The difficulty, in view of the approaching winter season, of supporting
a large party, determined Fremont 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 which they were necessarily exposed, and which
there was reason to believe would become more severe in the further
extension of the voyage. They were accordingly called together, and
after being fully informed as to the nature of the duties imposed upon
them, and the hardships they would have to undergo, eleven of the party
consented to abandon Fremont, and return; but Carson was not one of
these.
Taking leave of the homeward party, they resumed their journey down the
valley, the weather being very cold, and the rain coming in hard gusts,
which the wind blew directly in their faces. They forded the Portneuf in
a storm of rain, the water in the river being frequently up to the
axles.
Fremont in his official report thus enumerates some of the difficulties
and sufferings the party had to encounter:
"_September 27._--It was now no longer possible, as in our previous
journey, to travel regularly every day, and find at any moment a
convenient place for repose at noon, or a camp at night; but the halting
places were now generally fixed along the road, by the nature of the
country, at places where, with water, there was a little scanty grass.
Since leaving the American falls, the road had frequently been very bad;
the many short, steep ascents exhausting the strength of our worn out
animals, requiring always at such places the assistance of the men to
get up each cart, one by one; and our progress with twelve or fourteen
wheeled carriages, though light and made for the purpose, in such a
rocky country, was extremely slow.
"Carson had met here three or four buffalo bulls, two of which were
killed. They were among the pioneers which had made the experiment of
colonizing in the valley of the Columbia.
"Opposite to the encampment, a subterranean river bursts out directly
from the face of the escarpment, and falls in white foam to the river
below. The main river is enclosed with mural precipices, which form its
characteristic feature, along a great portion of its course. A
melancholy and strange-looking country--one of fracture, and violence,
and fire.
"We had brought with us, when we separated from the camp, a large gaunt
ox, in appearance very poor; but, being killed to-night, to the great
joy of the people, he was found to be remarkably fat. As usual at such
occurrences, the evening was devoted to gaiety and feasting; abundant
fare now made an epoch among us; and in this laborious life, in such a
country as this, our men had but little else to enjoy."
On arriving at the ford where the road crosses to the right bank of
Snake River, an Indian was hired to conduct them through the ford, which
proved impracticable; the water sweeping away the howitzer and nearly
drowning the mules. Fortunately they had a resource in a boat, which was
filled with air and launched; and at seven o'clock were safely encamped
on the opposite bank, the animals swimming across, and the carriage,
howitzer, and baggage of the camp being carried over in the boat.
It was while at Fort Boise where Fremont first met Mons. Payette, an
employee of the Hudson Bay Co., that he came across the "Fish-eating
Indians," a class lower if possible in the scale of humanity than the
"Diggers." He says:
"Many little accounts and scattered histories, together with an
acquaintance which I gradually acquired of their modes of life, had left
the aboriginal inhabitants of this vast region pictured in my mind as a
race of people whose great and constant occupation was the means of
procuring a subsistence.
"While the summer weather and the salmon lasted, they lived contentedly
and happily, scattered along the different streams where the fish
were to be found; and as soon as the winter snows began to fall,
little smokes would be seen rising among the mountains, where they
would be found in miserable groups, starving out the winter; and
sometimes, according to the general belief, reduced to the horror of
cannibalism--the strong, of course, preying on the weak. Certain it is,
they are driven to an extremity for food, and eat every insect, and
every creeping thing, however loathsome and repulsive. Snails, lizards,
ants--all are devoured with the readiness and greediness of mere
animals."
The remainder of the overland journey, until they reached Nez Percé, one
of the trading establishments of the Hudson Bay Company, was not marked
by any incident bringing Carson into special notice.
Having now completed the connection of his explorations with those of
Commander Wilkes, and which was the limit of his instructions, Fremont
commenced preparations for his return, Carson being left at the _Dalles_
with directions to occupy the people in making pack-saddles, and
refitting the equippage; while Fremont continued his journey to the
Mission, a few miles down the Columbia River, where he passed a few days
in comparative luxury.
The few days of rest, added to an abundance of wholesome food, had so
far recruited the party, that they were soon prepared to encounter and
conquer the difficulties of this overland journey in mid-winter. Three
principal objects were indicated by Fremont for exploration and
research, and which, despite the obstacles which the season must so
surely interpose, he had determined to visit.
The first of these points was the _Tlamath_ Lake, on the table-land
between the head of Fall River, which comes to the Columbia, and the
Sacramento, which goes to the bay of San Francisco; and from which lake
a river of the same name makes its way westwardly direct to the ocean.
From this lake their course was intended to be about southeast, to a
reported lake called Mary's, at some days' journey in the Great Basin;
and thence, still on southeast, to the reputed _Buenaventura_ River,
which has had a place in so many maps, and countenanced the belief of
the existence of a great river flowing from the Rocky Mountains to the
Bay of San Francisco. From the Buenaventura, the next point was intended
to be in that section of the Rocky Mountains which includes the heads of
Arkansas River, and of the opposite waters of the Californian Gulf; and
thence down the Arkansas to Bent's Fort, and home. This was the
projected line of return--a great part of it absolutely new to
geographical, botanical, 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 winter 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. All 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 extremity of peril and
privation, to which they were afterwards exposed, ever belie, or
derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave and generous commencement.
For the support of the party, he 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 cooking; and, in
addition to this, they had purchased at the mission, some California
cattle, which were to be driven on the hoof. They had one hundred and
four mules and horses--part of the latter procured from the Indians
about the mission; and for the sustenance of which, their reliance was
upon the grass which might be found, and the soft porous wood, which was
to be substituted when there was no grass.
Mr. Fitzpatrick, with Mr. Talbot and the remainder of the party, arrived
on the 21st; and the camp was now closely engaged in the labor of
preparation. Mr. Perkins succeeded in obtaining as a 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.
Tlamath Lake, however, on examination, proved to be simply a shallow
basin, which, for a short period at the time of melting snows, is
covered with water from the neighboring mountains; but this probably
soon runs off, and leaves for the remainder of the year a green
savannah, through the midst of which, the river Tlamath, which flows to
the ocean, winds its way to the outlet on the southwestern side.
After leaving Tlamath Lake the party headed for Mary's Lake, which,
however, after incredible sufferings and hardships, they failed to
discover, but they found one which was appropriately christened "Pyramid
Lake," and here the record of toils, dangers and sufferings, undergone
by the whole party, can only be told in the language of him, who
cheerfully toiled and suffered with those under his command, and it is
not too much to say, that with the exception of the "Strain expedition,"
across the Isthmus of Darien, no party of men have ever lived to narrate
such sad experiences. We therefore let Fremont, in his own modest way,
tell the tale of his own and his companions' sufferings.