Miscellaneous Intelligence. 449 
going out before the snows fall, and returning in mid-winter. A winter 
exploration, in making me acquainted with the depth and prevalence of 
the snows, and the extent of their impediments to winter traveling, 
would enable me to jae é ciepseyred of some points very material to 
the right decision of the question 
The field of apes! mii over an expanse of mountain wilder- 
ness extending the whole length of our domain from north to south. 
In view of the enduring and “unchangeable character of the work, no 
line can be considered approximately. sab oat cas until all possible in- 
formation should have been obtained, so that the best route, under eve- 
ry aspect for the country, may be adopt "To meet the actions of 
the next Congress, will give ample employment to all the labor that 
can be brought to it, and my examinations therefore must necessarily 
contribule to the mass of materials for the solution of the question. 
Whatever may be the results at which I arrive, they shall be fairly 
= baie to the public, as an element in aid of their decisions. 
nally, and above every other consideration, | have a natural desire 
to do something in the finishing up of a great work in which | had 
been so long engaged. I do it with the object and the hope of adding 
to the thvorable Seonadetatiste which (f may be permitted to say) have 
recognized the disposition I had already shown to serve the country. 
A deference to this favorable opinion, which I should regret by any act 
to impair, makes the ocaasion fur the: present letter. I felt that some 
explanation was due to the public for taking part as a private individual 
in this public concern, and was unwilling to leave the motives of the 
present journey exposed to misconstructions. I judged therefore that a 
clear statement of them would not be considered improper or un- 
called for.” 
Soon after Col. Fremont started on his journey, illness forced him to 
return to St. Louis for medica é Y 
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had become “ neuralgic sciatica.” He had been free from it for a year 
or more, but the great change of living seemed to develop it again. 
After a delay of just a month, he was “able to make a second start, 
leaving Westport the 2st of October. During his illness, his party, 
Which consists of some twenty-two men (half being Delaware Indians,) 
Waited for him about a hundred and fifty miles from the frontier. On re- 
joining them, Col. Fremont wrote that the animals were all in bad travel- 
trading post where corn could b ured in its place. From this 
Cause he anticipated aaah delay, as his ast letters prove was the case. 
His own health however was so entirely restored, that, with ve success 
uerreotypist, and some other causes of satisfaction, he writes 
xt steam 
Suppose his calculations may prove just, and that he will have reached 
San Francisco in February—about a month since. 
Extracts from letters from Bent’s New Fort, Nov. 24, 1853. 
* The expedition so far, has been successful —- to gratify all 
Our a both in its general results, and in its particular object. 
per ED ly sane Me pee gs AW eM 
