[Illustration]
A full account of the exploring expeditions of John C. Frémont would
form almost a complete history of the great West during that time--from
June, 1842, to February, 1854. The three earlier expeditions were made
at the expense and under the direction of the Government. The two later
ones were private ventures.
The first expedition left Choteau's Landing, near the site of Kansas
City, on June 10, 1842. The party consisted of twenty-eight members,
with Frémont in command, Charles Preuss, topographical engineer, Lucien
Maxwell, hunter, and Kit Carson, guide. It was accompanied by Henry
Brant, a son of Colonel J. H. Brant, of St. Louis, and Randolph Benton,
Frémont's brother-in-law, a boy of twelve. The remainder of the party,
twenty-two in number, were principally Creole or Canadian _voyageurs_.
The party was well armed and mounted, with the exception of the eight
cart-drivers. For some distance the expedition followed very nearly the
route taken by the first emigrant train, of which General Bidwell was a
member, and, like them, met vast herds of buffaloes and other game.
This route followed the general line of the Kansas and Platte Rivers,
and for forty miles beyond the junction of the North and South Forks
of the Platte it kept close to the latter. At this point the party
separated, Frémont with five men continuing along the South Fork, while
the others struck across country to the North Fork, and, resuming
the emigrant route, passed by Scott's Bluff, Chimney Rock, and other
landmarks. At Fort Laramie they were reunited early in July. Every
obstruction was thrown in the way of their advance. The trappers, under
the well-known mountaineer, Jim Bridger, warned them against the danger
of proceeding; and the Indians at Fort Laramie threatened them with
destruction if they insisted upon advancing. But warnings and threats
alike failed. In a council held at Fort Laramie Frémont announced his
intention of pressing on in pursuance of his original plans.
On the 28th of July it was decided that the party should conceal its
_impedimenta_ and push forward in light marching order.
The Rocky Mountains were crossed at South Pass on the 8th of August,
and the party then struck northward, now for the first time traveling
over untrodden ground. After many adventures and much hardship they
reached the Wind River Mountains; the highest peak, named, after the
first man to make the ascent, Frémont's Peak, was scaled, and the
American flag planted upon its summit. This mountain, perhaps the
loftiest in the Rocky Mountain system, is 13,570 feet in height. From
this point the party returned by way of the Nebraska River, reaching
St. Louis on the 17th of October.
The second expedition started in the spring of 1843. Frémont received
instructions to connect his explorations of 1842 with the surveys of
Commander Wilkes on the Pacific coast. There were thirty-nine men
in the party. Mr. Preuss was again topographical engineer; Thomas
Fitzpatrick was guide. Theodore Talbot and Frederick Dwight joined the
party for personal reasons. These with thirty-two white men, a free
colored man, Jacob Dodson, and two Delaware Indians, completed the
number.
[Illustration: View of the dry bed of the South Fork of the Platte
(1890).]
The preparations for departure being completed, on the 29th of May
the party set out, following the general direction taken by the first
expedition but farther to the south, crossing the two forks of the
Kansas and reaching Fort St. Vrain on the Fourth of July. Instead of
turning directly north to Fort Laramie, as he had done in 1842, Frémont
took a westerly course. On the 14th, at the point where the Boiling
Spring River enters the Arkansas, the party were delighted to meet Kit
Carson, and to secure his services as guide. Several parties had been
sent out to secure supplies. Failing in this, they returned to Fort
St. Vrain. At this point Alexis Godey was engaged as hunter. Frémont
says, "In courage and professional skill he was a formidable rival to
Carson." Going through the Medicine Butte Pass, following the Platte
and the Sweetwater, they crossed the South Pass and struck directly
westward to the Bear River, which, flowing in a southerly direction,
empties into Great Salt Lake. After some exploration of its northern
end, on the 18th of September the party were again united at Fort Hall
on the Shoshone, and preparations were made to push on to the Columbia.
