun broke out among the clouds, and illumi- nated the country below, while around us the storm raged fiercely. Not a particle of ice was to be seen on the lake, or snow on its borders, and all was like summer or spring. The glow of the sun in the valley below brightened up our hearts with sudden pleasure ; and we made the woods ring with joyful shouts to those be- hind ; and gradually, as each came up, he stop- ped to enjoy the unexpected scene. Shivering on snow three feet deep, and stiffening in a cold 142 LIFE OF FREMONT. north wind, we exclaimed at once that the names of Summer Lake and Winter Ridge should be applied to these two proximate places of such sudden and violent contrast. " "We were now immediately on the verge of the forest land, in which we had been travelling so many days ; and looking forward to the east, scarce a tree was to be seen. Viewed from our elevation, the face of the country exhibited only- rocks and grass, and presented a region in which the artemisia became the principal wood, furnishing to its scattered inhabitants fuel for their fires, building material for their huts, and shelter for the small game which ministers to their hunger and nakedness. Broadly marked by the boundary of the mountain wall, and immediately below us, were the first wate:.s of that Great Interior Basin which has the Wah- satch and Bear River mountains for its eastern, and the Sierra Nevada for its western rim ; and the edge of which we had entered upwards of three months before at the Great Salt Lake. " When we had sufficiently admired the scene below, we began to think about descend- ing, which here was impossible, and we turned towards the north, travelling always along the rocky wall. We continued on for four or five mUes, making ineffectual attempts at several places ; and at length succeeded in getting down at one which was extremely difficult of 1 iiiil I '< ,l!i o;' lill ' •' CENTRAL BASm. 143 descent. Night had closed in before the fore- most had reached the bottom, and it was dark before we all found ourselves together in the valley. There were three or four half-dead dry cedar-trees on the shore, and those who first amved kindled bright fires to light on the others. One of the mules rolled over and over two or three hundred feet into a ravine, but recovered himself, without any other injury than to his pack; and the howitzer was left midway the mountain until morning. " January 10. We continued our reconnois- sance ahead, pursuing a south direction in the basin along the ridge ; the camp following slowly after. On a large trail there is never any doubt of finding suitable places for encampments. We reached the end of the basin, where we found, in. a hollow of the mountain which enclosed it, ^ an abundance of good bunch grass. Leaving a signal for the party to encamp, we continued our way up the hollow, intending to see what lay beyond the mountain. The hollow was several miles long, forming a good pass, the snow deepening to about a foot as we neared the summit. Beyond, a defile between the mountains descended rapidly about two thou- sand feet ; and, filling up all the lower space, was a sheet of green water, some twenty miles broad. It broke upon our eyes like the ocean. The neighboring peaks rose high above ns, and 144 LIFE OF FREMONT. we ascended one of them to obtain a better view The waves were curling in the breeze, and their dark-green color showed it to be a body of deep water. For a long time we sat enjoying the view, for we had become fatigued with moun- tains, and the free expanse of moving waves was very grateful. It was set in the midst of the mountains, which, from our position, seemed to enclose it almost entirely. At the western end it communicated with the line of basins we had left a few days since ; and on the opposite side it swept a ridge of snowy mountains, the foot of the Great Sierra. Its position at first inclined us to believe it Mary's Lake, but the rugged mountains were so entirely discordant with de- scriptions of its low rushy shores and open country, that we concluded it some unknown body of water ; which it afterwards proved to be. " Towards evening the snow began to fall heavily, and the country had a wintry appear- ance. " The next morning the snow was rapidly melting under a warm sun. Part of the morning was occupied in bringing up the gun ; and, making only nine miles, we encamped on the shore, opposite a very remarkable rock in the lake, which had attracted our attention for many miles. It rose, according to our estimate, 600 feet above the water ; and, from the point W8 CENTRAL BASIN. 145 viewed it, presented a pretty exact outline of the great pyramid of Cheops. Like other rocks along the shore, it seemed to be incrusted with calcareous cement. This striking feature sug- gested a name for the lake ; and I called it Pyramid Lake. " January 29. The other division of the party did not come in to-night, but e*ncamped in the upper meadow, and arrived the next morning. They had not succeeded in getting the howitzer beyond the place mentioned, and where it had been left by jMr. Preuss in obedience to my orders ; and, in anticipation of the snow-banks and snow-fields still ahead, foreseeing the inevi- table detention to which it would subject us, I reluctantly determined to leave it there for the time. It was .of the kind invented by the French for the mountain part of their war in Algiers ; and the distance it had come with us, proved how well it was adapted to its purpose. We left it, to the great sorrow of the whole party, who were grieved to part with a companion which had made the whole distance from St. Louis, and commanded respect for us on some critical occasions, and which might be needed for the same purpose again. " February 2. It had ceased snowing, and this morning the lower air was clear and frosty ; and six or seven thousand feet above, the peaks of the Sierra now and then appeared among the 13 146 LIFE OF FREMONT. rolling clouds, which were rapidly dispersing be« fore the sun. Our Indian shook his head as he pointed to the icy pinnacles shooting high up into the sky, and seeming almost immediately above us. Crossing the river on the ice, and leaving it immediately, we commenced the ascent of the mountain along the valley of a tributary stream." The people were unusually silent; for every man knew that our enterprise was hazardous, and the issue doubtful. " The snow deepened rapidly, and it soon be- came necessary to break a road. For this ser- vice, a party of ten was formed, mounted on the strongest horses ; each man in succession open- ing the road on foot, or on horseback, until him- self and his horse became fatigued, when he stepped aside; and, the remaining r;umber pass- ing ahead, he took his station in the rear. Leav- ing this stream, and pursuing a very dkect course, we passed over an intervening ridge to the river we had left. On the way we passed two low huts entirely covered' with snow, which might very easily have escaped observation. A family was living in each ; and the only trail I saw in the neighborhood was from the door-hole to a nut-pine tree near, which supplied them with food and fuel. We found two similar huts on the creek where we next arrived ; and, travelling a little higher up, encamped on its banks in about four feet depth of snow. Carson found SIERRA NEVADA. 147 near an open hill-side, where the wind and the sun had melted the snow, leaving exposed suffi- cient bunch grass for the animals to-night. " February 4. I went ahead early with two or three men, each with a led horse, to break the road. We were obliged to abandon the hollow entirely, and work along the mountain-side, which was very steep, and the snow covered with an icy crust. We cut a footing as we ad- vanced, and trampled a road through for the animals ; but occasionally one plunged outside the trail, and slided along the field to the bottom, a hundred yards below. Late in the day we reached another bench in the hollow, where, in summer, the stream passed over a small preci- pice. Here was a short distance of dividing ground between the two ridges, and beyond an open basin, some ten miles across, whose bottom presented a field of snow. At the further or western side rose the middle crest of the moun- tain, a dark-looking ridge of volcanic rock. " The summit line presented a range of naked peaks, apparently destitute of snow and vegeta- tion ; but below, the face of the whole country was covered with timber of extraordinary size. " Towards a pass which the guide indicated here, we attempted in the afternoon to force a road ; but after a laborious plunging through two or three hundred yards, our best horses gave out, entirely refusing to make any further effort ; and, 148 LIFE OF FREMONT. for the time, we were brought to a stand. The guide informed us that we were entering the deep snow, and here began the difficulties of the mountain; and to him, and almost to all, our enterprise seemed hopeless. I returned a short distance back, to the break in the hollow, where I met Mr. Fitzpatrick. " The camp had been all the day occupied in endeavoring to ascend the hill, but only the best horses had succeeded. The animals generally not having sufficient strength to bring themselves up without the packs ; and all the line of road between this and the springs was strewed with camp stores and equipage, and horses flounder- ing in snow. I therefore immediately encamped on the ground with my own mess, which was in advance, and directed Mr. Fitzpatrick to encamp at the springs, and send all the animals in charge of Tabeau, with a strong guard, back to the place where they had been pastured the night before. Here was a small spot of level ground, protected on one side by the mountain and on the other sheltered by a little ridge of rock. It was an open grove of pines, which assimilated in size to the grandeur of the mountain, being frequently six feet in diameter. " To-night we had no shelter, but we made a large fire around the trunk of one of the huge pines ; and covering the snow with small boughs, on which we spread our blankets, soon made SIERRA NEVADA. 149 ourselves comfortable. The night was very bright and clear, though the thermometer was only at 10°. A strong wind, which sprang up at sun- down, made it intensely cold ; and this was one of the bitterest nights during the journey. " Two Indians joined our party here ; and one of them, an old man, immediately began to harangue us, saying that ourselves and animals would perish in the snow, and that if we would go back, he would show us another and a better way across the mountain. He spoke in a very loud voice, and there was a singular repetition of phrases and arrangement of words, which rendered his speech striking and not unmu- sical. " We had now begun to understand some words, and, with the aid of signs, easily com- prehended the old man's simple ideas. ' Rock upon rock — rock upon rock — snow upon snow — snow upon snow,' said he ; ' even if you get oyer the snow, you will not be able to get down from the mountains.' He made us the sign of precipices, and showed us how the feet of the horses would slip, and throw them off from the narrow trails which led along their sides. Our Chinook, who comprehended even more readily than ourselves, and believed our situation hope- less, covered his head with his blanket, and began to weep and lament. ' I wanted to see the whites,' said he ; * I came away from my own 13* 150 LIFE OF FREMONT. people to see the whites, and I wouldn't care to die among them ; but here ' and he looked around into the cold night and gloomy forest, and, drawing his blanket over his head, began again to lament. " Seated around the tree, the fire illuminating the rocks and the tall bolls of the pines round about, and the old Indian haranguing, we pre- sented a group of very serious faces. ^'•February 5. The night had been too cold to sleep, and we were up very early. Our guide was standing by the fire with all his finery on ; and, seeing him shiver in the cold, I threw on his shoulders one of my blankets. We missed him a few minutes afterwards, and never saw him again. He had deserted. " While a portion of the camp were occupied in bringing up the baggage to this point, the remainder were busied in making sledges and snow-shoes. I had determined to explore the mountain ahead, and the sledges were to be used in transporting the baggage. '•^February 6. Accompanied by Mr. Fitzpat- rick, I sat out to-day with a reconnoitiing party, on snow-shoes. We marched all in a single file, trampling the snow as heavily as we could. Cross- ing the open basin, in a march of about ten miles we reached the top of one of the peaks, to the left of the pass indicated by our guide. Far below us, dimmed by the distance, was a large 'll'l ' ft I lllllllllillllllll fii!&r! Sll> lililill/ ^: SIERRA NEVADA. 151 snowless valley, bounded on the western side at the distance of about a hundi'ed miles, by a low range of mountains, which Carson recog- nized with delight as the mountains bordering the coast. * There,' said he, ' is the little moun- tain — it is fifteen years ago since I saw it ; but I am just as sure as if I had seen it yesterday. Between us, then, and this low coast range, was the valley of the Sacramento ; and no one who had not accompanied us through the incidents of our life for the last few months, could realize the delight with which at last we looked down upon it. At the distance of apparently thirty miles beyond us were distinguished spots of prairie ; and a dark line, which could be traced with the glass, was imagined to be the course of the river ; but we were evidently at a great height above the valley, and between us and the plains extended miles of snowy fields, and broken ridges of pine-covered mountains. " It was late in the day when we turned towards the camp ; and it grew rapidly cold as it drew towards night. One of the men became fatigued, and his feet began to freeze, and, build- ing a fire in the trunk of a dry old cedar, Mr. Fitzpatrick remained with him until his clothes could be dried, and he was in a condition to come on. After a day's march of twenty miles, we straggled into camp, one after another, at nightfall ; the greater number excessively fatigued, 152 LIFE OF FREMONT. only two of the party having ever travelled oia snow-shoes before. "All our energies were now directed to getting our animals across the snow ; and it was sup- posed that, after all the baggage had been drawn with the sleighs over the trail we had made, ii would be sufficiently hard to bear our animals.. At several places, between this point and the ridge, we had discovered some grassy spots, where the wind and sun had dispersed the snow from the sides of the hills, and these were to form resting-places to support the animals for a night in their passage across. On our way across, we had set on fire several broken stumps, and dried trees, to melt holes in the snow for the camps. Its general depth was five feet ; but we passed over places where it was twenty feet deep, as shown by the trees. " With one party drawing sleighs loaded with baggage, I advanced to-day, about four miles along the trail, and encamped at the first grassy spot where we expected to bring our horses. Mr. Fitzpatrick, with another party, remained behind, to form an intermediate station between us and the animals. '"'•Fehruary 8. The night has been extremely cold; but perfectly still, and beautifully clear. Before the sun appeared this morning, the ther- mometer was 3° below zero ; 1° higher, when his rays struck the lofty peaks ; and 0° when they reached our camp. SIERRA NEVADA. 