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a two d-llabs per iinniun in advance f cr!*1 nts inserted it 1 per square for the first . ., i subsequent insertion court or 5 percent higher . f va per cent will he made to those b iir _ prom tin.1 national intelligencer npt.w fremoffs second exploring expedition i x :.' ded ... y ,„ in — thi morning as soon as there rjji enough to follow tracks i set out mv ji « iti mr fitzpatrick and several men in search of tabcan we went to the spot where irance of puddled blood had been seen : and tbis we saw a.t once had been the place v\,cre i fell i1 died blood upon the leaves m ii down hushes showed that he had . und about twenty paces from where 1,7 thai he had struggled for his life — probably been shot through the lungs arrow prom the place where he lay ■uld be seen that he had been drag i v river bank and thrown into it no jm of what had belonged to him could be l j except a fragment of his horse equipment _• ii clothes — all became the prey of rahs of lhe new world iym an had been one of our best men and ippy death spread a gloom over our par ly men who have gone through such dangers rings as we had ri'n become like . and feel each other's loss to defend nge each other is the deep feeling of all he wished to avenge his death but the condi ifon of our horses languishing for grass and re pose forba le an expedition into unknown moun lains we knew the tribe who had done the mischief — the same which had been insulting n camp they knew what they deserved ami had the discretion to show themselves to us no more the day before they infested our camp now nol one appeared ; nor did we ev er afterwards see but one who even belonged to ■ame tribe and he at a distance " on the 12th may the expedition reached -. vegas dr sniilii clara which bad been so long presented to us as lhe terminating point of the desert and where the annual caravan from california to new mexico halted and recruited for some week it was a very suitable place • i from the fatigue and exhaustion of a month's suffering in the hot and steril desert the meadow was about a mile wide and some ten miles long bordered by grassy hills aud mountains — some of the latter rising two thou sand feet and white with snow down to the le rel of thc tegas its elevation above the sea ivas 5,280 feet : latitude by observation 7 29 2 , and its distance from where we first struck thc spanish trail about 400 miles count ing from the time we reached the desert and hegan to skirt at our descent from walker's pass in the siena nevada we had travelled ill miles occupying twenty-seven davs in ihat inhospitable region iu passing before the great caravan we had the advantage of find ing more grass but the disadvantage of find ing also the marauding savages who had gath ered down upon the trail waiting lhe approach i'l ilmi prey this greatly increased our labors besides costing us the life of a valuable man 1 ■move all dav in a stale of w atch and prepared for combat — scouts and flankers nut a front and rear division of cur men and bajgage animals in the centre at night camp duty was severe those who had toiled all dar had to guard by turn the camp and the night frequently om third of the irfj were on guard at once : and noth ing hut this vigilance saved us from attack — we were constantly dogged by bands and even whole tribes of the marauders ; and although tabeau was killed and our camp infested and insulted by some while swarms of them re mained on the hills and mountain sides there was manifestly a consultation and calculation p>ing on to decide ihe question of attacking us having reached the resting place of the vegas de santa clara we had complete relief from lhe heal and privations of the desert and some relaxation fiom the severity of camp duty — some relaxation and relaxation onlv — for camp guards horse guards and scouts are indispen i the time of lea ing the frontiers of missouri until we return to ihem on the 1 ti li may after ! 1 miles of trav elling on a trail which served fora road we igain found ourselves under the necessity of ex ploring a track through the wilderness the spanish hail had borne off to the southeast ■; using the wah-satch ranee ( kir course led to the northeast along the foot ot that range nd lea ing ii on the right the mountain pre nted itself to us under ihc form of several dges rising one above the other rocky and • ith pine and cedar ; the lasl ridge cov i now sevier river flowing north to the lake of the ame name collects js principal waters from this section of the • h chain wo had now entered a re - " ol great pastoral promise abounding with ms the rich bunch grass soil that irodtice wheat and indigenuous flax growing as if il had been sown consistent ftth the general character of its bordering fountains this fertility of soil and vegetation psnol extend ihr int the croat basin mr oseph walk r our guide who joined us on the h-th.aml who has more knowledge of these m.n anv man 1 know informed me that all lile country to the left was unknown to him and i the digger tribes which frequented sevier could tell him nothing about it ' v : 20 — wc met a baud of utah indians ) a well known chud who had obtain f he american or english name of walker . tt'hich he is quoted and well known they ri nil mounted armed with riiles and use hfir rifles well the chief bad a fusee which '.'' bad rallied slung in addition to his rifle — .', '".