The cold and the scarcity of provisions decided Frémont to send back
a number of the men who had so far accompanied him. Eleven men, among
them Basil Lajeunesse, who was an extremely valuable man, returned, for
one reason or another, to their homes. The remnant of the party pushed
on, following the course of the Snake River to Walla Walla. On the 4th
of November they passed the Dalles of the Columbia, and a few days
later reached Fort Vancouver. A number of excursions in the vicinity
brought into view the snow-covered peaks of Mount Rainier (Mount
Tacoma), Mount St. Helen's, and Mount Hood. On the 25th of November
the party began its homeward trip, which was accomplished by a wide
southerly sweep, and through much privation, danger, and suffering.
The path lay first down through Oregon and California, over the snowy
passes of the Sierra Nevada, by the waters of the Sacramento to
Sutter's Fort. The experiences of travel on the snow-covered mountains,
through which their way had to be broken, were terrible. Worn out,
sometimes crazed by exposure and suffering, one man after another
would wander off and get lost, and the strength of the rest, which was
weakness at best, would be taxed to hunt up the wanderers. At last the
stragglers were all gathered in except Baptiste Derosier, who was given
up for lost, but who turned up two years later in St. Louis.
[Illustration: Independence Rock, Sweetwater River.]
This expedition through the great valley lying between the Rockies on
the east and the Sierra Nevada on the west opened up a country unknown
except to Indians and trappers, and disproved the idea, which had
hitherto been accepted as fact, that a great waterway led directly
westward through the Sierra to the Pacific coast. After an excursion to
San Francisco the route southward was resumed, along the direction of
the coast and about one hundred miles east of it, to a point not far
from Los Angeles, then curving up and proceeding due northeasterly and
then northerly till Great Salt Lake was again reached at its southern
extremity. This great reëntrant curve of three thousand five hundred
miles was traveled over in eight months, during the severities of a
winter in the mountains and never once out of sight of snow. During
these eight months no word had come back to the East from the party,
and grave fears were entertained for their safety.
The third and last Government expedition set out in the autumn of 1845.
The object in view was to follow up the Arkansas River to its source in
the Rocky Mountains, to complete the exploration of Great Salt Lake,
and to extend the survey westward and southwestward to the Cascades
and the Sierra Nevada, in order to ascertain the best route by which
to reach the Pacific coast in this lower latitude. Matters were in a
very unsettled condition; the Mexican war was impending, and trouble
was brooding over our southwestern possessions. Before going on this
expedition Frémont was brevetted lieutenant and captain at the same
time.
[Illustration: Laramie Peak, from one of the old mountain trails.]
Bent's Fort was reached as expeditiously as possible, since the real
object of the exploration lay beyond the Rockies, and the winter was
fast approaching. The _personnel_ of the party it is difficult to
find. Edward Kern took the place of Mr. Preuss as topographer; he
was also a valuable acquisition to the party because of his artistic
ability. Lieutenants Abert and Peck were under Frémont's command.
Jacob Dodson, the colored man who accompanied the second expedition,
and a Chinook Indian who had gone back to Washington with Frémont, and
two gentlemen, James McDowell and Theodore Talbot, accompanied the
expedition. Fitzpatrick again served as guide and Hatcher as hunter.
Later they were joined by Alexis Godey, Kit Carson, and Richard Owens,
three men who, under Napoleon, says Frémont, would have been made
marshals because of their cool courage, keenness, and resolution.
When they set out from Bent's Fort the party numbered sixty members,
many of them Frémont's old companions. After a short and easy journey
they reached the southern end of Great Salt Lake, and spent two weeks
exploring it and fixing certain points. Then they struck out in a
westerly direction, across the dreary, barren desert west of Great Salt
Lake to the foot of the Sierra, by way of the Humboldt River. When the
party, after following two routes, met again at Walker's Lake, Frémont
found his men too worn and exhausted and the stock of provisions too
low to think of trying to cross the mountains together, so the party
was again divided. Frémont with fifteen picked men undertook to cross
the mountains, get relief at Sutter's, and meet the other and weaker
party. These he ordered to go southward, skirting the eastern base
of the Sierra till a warmer climate and more open passes were found,
and to meet him at an appointed place. In ten days Frémont reached
Sutter's Fort, laid in his supplies of cattle, horses, and provisions,
and proceeded to the appointed place, but no signs of Talbot's party
were to be seen. Owing to a mistake each party went to a different
place. Both halted, and turned about, hoping to effect a junction, but
to no purpose. Frémont suffered severely from the attacks of hostile
Indians. Finally each party found its way separately to the California
settlements. Then followed a conflict concerning which there is much
controversy. Frémont was compelled by the Mexican governor to retire to
Oregon. After serious conflicts with the Klamath Indians he returned to
take part in the Bear Flag insurrection, which was the occasion of the
conquest of the territory. A difference as to precedence arose between
Commodore Stockton of the naval and General Kearny of the land forces.
