FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES. 



347 



I was now perfectly satisfied that we had struck 

 the stream on which Mr. Sutter lived ; and, turning 

 about, made a hard push, and reached the camp at 

 dark. Here we had the pleasure to find all the re- 

 maining animals, 57 in number, safely arrived at the 

 grassy hill near the camp ; and here, also, we were 

 agreeably surprised with the sight of an abundance 

 of salt. Some of the horse guard had gone to a neigh- 

 boring hut for pine nuts, and discovered unexpected- 

 ly a large cake of very white fine-grained salt, which 

 the Indians told them they had brought from the 

 other side of the mountain ; they used it to eat with 

 their pine nuts, and readily sold it for goods. 



On the 19th the people were occupied in making a 

 road and bringing up the baggage ; and, on the af- 

 ternoon of the next day, Feb. 20, 1844, we en- 

 camped, with the animals and all the materiel of the 

 camp, on the summit of the pass in the dividing 

 ridge, 1,000 miles by our traveled road from the 

 Dalles to the Columbia. The temperature of boiling 

 water gave for the elevation of the encampment 9,338 

 feet above the sea. 



This was 2,000 feet higher than the South Pass in 

 the Eocky mountains, and several peaks in view 

 rose several thousand feet still higher. Thus, at the 

 extremity of the continent, and near the coast, the 

 phenomenon was seen of a range of mountains still 

 higher than the great Rocky mountains themselves. 

 This extraordinary fact accounts for the Great Basin, 

 and shows that there must be a system of small lakes 

 and rivers here scattered over a flat country, and 

 which the extended and lofty range of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada prevents from escaping to the Pacific Ocean. 

 Latitude, 38 44' ; longitude, 120 28'. 



After resting among the American settlers on 

 this, then Mexican, territory, and purchasing the 

 necessities for the journey, Fremont set out 

 homeward by a southern pass over the Sierras, 

 which had been discovered by Joseph Walker, 

 who had at first formed one of Fremont's party, 

 but had separated from him in the hope of 

 finding this pass. The route Fremont was to 

 travel he thus describes : 



Our course lay along the valley of the San Joaquin, 

 the river on our right and the lofty wall of the im- 

 passable Sierra on the left. From that pass we were 

 to move southeastwardly, having the Sierra then on 

 the right, and reach the " Spanish trail," deviously 

 traced from one watering place to another, which 

 constituted the route of the caravans from Puebla de 

 los Angelos, near the coast of the Pacific, to Sante Fe, 

 New Mexico. From the pass to this trail was 150 

 miles. Following that trail through a desert, relieved 

 by some fertile plains indicated by the recurrence of 

 the term vegas, until it turned to the right to cross the 

 Colorado, our course would be northeast until we re- 

 gained the latitude we had lost in arriving at Eutah 

 lake, and thence to the Rocky mountains at the head 

 of the Arkansas. This course of traveling, forced 

 upon us by the structure of the country, would occupy 

 a computed distance of 2,000 miles before we reached 

 the head of the Arkansas not a settlement to be seen 

 upon it and the names of places along it, all being 

 Spanish or Indian, indicated that it had been but lit- 

 tle trod by American feet. Though long, and not free 

 from hardships, this route presented some points of 

 attraction in tracing the Sierra Nevada turning the 

 Great Basin, perhaps crossing its rim on the south ; 

 completely solving the problem of any river, except 

 the Colorado, from the Rocky mountains on that part 

 of our continent ; and setting the southern extremity 

 of the Great Salt lake, of which the northern part had 

 been examined the year before. 



This exploration, which proved of great benefit 

 to the country, occupied fourteen months. The 

 remainder of the year 1844 was spent in preparing 

 his reports. In January, 1845, at the instance 

 of Gen. Winfield Scott, Fremont was given the 



double brevet of first lieutenant and captain, 

 and in the spring of that year he made a third 

 tour of exploration in the Great Basin and on 

 the coasts of Oregon and California. After 

 spending the summer in the Great Basin, and 

 crossing the Sierra Nevada with a few men in 

 the dead of winter to obtain supplies, he left 

 most of his party in the San Joaquin valley while 

 he went to Monterey to obtain permission from 

 the Mexican Government to continue his ex- 

 ploration. War had broken out between the two 

 countries, but news of it had not reached Fre- 

 mont. His request was at first granted, as to a 

 small portion of the country, but this was im- 

 mediately revoked on the ground that, under pre- 

 tense of scientific exploration, he wished to arm 

 and arouse the American and foreign settlers 

 against Mexican authority, and he was ordered 

 to leave the country without delay. This the 

 exhausted condition of his men made it impossi- 

 ble for him to do, and Gen. Jose Castro was sent 

 with a force, to attack him. Fremont had 62 

 men, and took up a strong position on Hawk's 

 peak, a mountain 30 miles from Monterey, built 

 a fort of logs, hoisted the American flag, and 

 prepared to defend himself. The Mexican gen- 

 eral encamped on the plain below, and made 

 ready for a seige. On the evening of the fourth 

 day Fremont withdrew up the San Joaquin val- 

 ley, and the fires were found still burning when a 

 messenger arrived with proposals for a cessa- 

 tion of hostilities. Fremont made his way up 

 the Sacramento valley to Oregon, with the in- 

 tention of finding a new route to the Willa- 

 mette valley, when he was astonished by the sud- 

 den appearance of two horsemen in United States 

 uniform, who issued from a gorge in the mount- 

 ains. They proved to be part of a guard that 

 was conducting Lieut. Gillespie to Monterey 

 with letters for the American consul there, and 

 a dispatch for Fremont requesting him to look 

 after United States interests in the country, as 

 the Government had reason to fear that the 

 American settlers might be disturbed and the 

 country might be transferred to Great Britain. 



Fremont set out at once to return with the 

 party, and camped at night on the shore of 

 a lake. As his men had ridden 60 miles that 

 day, he let them sleep without setting a guard, 

 while he sat up to read his letters and dis- 

 patches. About midnight he heard a movement 

 among the horses, and went to discover the 

 cause. The May night was absolutely quiet, 

 and the dazzling brightness of a California moon- 

 light revealed no sign of a human being. He sat 

 down to read again, but, becoming overpowered 

 by fatigue, fell asleep, to be awakened by a yell 

 from Kit Carson. The camp was full of hostile 

 Indians. Two of the men were dead, and a 

 third dying, whose groans had awakened Car- 

 son. A fierce fight followed, during which sev- 

 eral more of the men, as well as many Indians, 

 were slain. 



On reaching the Sacramento valley, Fremont 

 found that Gen. Castro was already marching to 

 attack the settler's. He welcomed them to his 

 camp, and they came bringing arms, provisions, 

 and live stock. He immediately began active 

 operations, and on June 11 surprised a convoy 

 of Mexicans who were taking 200 horses to Gen. 

 Castro, and, with a dozen men, captured the 



