138 
The Colorado River 
the plains, and apparently never went west of the mouth of 
White River. 
Fremont went over to the California region, returning 
through Nevada by way of the Spanish Trail, past Las Vegas 
(see cut, page 137), and up the Virgen, which he called the most 
dreary river he had ever seen, till he reached the point where 
Escalante had turned east. From here he followed Escalante’s 
trail back to Utah Lake, passing through Mountain Meadows 
(1844), afterward the scene of the terrible massacre of emi¬ 
grants by a body of Mormons under John D. Lee.^ His route 
was full of interesting adventures, but it is not possible to give 
details here. Passing over the Wasatch by way of Spanish 
Fork, he again entered the valley of the Colorado on the head¬ 
waters of the Uinta, pausing briefly at Roubidoux’s Fort on 
Duchesne Fork. Soon after he left, the fort and its occupants 
were annihilated by the Utes, Crossing Ashley Fork he 
climbed on the trail high up the mountain, where he had “a 
view of the river below shut up amongst rugged mountains;” 
Whirlpool Canyon and the Canyon of Lodore. Descending 
then to Brown’s Hole, he crossed the river in a skin boat, and 
camped just above Vermilion Creek, opposite the remains of an 
”old fort,” which was doubtless Fort Davy Crockett. “Here 
the river enters between lofty precipices of red rock” (now the 
Gate of Lodore), “and the country below is said to assume a 
very rugged character; the river and its affluents passing 
through canons which forbid all access to the water.” After 
some journeying about, along the headwaters of Grand River, 
Fremont returned east, and later came out (1845) to cross the 
Green again about in the same latitude, on his way to Cali¬ 
fornia. 
By this time the relations between the United States and 
Mexico were at the point of rupture, and in 1846 Kearny’s 
forces moved on New Mexico and California, the Mormon 
Battalion marking out a waggon-road down the Gila. Fremont, 
being in California, took an active part (1846) in the capture of 
’ For an account of this unfortunate affair see The Rocky Mountain Saints, 
chapter xliii., by T. B. H. Stenhouse. I knew Lee, Personally he was an agree¬ 
able man, and to me he disclaimed responsibility in this matter. 