- were journeying slowly tow aids the span sh trail to levy their usual tribute upon the j-rta california caravan they were rob r of a higher order than those ofthe desert dieted their depredations with form "* the color of trade and toll for passing w">ugh their country instead of attacking h killing they affect to pun base — taking the y they like and giving something nominal feturn j'he child was quit civil to me — personally acquainted with his name . e our guide who made my name known to 1i he knew of my expedition of 1 12 and tokens of friendship and proof that we had " i proposed an interchange of presents we no great tore to choose out of so he gave a mexican blanket and i gave him a very one which i had obtained at vancouver _*_ crossing on the 24th may a slight ridge jng the river we entered a handsome moun t n vauey covered with fine grass and directed , r course towards a high snowy peak at the v °' which lay the utah lake on our right tr j . f high mountains their summits cov j ecl with snow constituting the dividing ridge i the carolina watchman bruner & james i editors <$• proprietors \ " keep a ~~~ up0n all yurk ' j is safe ( new series rlleks ) number 25 of volume ii salisbury n c october 18 1845 between the basin waters and those of the col orado at noon we fell in with a party of in dians coming out of the mountain and in the af ternoon encamped on a tributary to the lake which is separated from the waters of the se vier by very slight dividing grounds '* early the next tl.-.y we came in sight of the lake ; and as we descended to the broad bot toms of the spanish fork three horsemen were seen galloping towards us who proved to be i tali indian — scouts from a village which was encamped near the mouth of the river thev wen armed with rilles and their horses were in good condition wc encamped near them on the spanish fork which is one ofthe princi pal tributaries to the hike finding the indi ans troublesome and desirous to remain here a day we removed the next morning further down the lake and encamped on a fertile bottom near the foot of the same mountainous ridge which borders the great salt lake and along which we had journeyed the previous september — here the principal plants in bloom were two which were remarkable as affording to the snake indians — the one an abundant supply of food and the other the most useful among the applications which they use for wounds these were the kooyah plant growing in fields of ex traordinary luxuriance and convallaria stellatta which from the experience of mr walker is the best remedial plant known among those in dians a few miles bi low us was another vil lage of indians from which we obtained some fish — among them a few salmon trout which were very much interior in size to those alongthe ( alifornian mountains the season tin taking them had not vet arrived : but the indians were daily expecting them to come out ofthe lake " we had now accomplished an object we had in view when leaving the dalles ofthe co lumbia in november last : we had reached the utah lake but by a route very different from what we had intended and without sufficient time remaining to make the examinations which were desired it is a lake of note in this coun try under the dominion of the i'talis who re port to it for fish its greatest breadth is about fifteen miles stretching far to the north narrow ing as it goes and connecting with the great salt lake this is the report and which i be lieve lo be correct ; but it is fresh water while the other is nol only salt but a saturated solu tion of alt ; and here is a problem which re ' quires to be solved it is almost entirely sur rounded by mountains walled on the north and east by a high and snowy range which supplies to it a fan of tributary streams •* in arriving at the utah lake we had com pleled an immense circuit of twelve degrees diameter north and south and ten degrees east and west ,* and found ourselves in mav 1844 on the same sheet of water which we had left iu september 1842 the utah is the south ern limb ofthe itrt'tin^irtairet^i^"thus we " had seen that remarkable sheet of water both at its nortiiern and southern extremity and were able to fix its position at these two points the circuit which we had made and wliich j had cost us eight months of time and 3,500 miles of travelling had given us a view of or egon and of north california from the rocky mountains to the pacific ocean and ofthe two principal streams which form bays or harbors on the coast of that sea having completed this circuit and being now about to turn the back upon the pacific slope of our continent and to rccross the roekey mountains it is natural to look back upon our footsteps and take some brief view ofthe leading features and general structure of the country we had traversed — these arc peculiar and striking and differ es sentially from the atlantic side of our country the mountains all are higher more numerous and more distinctly defined in their ranges and directions ; and what is so contrary to the na tural order of such formations one of these ranges which is near the coast the sierra nevada and the coast range presents high er elevations and peaks than any which are to be found in the rocky mountains themselves in our eight months circuit we were never out of sight of snow ; and the siena nevada where we crossed il was near j ()();) feet higher than the south pass iu the rocky mountains in height these mountains