Fremont was delayed several days at Chouteau's Landing, by the state of
the weather, which prevented the necessary astronomical observations,
but finally all his arrangements being completed, and the weather
permitting, the party started in the highest spirit, and filled with
anticipations of an exciting and adventurous journey.
He had collected in the neighborhood of St. Louis twenty-one men,
principally Creole and Canadian _voyageurs_, who had become familiar
with prairie life in the service of the fur companies in the Indian
country. Mr. Charles Preuss, a native of Germany, was his assistant in
the topographical part of the survey. L. Maxwell, of Kaskaskia, had been
engaged as hunter, and Christopher Carson as guide.
Mr. Cyprian Chouteau, to whose kindness, during their stay at his house,
all were much indebted, accompanied them several miles on their way,
until they met an Indian, whom he had engaged to conduct them on the
first thirty or forty miles, where he was to consign them to the ocean
prairie, which stretched, without interruption, almost to the base of
the Rocky Mountains.
During the 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 in 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 being twenty or thirty
feet long, which enabled them to obtain a little food during the night.
When they 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, consisting 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
they resumed their march, making regularly a halt at noon for one or two
hours. Such was usually the order of the day, except when accident of
country forced a variation, which, however, happened but rarely.
They reached the ford of the Kansas late in the afternoon of the 14th,
where the river was two hundred and thirty yards wide, and commenced
immediately preparations for crossing. The river 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 traveled was a remarkably
fine one, well beaten and level--the usual road of a prairie country. By
this route, the ford was one hundred miles from the mouth of the Kansas
river, on reaching which 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 distance down the river, and,
returning to the right bank, were not got over until the next morning.
In the meantime, the carts had been unloaded and dismantled, and an
India-rubber boat, which had been brought 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 inconvenient freight, rendering it
difficult to be managed, Basil Lajeunesse, one of the best swimmers,
took in his teeth a line attached to the boat, and swam ahead in order
to reach a footing as soon as possible, 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 his great anxiety
to complete the crossing before darkness set in, he put on the boat,
contrary to the advice of Carson, the last two carts with their loads.
The consequence was, the boat was capsized, and everything on board was
in a moment floating down stream. They were all, however, eventually
recovered, but not without great trouble. Carson and Maxwell, who had
been in the water nearly all the succeeding day, searching for the lost
articles, were taken so ill in consequence of the prolonged exposure,
the party was obliged to lie by another day to enable them to recruit,
for to proceed without them would have been folly.
The dense timber which surrounded their camp, interfering with
astronomical observations, and the wet and damaged stores requiring
exposure to the sun, the tents were struck early the next day but one
after this disaster and the party moved up the river about seven miles,
where they camped upon a handsome open prairie, some twenty feet above
the water, and where the fine grass afforded a luxurious repast to the
weary animals. They lay in camp here two days, during which time the men
were kept busy in drying the provisions, painting the cart covers, and
otherwise completing their equipage, until the afternoon when powder was
distributed to them, and they spent some hours in firing at a mark, as
they were now fairly in the Indian country, and it began to be time to
prepare for the chances of the wilderness.