153 " Scenery and weather combined must render these mountains beautiful in summer ; the purity and deep- blue color of the sky are singularly beautiful ; the days are sunny and bright, and even warm in the noon hours ; and if we could be free from the many anxieties that oppress us, even now we would be delighted here ; but our provisions are getting fearfully scant. " Putting on our snow-shoes, we spent the afternoon in exploring a road ahead. The glare of the snow, combined with great fatigue, had rendered many of the people nearly blind but we were fortunate in having some black silk handkerchiefs, which, worn as veils, very much relieved the eye. " February 11. In the evening I received a message from IVIr. Fitzpatrick, acquainting me with the utter failure of his attempt to get our mules and horses over the snow — the half-hidden trail had proved entirely too slight to support them, and they had broken through, and were plunging about or lying half-buried in snow. He was occupied in endeavoring to get them back to his camp ; and in the mean time sent to me for further instructions. I wrote to him to send the animals immediately back to their old pastures ; and, after having made mauls and shovels, turn in all the strength of his party to open and beat a road through the snow, strengthening it with branches and boughs of the pines. 154 LIFE OF FREMONT. " February 12. We made mauls, and worked hard at our end of the road all the day. The wind was high, but the sun bright, and the snow thawing. We worked down the face of the hill, to meet the people at the other end. Towards sundown it began to grow cold, and we shouldered om* mauls and trudged back to camp. " February 13. We continued to labor on the road ; and in the course of the day had the satisfaction to see the people working down the face of the opposite hill, about three miles distant. During the morning we had the plea- sure of a visit from Mr. Fitzpatrick, with the information that all was going on well. A party of Indians had passed on snow-shoes, who said they were going to the western side of the mountain after fish. This was an indication that the salmon were coming up the streams ; and we could hardly restrain our impatience as we thought of them, and worked with increased vigor. " The meat train did not amve this evening, and I gave Godey leave to kill our little dog (Tlamath,) which he prepared in Indian fashion — scorching off the hair, and washing the skin with soap and snow, and then cutting it up into pieces, which were laid on the snow. We had to-night an extraordinary dinner — pea-soup mule, and dog. SIERRA NEVADA. 155 " February 14. With Mr. Preuss, I ascended to-day the highest peak to {he right ; from which we had a beautiful view of a mountain lake at our feet, about fifteen miles in length, and so entirely surrounded by mountains that we could not discover an outlet. We had taken with us a glass; but, though we enjoyed an extended view, the valley was half hidden in mist, as when we had seen it before. Snow could be distinguished on the higher parts of the coast mountains ; eastward, as far as the eye could extend, it ranged over a temble mass of broken snowy mountains, fading off blue in the dis- tance. " February 16. We had succeeded in getting our animals safely to the first grassy hill ; and this morning I started with Jacob on a recon- noitring expedition beyond the mountain. We travelled along the crests of narrow ridges, extending down from the mountain in the direc- tion of the valley, from which the snow was fast melting away. On the open spots was tolerably good grass; and I judged we should succeed in getting the camp down by way of these. Towards sundown we discovered some icy spots in a deep hollow ; and, descending the mountain, we encamped on the head-water of a little creek, where at last the water found its way to the Pacific. " The night was clear and very long. We 156 LIFE OF FREMONT. heard the cries of some wild animals, which had been attracted by our fire, and a flock of geese passed over during the night. Even these strange sounds had something pleasant to our senses in this region of silence and desolation. " We started again early in the morning. The creek acquired a regular breadth of about 20 feet, and we soon began to hear the rushing of the water below the ice surface, over which we travelled to avoid the snow ; a few miles below we broke through, where the water was several feet deep, and halted to make a fire and dry our clothes. We continued a few miles further, walking being very laborious without snow- shoes. " I was now perfectly satisfied that v/e had struck the stream on which Mr. Sutter lived ; and, turning about, made a hard push, and reached the camp at dark. Here we had the pleasure to find all the remaining animals, 57 in number, safely arrived at the grassy hill near the camp ; and here, also, we were agreeably sur- prised with the sight of an abundance of salt. Some of the horse-guard had gone to a neigh- boring hut for pine nuts, and discovered, unex- pectedly, a large cake of very white, fine-grained salt, which the Indians told them they had brought from the other side of the mountain; they used it to eat with their pine nuts, and readily sold it for goods. SIERRA NEVADA. 157 " On the 19th the people were occupied in making a road and bringing up the baggage; and, on the afternoon of the next day, February 20, 1844, we encamped with the animals and all the material of the camp, on the summit of the Pass in the dividing ridge, 1,000 miles by our travelled road from the Dalles of the Colum- bia. " The people, who had not yet been to this point, climbed the neighboring peak to enjoy a look at the valley. " The temperature of boiling water gave for the elevation of the encampment 9,338 feet above the sea. " This was 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains, and several peaks in view rose several thousand feet still higher. Thus, at the extremity of the continent, and near the coast, the phenomenon was seen of a range of mountains still higher than the great Rocky Mountains themselves. This extraordi- nary fact accounts for the Great Basin, and shows that there must be a system of small lake^ and rivers here scattered over a flat country, and which the extended and lofty range of the Sierra Nevada prevents from escaping to the Pacific Ocean. Latitude 38*^ 44^ longitude 120° 28^ " Thus this pass in the Sierra Nevada, which so well deserves its name of Snowy Mountain, 14 158 LIFE OF FREMONT. is eleven degrees west, and about four degrees south of the South Pass. " February 21. We now considered ourselves victorious over the mountain ; having only the descent before us, and the valley under our eyes, we felt strong hope that we should force our way down. But this was a case in which the descent was not facile. Still deep fields of snow lay between, and there was a large intervening space of rough-looking mountains, through which we had yet to wind our way. Carson roused me this morning with an early fire, and we were all up long before day, in order to pass the snow-fields before the sun should render the crust soft. We enjoyed this morning a scene at sunrise, which even here was unusually glorious and beautiful. Immediately above the eastern mountains was repeated a cloud-formed mass of purple ranges, bordered with bright yellow gold ; the peaks shot up into a narrow line of crimson cloud, above which the air was filled with a greenish orange ; and over all was the singular beauty of the blue sky. " We had hard and doubtful labor yet before us, as the snow appeared to be heavier where the timber began further down, with few open spots. Ascending a height, we traced out the best line we could discover for the next day's march, and had at least the consolation to see that the mountain descended rapidly. The day bad I CALIFORNIA. 159 been one of April ; gusty, with a few occasional flakes of snow ; which, in the afternoon, envel- oped the upper mountain in clouds. We watched them anxiously, as now we dreaded a snow-storm. Shortly afterwards we heard the roll of thunder, and, looking towards the valley, found it all enveloped in a thunder-storm. For us, as connected with the idea of summer, it had a singular charm ; and we watched its pro- gress with excited feelings until nearly sunset, when the sky cleared off brightly, and we saw a shining line of water dkecting its course towards another, a broader and larger sheet. We knew that these could be no other than the Sacra- mento and the bay of San Francisco ; but, after our long wandering in rugged mountains, where so frequently we had met with disappointments, and where the crossing of every ridge displayed some unknown lake or river, we were yet almost afraid to believe that we were at last to escape into the genial country of which we had heard so many glowing descriptions, and dreaded again to find some vast interior lake, whose bitter waters would bring us disappointment. On the southern shore of what appeared to be the bay, could be traced the gleaming line where entered another large stream. '''•February 23. This was our most difficult day ; we were forced off the ridges by the quan- tity of snow among the timber, and obliged to 160 LIFE OF FREMONT. take to the mountain- sides, where, occasionally, rocks and a southern exposure afforded us a chance to scramble along. But these were steep and slippery with snow and ice ; and the tough evergreens of liK H' ' jlW NIGHT ASSAULT BY INDIANS. 219 to Basil, who was that side : ' What 's the mat- ter there ? What 's the fuss about ? ' He never answered, for he was dead then, poor fellow, — and he never knew what killed him. His head had been cut in, in his sleep ; the other groaned a little as he died. The Delawares (we had four with us) were sleeping at that fire, and they sprang up as the Tlamaths charged them. One of them (named Crane) caught up a gun, which was unloaded ; but, although he could do no execution, he kept them at bay, fighting like a soldier, and did not give up until he was shot full of arrows, three entering his heart ; he died bravely. As soon as I had called out, I saw it was Indians in the camp, and I and Owens together cried out * Indians.' There were no orders given ; things went on too fast, and the Colonel had men with him that did not need to be told their duty. The Colonel and I, Max- well, Owens, Godey, and Stepp jumped to- gether, we six, and ran to the assistance of our Delawares. I don't know who fired and who didn't ; but I think it was Stepp's shot that killed the Tlamath chief ; for it was at the crack of Stepp's gun that he fell. He had an English half-axe slung to his wrist by a cord, and there were forty arrows left in his quiver, the most beautiful and warlike arrows I ever saw. He must have been the bravest man among them, from the way he was armed, and judging by his 220 LIFE OF FREMONT. cap. When the Tlamaths saw him fall, they ran ; but we lay, every man with his rifle cocked, until daylight, expecting another attack. " In the morning we found by the tracks that from fifteen to twenty of the Tlamaths had attacked us. They had killed three of our men, (besides Basil and the Delaware, a half-breed Iroquois, named Dennie,) and wounded one of the Delawares, who scalped the chief whom we left where he fell. Our dead men we carried on mules ; but after going about ten miles, we found it impossible to get them any further through the thick timber, and finding a secret place, we buried them under logs and chunks, having no way to dig a grave. It was only a few days before this fight that some of these same Indians had come into our camp ; and, although we had only meat for two days, and felt sure that we should have to eat mules for ten or fifteen days to come, the Colonel divided with them, and even had a mule unpacked to give them some tobacco and knives." As Carson states, in the foregoing narrative, the Colonel remained awake, and up, after aU others in the encampment had gone to sleep. The letters, which brought him the first intelli- gence of his family and home, called back reminiscences and started associations that coursed through his mind, Idndling its deepest sensibilities. As he gazed upon the dyijig NIGHT ASSAULT BY INDIANS. 221 embers of the camp fires, his thoughts wandered in a reverie of fancy and emotion. Although the moon was shining brightly above the forest, beneath its branches all was dark, and its recesses impenetrable to the vision. Solemn silence reigned over the scene and the hour. His wearied and faithful people were in profound repose, and he watched that they might rest. It was midnight. Suddenly the horses started as if some danger assailed them. As such alarms often spring from trivial causes, Fremont did not arouse his men, but taking a six -barrel pistol in his hand, went noiselessly around to the various points where the animals were picketed, listened from time to time, and exam- ined all parts of the encampment. AU was stiU, and no danger seemed near. The horses, reassured by his presence, became quiet, and returned to their rest. Having thus reconnoitred the ground, in cautious exploration, he con- cluded that all was safe. Indeed, he had dis- missed the idea of the possibility of danger from Indians at that time. Since the morning he had ridden sixty miles, too rapidly to be followed, and seen none by the way. The two advanced couriers, and after them, Gillespie with only his three remaining men, had just passed unharmed over the country, from the opposite direction, and it seemed quite certain that there could be no enemy in the neighborhood. Convinced by 19* 222 LIFE OP FREMONT. these considerations, he yielded to silence and fatigue, and had fallen into unconsciousness himself, when, the moon having sunk below the trees, the attack began. It is not unlikely that, during all the previous- hours of that night, savage eyes were upon him as he mused and watched before the fire. It i% always a main point with Indians, in attacking a party, to kill the commander. The Tlamath? were undoubtedly lurking around the camp, when the horses started ; and as Fremont went to find the' cause of the alarm, they m^ay have lost sight of him, and his life have thus been saved. To show the profound duplicity and treachery of those Indians, the following statement made by Mr. Gillespie under oath before the com- mittee on military affairs of the Senate of the United States, is presented. " I started upon Captain Fremont's trail upon the 2d of May, much against the earnest appeals and advice of the settlers, who informed me that the Indians, through whose country I would have to pass, were very hostile, and v/ould, in all probability, defeat so small a party. How- ever, considering their fears somewhat exagger ated, I determined to overtake Captain Fremont at all hazards. Upon the 7th of May, finding the signs of the camp very fresh, I ordered two of the men, Neal and Sigler, to proceed ahead NIGHT ASSAULT BY INDIANS. 