greatly exceeded those ofthe atlantic side constantly presenting peaks which enter the region ol menial snow ; and s une of them volcanic and in a frequent state of activity they are seen at great distances and guide the traveller in his courses the course and elevation of these ranges give direction to the rivers and character to the coast no great river does or can take its rise below the cascade and sierra nevada range : the distance to the sea is too short to ad nit of it the rivers ofthe san francisco bay which are the largest after the columbia are local to that bay and lateral to the coast having their sources about on a line with the dalles ofthe columbia atid running each in a valley of its own between coast range and the cascade and sierra nevada range i'he co lumbia is tho only river which traverses the whole breadth of the country breaking through all the ranges and entering the sea — draw ing its waters from a section of ten de grees of latitude in the rocky mountains which are collected into one stream by three main forks lewis's clark's and the ninth fork near the centre ofthe oregon vallev this great river thence proceeds bya single channel to the sea while its three forks lead each to a pass in the mountains which opens the way into the interior of the continent this fact in rela tion to the rivers ofthis region jjives an immense value to the columbia its mouth is the only inlet and outlet to and from the sea its three inks lead to the passes in the mountains ; it is therefore the only line of communication be tween the pacific and the interior of north a merica ; and all operations ot war or commerce of national or intercourse must be conducted upon it this gives it a value beyond estima tion and would involve irreparable injury if lost in this unity and concentration of its wa ters the pacific side of our continent differs entirely from the atlantic side where the wa ters of the alleghany mountains are dispersed into many rivers having their different entran ces into the sea and opening many lines ofcom munication with the interior " the pacific coast is equally different from that of the atlantic the coast of the allan tic is low and open indented with numerous bays sounds and river estuaries accessible every where and opening by many channels into the heart of the country the pacific coast on the contrary is high and compact with few bays and but one tbat opens into the heart of the country the immense coast is what the seamen call iron bound a little within it is skirted by two successive ranges of mountains standing as ramparts between the sea and the interior country and to get through which tliere is but one irate and that narrow and easily de fended this structure of ihe coast backed by these two ranges of mountains with its con centration and unity of waters gives to the coun try an iinniep.se military strength and will pro bably render the most impregnable country in the world " differing so much from the atlantic side of our continent in coast mountains and rivers the pacific side differs from it in another most nue and singular feature — that of the great in terior basin of which i have so often spoken and the whole form and character of which i was so anxious to ascertain its existence is vouched for by such ofthe american traders and hunters as have knowledge of that region the structure of the sierra nevada range of moun tains requires it to be there ; and my own ob servations confirm it mr joseph walker who is so well acquainted in those parts informed mo that from the great salt lake west there xvas a succession of lakes and rivers which have no outlet to the sea nor any connexion with the columbia or with the colorado of the gulf of california he described some of these | lakes as being large with numerous streams and even considerable rivers tailing into ihem i in fact all concur in the general report of these ' interior river and lakes ; and for want of under : standing the lorce and power of evaporation which so soon establishes an equilibrium be tween the loss and supply of waters the fable . of whirlpools and subterraneous outlets has gained belief as the only imaginable way of carrying oft tbe waters which have no visible dicsharge the structure ofthe country would require this formation of interior lakes ; for the waters which would collect between the rocky mountains and the sierra nevada not bein'o able to cross this formidable barrier nor to get totbe columbia or the colorada must natural ly collect in reservoirs each of which would have its little system of streams and rivers to supply it this would be the natural effect and what i saw went to confirm it the great salt lake is a formation ofthis kind and quite ' a large one ; and having many streams and one \ considerable river four or five hundred miles long fiillino into it this lake and river i saxv an dexamined myself and also saw the wah satch and bear river mountains wliich enclose ttntx^j-pf on the east and consti tute in that quarlm*7!i"*rt*.i;*-4j-_jhe great basin afterwards along the eastern base i>£uhej3ier ra nevada where we travelled forty-two ilavs^f saw the line of lakes and rivers which lie at the foot of that sierra and which sierra is the western rim of the basin iti going down lewis's fork and the main columbia i crossed only inferior streams coming in from the left such as could draw their water from a short dis tance only ; and i often saw