Frémont chose to serve under Stockton, as it was from him in the first
instance, before Kearny arrived, that he had received his orders.
He was court-martialed for mutiny and disobedience to his superior
officer, and was found guilty, but was pardoned in consideration of his
distinguished services to his country. Feeling that the verdict was
unjust, he threw up his commission, and so ended the last Government
expedition.
The fourth expedition was a private venture made at Frémont's own risk
and that of Senator Benton. The party followed for some distance the
route along the Kansas, turning southward at the junction of the two
forks, and striking across to the Arkansas, and so on as far as Bent's
Fort. On November 25, 1848, the party, thirty-two in number, left the
upper pueblo of the Arkansas with one hundred good mules and ample
provision for crossing the St. Johns Mountains, part of the Rocky
Mountain System. They had for guide a well-known mountaineer, Bill
Williams, but he proved a blind leader of the blind. Instead of finding
a pass, he led the party over the top of the highest mountains, where
there was no pasturage and where they were exposed to intense suffering
and toil and terrible loss of life: every mule and horse, and one-third
of the men, perished from starvation or freezing. The rescued remnant
of the party moved southward to Taos, and so by a more southerly route
to California. The addition made to geographical knowledge by this
disastrous expedition was not great. Frémont believed that if they had
not been misled by their guide he would have discovered the best route
to California.
[Illustration: A brush with the Redskins.]
In March, 1852, an appropriation was made by the Government for further
surveys of the great western routes. A highway and railroad were
growing more and more necessary since the acquisition of California.
Frémont, on the strength of this, determined to prove his belief
about the central route which he had so disastrously failed to find
on his fourth expedition. In August, 1853, he set out on his last
expedition. After two weeks' detention in consequence of Frémont's
illness, the party was again set in motion. It crossed the Rockies
at Cochetopa Pass, not far above the scene of the terrible suffering
in the preceding exploration. For a time it seemed as though the
experiences of the fourth expedition were going to be repeated.
Provisions became very scarce, and at last failed entirely, and then
the explorers began to kill and devour their horses. Colonel Frémont
called his men together and made them take a solemn oath never to
resort to cannibalism, no matter what extremities they might reach.
Times grew worse; they were reduced to living upon the hides, entrails,
and burned bones of their horses. By these and by a certain variety of
cactus which they occasionally were able to get from under the snow,
life was sustained. In this way the party of twenty-two lived for fifty
days, tramping through the snow with Frémont at their head treading
out a pathway for his men. At last the entire party became barefoot.
On February 1 Mr. Fuller gave out. The snow was very deep; his feet
were severely frozen, and he found it impossible to advance. He was put
upon one of the remaining horses and the men divided their miserable
pittances of rations to increase his. Almost in sight of succor he
died,--in Frémont's words,--"like a man, on horseback in his saddle,
and we buried him like a soldier on the spot where he fell." Frémont,
in the words of Benton, "went straight to the spot where the guide had
gone astray, followed the course described by the mountain men, and
found safe and easy passes all the way to California through a good
country and upon the straight line of 38° and 39°." It probably did
not seem such a "safe and easy" thing to the starving and half-frozen
men during those fifty days of anguish. At last, after they had been
forty-eight hours without a morsel of food, relief came to the party.
Something of the practical value of these explorations may be inferred
from the fact that the great railroads connecting East and West lie in
large measure through the country explored by Frémont, sometimes in the
very lines he followed; and this is equally true of the highways.
The winter of this last exploration was exceptionally severe; and since
the point Frémont wished to demonstrate was the practicability of this
route in winter, the season was peculiarly favorable.