223 upon the best and fleetest horses, to overtake and inform Captain Fremont of my approach I arrived at the Tlamath Lake at sunset of the same day. Our provisions were exhausted, and game could not be found. Not being able to ford the river, the outlet of the lake, I determined to encamp upon its banks, hoping to hear the next morning from my men, or receive a message from Captain Fremont, whom I supposed at no great distance from me. "We remained here until the morning of the 9th, full forty hours, without any thing to eat, when, at about 8 o'clock, a party of Indians came to us, a chief bringing me a fresh salmon just from the lake. They also brought two canoes, and took us across the lake, and showed us every disposition to be friendly. Riding about 30 miles over the mountains, I came to a party, about sunset, which proved to be Captain Fremont, with nine of his men, who had rode sixty miles that day to meet me." When Gillespie's men examined the body and countenance of the Indian, left dead in the camp, it was found to be the identical chief, who, the morning before, had brought the fresh salmon to them, and professed such exceeding friendliness of disposition towards them ! There can be no doubt that immediately after setting them across the river, and making such an ac- ceptable present to them, he collected his mur- 224 LIFE OF FBEMONT. derous party, and dogged them, unseen, the whole day, indulging the confident purpose of cutting them off at night, which he woul^i have done had not Fremont made his extraordinary effort to meet them. Gillespie, in his testi- mony, says : " The Indians had followed on my trail, and but for the promptness of Captain Fremont, my small party would have been overpowered by superior numbers, and killed." This is a specimen of that instantaneous decision of purpose, which has marked the course of Fremont, and from which such con- sequences have often flowed, as seem to look like an overruling Providence, determining his judgment, in the apparent absence of ordinary considerations and inducements. Upon the arrival of Gillespie's advanced couriers, he in- stantly, and without a moment's delay, prepared his select troop, and rode 60 miles, feeling that it was necessary to reach him before another night. If he had not done this, he never would have received the communication that carried him back to California, and the sequel will show how disastrously the current of the world's affairs would, in that event, have been turned from its course. The circumstance of that midnight tragedy in the far-off wilderness that most touches the feeling heart, is the death of Basil. His noble nature has been indicated in some passages of BASIL LAJEUNESSE. 225 this memoir. He was in the bloom of life. He was generousj disinterested, and as beautiful as brave. His manly energy and powers of endur- ance were unsurpassed. His person and char- acter bore the impress of Nature's choicest stamp. The sudden extinction of such a life is an affecting and impressive event. Deeply did his commander and companions mourn his death. When, in distant centuries, a civilized population shall surround the Tlamath Lake, the story of Basil Lajeunesse will give a romantic interest to the shore where his ashes rest. CHAPTER V. NORTH CALIFORNIA BEAR WAR CONQUEST OP CALIFORNIA WAH-LAH-WAH-LAH INDIANS IN- SURRECTION CALIFORNIA BATTALION — 'INSUR- GENTS SURRENDER TO FREMONT CAPITULATION OF COWENGA. Mr. Gillespie delivered to Captain Fremont a brief letter of introduction from Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State. It was not deemed safe to commit to writing the communication he had been sent to make, and for which he had sought Fremont at such hazard, and at so remote a point. It was entrusted to his memory, to be, conveyed by word of mouth, and was in sub- stance to this effect : That a rupture between the United States and Mexico being not improb- able, it was the wish of the Government that Fremont should keep himself in a favorable po- sition to watch the state of things in California, conciliate the feelings of its people, encourage a friendship with the United States, and do what be could to prevent that country falling into the ( 228 ) KIT CARSON. 227 hands of Great Britain. In obedience to this suggestion, he began to retrace his steps into Cahfornia. On the second day after the murder of Basil and the two Indians, by the Tlamaths, Carson, who was ahead with ten men, came upon their village, containing more than a hundred warriors. Fremont had given orders to send back and let him come up, in case they met Indians. But it was too late to delay a moment, when the enemy was first seen, and Carson, with his small de- tachment, rushed at once upon the village, and, after a sharp conflict, put the whole to flight. Several of the Tlamaths were killed, and their village destroyed. During the same day there was another encounter with the Indians, in which Carson came very near losing his life. An In- dian was seen fixing his arrow to let fly at him. He instantly levelled his rifle, but it snapped, when Fremont, seeing his danger, flew to his rescue, dashed his horse upon the Indian and knocked him over. " I owe my life," as Car- son expresses himself, when relating the incident, " I owe my life to them two — the Colonel and Sacramento saved me." Sacramento was a favorite iron-gray horse of Colonel Fremont. He was presented to him by Captain Sutter in 1844, and earned his name by swimming that river at the close of a long day's journey. After bearing his master several times across the con- 228 LIFE OF FREMONT. tinent, he has been honorably discharged. His service performed and his warfare ended, he is now roaming in freedom his native valley. He has rejoined the wild horses of the California plains, and suffers no Indian or hunter to ap- proach him. His master has never attempted to reclaim him, and all efforts on the part of others to capture him have proved fruitless. When Captain Fremont came into North Cal- ifornia, he found the whole country in a state of great alarm. The entire population of Califor- nia at that period, exclusive of Indians, was estimated at about ten thousand, one fifth of whom were foreigners, chiefly from the United States. General Castro was the military com- mander, and was actively exerting his influence to aggravate the jealousy of the native Calif or- nians towards foreign residents. He had issued a proclamation aimed at Americans particularly, and requiring them to leave the country. It be- came evident that measures had been for aome time secretly concerting among many of the leading Spanish Californians, to transfer the country to the protection and control of Great Britain, and to drive out or exterminate all Amer- ican settlers ; (that is, as the word is universally understood, all settlers from the United States ;) to expel them utterly, with their families ; and to take possession of their lands. In order to ac- complish this more effectually, the Indian tribes BEAR WAR. 229 were made to participate in the conspiracy, and instigated to burn and destroy the crops and houses of Americans. This condition of things, of course, spread the utmost alarm among the intended victims of the plot. When Captain Fremont came down into the Sacramento Val- ley, men, women, and children flocked to him for protection, and appealed to him as a country- man. His means of information were very ex- tensive and reliable. There were many American settlers, who had been several years in the coun- try, intermarrying in some cases with California families, men of education and large property, like Dr. Marsh, and all of them more or less able to discover Vv^hat was going on, not merely among the people, but in the consultations of the au- thorities. With them Captain Fremont kept up constant communication. From these sources of information he obtained intimations of a scheme, the authentic and ofli- cial records of which he afterwards found in the archives of California, while occupying the gov- ernment house in Los Angeles. A Catholic priest, named Eugenio Macna- mara, in the year 1845 and the early part of 1846, was domesticated with the British legation at the city of Mexico. During that time he made application for a grant of land for the pur- pose of establishing a colony in California. He asked for a square league, containing 4,428 acres, 2.) 230 LIFE OF FREMONT. to be given to each family, and that each child of a colonist should have half a square league. The territory to be conveyed to him should be around San Francisco Bay, embrace three thou- sand square leagues, and include the entire val- ley of the San Joaquin. He agreed to bring a thousand families at the beginning. His object is stated in his memorial to the Mexican Presi- dent, in these words: — " I propose, with the aid and approbation of your excellency, to place in Upper California a colony of Irish Catholics. I have a triple object in making this proposition. I wish, in the first place, to advance the cause of Catholicism. In the second, to contribute to the happiness of my countrymen. Thirdly, I desire to put an obstacle in the waij of further usurpations on the part of an irreligious and anti- Catholic nationP His proposal was favorably entertained by the central government. It was referred, for a final decision, to the landholders and local authorities of California. Conventions were about being held to perfect the arrangement. Macnamara was landed, from the British frigate Juno, one of Sir George Seymour's fleet, at Santa Barbara, just at this time. Every thing was ripe for a final settlement of the whole matter ; and by virtue of this grant of land to Macnamara, the whole country would have passed under British protection. BEAR WAR. 231 Some intimations of this deeply devised scheme had reached the public ear, and tended to increase the excitement, alarm, and agitation of the American settlers. The point was reached at which it became necessary for Fremont to decide. The Indians had begun to burn the crops of the American settlers, and were assembled in a large force of about six hundred warriors, at or near what is known as Redding's Rancho, about thirty-five or forty miles from his encampment. He must either qiiit the country, and leave the American settlers, with their wives and children, to utter ruin and a fearful fate, or he must step forward as their defender. He must either let that vast region pass into the hands of a foreign power, or take instant possession of it by his own sword. It was a fearful but a great crisis in his life. To head a rebellion in a country with which his own, so far as he then knew, was at peace, was assuming a most serious responsi- bility. But the question was then and tliere to be decided. He decided it in favor of those who sought his protection, and took the responsibility of his position at once. He called his men to- gether, laid before them the state of the case, and referred to the destruction impending over those residents of California who were their country- men. He told them that he had no right, as a United States officer, to resist the authorities, or 232 LIFE OF FREMONT. make war upon the subjects, of a government with which his country was at peace. He would however release them, for the time being, from the conditions of their service under him as a United States officer, and relinquish his com- mand. If they wished to volunteer in defence of the American settlers and their families, they were at liberty to do so. He concluded by an- nouncing that he should himself do it forthwith. They unanimously declared their readiness to join him, and appointed him their commander. He instantly marched against the Indians, leav- ing about half a dozen men to defend the camp. He broke up and dispersed five villages in one day, in such rapid succession that notice of his approach could not be sent forward; reached their assembled force before sundown ; found them engaged in their war dance, in black paint and white feathers, preparatory to their med- itated blow upon the settlers ; attacked them on sight ; and, at the first charge, routed and scat- tered them, driving them into the river and the woods. At a single stroke, in one day, he thus utterly annihilated the Indian combination, and rescued the settlers from threatening ruin, with- out the loss of a man. He then returned to camp, and removed his force to a place called the Buttes, about sixty miles above Sutter^s Settlement. From that point he put himself into communication with all friendly at i!' ■■! -"iil li ,'!'i :' mK ' BEAR WAR. 233 to the movement. Not long after he received information that Castro had assembled about 400 men at Santa Clara, and that he had sent an officer, with a detachment, to Sonoma, to procure horses to complete the equipment of his force. Fremont instantly started a small body of men, who volunteered for the service, and chose Ezekiel Merritt for then* leader, to inter- cept Castro's detachment on its return. The service was gallantly executed, and with entire success. The whole body, horses and all, was captured. The prisoners were released, but the horses brought in. By rapid and vigorous movements Castro's forces were all driven from the country north of the bay of San Francisco. At Sonoma, General Vallejo, two colonels, and other prisoners were taken. A squadron of eighty men, under Cap- tain De la Torre, remained for a short time on a peninsula, at Saucelito, on the northern side of the bay, directly opposite Castro's encampment on the east side ; but he was pressed so hard, that he abandoned his horses, and escaped in launches across the bay to Castro. Fremont found there a bark from the Eastern States, commanded by a patriotic American, Wm. D. Phelps, of Lexington, Mass., who entering heartily into the business lent him his launch, into which he jumped, with twelve .men, and rowed over to San Francisco, about eight miles, where there was a fort with a bat- 234 LIEE OF FREMONT. tery of guns, mostly brass field-pieces, which they spiked, employing for the purpose steel files, used for sharpening knives, which Captain Phelps happened to have on board his bark. Having thus established the independence of North California, Fremont sent a message to Castro, that as he could not get his horses over the bay, if he would wait for him, he would pass around its head as quickly as possible, and meet him where he was at Santa Clara, and end the contest for the country at once. On his way round, finding himself at Sonoma on the 4th of July, the day was duly celebrated. On the next day, a great concourse of people, American settlers, and others sympathizing in the cause, having come to meet and welcome him, he declared the country Independent, and the flag of the free state of California, a grizzly bear on a white field, was unfurled. By the celerity of these bold movements, the Indian enemy was annihilated, the settlers saved from massacre, and their fields from desolation ; the power of Mexico over North California was broken down forever ; and, as we shall soon see, the whole of that golden empire secured to the United States. ^ On the 10th of July, Fremont reached, on his way to Santa Clara, in the fulfilment of his promise to Castro, the nearest point at which, cavalry could get around the head of the bay, ^*''i|||||i'!