the mountains at their heads white with snow ; which all ac counts said divided the waters ofthe desert from those of the columbia and which could be no other than thc range of mountains which form the rim of the basin on its northern side and in returning from california along the spanish trail as far as the head of the santa clara fork of the rio virgen i crossed only small streams making their way south to the colora do or lost in sand — as tlie mo-hah-ve ; while to the left lofty mountains their summits white with snoxx were often visible and wliich must have turned water to the north as xvell as to the south and thus constituted on this part the sou thern rim of the basin at the head of the santa clara fork and in the vergas de santa clara xve crossed the ridge which parted the two systems of waters we entered the ba sin at that point and have travelled in it ever since having its southeastern rim the wah satch mountain on the right and crossing the streams which flow doxvn into it the exist ence of the basin is therefore an established fact in my mind : its extent and contents are yet to be better ascertained it cannot be less than four or five hundred miles each way and must lie principally in the alta calitornia : the demarcation latitude of 12 probably cutting a segment from the north part of the rim of its interior but little is known it is called a desert and from what i saw of it sterility may be its prominent characteristic ; but where there is so much water tliere must be some oasis the great river and the great lake re ported may not be equal to the report but where there is so much snow there must be streams and where there is no outlet tliere must be lakes to hold the accumulated xvaters or sands to swallow them up in this eastern part of the basin containing sevier utah and the great salt lakes and the rivers and creeks filling into them xve know there is good soil and j_ood grass adapted to civilized settlements in the western part on salmon trout river and some other streams the same remark may be made the contents of this great basin are yet to be examined that it is peopled xve know ; but miserably and sparsely from ail that i heard and saw i should say that humanity here ap peared in its lowest form and in its most ele mentary state dispersed in single families without fire-arms ; eating seeds and insects dio-_-h_«t roots and hence their name — such is the^condition ot the greater part others are a degree higher and live in communities upon some lake or river that supplies fish and from which thev repulse the miserable digger — the rabbit is the largest animal known in this desert : its tlesh affords a little meat ; and their bag-like covering is made of its skins the wild sage is their only wood and here it is of extraordinary size — sometimes a foot in diame ter and six or eight feet high it serves for fu el for building material for shelter to the rah bits and for some sort of covering for the feet i and legs in cold weather such are the ac counts ofthe inhabitants and productions ofthe great basin ; and which though imperfect must have some foundation and excite our de sire to know the whole " the whole idea of such a desert and such a people is a novelty in our country and ex cites asiatic not american ideas interior ba sins with their own systems of lakes and rivers and often steril are common enough in asia people still in the elementary state of families living in deserts with no other occupation than the mere animal search for food may still be seen in tha ancient quarter of the globe but in america such things are new and strange unknown and unsuspected and discredited when related but i flatter myself that what is dis covered though not enough to satisfy curiosity is sufficient to excite it and that subsequent explorations will complete what has been com menced " this account of the great basin it will be remembered belongs to the alta california and has no application to oregon whose capa bilities may justify a separate remark refer ring to my journal for particular descriptions and for sectional boundaries between good and bad districts i can only say in general and comparative teims that in lhat branch of ag riculture which implies the cultivation of grains and staple crops it would be inferior to the at lantic states though many parts are superior for wheat ; while in the rearing of flocks and herds it would claim a high place its grazing capabilities are great ; and even in the indi genous grass now there an element of individ ual and national wealth may be found in fact the valuable grasses begin within one hundred and lifty miles of the missouri frontier and ex tend to the pacific ocean east of the rocky mountains it is the short curly grass on which the buffalo delight to feed whenca its name of buffalo and which is still good when dry and apparently dead west of those mountains it is a larger growth in clusters and hence call ed bunchgrass and which has a second or fall growth plains and mountains both exhibit them ; and i have seen good pasturage at an elevation often thousand feet in this sponta neous product the trading or travelling cara vans can lind subsistence for their animals ; and in military operations any number of cavalry may be moved and any number of cattle may be driven ; and thus men and horses be sup ported on long expeditions and even iu winter in the sheltered situations •" commercially the value