



Produced by Larry Mittell and PG Distributed Proofreaders









  FIFTEENTH THOUSAND.

  THE
  EXPLORING EXPEDITION
  TO THE
  ROCKY MOUNTAINS,
  OREGON AND CALIFORNIA,


  BY BREVET COL. J.C. FREMONT.


  TO WHICH IS ADDED A DESCRIPTION OF THE
  PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF CALIFORNIA.

  WITH RECENT NOTICES OF
  THE GOLD REGION
  FROM THE LATEST AND MOST AUTHENTIC SOURCES.

  1852


*       *       *       *       *


PREFACE.

No work has appeared from the American press within the past few years
better calculated to interest the community at large than Colonel J.C.
Fremont's Narrative of his Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains,
Oregon, and North California, undertaken by the orders of the United
States government.

Eminently qualified for the task assigned him, Colonel Fremont entered
upon his duties with alacrity, and has embodied in the following pages
the results of his observations. The country thus explored is daily
making deeper and more abiding impressions upon the minds of the
people, and information is eagerly sought in regard to its natural
resources, its climate, inhabitants, productions, and adaptation for
supplying the wants and providing the comforts for a dense population.
The day is not far distant when that territory, hitherto so little
known, will be intersected by railroads, its waters navigated, and its
fertile portions peopled by an active and intelligent population.

To all persons interested in the successful extension of our free
institutions over this now wilderness portion of our land, this work of
Fremont commends itself as a faithful and accurate statement of the
present state of affairs in that country.

Since the preparation of this report, Colonel Fremont has been engaged
in still farther explorations by order of the government, the results
of which will probably be presented to the country as soon as he shall
be relieved from his present arduous and responsible station. He is now
engaged in active military service in New Mexico, and has won
imperishable renown by his rapid and successful subjugation of that
country.

The map accompanying this edition is not the one prepared by the order
of government, but it is one that can be relied upon for its accuracy.

July, 1847.



*       *       *       *       *


ADVERTISEMENT TO THE NEW EDITION.

The dreams of the visionary have "come to pass!" the unseen El Dorado
of the "fathers" looms, in all its virgin freshness and beauty, before
the eyes of their children! The "set time" for the Golden age, the
advent of which has been looked for and longed for during many
centuries of iron wrongs and hardships, has fully come. In the sunny
clime of the south west--in Upper California--may be found the modern
Canaan, a land "flowing with milk and honey," its mountains studded and
its rivers lined and choked, with gold!

He who would know more of this rich and rare land before commencing his
pilgrimage to its golden bosom, will find, in the last part of this new
edition of a most deservedly popular work, a succinct yet comprehensive
account of its inexhaustible riches and its transcendent loveliness,
and a fund of much needed information in regard to the several routes
which lead to its inviting borders.

January 1849.




*       *       *       *       *


  A REPORT

  ON

  AN EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY
  LYING BETWEEN THE
  MISSOURI RIVER AND THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS,

  ON THE LINE OF THE
  KANSAS AND GREAT PLATTE RIVERS.



*       *       *       *       *


Washington, March 1, 1843.

To Colonel J.J. Abert, _Chief of the Corps of Top. Eng._

Sir: Agreeably to your orders to explore and report upon the country
between the frontiers of Missouri and the South Pass in the Rocky
Mountains, and on the line of the Kansas and Great Platte rivers, I set
out from Washington city on the 2d day of May, 1842, and arrived at St.
Louis by way of New York, the 22d of May, where the necessary
preparations were completed, and the expedition commenced. I proceeded
in a steamboat to Chouteau's landing, about four hundred miles by water
from St. Louis, and near the mouth of the Kansas river, whence we
proceeded twelve miles to Mr. Cyprian Chouteau's trading-house, where
we completed our final arrangements for the expedition.