|lf^ BEAR WAR. 235 at Sutter's Fort. About sunset an express reached him from Commodore Sloat, announc- ing his capture of Monterey. The next morning, at sunrise, he hoisted the flag of the American Union at the fort, under a national salute, and with great rejoicings. Thus ended what was called the " Bear war." He then moved down with great celerity along the south side of the bay. His troop consisted of 160 mounted riflemen. Castro fled before him, and on the 19th of July he reached Monterey. Of his entrance into that city a very graphic account is given by Lieutenant the Hon. Frederick Walpole, of the Royal Navy, in a work published in London, with the following title : " Four years in the Pacific, in her Majes- ty's ship < CoUingwood,' from 1844 to 1848." " During our stay in Monterey," says Lieu- tenant Walpole, " Captain Fremont and his party arrived. They naturally excited curiosity. Here were true trappers, the class that produced the heroes of Fenimore Cooper's best works. These men had passed years in the wilds, living upon their own resources ; they were a curious set. A vast cloud of dust appeared first, and thence in long file emerged this wildest wild party. Fremont rode ahead, a spare, active-looking man, with such an eye ! He was dressed in a blouse and leggings, and wore a felt hat. After him came five Delaware Indians, who were his 236 LIFE OF FREMONT. body-guard, and have been with him tlirough all his wanderings ; they had charge of two bag- gage horses. The rest, many of them blacker than the Indians, rode two and two, the rifle held by one hand across the pommel of the saddle. Thirty-nine of them are his regular men, the rest are loafers picked up lately; his original men are principally backwoodsmen, from the State of Tennessee and the banks of the upper waters of the Missouri. He has one or two with him who enjoy a high reputation in the prairies. Kit Carson is as well known there as the duke is in Europe. The dress of these fmen was principally a long loose coat of deer skin, tied with thongs in front ; trowsers of the / same, of their own manufacture, which, when wet through, they take off, scrape well inside with a knife, and put on as soon as dry; the saddles were of various fashions, though these and a large drove of horses, and a brass field- gun, were things they had picked up about California. They are allowed no liquor, tea and sugar only ; this, no doubt, has much to do with their good conduct ; and the discipline, too, is very strict. They were mi arched up to an open space on the hills near the town, under some large firs, and there took up their quarters, in messes of six or seven, in the open air. The Indians lay beside their leader. One man, a doctor, six feet six high, was an odd-looking fellow. May I never come under his hands ! FREMONT S TROOP. 237 " In justice to the Americans I must say, they -seemed to treat the natives well, and their au- thority extended every protection to them. " The butts of the trappers' rifles resemble a Turkish musket, therefore fit light to the shoul- der ; they are very long and very heavy, carry ball about thirty-eight to the pound. A stick a little longer than the barrel is carried in the bore, in which it fits tightly ; this keeps the bullet from moving, and in firing, which they do in a crouching position, they use it as a rest." A lieutenant in the American Navy, (now a commander,) George Minor, under examination by the military committee of the United States Senate, described the impression made upon him, by Fremont's entrance into Monterey, in these words, taken from his deposition: — " The undersigned was on duty on shore when Captain Fremont arrived with his force at Mon- terey, from the North. The undersigned believes that the appearance of this body of men, and the well-known character of its commander, not only made a strong impression upon the British Ad- miral and officers,, but an equally impressive and more happy one upon those of the American Navy then in Monterey. For himself, the un- dersigned can say, that after he had seen Captain Fremont's command, all his doubts about the conquest of California were removed." The vital importance to this country of Cap- 238 LIFE OF FEEMONT. tain Fremont's bold measures in North Cali- fornia is. demonstrated by a few dates and facts, and some obvious reflections upon them. Commodore Sloat with an American, and Admiral Sir George Seymour with a British, squadron, had, for several weeks, been at anchor in Mazatlan, a Mexican port on the Pacific, waiting to catch the first intelligence of the breaking out of hostilities between that Republic and the United States. Commodore Sloat got the first intelligence, and started for California. Sir George Seymour followed. The Commo- dore arrived first, entering the harbor of Mon- terey, on the 2d of July, 1846. He did not then take possession of the place. He probably had no thought of doing it, as appears by his last letter to the Secretary of the Navy, dated June 6, just one month before, and written at Mazatlan, in which he says : " Since my No. 50, of the 31st of May, I have upon more mature reflection, come to the conclusion that your instructions of the 24th of June last, and every subsequent order, will not justify my taking possession of any part of California, or any hostile measure against Mexico, (notwithstanding their attack upon our troops,) as neither party has declared war." On the 5th of July, the third day after his entering the port, a launch arrived belonging to the United States ship Portsmouth, Commander Montgomery, then lying in San Francisco Bay, CONQUEST OF CALIFORNM. 239 bringing information of Fremont's operations in North California. Commodore Sloat very naturally supposed that Fremont was acting under instructions, and that supposition led to the change of purpose which he stated in a letter, dated July 6, and sent by the retm-ning launch to Commander Montgomery. In it he says : " Since I wrote you last evening, I have deter- mined to hoist the flag of the United States at this place, to-morrow, as I would prefer being sacrificed for doing too much than too little. If you consider you have sufficient force, or if Fremont will join you, you will hoist the flag of the United States at Yerba Buena, or any other proper place, and take possession, in the name of the United States, of the fort, and that portion of the country." Accordingly, on the next day, July 7, he hoisted the American flag over Monterey. Sir George Seymour arrived in the " Collingwood," of 80 guns, on the 15th or 16th of July. These dates show that Commodore Sloat took possession of Monterey, on the 7th, in conse- quence of the information he received on the 5th of Fremont's operations, as, indeed, he declared at the time. If the American flag had not been flying over Monterey, when Sir George Seymour arrived, it is impossible to estimate the mis- chievous consequences that would have ensued. Commodore Sloat would, undoubtedly, have 240 . LIFE OF FREMONT. resisted with the bravery of a tried veteran, any forcible attempt of Sir George to take the place, but it would have been impossible for him to have prevented a voluntary transference of the country to the protection of Great Britain, in fulfilment of the arrangements before entered into by its leading inhabitants and authorities. That the country was saved by Fremont's operations, from being in that way brought under British dominion, was the judgment, at the time, of all acquainted with the circumstances. Captain Samuel Hensley, declared under oath to the military committee of the Senate, to this effect. " I did understand from general report that the authorities of California were about to grant certain tracts of land in California to an Msh priest, for the purpose of establishing a colony of British subjects, the said priest, Macnamara, having been brought to California in an English vessel of war ; and my impression is that the timely movements on the part of the settlers in the north, Colonel Fremont and others, pre- vented the execution of the transfer." Similar testimony was given by many others. It seems that Macnamara was with Sir George Seymour at Monterey. But it was too late. The war between Mexico and the United States had undoubtedly begun. The American flag was floating over California. No neutral power COMMODORE STOCKTON. 241 had a right to interfere ; and the whole scheme of Macnamara's grant, the Irish colony, and a British Protectorate, was scattered to the winds. This, then, is the sum of the whole matter. The hoisting of our flag at Monterey, on the 7th of July, 1846, saved California and the Pa- cific coast to the United States, and prevented a disastrous collision between this country and Great Britain. That flao^ was hoisted in conse- quence of Fremont's gallant achievements in North California. He is therefore entitled to the glory of having saved California from falling into the hands of a foreign power, and secured the extension of our Union over the whole breadth of the continent, from shore to shore. Immediately after the events just related, Commodore Sloat sailed for the United States, leaving Commodore Stockton, who had an-ived a few day& before, in command. Fremont, with his volunteers, embarked on board the sloop- of-war Cyane for San Diego. Landing there, he marched to lios Angeles, the then capital of California. Commodore Stockton, having landed his force at San Pedro, reached Los Angeles first, and, on the 17th of August, com- pleted and proclaimed the conquest of Cali- fornia. Castro fled to Sonora. Fremont continued to act under Commodore Stockton, receiving various successive appoint- ments from him, as major of the California 21 242 LIFE OF FREMONT. battalion, afterwards military commandant of California, and finally governor and commander- in-chief in California. Early in September, Captain Fremont left Los Angeles. A few weeks afterwards, an extensive insurrection broke out in southern California. Fremont, who had returned to the Sacramento country, immediately set about raising a battalion among the settlers there to aid in its suppres- sion. At this time an additional panic arose from the report of an Indian invasion from the north. It was said that 1,000 Wah-lah-wah- lahs were advancing to attack Sutter's Fort. The whole country was aroused, and every element of disposable force was drawn out to meet the threatened danger. Fremont had already assembled a body of several hundred western riflemen towards the completion of his California battalion, when the news reached him. He was quite confident that the story was exaggerated ; but it was necessary to restore security in the northern frontier. He took three tried men with him, and went directly to meet the Wah-lah-wah-lahs. He found them much less ' numerous than had been represented, but assembled in considerable force, and in a state of the greatest exasperation. He went, with his three men, directly into their midst. One of them knew him, and all gathered round him to WAH-LAH-WAH-LAH INDIANS. 243 tell their wrongs. They had been robbed, and one of their best young men kiUed, by the whites. He promised them redress if they would follow his advice. He told them that he was going to the south, and could not attend to them until the spring, but that he would then meet them, at a place agreed upon, and have justice done them. He advised them, in the mean time, to go off on a winter hunt, said that he would let one of his own men go with them, to hold over them the United States flag, and that whoever struck that flag struck him. They were perfectly subdued by his talk, and manner of treating them: at once gave up their plan of attacldng the whites ; and agreed to go off on a winter hunt. They gave him ten of their young braves to go with him, who proved themselves among the best in his bat- talion. In the spring of the year, he met them, although at a great inconvenience, and gave them of his own horses until they were satis- fied. In this way he not only stopped an Indian war, and recruited his own ranks, but he taught a lesson which it would be well to have inculcated upon those who undertake to grapple with our Indian difficulties, and enforced upon the administration of that department of our government. On the 12th of October, Fremont, with his battalion, arrived at San Francisco. He there 244 LIFE OF FREMONT. embarked his command, in the ship Sterling, to go down the coast to Santa Barbara. He left his horses, intending to remount his men, in the south. Two days out, he fell in with the " Van- dalia," a merchant ship, and learned that no horses could be had below, the Californians having driven their entire stock into the interior. He Immediately determined to retm*n to Mon- terey and make the march over land. While in Monterey, on the 27th of October, he learned that he had been appointed a lieutenant-colonel of a rifle regiment in the army of the United States. His commission was dated May 29, and signed by President Polk. As this appointment— by which one who had originally entered the army in an irregular way, taken from the civil service, vaulted over the heads of so many — may possibly have had some- thing to do with certain unpleasant occurrences afterwards, the grounds on which it was made must be borne in mind. They were well stated in one of the public journals at the time, which expresses his eminent qualifications, as fol- lows : " His intimate knowledge of the country, in which the regiment was designed to serve, acquired by his indefatigable explorations of the whole extent of it ; his being accustomed to face danger in every form ; his induration to the hardships of the wilderness ; and his knowledge of the character of the tribes that wander over those desolate regions." INSUKRECTION. 