of the oregon countrv must be great washed as it is by the north pacific ocean — fronting asia — producing many of the elements of commerce — mild and healthy in its climate — and becoming as it na turally will a thoroughfare for the kast india and china trade but little novelty of incident befell our travellers during their comparatively easy journeying homeward on thu 13th june they were about two degrees south of the i sovtrn ijass in the rocky mountains " our course home says capt f " would have been easlwardly ; but that would have ta ken us over ground already examined and therefore without the interest which would ex ; cite curiosity southwardly there were objects worthy to be explored to wit the approxima tion ofthe head-waters of three different rivers — the platte the arkansas and the grand ri ver fork of lhe rio colorado of the gulf of california ; the passes at the heads of ihese rivers ; and the three remarkable mountain coves called parks in which they took their rise one of these parks was of course on the western side of the dividing ridge ; and a visit to it would require us once more to cross the summit of the rocky mountains to the west and then to re cross to the east making in all with the transit xvc had just accomplish ed three crossings of that mountain in this sec tion of its course but no matter the coves the heads of lhe rivers the approximation of tlieir waters the practicability ot the mountain passes and the locality of the thiski parks were all objects of interest and although well known to hunters and trappers were unknown to science and to history we therefore chang ed our course and turned up the valley of thc platte instead of going down it " we crossed several small affluents and a gain made a fortified camp in a grove the country had noxv become very beautiful — rich in water grass and game ; and to these were added the charm of scenery and pleasant wea ther after an interesting visit to the " xew and old parks which are described as being fertile and well wooded and water ed valleys and a paradise to all grazing animals the party arrived on the 22d june at he summit cf thc dividing ridge to which capt f gives an estimated height of 11,200 feet " on the 23d we ivere met by a party of utah women who told us that on the other side of the ridge their village was fighting with the arapahoes as soon as they had given us this information they tilled the air with cries and lamentations which made us understand that some of their chiefs had been killed " extending along the river directly ahead of us xvas a low piney ridge leaving between it and the stream a small open bottom on which the i'tahs had very injudiciously placed their village according to the women numbered a bout 300 warriors advancing in the cover of the pines the arapahoes about daylight char ged into the village driving off a great number of their horses and killing four men : among them the principal chief of the village they drove the horses perhaps a mile beyond the vil a"-e to the end of a hollow where they had previously foiled at the edge ofthe pines here ihe utahs had instantly attacked them in turn and according to thc report of tbe women were rettin-t rather best of the day the women pressed us eagerly to join with their people and would immediately have provided us with the best horses at the village ; but it was not for us to interfere in such a conflict neither party were our friends nor under our protection ; and each was ready to prey upon us lhat could — but we could not help feeling an unusual ex citement at being within a few hundred yards of a lioht in which 500 men were closely en gaged and hearing the sharp cracks of their riiles we weie iu a bad position and suhject to be attacked in it either party wliich we might meet victorious or defeated was certain to fall upon us ; and gearing u immediately we kept close along the pines of the ridge hav ing it between us and the village and keeping the scouts on tli summit to give us notice of the approach of indians as wo pissed by the village which was immediately below us horse men were galloping to and fro and groups of people were gathered around those who were wounded and dead and who were being broughl in from lhe field vve continued to press on and crossing another fork which came in from the right after having made fifteen miles from the village fortified ourselves strongly in the pines a short distance from the river thc party arrived at brent's fort on the 1st july where they were received — " with a cordial welcome and a friendly hos pitality in the enjoyment of which we spent se veral agreeable davs we were now in the region where our mountaineers were accustom ed to live and all the dangers nnd difficulties of the road being considered past four of them in cluding carson and walker temained at the tort the expedition reached the little town of kansas on the hanks of the missouri river on the 31st july having made a jour ney of 3,702 miles from the dalles ofthe columbia and of 2,569 from capt sutter's settlement of new helvetia during our protracted absence of fourteen months in the course of which we had neces sarily been exposed to great varieties of weath er and of climate no one case of sickness had ever occurred among us " here ended onr land journey ; and the day following our arrival we found ourselves on i board a steamboat rapidly gliding down the broad missouri our travel-worn