236 JOHN C. FREMONT. 



made by Congress for the purpose of surveying 

 three routes to the Pacific Ocean, from which to 

 select a highway from the Mississippi toward the 

 land of gold. This proposition at once aroused 

 the slumbering interest of the distinguished ex- 

 plorer in the enterprise to which so valuable a por- 

 tion of his life had been already devoted. He im- 

 mediately left Paris, in June, 1853, and returned to 

 the United States for the purpose of commencing 

 his fifth and last great exploration across the west- 

 ern half of the North American continent. 



At the commencement of this journey Colonel 

 Fremont was attacked with a very severe illness, 

 which compelled him to return to St. Louis for 

 medical treatment. After three weeks' delay, he was 

 able to follow his company of twenty- two men, half 

 of whom were able-bodied Delaware Indians. They 

 had continued their route by his orders. On the 

 30th of October, he rejoined them at the Saline Fork 

 of the Kansas River, better known by the epithet of 

 Salt Creek. This spot is situated in the midst of a 

 wide prairie, which extended for many miles in 

 every direction. "When Colonel Fremont returned 

 to his company, the grass was on fire on all sides as 

 far as the eye could reach. The Delaware Indians 

 had picketed their animals near the creek, on the 

 banks of which they had encamped, and thither all 