Bad weather, which interfered with astronomical observations, delayed
us several days in the early part of June at this post, which is on the
right bank of the Kansas river, about ten miles above the mouth, and
six beyond the western boundary of Missouri. The sky cleared off at
length and we were enabled to determine our position, in longitude 90 deg.
25' 46", and latitude 39 deg. 5' 57". The elevation above the sea is about
700 feet. Our camp, in the mean time, presented an animated and
bustling scene. All were busily engaged in completing the necessary
arrangements for our campaign in the wilderness, and profiting by this
short stay on the verge of civilization, to provide ourselves with all
the little essentials to comfort in the nomadic life we were to lead
for the ensuing summer months. Gradually, however, every thing--the
_materiel_ of the camp--men, horses, and even mules--settled into its
place; and by the 10th we were ready to depart; but, before we mount
our horses, I will give a short description of the party with which I
performed the service.

I had collected in the neighborhood of St. Louis twenty-one men,
principally Creole and Canadian _voyageurs_, who had become familiar
with prairie life in the service of the fur companies in the Indian
country. Mr. Charles Preuss, native of Germany, was my assistant in the
topographical part of the survey; L. Maxwell, of Kaskaskia, had been
engaged as hunter, and Christopher Carson (more familiarly known, for
his exploits in the mountains, as Kit Carson) was our guide. The
persons engaged in St. Louis were:

Clement Lambert, J.B. L'Esperance, J.B. Lefevre, Benjamin Potra, Louis
Gouin, J.B. Dumes, Basil Lajeunesse, Francois Tessier, Benjamin
Cadotte, Joseph Clement, Daniel Simonds, Leonard Benoit, Michel Morly,
Baptiste Bernier, Honore Ayot, Francois La Tulipe, Francis Badeau,
Louis Menard, Joseph Ruelle, Moise Chardonnais, Auguste Janisse,
Raphael Proue.

In addition to these, Henry Brant, son of Col. J.B. Brant, of St.
Louis, a young man of nineteen years of age, and Randolph, a lively boy
of twelve, son of the Hon. Thomas H. Benton, accompanied me, for the
development of mind and body such an expedition would give. We were
well armed and mounted, with the exception of eight men, who conducted
as many carts, in which were packed our stores, with the baggage and
instruments, and which were drawn by two mules. A few loose horses, and
four oxen, which had been added to our stock of provisions, completed
the train. We set out on the morning of the 10th, which happened to be
Friday, a circumstance which our men did not fail to remember and
recall during the hardships and vexations of the ensuing journey. Mr.
Cyprian Chouteau, to whose kindness, during our stay at his house, we
were much indebted, accompanied us several miles on our way, until we
met an Indian, whom he had engaged to conduct us on the first thirty or
forty miles, where he was to consign us to the ocean of prairie, which,
we were told, stretched without interruption almost to the base of the
Rocky Mountains.

From the belt of wood which borders the Kansas, in which we had passed
several good-looking Indian farms, we suddenly emerged on the prairies,
which received us at the outset with some of their striking
characteristics; for here and there rode an Indian, and but a few miles
distant heavy clouds of smoke were rolling before the fire. In about
ten miles we reached the Santa Fe road, along which we continued for a
short time, and encamped early on a small stream--having traveled about
eleven miles. During our journey, it was the customary practice to
encamp an hour or two before sunset, when the carts were disposed so as
to form a sort of barricade around a circle some eighty yards in
diameter. The tents were pitched, and the horses hobbled and turned
loose to graze; and but a few minutes elapsed before the cooks of the
messes, of which there were four, were busily engaged in preparing the
evening meal. At nightfall, the horses, mules, and oxen were driven in
and picketed,--that is, secured by a halter, of which one end was tied
to a small steel-shod picket, and driven into the ground; the halter
being twenty or thirty feet long, which enabled them to obtain a little
food during the night. When we had reached a part of the country where
such a precaution became necessary, the carts being regularly arranged
for defending the camp, guard was mounted at eight o'clock, consisting
of three men, who were relieved every two hours--the morning-watch
being horse-guard for the day. At daybreak the camp was roused, the
animals turned loose