22 EXPLOKATIONS ACEOSS THE GREAT BASIN. OF UTAH. 



and the Rio San Joaquin. Fremont, on the contrary, traveled northwardly to Carson 

 River, where he crossed it at the same point as in his preceding exploration ; and 

 thence to Salmon Trout Creek, up which he traveled and crossed the Sierra Nevada, 

 m latitude 39° 17' 12" N., or 38.2 miles north of his pass of 1844. 



For a very interesting account of Mr. Kern's branch expedition above alluded to, 

 I refer to his journal, (Appendix Q,) now for the first time given to the public, and 

 which he has kindly submitted to me for this purpose ; and as it goes into the particu- 

 lars of his exploration of the country along the Humboldt River, Carson, Walker's, 

 and Owen's Lakes, the plat of which furnished the basis for Colonel Fremont's map 

 accompanying his memoir, but a detailed report of which the latter has never given, 

 I consider it a valuable addition to the knowledge of the Great Basin, and take this 

 opportunity nf thanking Mr. Kern for it. w 



^ r l he geographical memoir of Fremont, as already stated, does not enter into the 

 particulars of his exploration of 1845 and 1846, but only gives a general view of the 

 Great Basm. This view is graphic, and in the main, so far as my observations ex- 

 tended, just, and corrects some errors into which, from imperfect data, he had fallen 

 in his previous explorations. The idea which he had entertained of the Basin's being 

 made up of a system of .small fakes ami necrs, scattered over a fled country* was found to 

 be entire!}' untrue, and, on the contrary, that the mountain structure predominated. 9 

 The long stretch of mountain range, however, which on his map is represented as 

 being the continuation westwardly ot the AVahsatch range, and as separating the 

 waters of the Great Basin from those of the Colorado, is evidently hypothetical* 



(w) Mr. Kern, it 

 preceded Fremont tra 



SerlHS. L 



:<>t 





' Huuibui.!!. ..n a th.-u ../,/ ralijvnthi nniyranl wayon-road, which followed the 















tin- American Uiver. Tins is the route which Hastings and many others who 









4 -"" s -" -" ;,! " hU U fi''i«i-auts have since continued to take. Kern followed this 









Nvhr "' ! "' 1| ;" "• J -' ' rli ' s information from him personally, and besides, he 



" lit, Annals of San Fr< 









i,s ! " '-; iUi; "■ bis.j,.,inial. 1 Inno endeavored to find out who first tracked 



' 





l»y Appleton A ( .... 1 «.-,;,. ,,,>. -;,, N ; : 



California. In the following j 



•ear 



ocieties were formed in the American States to promote emigration to Oregon and 

 B, and particularly in 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1846, many thousand emigrants ionrn«v«] 



across the Rocky and 

 territory of Oregon." 



Snowy Mob 



utains. 



, enduring much suffering by the way, to settle in California and the adjacent 



I have thus beer 



i particul 



ar i 



n this 



matter for the reason that in Fremont's memoir it is not made clear that such 



piSrS 





iii>, 



•xplur 



ition and that hi. . xp. damn n.ilourd it. And I would here remark that itfc 









~ r oi ' '' !' ; " ::i - ' M" ilitions do not always report when they are following old 

 tone, a great deal of injustice which has 









rt^ortsma^ 









• explorations of Freniont would have been spared, and more liberal and just 



San Francisco, Noveml 







>m Ma, 



•rn has court, ■oush turn died me with tin following extract from a letter dated 



j. .1. 11. Snvder: 



" Dr. Townshent 

 in getting them over 



•y had as 



z. 



inr 8 Mo^Sh 8 eUoSir rremat ^^ *" 1844 ' ' "" "^ COnfidenfc that he succeeded 



un-.- to luing everything to the fort. ^ a e wi t e property, and I 



through the Sacramento Valley, 

 There was no trail or the sign 

 head of Mary's (Humboldt) Riv 



.-■hi 



t wage 



J through the Johnson's Pass to the headwaters of Bear River and so on 



£■ 



!:;:',: 



nterrupt.on. Tins was. probably, the first party that came directly through. 

 ere- we passed, from the Oregon road, over the Goose Creek Mountains, to the 



(x) Fremont's Report, p. £ 



!:;•>. 







(ft) On Fremont's map illustrating his explor; 

 prepared under his directions, it is represented that t 

 oj. his northern exploring line." I think the colonel i 