245 Having despatched a courier to the Sacra- mento Valley, to fill up his troops and obtain additional supplies, he made all the necessary preparations for an arduous winter march. In the mean time the insurrection had assumed a formidable character. A party of four hundred American sailors and marines, on their way from San Pedro to Los Angeles, were beaten back, with the loss of six men killed, by a strong force of Californians. Los Angeles and Santa Barbara were in their hands. Larkin, the United States consul, had been taken prisoner. Captains Burroughs and Foster and Mr. Eames, were killed in a severe skirmish while escorting a lot of horses to Fremont's camp. Captain Burroughs, on this occasion, rode Fremont's horse, Sacramento. When the captain fell, he was in front of his men. The sagacious animal seemed to comprehend fully the relations of the fight. Immediately, upon losing his rider, he dashed back to his own party, wheeled into the ranks, and was impatient to bear another hero against the foe. On this occasion, one of the Wah-lah-wah-lah Indians performed a remarkable feat of heroism. He volunteered to carry intelligence to Col. Fre- mont of the attack. He was closely pursued by the enemy, one of whom, having nearly over- taken him, drove his lance at him ; in trying to parry it, he received it through his hand ; with 21* 246 LIFE OF FREMONT. the other hand he grasped his tomahawk, and in an instant clave the sknll of his pursuer. Two others overtook him and shared the same fate in succession. He rode on until his horse gave out, and then reached Monterey on foot. Col. Fremont immediately started. His force consisted of four hundred mounted men, and three pieces of artillery under the command of Lieut. McLane of the navy. A large drove of beef cattle follow'ed to serve as provisions on the march. At San Juan, on the 29th of No- vember, a party of emigrants, who had recently crossed the country, made a most valuable acces- sion to his force, comprising many men of supe- rior intelligence and standing, and contributing essentially to the energy of the expedition. One of them, Edwin Bryant, who, in 1849, published a work on California, served as a first lieutenant of one of the companies, and became alcalde of San Francisco. He gives the follow- ing account of the regiment : — " There are no plumes nodding over brazen helmets, nor coats of broadcloth spangled with lace and buttons ; a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat, a shirt of blue flannel or buckskin, with pan- taloons and moccasins of the same, all generally much the worse for wear, and smeared with mud and dust, make up the costume of the party, officers as well as men. A leathern gudle sur- rounds the waist, from which are suspended a - CALIFORNIA BATTALION. 247 bowie and a hunter's knife, and sometimes a brace of pistols. These, with the rifle and hol- ster pistols, are the arms carried by oflficers and privates. A single bugle composes the band." The staff"-ofncers were Lieutenant- Colonel J, C. Fremont, commanding ; A. H. Gillespie, Ma- jor ; P. B. Reading, Paymaster ; Henry King, Commissary ; J. R-. Snyder, Quartermaster ; Wil- liam H. Kussell, Ordnance Officer; J. Talbot, Adjutant ; and J. J. Myers, Sergeant-Major. In the course of his narrative of the march, Mr. Bryant bestows this encomium upon the regiment, which all other accounts amply jus- tify :— " The men composing the California battalion have been drawn from many sources, and are roughly clad and weather-beaten in their exte- rior appearance ; but I feel it but justice to state my belief, that no military party ever passed through an enemy's country and observed the same strict regard for the rights of its popula- tion. I never heard of an outrage or even a trespass being committed by one of the Amer- ican volunteers during our entire march. Every American appeared to understand perfectly the duty which he owed to himself and others in this respect, and the deportment of the bat- talion might be cited as a model for imita- tion." After marcliing one hundred and fifty miles, 248 LIFE OF FREMONT. they surprised, in a night of pitchy darkness, San Louis Obispo, the seat of a district com- mandant, without firing a gun, and captured Don Jesus Pico, the head of the insurrection in that quarter. Two days afterwards, December 16th, Pico was tried by a court-martial, and condemned to death, for breaking his parole. The next day, about an hour before noon, at which time the execution was to take place, a procession of females, headed by a lady of fine appearance, proceeded to the quarters of Col. Fremont, and with all the fervor natural to a mother, wife, children, and near relatives, under such circurhstances, implored for mercy, and, prostrate and in tears, begged for the life of the convict. Their supplication was granted. Pico, who had borne himself with perfect cool- ness and firmness at the trial, and had prepared to die with " the solemn dignity of a Spaniard," when brought in and informed of his pardon, flung himself with unrestrained emotion before Col. Fremont, clasped his knees, swore eternal fidelity, and begged the privilege of fighting and dying for him. His subsequent conduct proved him faithful to his pledge. Some have blamed Col. Fremont for his clemency on this occasion ; but he knew better than they know the great and deep laws' of om' nature. He knew well the people of California, who were more truly subdued by INSURGENTS SURRENDER TO FREMONT. 249 that act of mercy, than by all the bloodshed of battle, and all the terrors of our power. On the 27th of December, the battalion entered without resistance the town of Santa Barbara, where it remained recruiting until the 3d of January, 1847. On the 11th of January, while pursuing their march, they were met by two Californians, riding in great haste, bare- headed, whor informed them that the American forces, under Commodore Stockton, had retaken Los Angeles, after a victorious engagement with the insurgent forces. The enemy's force was understood to be in the vicinity, and the next day two California officers came into camp to treat for peace. After full consultation, articles were agreed upon on the 13th of January, 1847. They stipulated that all Californians should deliver up their arms, return peaceably to their homes, not take up arms again during the war between the United States and Mexico, and assist and aid in keeping the country in a state of peace and tranquillity. Any Californian or citizen of Mexico, who might desire to do so, was to be permitted to leave the country, and none be required to take the oath of allegiance to the United States, until a treaty of peace should be signed and made between the United States and Mexico. The articles of capitulation were signed by officers duly commissioned for the purpose, and approved by " J. C. Fremont, 250 LIFE OF FREMONT. Lieutenant- Colonel U. S. Army, and Military Commandant of California, and by Andres Pico, Commandant of Squadron and Chief of the National Forces of California." This was the " Capitulation of Cowenga." It terminated the war so far as California was concerned. No hostile arm was ever again lifted, except in the ordinary form of local In dian outbreaks, within the limits of that State, against the authority of the United States. It secured reconciliation as well as peace. It is in evidence, on the records of the government, that the final conquest of California could not have been accompKshed by any forces then on the Pacific coast, without the aid of the California battalion ; and that, had it not been consum- mated by the Treaty of Cowenga, a " bloody, vexatious, and predatory warfare " would surely have been protracted for an indefinite length of time. The whole western slope of the Sierra Nevada would have aiforded safe retreats, inac- cessible to naval and even regular military forces, from which ravaging parties would have rushed down upon the plains, and where insur- rectionary movements would have been fomented perpetually. Fremont terrified the Californians and the Indians by the celerity and boldness of his movements, and he conquered their hearts by the good conduct of his men, and the mod eration and clemency of his policy. CAPITULATION OF COWENGA. 251 In a despatch from General Kearney to the War Department at Washington, dated Ciudad de los Angeles, January 14, 1847, he says : — " This morning, Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont, of the regiment of mounted riflemen, reached here with four hundred volunteers from the Sac- ramento ; the enemy capitulated with him yes- terday, near San Fernando, agreeing to lay down their arms, and we have now the prospect of having peace and quietness in this country, which I hope may not be interrupted again." Mr. Bryant, in his book, gives a minute ac- count of the course of the California battalion from Monterey to Los Angeles. It was in mid- winter, over a rough country, in rain and storm, one of the hardest marches ever made, exhaust- ing to the strength of men, and most destructive to the animals. On one occasion it seemed as if all would sink under fatigue and suffering. Fremont thus refers to it, in a document drawn out in subsequent proceedings : " We pursued our march, passing the towns on the way with- out collision with the people, but with great labor from the state of the roads and rains. On Christmas day, 1846, we struggled on the Santa Barbara Mountain in a tempest of chilling rains and winds, in which a hundred horses perished ; but the men stood to it, and I mention it to their honor." CHAPTER VI. ARRIVAL OF GENERAL KEARNEY DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN COMMANDERS ARREST COURT-MAR- TIAL. It is necessary at this point to go back a few months. After completing the original conquest of California, taking possession of Ciudad de los Angeles, its capital, and providing for the administration of a civil and military govern- ment over it. Commodore Stockton and Col- onel Fremont sent Carson, with fifteen men, to Washington with despatches, relating all that had taken place. He was to make the journey and return in 140 days, subsisting on his mules as he went. Having crossed the wilderness in about thirty days, he met General Kearney, on his way to California to conquer that country ! Upon receiving the intelligence which Carson brought, Kearney divided his command, and with a portion of it continued on towards Cali- fornia, taking Carson back with him. "When he reached the borders of California it was at the ( 2a2 ) GENERAL KEARNEY. 253 height of the insurrectionary movement, and he was met by the enemy in great force. After one or two bloody encounters, he was hemmied in at a particular point, reduced to a state of siege, and for want of grass or water brought to a serious extremity. It was only about thirty miles from San Diego. Carson, and Passed Midshipman Beale, volunteered to go there for relief. Accompanied by a Delaware Indian they crawled at night through the enemy's lines. To prevent noise they took off their shoes, and un- fortunately lost them. Concealing themselves by day, they reached their destination the second night ; having had to travel in a circuit, the dis- tance had been about fifty miles. Their flesh was torn and bleeding from the rocks and thorns, and they were haggard with hunger, anxiety, and sleeplessness, but relief was ob- tained, and General Kearney's command was saved. He had reached Los Angeles only a few days before the capitulation of Cowenga, and was there when Col. Fremont arrived with his bat- talion. At this point a very disagreeable state of things arose, involving many unpleasant per- sonal embarrassments. The government at Washington, being at such a great distance from the scene of operations, — communications having for the most part to pass around Gape 22 254 LIFE OF freMont. Horn, — and not knowing the state of things at any given time, had to frame instructions to its officers in general terms. It was impossible to be specific, for no one could tell what the state of facts might be when the officer or his des- patches should reach the fecene. General Kear- ney would not have been sent out at all, had the government imagined that Fremont and Stock- ton had already subdued the country. Then, unfortunately, a quick succession of naval com- manders passed over the stage — Sloat, Stockton, Shubrick, and Biddle — each liable to interpret his duty variously. Sailors were turned into soldiers, and performed long land marches. The consequence was that difierences of judgment arose, and questions of priority and precedence were entertained. Col. Fremont had not, it is probable, turned his attention much to such questions. His life had been crowded with far different thoughts and interests. The absence of the higher grades in our naval service tended to increase the diffi- culty. At any rate, in point of fact, he found Commodore Stockton and General Kearney disputing the right to command. It was to him an open question. He had, however, performed his work, and received his appointments, under Stockton. It may be proper here to quote the view he took of the subject at the time, as frankly given in DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN COMMANDERS. 