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Random Facts about the Explorations of Fremont
THE EXPLORATIONS OF FREMONT
Among the earliest efforts of Fremont, after he had tried
and been sickened by the sea, were his experiences as a
surveyor and engineer on railroad lines from Charleston to
Augusta, Ga., and Charleston to Cincinnati. Then he
accompanied an army detachment on a military reconnoissance
of the mountainous Cherokee country in Georgia, North
Carolina and Tennessee, made in the depth of winter. In
1838-9 he accompanied M. Nicollet in explorations of the
country between the Missouri and the British line, and his
first detail of any importance, after he had been
commissioned by President Van Buren, was to make an
examination of the river Des Moines, then on the Western
frontier. In 1841 he projected his first trans-continental
expedition, and left Washington May 2, 1842, and
accomplished the object of his trip, examined the South
Pass, explored the Wind River mountains, ascended in August,
the highest peak of that range, now known as Fremont's Peak,
and returned, after an absence of four months. His report of
the expedition attracted great attention in the United
States and abroad. Fremont began to plan another and a
second expedition. He determined to extend his explorations
across the continent; and in May, 1843, commenced his
journey with thirty-nine men, and September 6, after
traveling over 1,700 miles, arrived at the Great Salt Lake;
there made some important discoveries, and then pushed on to
the upper Columbia, down whose valley he proceeded to Fort
Vancouver, near its mouth. On Nov. 10, he set out to return
East, selecting a southeasterly course, leading from the
lower part of the Columbia to the upper Colorado, through an
almost unknown region, crossed by high and rugged mountains.
He and his party suffered incredible hardships in crossing
from the Great Basin to Sutter's Fort on the Sacramento;
started from there March 24, proceeded southward, skirted
the western base of the Sierra Nevada, crossed that range
through a gap, entered the Great Basin; again visited the
Great Salt Lake, from which they returned through the South
Pass to Kansas, in July, 1844, after an absence of fourteen
months. In the spring of 1845 Fremont set out on a third
expedition to explore the Great Basin and the maritime
region of Oregon and California; spent the summer examining
the headwaters of the rivers whose springs are in the grand
divide of the continent; in October camped on the shores of
the Great Salt Lake: proceeded to explore the Sierra Nevada,
which he again crossed in the dead of winter; made his way
into the Valley of the San Joaquin; obtained permission, at
Monterey, from the Mexican authorities there, to proceed
with his expedition, which permission was almost immediately
revoked, and Fremont peremptorily ordered to leave the
country without delay, but he refused, and a collision was
imminent, but was averted, and Fremont proceeded toward San
Joaquin. Near Tlamath Lake, Fremont met, May 9, 1846, a
party in search of him, with dispatches from Washington,
ordering him to watch over the interests of the United
States in California, as there was reason to believe that
province would be transferred to Great Britain. He at once
returned to California; General Castro was already marching
against our settlements; the settlers rose in arms, flocked
to Fremont's camp, and, with him as leader, in less than a
month, all Northern California was freed from Mexican
authority; and on July 4 Fremont was elected Governor of
California by the American settlers. Later came the conflict
between Commodore Stockton and General Kearney; and Fremont
resigned his commission as Lieutenant-Colonel, to which he
had been promoted. In October, 1848, he started across the
continent on a fourth expedition, outfitted at his own
expense, to find a practicable route to California. In
attempting to cross the great Sierra, covered with snow, his
guide lost his way, and the party encountered horrible
suffering from cold and hunger, a portion of them being
driven to cannibalism; he lost all his animals (he had 120
mules when he started), and one-third of his men (he had
thirty-three) perished, and he had to retrace his steps to
Santa Fe. He again set out, with thirty men, and, after a
long search, discovered a secure route, which led to the
Sacramento, where he arrived in the spring of 1840. He led a
fifth expedition across the continent in 1853, at his own
expense, and found passes through the mountains in the line
of latitude 38 deg., 39 min., and reached California after
enduring great hardships; for fifty days his party lived on
horse-flesh, and for forty-eight hours at a time without
food of any kind. These are the barest outlines of five
expeditions of which many volumes have been written, but
will hint at Fremont's work in the West which entitled him
to the name of the "Pathfinder."
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