Carson Visits his Old Home in Missouri--He Goes to St. Louis--Voyage up
the Missouri--Makes the Acquaintance of Lieutenant John C. Fremont--Is
engaged as a Guide for Fremont's First Expedition--The Start
Westward--Various Mishaps--The Emigrants--The False Alarm.
Kit Carson had left his home in Missouri when only a boy and he was now
in the prime of a vigorous young manhood. The years since he turned his
back upon his old home had been busy and eventful ones and now, as
is often the case with those placed as was he, he longed to visit the
scenes of his childhood, and to meet and shake the hands of those of his
old friends who were still among the living.
In the spring of 1842, Carson went eastward with a train of wagons,
carrying goods to the States. When the borders of Missouri were reached,
he bade his companions goodbye and made his way back to his old home.
His experience was touching. His parents were dead, the old building
which would ever linger in his memory, had tumbled down and nearly every
one whom he met was a stranger. The cheeks of the hardy mountaineer were
wet with tears, and with a sigh, he turned his face away forever.
Carson had never seen a large city, and he made his way to St. Louis,
where he spent more than a week in sight seeing. Before the end of that
time, the old yearning for the mountains, prairies and streams of
the West came back to him, and he engaged passage on a steamer up the
Missouri.
On the same boat John C. Fremont was a passenger. He was two years
younger than Carson and had been commissioned Second Lieutenant in the
Corps of Topographical Engineers, in 1838. Four years later he projected
a geographical survey of the entire territory of the United States from
the Missouri River to the Pacific.
Carson was attracted by the fine, manly and intellectual appearance of
Fremont, and, learning he was in search of a skilful mountaineer, he
introduced himself, referring in a modest fashion to his experience in
the west and expressing the belief that he could be of service to the
explorer.
Fremont was an excellent judge of character and was favorably impressed
with Carson from the first. The answers to the inquiries which he made
concerning the famous guide and mountaineer, were satisfactory in the
highest degree. He engaged Carson as his guide, agreeing to pay him a
salary of one hundred dollars a month.
The party of explorers were mainly gathered in St. Louis. It was
composed mostly of Creole and Canadian voyageurs, Charles Preuss, a
learned German, a young son of Colonel Benton (which statesman was the
father in law of Fremont), several other friends, including a noted
mountaineer named Maxwell, who was employed as the hunter of the party.
Including the commander, the entire company numbered twenty-eight.
With this party of explorers Fremont ascended the Missouri until the
mouth of the Kansas was reached, when they disembarked and made their
preparations for the long and dangerous journey before them. The march
westward began June 10, 1842.
The course lay along the banks of the Kansas. All the party were well
armed and well mounted, excepting eight men, each of whom drove a
cart, drawn by two mules. These carts contained the stores, baggage
and instruments of the expedition. A number of spare horses were taken
along, so as to provide against loss in that respect. In addition, they
had four oxen intended to serve as a reserve in the event of provisions
running short.
It was the custom to arouse the camp at daybreak and turn out the
animals to graze; breakfast followed and the march was begun. The noon
halt lasted from one to two hours and the afternoon's march ended a
short time before sunset. The tents were then pitched, horses hobbled
and turned out to graze, and the evening meal prepared. When it became
dark, all the animals were brought in and picketed, the carts arranged
so as to serve as barricades and guard mounted.
An Indian guide conducted the expedition for the first forty miles along
the Kansas, when he departed and the responsibility was turned over to
Carson. The pilot had guided the steamer out of the harbor and upon the
great ocean, and henceforth the hand of Carson was to be at the helm.
The soil over which they journeyed for many miles was of the most
fertile character. Numbers of Indian farms were seen, and one could
not but reflect on the possibilities of the future for the red man,
who should abandon war and give his energies to the cultivation of the
ground.
Such an expedition could not go far without a taste of the trials that
awaited them. On the second night, the four spare horses seemed to
become disgusted with the whole enterprise, and turning their heads
eastward started on a rapid gallop for the States. Their loss was too
serious to be borne, and a number of men were dispatched in pursuit.
The chase was a long one and the animals were not recovered for several
hours. One of the men lost his way and was forced to spend the night on
the open prairie. At midnight it began to rain, and then the exceedingly
unpleasant discovery was made that the tents on which the explorers
relied for protection and shelter were so thin that they were drenched
as if the water came through a sieve.
The morning, however, brought clear weather and bright sunlight, and
all were in high spirits. The scenery for a time was of a pleasing and
picturesque character, and they pushed contentedly forward, until they
arrived at the ford of the Kansas, one hundred miles from the point
where it emptied into the Missouri.
The stream was found so swollen from recent rains that it could not be
forded. Accordingly several of the mounted men forced their animals into
the stream and swam them across to serve as guides for the rest. They
succeeded quite well, excepting the oxen, which, after floundering
awhile, landed on the same side from which they started. The following
morning they succeeded in crossing.
Among the useful articles with which Fremont had provided himself, was
an India rubber boat, twenty feet long and five feet wide. This was very
buoyant and the carts and baggage were carried over piecemeal in it,
with the exception of the last two carts. Laden with these the boat
left the shore but had not gone far when the man at the helm, who was
exceedingly nervous, managed to capsize the craft, with all its precious
cargo. The hunters were so dismayed over the prospect of losing their
stores that nearly all plunged into the stream and made frantic efforts
to save what they could. Several did not stop to remember that they
could not swim, so that the principal efforts of some of the others were
directed to saving them.
Most of the goods were recovered, but nearly all the sugar dissolved
and every grain of coffee was lost. It would be hard to imagine any
deprivation greater than that to which this misfortune condemned the
explorers. Carson and one of the others made such strenuous efforts in
the water that they were ill the next day, and Fremont remained in camp
for twenty-four hours with a view of giving them time to recruit.
The journey westward progressed without any special incident. A large
party of emigrants on their way to Oregon were several weeks in advance
of the explorers. Bad fortune seemed to have followed them from the
start, and numerous freshly made graves were seen. One of the emigrants
who had been peculiarly unfortunate, came into camp with a hunter on his
way home. He took charge of the letters which the explorers desired to
send to their families.
The party soon reached the Pawnee country where they were forced to
unusual vigilance, for those Indians have long been noted as most
persistent horse thieves. Game was abundant. Large flocks of wild
turkeys were found roosting in the trees along the streams; elk,
antelope and deer were plentiful, and as for bisons, they were beyond
all computation.
One day a member of the company happened to be riding at the rear
galloped up in hot haste, shouting, "Indians!" He declared that he had
seen them distinctly and counted twenty-seven. An immediate halt was
called, and Carson, leaping on one of the fleetest horses, crossed the
river and galloped over the prairie.
"Mounted on a fine horse without a saddle," says Fremont, "and scouring,
bareheaded, over the prairies, Kit was one of the finest pictures of
a horseman I have ever seen. He soon returned quite leisurely, and
informed them that the party of twenty-seven Indians had resolved itself
into a herd of six elk who, having discovered us, had scampered off at
full speed."