255 a letter to a friend. Although overruled, after- wards, by the judgment of a court-martial, it is evidently a sincere opinion, and however at vari- ance with the artificial code of military etiquette, one which a person of plain common sense might very naturally have entertained. " When I entered Los Angeles I was igno- rant of the relations subsisting between these gentlemen, having received from neither any order or information which might serve as a guide in the circumstances. I therefore, imme- diately on my arrival, waited upon the governor and commander-in-chief. Commodore Stockton ; and, a few minutes afterwards, called upon General Kearney. I soon found them occupy- ing a hostile attitude, and each denying the right of the other to assume the direction of affairs in this country. " The ground assumed by General Kearney was, that he held in his hand plenary instruc- tions from the President directing him to con- quer California, and organize a civil government, and that consequently he would not recognize the acts of Commodore Stockton. " The latter maintained that his own instruc- tions were to the same effect as Kearney's ; that this officer's commission was obsolete, and never would have been given could the Government have anticipated that the entire country, sea- board and interior, would have been conquered 256 LIFE OF FREMONT. and held by himself. The country had been conquered and a civil government instituted since September last, the constitution of the ter- ritory, and appointments under the constitution, had been sent to the government for its approval, and decisive action undoubtedly long since had upon them. General Kearney was instructed to conquer the country, and upon its threshold his command had been nearly cut to pieces, and, but for relief from him (Commodore Stockton) would have been destroyed. More men were lost than in General Taylor's battle of the 8th. In regard to the remaining part of his instruc- tions, how could he organize a government with- out first proceeding to disorganize the present one ? His work had been anticipated; his com- mission was absolutely void, null, and of no effect. " But if General Kearney believed that his in- structions gave him paramount authority in the country, he made a fatal error on his arrival. He was received with kindness and distinction by the Commodore, and offered by him the command of his land forces. General Kearney rejected the offer and declined interfering with Commodore Stockton. This officer was then preparing for a march to Ciudad de los Angeles, his force being principally sailors and marines, who were all on foot, (fortunately for them,) and who were to be provided with supplies on their DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN COMMANDERS. 257 march through an enemy's country where all the people are cavalry. His force was paraded, and ready to start, 700 in number, supported by six pieces of artillery. The command, under Com- modore Stockton, had been conferred upon his first lieutenant, Mr. Rowan. At this juncture General Kearney expressed to Commodore Stockton his expectation that the command would have been given to him. The Commo- dore informed the General that Lieutenant Rowan was in his usual line of duty, as on board ship, relieving him of the detail and drudgery bf the camp, while he himself re- mained the commander-in-chief; that if General Kearney was willing to accept Mr. Rowan's place, under these circumstances, he could have it. The General assented. Commodore Stock- ton called up his officers and explained the case. Mr. Rowan gave up his post generously and without hesitation ; and Commodore Stockton desired them clearly to understand that he re- mained the commander-in-chief; — under this arrangement the whole force entered Angeles ; and on the day of my arrival at that place General Kearney told me that he did then, at that moment, recognize Commodore Stockton as governor of the territory. " You are aware that I had contracted rela- tions with Commodore Stockton, and I thought U neither right nor politically honorable to 22* 258 LIFE OP FREMONT. withdraw my support. No reason of interest shall ever compel me to act towards any man in such a way that I should afterwards be ashamed to meet him." These were the views which led Col. Fre- mont to take the position which a military tribunal subsequently adjudged to be erroneous. But entertaining them honestly, he acted upon them fearlessly and with decision. The follow- ing is his answer to an order received from Gen- eral Kearney two days after his entrance, with his California battalion, into Los Angeles. " Ciudad de los Angeles, January, 1847. " Sir : I have the honor to be in receipt of your favor of last night, in which I am directed to suspend the execution of orders, which, in my capacity of military commandant of this territory, I had received from Commodore Stockton, gov- ernor and commander-in-chief in California. I avail myself of an early hour, this morning, to make such a reply as the brief time allowed for reflection will enable me. " I found Commodore Stockton in possession of the country, exercising the functions of mili- tary commandant and -civil governor, as early as July of last year ; and shortly thereafter I received from him the commission of military command- ant, the duties of which I immediately entered upon, and have continued to exercise to the present moment. ^ DIFFICULTIES BETWEEN COMMANDERS. 259 " I founfl also, on my arrival at this place some three or four days since, Commodore Stockton still exercising the functions of civil and military governor, with the same apparent deference to his rank on the part of all officers, (including yourself,) as he maintained and required, when he assumed in July last. " I learned also, in conversation with you, that on the march from San Diego, recently, to this place, you entered upon and discharged duties, implying an acknowledgment on your part of supremacy to Commodore Stockton. " I feel, therefore, with great deference to your professional and personal character, constrained to say that, until you and Commodore Stockton adjust between yourselves the question of rank, where I respectfully think the difficulty belongs, I shall have to report and receive orders, as here- tofore, from the Commodore. " With considerations of high regard, " I am, sir, your obedient servant, "J. C. Fremont, " Lieutenant- Colonel U. S. Army, and Military Commandant of the Territory of California. " Brig. Gen. S. W. Kearney, U. S. Army." For this letter, and the line of conduct based upon it, Col. Fremont was brought to a court- martial. The merits of the case will not be discussed here. It rested upon questions of 260 LIFE OP FREMONT. rank, in reference to which all officers are par ticularly sensitive, and led to a heated contro* versy between gallant men. But as Colonel Fremont sent a message to the dying pillow of the principal prosecutor, of forgiveness, Christian sympathy, and good-will, it would ill become these pages to renew the controversy. Finding himself in this disagreeable position, he endeavored to procure permission to join his regiment in Mexico. He was prepared with sixty picked men, and one hundred and twenty horses, to set out, and would have reached the theatre of the war in time to have participated in its crowning victories, — ^but he was refused. A like result followed an application to be allowed to collect his exploring party and return oyer a route not then traversed. Upon learning that a difficulty had arisen between General Kearney and Col. Fremont, the government at Washington endeavored to avert the unpleasant consequences that might flow from it. Mr. Marcy, Secretary of War, in a despatch to General Kearney, dated June 11, 1847, alludes to the subject, and explains the reasons why instructions given the year before to naval officers had borne the appearance of conferring on them the control of affairs in Cali- fornia. They knew of no force there except the naval. It had not, indeed, entered their dreams that an exploring party could be transformed ARREST. 261 into an invincible battalion, — and little did they imagine, when they started General Kearney across the continent, that Fremont and Stockton had already conquered California. Mr. Marcy informs General Kearney, that the Government is apprised that " Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont bore a conspicuous part in the conquest of California; and that his services have been very valuable in that country." " Should Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont," he con- tinues, "wAo has the option to return or remain^ adopt the latter alternative, the President does not doubt that you will employ him in such a manner as will render his services most available to the pubKc interest, having reference to his extensive acquaintance with the inhabitants of California, and his knowledge of their language, — qualifications, independently of others, which it is supposed may be very useful in the present and prospective state of our affairs in that country." But the advice and suggestions of the secre- tary availed nothing. Brigadier- General Kear- ney came home in the com'se of the season, and Col. Fremont accompanied him, being ordered io follow in his rear ; and, upon reaching Mis- souri, was put under arrest, — a purpose long formed, but not until then made known to him. The court-martial assembled at the Washington Arsenal, in the District of Columbia, at twelve 262 LIFE OF FREMONT. o'clock, November 2, 1847. The sentence of the court was made up, and the body dissolved, on the 31st of January, 1848. There were three charges. The first was Mutiny. The second was Disobedience to the laivful co7nmand of his superior officer. The third was Conduct to the 'prejudice of good order and military discipline. In the opening of his defence, which is an able and manly document, after reciting the charges, he thus states its general ground, and shows the spirit in which he made it : — " The two superior officers in California, with whom the difficulties began, (Commodore Stock- ton and General Kearney,) have each had the benefit of stating his own case before this court, showing under what authority they went and acted, what they did, and how they became involved with one another, and how I became Involved in their contest. "An incident and a subordinate in this con- test where it originated, and turned up as prin- cipal figure in it here for criminal prosecution, I am happy to find that my rights, in one respect, are at least equal to theirs, — that of stating my own case as fully as they stated theirs, and showing how I became principal in a contest which was theirs before I heard of it or came near them. And which, as suggested heretofore, ought to have been settled between themselves, or by the Government, whose com- COURT-MARTIAL. 263 missions they both bore. A subordinate in rank, as in the contest, long and secretly marked out for prosecution by the commanding general, assailed in newspaper publications when three thousand miles distant, and standing for more than two months before this court to hear all that could be sworn against my private honor as well as against my official conduct, I come at last to the right to speak for myself. " In using this privilege, I have to ask of this court to believe that the preservation of a com- mission is no object of my defence. It came to me, as did those which preceded it, without asking, either by myself or by any friend in my behalf. I endeavored to resign it in California, through General Kearney, in March last, (not knowing of his design to arrest me,) when it was less injurious to me than it is at present. Such as it now is, it would not be worth one moment's defence before this court. But I have a name which was without a blemish before I received that commission ; and that name it is my intention to defend." The court pronounced him guilty on every specification of each charge. The president of the court, Bt. Brig. General Brooke, Lieut. Col. Hunt, Lieut. Col. Taylor, and Major Baker, filed the following paper, with the record : — " Under the circumstances in which Lieuten- ant-Colonel Fremont was placed, between two 264 LIFE OF FREMONT. officers of superior rank, each claiming to com ■ mand-in-chief in California, — circumstances in their nature calculated to embarrass the mind, and excite the doubts of officers of greater ex- perience than the accused ; and, in consideration of the important professional services rendered by him, previous to the occurrence of the acts for which he has been tried, the undersigned, members of the court, respectfully commend Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont to the lenient con- sideration of the President of the United States." Lieutenant- Colonel Long, Lieutenant- Colonel Morgan, and Major Delafield, filed the following paper: — " Under all the cii'cum stances of this case, and in consideration of the distinguished professional services of the accused, previous to the transac- tions for which he has now been tried, the under- signed beg leave to recommend him to the clemency of the President of the United States." The action of the President, on the case, was as follows: — " Upon an inspection of the record, I am not satisfied that the facts proved in this case con- stitute the military crime of 'mutiny.' I am of opinion that the second and third charges are sustained by the proof, and that the conviction upon these charges warrants the sentence of the court. The sentence of the court is therefore approved; but, in consideration of the peculiar RESIGNATION OF COMMISSION. 265 circumstances of the case, of the previous meritorious and valuable services of Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont, and of the foregoing recom- mendations of a majority of the members of the court, the penalty of dismissal from the service is remitted. " Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont will accord- ingly be released from arrest, will resume his sword, and report for duty. James K. Polk." Upon receiving notice of the result of the trial, Colonel Fremont addressed the following letter to the Adjutant- General: — "Washington City, C Street, Feb. 19, 1848. *' Sir: I have this moment received the general order. No. 7, (dated the 17th instant,) making known to me the final decision in the proceed- ings of the general court-martial, before which I have been tried ; and hereby send in my resig- nation of lieutenant-colonel in the army of the United States. " In doing this, I take the occasion to say that my reason for resigning is that I do not feel conscious of having done anything to merit the finding of the court; and, this being the case, I cannot, by accepting the clemency of the President, admit the justice of the decision against me. " Very respectfully your obedient servant, «J. C. Fremont." 