animals had not been sold and dispersed over the country to renewed labor but were placed at good pastur age on the frontier and arc now ready to do their part in the coming expedition thc narrative concludes with tho arri val at st louis on the igth of august where thc party was disbanded andreas fuentes also remained here hav ing readily found employment for thc winter and is one of the men engaged to accompany me the present year " pablo hernandez remains in the family of senator benton where be is well taker care of and conciliates good will by his docility intelli gence and amiability general almonte the mexican minister at washington to whom lie was of course made known kindly offered to . takechargc of him and to carry him back to me7i__ott^fi*-t*-4 to remain where he was until he got an education ioi*'*~t>*t._£;.1 ■■'£, shows equal ardor and aptitude " our chinook indian had his wish to see the whites fully gratified ho accompanied me to washington and after remaining several months at the columbia college was sent by the indian department to philadelphia where among other things be learned to read and write well and speak thc english with some fluency lie will accompany me in a few days to the frontier of missouri whence he will he sent with some one of the emigrant companies to the village at the dalles of the columbia we have thus endeavored to furnish our readers with such an analysis of capt fremont's two expeditions as may with the copious extracts which we have made from the narrative enable them not only to trace his adventurous course but also to estimate what he has accomplished and the great value of thc information which he has collected in a geographical a commercial and a scientific point of view we will not attempt a recapitula tion ; for where so much has been done and so well done it would be only to re peat in another form lhe substance of till which we have already said in geo graphical discovery captain fremoxt has done much : he has shown lhat the trans it across the rocky mountains particular ly at the soul hern pass is comparatively easy that the proportion of absolutely barren country is small : that from with in one hundred and fifty miles of the mis souri frontier to the longitude at fort la ramie 105 deg 40 min there is in gen eral great plenty of the short early grass called buffalo grass westward of lara mie for a considerable distance the region is sandy and apparently steril and thc place of the grass is usurped by the arte mesia : other localities where there is a deficiency of pasturage are found on both sides of the mountains these expedi tions however will furnish to trading car avans or to emigrating parties a knowl edge of thc most practicable routes where they may most generally find sustenance for their animals aud water and fuel for themselves thc road to oregon will be made comparatively easy ; and although the emigrant who contemplates taking up his line of march to that distant region ought to be apprized and guarded against the dangers the difficulties and the plica tions he will have to encounter yet he may be cheered bv the certainty that he will meet with no'thing but what foresight and prudence may in a great measure protect ' him from and courage firmness and per severance overcome he will be called upon to exercise all these qualities ; and the most dangerous error into which he can lull is to imagine the journey is an easy one and the toil and suffering which be will have to undergo trilling and un important the great salt lake the bear river valley and the rivers tho valleys and the mountains of upper california may be said to be now lirst brought to thc knowl edge of civilized man by ihese expeditions the correction of our former geographi cal errors with respect to the river rue nacentura xve owe to captain f ; the ex istence ofa great central plain or basin in california is established by him as is also the important fact that there is no river of any navigable size which has its outlet di rectly into lhe pacific,and communication with the western slope of our continent ex cept the columbia between fifty degrees of northern latitude and tht lull california in a military point of view these expedi tions point out where forts and posts may be most advantageously established with a view to the safe occupancy of the coun try and the protection of the inhabitants and the trader from indian out rage or from aggressions or interferences of any kind this xve believe xvas the professedly au thorized ohject ol captain fremont's ex peditious hut his ardent and active tem perament and his love of science and know ledge could nof res satisfied with a bare performance of prescribed duties — lie has submitted to his countrymen and the world in his unpretending and modest narrative a vast body of botanical geo logical and meteorological informal ion the soil and the mineral waters have been subjected to analysis more ihan four hundred and thirty astronomical observa tions are recorded the latitude nnd the longitude of important points accurately determined and the elevation of moun tains ascertained the survey of captain fremont from the eastward meets that of captain wilkes from the westward and so far as is requisite for all immediate pur poses the map of oregon is complete — the appendix to captain fremont's nar rative contains dr james hall's of new york report upon the nature of l lie geo logical formations occupying the portions of oregon and california traversed by captain fremont as deduced from his ob servations and the specimens of minerals and vegetable and animal organic remains which he collected professor torrey maki s the following statement with respect to the botanical collections of the expedition : '• when captain fremont set out on his se cond expedition he was well provided wiih pa per and other means fer making extensive bot anical collections ; and it xvas understood that on his return xve should conjointly prepare a full account of his plants lo be appended to his ■oiioj-i vbout fourteen hundred species xvere collected many of ihem in ' n ".'