JOHN C. FREMONT. 241 



Having reached the Wahsatch Mountains, Colonel 

 Fremont had accomplished two grand divisions of 

 his task. A third yet remained. This was to ex- 

 plore the mountainous plateau "between those moun- 

 tains and the Sierra Nevada of California. Two 

 routes had suggested themselves to Colonel Fre- 

 mont as worthy of examination ; one directly 

 across the plateau "between the thirty-seventh and 

 thirty-eighth parallels of latitude, the other keep- 

 ing to the south of the mountains and following 

 the valley of the Virgin River two hundred miles 

 to the head of the San Joaquin Valley. The latter 

 route had been partially examined already by Major 

 Steele, of Parawan; Colonel Fremont therefore 

 resolved to select the other much more difficult 

 one, which he believed also to be the more direct 

 line toward San Francisco. 



He found the country to be a high table-land, 

 filled with mountains, and intersected by numerous 

 open and low passes. The valleys were dry and 

 naked, without wood or water ; the mountains were 

 covered with pines; springs were rare; and small 

 streams of water were found only at long intervals. 

 He met no human creature here during a journey 

 of three hundred miles. He struck the Sierra 

 Nevada about the thirty-seventh parallel, on the 

 15th of March. He found these mountains to be 



Q 21 