23 266 LIFE OF FREMONT. The judgment of the people of the United States on this trial and its result, was undoubt- edly what is expressed in the language used by General Brooke and his three associates. The finding of the court, under the circumstances — a majority of its members doing what they could to ward off the blow, and the President nullify- ing in fact, while he nominally approved, the sentence — was regarded as reflecting no stigma whatever on Colonel Fremont. But the whole procedure created a sympathy for him in the hearts of the American people, which deepened the admiration his romantic career had excited, and gave him that place in their affections which he holds to this day, and will continue to hold in all coming time. In his own State, where he was reared to man- hood, the feeling in his favor was, naturally, particularly deep. It was the residence of his widowed mother, who had watched his brilliant but perilous career with all the fondness, anxiety, and pride of the maternal heart. "When she heard that he was brought home under arrest, and was to be tried on charges that touched his life and honor, she sunk under the blow. He hastened to her, but only to discharge the last office of filial love and sorrow. She died the day before his arrival. The people of Charleston expressed their sense of his character and services in a public and emphatic manner. PROCEEDINGS IN CHARLESTON. 267 " At a meeting, held at the Charleston Hotel, on the evening of the 16th instant, for the pur- pose of rendering to Lieutenant- Colonel Fre- mont a proper tribute of respect for his gallantry and good conduct in his late expeditions to Oregon and California, Henry W. Conner, Esq. was called to the chak, and George H. Cameron appointed Secretary. The Chairman, in a brief and pertinent ad- dress, stated that Colonel Fremont, as they all knew, was a native of Charleston, and the city might well be proud of him ; for the brilliancy of his achievements, the important results he has accomplished for his country, and the high qualities which he has displayed in every variety of circumstance in which he has been placed, entitle him to rank as amongst the most dis- tinguished men of the times. This sentiment, he believed, was unanimous in the community; and, with a view of giving some public expres- sion of the feeling, it was proposed, some time since, by a number of public-spirited gentlemen, some of them the early friends and associates of Colonel Fremont, to raise, by subscriptions from among our citizens, of one dollar each, a sum of money to be appropriated to the purchase of a sword, or other suitable testimonial, to be presented to Colonel Fremont, as an evidence of the high estimation in which his distinguished services and gallant conduct are held by his fellow-townsmen. 268 LIFE OF FREMONT. The subscription being some time since full, the object of the present meeting was to carry the design into effect. The following resolutions were then introduced by John E. Carew, Esq., and unanimously adopted. Resolved^ That this community highly ap- preciate the eminent services rendered to his country by their fellow-townsman, Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont, in his late surveys and ex- ploration of Oregon and California, under cir cum stances of extreme peril and privation, requiring the exercise of the utmost fortitude and decision of character. Resolved^ That we equally appreciate the meritorious services rendered by Lieutenant- Colonel Fremont to the cause of science in general, by his indefatigable zeal and energy, in extending his researches and discoveries in those unknown regions. Resolved^ That his friends and associates, in common with the people of Charleston in gen- eral, particularly admire and approve the heroic conduct of Colonel Fremont, in repelling an un- provoked and unmanly attack made upon him by Governor Castro with a vastly superior force, and the promptitude and energy with which, with a mere handful of men, he not only defeated, but pursued his enemy, surprising and capturing forts strongly defended with ordnance and men, and eventually taking possession of PRESENTATION SWORD. 269 the province, and, with the American citizens resident therein, declaring its independence. Resolved^ That in testimony of the high estimation in which his gallant conduct and brilliant achievements are held by his friends and fellow-townsmen, a committee be appointed to present to Colonel Fremont, in their behalf, a sword, with appropriate devices and inscriptions, accompanied by suitable expressions of regard and esteem for his person and character. The following Committee was appointed under the last resolution : — John E. Carew, Henry Gourdin, W. C. Gatewood, W. H. Trescott, G. S. Bryan, S. Y. TUPPER. On motion of John E. Carew, Esq., the Chair- man of the meeting was added as Chairman of the Committee. H. W. Conner, Chairman. George H. Cameron, Secretary." The sword presented on this occasion was a rich and splendid specimen of highly wrought and elaborately executed workmanship. It is gold and silver mounted. The head of the hilt, around which is coiled a rattlesnake, belonging to the old arms of the State, is formed to 23* 270 LIFE OF FREMONT. represent the summit c^ the Palmetto-tree. On the guard is a map, with the word " Oregon," partly unrolled, to display the coast of the Pacific Ocean. On the scabbard, which is gold, are two silver shields, hung together, with the words "California" and "1846," respectively. Below them is the following inscription : — BY THE CITIZENS OF CHARLESTON TO LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN CHARLES FREMONT. A MEMORIAL OF THEIR HIGH APPRECIATION OF THE GALLANTRY AND SCIENCE HE HAS DISPLAYED IN HIS SERVICES IN OREGON AND CALIFORNIA. Still lower down on the scabbard is a repre- sentation of a buffalo hunt. An elegant and costly gold-mounted belt, having the present arms of the State on its clasp, presented by the Ladies of Charleston, accompanied the sword. On the 1st of February, the day after the con- clusion of the court-martial, the military com- mittee of the Senate of the United States, consisting of Messrs. Cass, Benton, Crittenden, Dix, Rusk, and Davis, commenced an investiga- tion, in relation to California claims on the gov- ernment of the United States. On the 23d of PUBLIC SENTIMENT. 271 that month, the chairman, General Cass, pre- sented a Report, of which the Senate ordered 20,000 extra copies to be printed. It contained a great amount of testimony, given under oath, demonstrating the invaluable services rendered by Col. Fremont, in the various stages of the conquest of California, and presenting, in an authentic and unquestionable form, the claims of his heroic battalion, and of all who served under him. On the 5th of June, the Senate ordered ^^twenty thousand copies of J. C. Fremont's Map of Oregon and California, reduced from the original, according to the projection to be fur- nished by the said J. C. Fremont," to be litho- gi'aphed and printed ; and on the 15th of June, also ordered the printing of "Fremont's Geogi-aph- ical Memoir (illustrative of his map) of Upper California." This memoir is an able, scientific, and condensed document, written in his felicit- ous* and pictorial style, describing and illustrat- ing the map, and particularly presenting the peculiar natural features — agricultural, botanical, and meteorological — of the " Sierra Nevada," the " Great Basin," the " Maritime region west of the Sierra Nevada," and the " Valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin." In an official letter to the President, dated July 17, 1848, James Buchanan, Secretary of State, in treating of the population of California, speaks of Col. Fremont, " as entitled to the highest considera- 272 LIFE OF FREMONT. tion, from his well-known ability and superior means of information," in reference to that coun- try andihe Pacific regions generally. These facts sufficiently show that Col. Fre- mont came out unscathed from the fiery ordeal he had been made to pass. His spirit was not broken — his fame impaired — his zeal reduced — or his devotion to the great purpose of his life abated, one jot or one tittle. Released from official entanglement, and freed from public control, he soon again embarked in his chosen enterprise. CHAPTER VII. FOURTH EXPEDITION GREAT SUFFERINGS MARI- POSA PURCHASE CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA. His Fourth Expedition was undertaken, mainly, at his own cost and charges. Several public-spirited and liberal individuals, belonging to St. Louis, Missouri, advanced the necessary means, and took the risk of repayment, which was duly made. Among them, Col. Robert Campbell and Thornton Grimsley are particu- larly to be mentioned. O. D. Filley presented outright a considerable part of the camp equi- page. Doctor George Engleman, also of St. Louis, a gentleman of great personal worth and scientific attainments and zeal, devoted himself, on this as on all other occasions, to aid Col. Fremont in his preparations. The Expedition started October 19, 1848. As no full report of this Expedition has yet been published, it can only be presented in brief. The following letter to Colonel Benton gives an account of the progress and impressions made up to its date. ( 273 ) 274 LIFE or FREMONT. "Camp at Bent's Fort, Nov. 17, 1848. " My dear Sir : We have met with very rea- sonable success and some good results this first long step upon our journey. In order to avoid the chance of snow-storms upon the more ex- posed Arkansas road, I followed up the line of the Southern Kansas (the true Kansas River) and so far added something to geography. Foi a distance of 400 miles our route led through a country affording abundant timber, game, and excellent grass. We find that the Valley of the Kansas affords by far the most eligible approach to the mountains. The whole valley soU is of very superior quality, well timbered, abundant grasses, and the route very direct. This line would aiford continuous and good set- tlements certainly for 400 miles, and is therefore worthy of consideration in any plan of approach to the mountains. We found our friend Major Fitzpatrick in the full exercise of his functions at a point about thirty miles below this, in what is called the ' Big Timber,' and surrounded by about 600 lodges of different nations. Apaches, Camanches, Kioways, and Arapahoes. He is a most admirable agent, entirely educated for such a post, and possessing the ability and courage necessary to make his education available. He has succeeded in drawing out from among the Camanches the whole Kioway nation with the exception of six lodges, and brought over among MAJOR FITZPATRICK. 275 them a considerable number of lodges of the Apaches and Camanches. When we arrived he was holding a talk with them, making a feast and giving them a few presents. We found them all on their good behavior, and were treated in the most friendly manner; were neither an- noyed by them, nor had any thing stolen from us. I hope you will be able to give him some support. He will be able to save lives and money for the government, and knowing how difficult this In- dian question may become, I am particular in bringing Fitzpatrick's operations to your notice. In a few years he might have them all farming here on the Arkansas. " Both Indians and whites here report the snow to be deeper in the mountains than has for a long time been known so early in the season, and they predict a severe winter. This morning for the first time, the mountains showed them- selves, covered with snow, as well as the country around us, for it snowed steadily the greater part of yesterday and the night before. Still, I am in nowise discouraged by the prospect, and be- lieve that we shall succeed in forcing our way across. We will ascend the Del Norte to its head, descend on to the Colorado, and so across the Wahsatch mountains and the basin country somewhere near the 37th parallel, reaching the settled parts of California near Monterey. There is, I think, a pass in the Sierra Nevada 276 LIFE OF FREMONT. between the 37th and 38th , which I wish to examine. The party is in good spirits and good health ; we have a small store of pro- visions for hard times, and our instruments, barometer included, all in good order. We are always up an hour or two before light, and the breakfasts are all over, and the camp preparing to move, before sunrise. This break- fasting before daylight, with the thermometer ranging from 12° to 18°, is a somewhat startling change from the pleasant breakfast-table in your stove-warmed house. I think that I shall never cross the continent again, except at Panama. I do not feel the pleasure that I used to have in these labors, as they remain inseparably connected with painful circum- stances, due mostly to them. It needs strong incitements to undergo the hardships and self- denial of this kind of life, and as I find I have these no longer, I will drop into a quiet life. Should we have reasonable success, we shall be in Cahfornia early in January, say about the 8th, where I shall expect to hear from all by the steamer. Referring you for other details to Jessie, to whom I have written at length, I remain most affectionately yours, " J. C. Fremont." The people of St. Louis took a deep interest in this expedition, as is evident from the part they SENTIMENTS OP ST. LOUIS. 277 bore in getting it up. A spirited public meeting was held there, on the 21st of February, 1849, at which speeches were made by the Mayor and others, and a series of Resolutions adopted set- ting forth the importance of a " National Road to the Pacific." There was also a special Reso- lution passed as follows : — " Resolved, that the thanks of this meeting be tendered to Colonel J. C. Fremont, for his intrep- id perseverance and valuable scientific explora- tions in the regions of the Rocky and Californian Mountains, by which we have been furnished with a knowledge of the passes and altitudes of those mountains, and are now able to judge of the entire practicability of constructing a rail- road over them from St. Louis to San Francisco in California ; and that the officers of this meet- ing be requested to furnish Mrs. Fremont (Colo- nel Fremont being in California) with a copy of these proceedings.'^ The copy of the proceedings was communi- cated with the following letter : — St. Louis, February 22, 1849. Mrs. Fremont, Madam : — As the officers of a public meeting held in this city, it is made our duty to transmit to you a copy of the proceedings had on that occasion, with which we most cheerfully comply by en- closing herewith a printed copy thereof. 