344 



FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES. 



boast that they found a desert and made it 

 blossom as the rose, is greatly exaggerated. Al- 

 though a desert in which some oases have since 

 been made by American enterprise stretched on 

 either side of them, mountain and stream com- 

 bined to make this valley picturesque and fertile. 

 Here is Fremont's account : 



21st. An hour's travel this morning brought us in- 

 to the fertile and picturesque valley of Bear river, the 

 principal tributary to the Great Salt lake. The stream 

 is here two hundred feet wide, fringed with willows 

 and occasional groups of hawthorns. We were now 

 entering a region which, for us, possessed a strange 

 and extraordinary interest. We were upon the waters 

 of the famous lake which forms a salient point among 

 the remarkable geographical features of the country, 

 and around which the vague and superstitious ac- 

 counts of the trappers had thrown a delightful ob- 

 scurity, which we anticipated pleasure in dispelling, 

 but which, in the mean time, left a crowded field for 

 the exercise of pur imagination. 



In our occasional conversations with the few old 

 hunters who had visited the region, it had been a 

 subject of frequent speculation ; and the wonders 

 which they related were not the less agreeable be- 

 cause they were highly exaggerated and impossible. 

 Hitherto this lake had been seen only by trappers 

 who were wandering through the country in search 

 of new beaver streams, caring very little for geogra- 

 phy ; its islands had never been visited ; and none 

 were to be found who had entirely made the circuit 

 of its shores ; and no instrumental observations or 

 geographical survey of any description had ever 

 been made anywhere in the neighboring region. It 

 was generally supposed that it had no visible outlet ; 

 but among the trappers, including those in my own 

 camp, were many who believed that somewhere on its 

 surface was a terrible whirlpool, through which its 

 waters found their way to the ocean by some subter- 

 ranean communication. All these things had made a 

 frequent subject of discussion in our desultory con- 

 versations around the fires at night; and my own 

 mind had become tolerably well filled with their in- 

 definite pictures, and insensibly colored with their 

 romantic descriptions, which, in the pleasure of ex- 

 citement, I was well disposed to believe, and half ex- 

 pected to realize. 



Where we descended into this beautiful valley it 

 is three to four miles in breadth, perfectly level, and 

 bounded by mountainous ridges, one above another, 

 rising suddenly from the plain. We continued our 

 roacfdown the river, and at night encamped with a 

 family of emigrants two men, women, and several 

 children who appeared to be bringing up the rear of 

 the great caravan. I was struck with the fine appear- 

 ance of their cattle six or eight yoke of oxen which 

 really looked as well as if they had been all the sum- 

 mer at work on some good farm. It was strange to 

 see one small family traveling along through such a 

 country, so remote from civilization. Some nine 

 years since such a security might have been a fatal 

 one, but since their disastrous defeats in the country 

 a little north the Blackfeet have ceased to visit these 

 waters. Indians, however, are very uncertain in their 

 localities ; and the friendly feelings, also, of those 

 now inhabiting it may be changed. 



According to barometrical observation at noon, the 

 elevation of the valley was 6,400 feet above the sea ; 

 and our encampment at night in latitude 42 3' 47*, 

 and longitude 110 10' 53", by observation the day's 

 .journey having been 26 miles. This encampment 

 was therefore within the territorial limit of the United 

 States ; our traveling, from the time we entered the 

 valley of the Green river, on the 15th of August, hav- 

 ing been south of the 42d degree of north latitude, 

 and consequently on Mexican territory ; and this is 

 the route all the emigrants now travel to Oregon. 



Antelope and elk were seen during the day on the 

 opposite prairie ; and there were ducks and geese in 

 tne river. 



The next morning, in about three miles from our 

 encampment, we reached Smith's fork, a stream of 

 clear water, about 50 feet in breadth. It is timbered 

 with cottonwood, willow, and aspen, and makes a 

 beautiful debouchement through a pass about 600 

 yards wide between remarkable mountain hills, rising 

 abruptly on either side and forming gigantic columns 

 to the gate by which it enters Bear Eiver valley. 

 The bottoms, which below Smith's fork had been 

 two miles wide, narrowed as we advanced to a gap 

 500 yards wide, and during the greater part of the 

 day we had a winding route, the river making very 

 sharp and sudden bends, the mountains steep and 

 rocky, and the valley occasionally so narrow as only 

 to leave space for a passage through. 



We made our halt at noon in" a fertile bottom, 

 where the common blue flax was growing abundant- 

 ly, a few miles below the mouth of Thomas's fork, 

 one of the larger tributaries of the river. 



He next explored the upper tributaries of the 

 Columbia and descended the river to Fort Van- 

 couver. He set out to return with no guide but 

 the vague report of certain lakes and rivers. 

 Midwinter found him amid the rugged mount- 

 ains that lie between the lower Columbia and the 

 upper Colorado. The deep snows of an unusually 

 cold and stormy winter forced him down into the 

 desert, and starvation stared his little party in 

 the face. Ascertaining by astronomical observa- 

 tion that he was in the latitude of San Francisco 

 Bay, although the unknown extent and dangers 

 of the Sierra Nevada mountains lay between, and 

 the Indians warned them that they could not pass 

 over, he set out for Sutters Fort, and reached 

 it after almost incredible hardships, during which 

 horses died and stout men became deranged. 

 The following is part of the story, as told in Fre- 

 mont's report. It describes the journey over a 

 mountain pass about fifty miles south of that 

 through which the Central Pacific Railroad now 

 runs, in sight of the Sacramento valley: 



3d. Turning our faces directly toward the main 

 chain, we ascended an open hollow along a small 

 tributary to the river, which, according to the Indians, 

 issues from a mountain to the south. The snow was 

 so deep in the hollow that we were obliged to travel 

 along the steep hillsides and over spurs, where the 

 wind and sun had in places lessened the snow, and 

 where the grass, which appeared to be in good quality 

 along the sides of the mountains, was exposed. We 

 opened our road in the same way as yesterday, but 

 made only seven miles, and encamped by some 

 springs at the foot of a high and steep hill, by which 

 the hollow ascended to another basin in the mountain. 

 The little stream below was entirely buried in snow. 

 The springs were shaded by the boughs of a lofty ce- 

 dar, which here made its first appearance ; the usual 

 height was 120 to 130 feet, and one that was measured 

 near by was six feet in diameter. 



There being no grass exposed here, the horses were 

 sent back to that which we had seen a few miles be- 

 low. We occupied the remainder of the day in beat- 

 ing down a road to the foot of the hill, a mile or two 

 distant, the snow being beaten down when moist 

 in the warm part of the day. and then hard frozen at 

 night, made a foundation that would bear the weight 

 of the animals next morning. During the day several 

 Indians joined us on snow-shoes. These were made 

 of a circular hoop, a foot in diameter, the interior 

 space being filled with an open network of bark. 



4th. 1 went ahead early with two or three men, 

 each with a led horse to break the road. We were 

 obliged to abandon the hollow entirely, and work 

 along the mountain side, which was very steep, and 

 the snow covered with an icy crust. We cut a foot- 

 ing as we advanced, and trampled a road through for 

 the animals, but occasionally one plunged outside 