24 278 LIFE OF FREMONT. Permit us, Madam, in the performance of this pleasing duty, to say that to no one could the compliment intended to be conveyed by the res- olution, and so justly merited, be more accept- able than to yourself. A native of St, Louis, the terminus of the magnificent work, the honored lady of the gallant and intrepid explorer of the route, and esteemed daughter of the honored senator, who, for more than thirty years, has zealously and perseveringly contended for the trade of the Pacific, China, and the Indies, and now projects a monument to his foresight and wisdom, in putting in motion this grand thor- oughfare for nations. We sincerely congratulate you on the auspi- ciousness that awaits our City of the West and its benefactors. With very great respect we are. Madam, Your most obedient Servants, John M. Krum, George K. McGunnegle. It is observed that the meeting at St. Louis were of opinion that Colonel Fremont had, at that date, (February 21,) reached California. They little knew what he had gone through. The disasters of the expedition are best shown in the following letter. It was written in the free- dom of domestic affection and private corre- spondence, but may be presented to the reader • CARSON. 279 with propriety, and will be appreciated, with deep sensibility, by every feeling heart : — Taos, New Mexico, January 27, 1849. My very dear Wife, — I write to you from the house of our good friend Carson. This morning a cup of -chocolate was brought to me, while yet in bed. To an overworn, overworked, much fatigued, and starv- ing traveller, these little luxuries of the world offer an interest which in your comfortable home it is not possible for you to conceive. While in the enjoyment of this luxury, then, I pleased my- self in imagining how gratified you would be in picturing me here in Kit's care, whom you will fancy constantly occupied and constantly uneasy in endeavoring to make me comfortable. How little could you have dreamed of this while he was enjoying the pleasant hospitality of your father's house ! The furthest thing then from your mind was that he would ever repay it to me here. But I have now the unpleasant task of telling you how I came here. I had much rather write you some rambling letters in uni&on with the repose in which I feel inclined to indulge, and talk to you about the future with which I am already busily occupied ; about my arrangements for getting speedily down into the more pleasant climate of the lower Del Norte and rapidly through into California; and my plans when I 280 LIFE OF FREMONT. - get there. 1 have an almost invincible repug- nance to going back among scenes where I have endured much suffering, and for all the incidents and circumstances of which I feel a strong aver- sion. But as clear information is absolutely- necessary to you, and to your father more partic- ularly still, I will give you the story now instead of waiting to tell it to you in California. But 1 write in the great hope that you will not receive this letter. "When it reaches Washington you may be on your way to California. Former letters have made you acquainted with our journey so far as Bent's Fort, and from report you will have heard the circumstances of our departure from the Upper Pueblo of the Arkansas. We left that place about the 25th of November, with upwards of a hundred good mules and one hundred and thirty bushels of shelled corn, intended to support our animals across the snow of the high mountains, and down to the lower parts of the Grand River tributaries, where usually the snow forms no ob- stacle to winter travelling. At the Pueblo, I had engaged as a guide an old trapper well known as " Bill Williams," and who had spent some twenty-five years of his life in trapping various parts of the Rocky Mountains. The error of our journey was committed in engaging this man. He proved never to have in the least known, or entirely to have forgotten, the whole DIFFICULTIES OF THE llOUTE. 281 region of countiy through which we were to pass. We occupied more than half a month in making the journey of a few days, blundering a tortuous way thi'ough deep snow which already began to choke up the passes, for which we were obliged to waste time in searching. About the 11th December we found ourselves at the north of the Del Norte Caiion, where that river issues from the St. John's Mountain, one of the highest, most rugged and impracticable of all the Rocky Mountain ranges, inaccessible to trappers and hunters even in the summer time. Across the point of this elevated range our guide conducted us, and having still great confidence in his knowledge, we pressed onwards with fatal reso- lution. Even along the river bottoms the snow was already belly deep for the mules, frequently snowing in the valley and almost constantly in the mountains. The cold was extraordinary ; at the warmest hours of the day (between one and t^vo) the thermometer (Fahrenheit) standing in the shade of only a tree trunk at zero ; the day sunshiny, with a moderate breeze. We pressed up towards the summit, the snow deepening ; and in four or five days reached the naked ridges which lie above the timbered country, and which form the dividing grounds between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Along these naked ridges, it storms nearly all winter, and the winds sweep across 24* 282 LIFE OF FREMONT. , them with remorseless fmy. On our first at- tempt to cross we encountered a jpoiidrerie} and were driven back, having some 10 or 12 men variously frozen, face, hands, or feet. The guide came nigh being frozen to death here, and dead mules were already lying about tbe fires. Meantime, it snowed steadily. The next day we made mauls, and beating a road or trench through the snow crossed the crest in defiance of the poudrerie^ and encamped immediately below in the edsfe of the timber. The trail showed as if a defeated party had passed by ; pack-saddles and packs, scattered articles of clothing, and dead mules strewed along. A continuance of stormy weather paralyzed all movement. We were encamped sorriewhere about 12,000 feet above the sea. Westward, the country was buried in deep snow. It was impossible to advance and to turn back was equally impracticable. We were overtaken by sudden and inevitable ruin. It so happened that the only places where any grass could be had were the extreme summit of the ridges, where the sweeping winds kept the rocky ground bare and the snow could not lie. Below these, ani- mals could not get about, the snow being deep enough to bury them. Here, therefore, in the full violence of the storms we were obliged to 1 Dry sno"w driven thick through tbe air by violent wind, and in "wliicli objects are visible only at a short distance. DISASTERS OP THE ROUTE. 283 keep our animals. They could not be moved either way. It was instantly apparent that we should lose every animal. I determined to recross the mountain more towards the open country, and haul, or pack the baggage (by men) down to the Del Norte. With great labor the baggage was transported across the crest to the head springs of a little stream leading to the main river. A few days were sufficient to destroy our fine band of mules. They generally kept huddled together, and as they froze, one would be seen to tumble down and the snow would cover him ; sometimes they would break off and rush down towards the timber until they were stopped by the deep snow, where they were soon hidden by the poudrerie. The courage of the men failed fast ; in fact, I have never seen men so soon discour- aged by misfortune as we were on this occa- sion ; but, as you know, the party was not constituted like the former ones. But among those who deserve to be honorablv mentioned, and who behaved like what they were, — men of the old exploring party, — were Godey, King, and Taplin ; and first of ail, Godey. In this situation, I determined to send in a party to the Spanish settlements of New Mexico for provis- ions and mules to transport our baggage to Taos. With economy, and after we should eave the mules, we had not two weeks provis- 284 LIFE OF FREMONT. ions in the camp. These consisted of a store which I had reserved for a hard day, macaroni and bacon. From among the volunteers I chose King, Brackenridge, Creutzfeldt, and the guide Williams ; the party under the command of King. In case of the least delay at the settle- ments, he was to send me an express. In the mean time, we were to occupy ourselves in re- moving the baggage and equipage down to the Del Norte, which we reached with our baggage in a few days after their departure (which was the day after Christmas.) Like many a Christ- mas for years back, mine was spent on the summit of a wintry mountain, my heart filled with gloomy and anxious thoughts, with none of the merry faces and pleasant luxuries that belong to that happy time. You may be sure we contrasted much this with the last at Wash- ington, and speculated much on your doings, and made many warm wishes for your happi- ness. Could you have looked into Agrippa's glass for a few moments only ! You remember the volumes of Blackstone which I took from your father's library when we were overlooking it at our friend Brant's ? They made my Christmas amusements. I read them to pass the heavy time and forget what was around me. Certainly you may suppose that my first law lessons will be well remembered. Day after day passed by and no news from our express GOES BACK FOR RELIEF. 285 party. Snow continued to fall almost inces- santly on the mountain. The spirits of the camp grew lower. Proue laid down in the trail and froze to death. In a sunshiny day, and having with him means to make a fire, he threw his blankets down in the trail and laid there till he froze to death. After sixteen days had elapsed from King's departure, I becrane so un- easy at the delay, that I decided to wait no longer. I was aware that our troops had been engaged in hostilities with the Spanish Utahs and Apaches, who range in the North River valley, and became fearful that they (King's party) had been cut off by these Indians ; I could imagine no other accident. Leaving the camp employed with the baggage and in charge of Mr. Vincenthaler, I started dow~n the river with a small party consisting of Godey, (with his young nephew,) Mr. Preuss and Saunders. We carried our arms and provision for two or three days. In the camp the messes had provisions for two or three meals, more or less ; and about five pounds^ of sugar to each man. Failing to meet King, my intention was to make the Red River settlement, about twenty-five miles north of Taos, and send back the speediest relief pos- sible. My instructions to the camp were, that if they did not hear from me within a stated time, they were to follow down the Del Norte. " On the second day after leaving camp we 286 LIFE OF FREMONT. came upon a fresh trail of Indians, — two lodges, with a considerable number of animals. This did not lessen our uneasiness for our people. As their trail when we met it turned and went down the river, we followed it. On the fifth day we surprised an Indian on the ice of the river. He proved to be a Utah, son of a Grand River chief we had formerly known, and behaved to us in a friendly manner. We encamped near them at night. By a present of a rifle, my two blankets, and other promised rewards when we should get in, I prevailed upon this Indian to go with us as a guide to the Red River settlement, and take with him four of his horses, principally to carry our little baggage. These were wretch- edly poor, and could get along only in a very slow -walk. On that day (the sixth) we left the lodges late, and travelled only some six or seven miles. About sunset we discovered a little smoke, in a grove of timber off* from the river, and thinking perhaps it might be our express party on its return, we went to see. This was the twenty-second day since they had left us, and the sixth since we had left the camp. We found them, — three of them, — Creutzfeldt, Brackenridge, and Williams, — the most miser- able objects I have ever seen. I did not recog- nize Creutzfeldt's features when Brackenridge brought him up to me and mentioned his name. They had been starving. King had starved to RELIEF SENT ON. 287 death a few days before. His remains were some six or eight miles above, near the river. By aid of the horses, we carried these three with us to Red River settlement, which we reached (Jan. 20) on the tenth evening after leaving om* camp in the mountains, having travelled through snow and on foot one hundred and sixty miles. I look upon the anxiety which induced me to set out from the camp as an inspiration. Had I remained there waiting the party which had been sent in, every man of us would probably have perished. The morning after reaching the Red River town, Godey and myself rode on to the Rio Hondo and Taos, in search of animals and sup- plies, and on the second evening after that on which we had reached Red River, Godey had returned to that place with al30ut thirty animals, provisions, and four Mexicans, with which he set out for the camp on the following morning. On the road he received eight or ten others, which were turned over to him by the orders of Major Beale, the commanding officer of this northern district of New Mexico. I expect that Godey will reach this place with the party on Wednesday evening, the 31st. From Major Beale I received the offer of every aid in his power, and such actual assistance as he was able to render. Some horses which he had just recovered from the Utahs were loaned to me, 288 LIFE OF FREMONT. and he supplied me from the commissary's de- partment with provisions which I could have had nowhere else. I find myself in the midst of friends. With Carson is living Owens, and Maxwell is at his father-in-law's, doing a very prosperous business as a merchant and contrac- tor for the troops. Evening. Mr. St. Vrain and Aubrey, who have just arrived from Santa Fe, called to see me. I had the pleasure to learn that Mr. St. Vrain sets out from Santa Fe on the 15th of February, for St. Louis, so that by him I have an early and certain opportunity of sending you my letters. ' Beale left Santa Fe on his journey to California on the 9th of this month. He probably carried on with him any letters which might have been at Santa Fe for me. I shall probably reach California with him or shortly after him. Say to your father that these are my plans for the future. At' the beginning of February (about Satur- day) I shall set out for California, taking the southern route, by the Rio Abcijo, the Paso del Norte, and the south side of the Gila, entering California at the Agua Caliente, thence to Los Angeles and immediately north. I shall break up