-* *_" 3 explored by any botanist lu consequence however of the great length of the journey and the numerous accidents to which the party were exposed hut especially owing to the dreadful hood of the kansas which deluged the borders of the missouri and mississippi rivers more than half of his specimens were ruined before he reached the borders of civilization even the portion saved xvere greatly damaged so that in many instances it has been extremely diffi cult to determine the plants as there was not sufficient time before the publication of captain fremont's report for the proper study ofthe re mains ofhis collection it has been deemed ad visable to reserve the greater part of them to in corporate with the plants which xve expect he xvili bring wiih him on returning from bi third expedition upon which he bas just set out thc loss sustained by captain fremont and i mav say by the botanical world will we trust be partly made up the present and next seasons as much of the same country xvill be passed over again and some new regions ex plored arrangements have also been made bv which the botanical collections will be pre served at least from lhe destructive effects of water and a person accompanies lhe expedi tion who is to make drawings of all the most in teresting plants particular attention xvill bo given to the forest trees and thc vegetable pro duetions that are useful in the arts or thai are employed for food or medicine professor torrey furnishes in the appen dix descriptions of about thirty new gene ra and species of plant collected by cap tain fremont the objects of captain fremont's third exploratory tour are we believe correctly detailed in the following paragraph which we extract i':o:n a late number of thc western missouri expositor the expedition to the rocky mountains under command nf captain f c fremont of the u s armv being the third exploring tour of that officer ft westport on the 26th june captain fremont is assisted by two junior iti cers of iho topographical corps and employs eighty mmi thc d sign of this expedition is uncomplete the surveys fthe plain atid mooa tains intervening between lhe western bounda ry of lie pacific heretofore partially arc,mi nlished by the exploring squadron and the two former expeditions of captain fremont a far as xve can x-\v\i this party will proceed to survey the arkansas river to it source sfler completing which the patty xvill be divided — one division will then return by xvay of the bead of the rio del norte through thecountrj of tbe camancbe indians on thc sources of the red river and by lhe low xvaters of the arkansas the main division under captain fremont will cross the colorado complete the surrey ol the great salt lake and penetrate by £•«*»•" of mary's river which flows westward through upper california in the vicinity ot the 4*2.1 de gree parallel of latitude and is lost in a lake at
Object Description
Title | Carolina Watchman |
Masthead | The Carolina Watchman |
Date | 1845-10-18 |
Month | 10 |
Day | 18 |
Year | 1845 |
Volume | 2 |
Issue | 25 |
Technical Metadata | Image was scanned by OCLC at the Preservation Service Center in Bethlehem, PA. Archivial image is an 8-bit greyscale tiff that was scanned from microfilm at 400 dpi. The original file size was |
Creator | Bruner and James "Editors and Proprietors" |
Date Digital | 2008-10-30 |
Publisher | Bruner and James |
Place | United States, North Carolina, Rowan County, Salisbury |
Type | Text |
Source | Microfilm |
Digital Format | JP2 |
Project Subject | State Archives of North Carolina Historic Newspaper Archive |
Description | The October 18, 1845 issue of the Carolina Watchman a weekly and semi weekly newspaper from Salisbury, North Carolina |
Rights | Public |
Language | eng |
OCLC number | 601553760 |
Description
Title | Carolina Watchman |
Masthead | The Carolina Watchman |
Date | 1845-10-18 |
Month | 10 |
Day | 18 |
Year | 1845 |
Volume | 2 |
Issue | 25 |
Sequence | 1 |
Page | 1 |
Technical Metadata | Image was scanned by OCLC at the Preservation Service Center in Bethlehem, PA. Archivial image is an 8-bit greyscale tiff that was scanned from microfilm at 400 dpi. The original file size was 4755146 Bytes |
FileName | sacw03_025_18451018-img00001.jp2 |
Creator | Bruner and James "Editors and Proprietors" |
Date Digital | 2008-10-30 |
Publisher | Bruner and James |
Place | United States, North Carolina, Rowan County, Salisbury |
Type | Text |
Source | Microfilm |
Digital Format | JP2 |
Project Subject | State Archives of North Carolina Historic Newspaper Archive |
Description | The October 18, 1845 issue of the Carolina Watchman a weekly and semi weekly newspaper from Salisbury, North Carolina |
Rights | Public |
Language | eng |
FullText | a two d-llabs per iinniun in advance f cr!*1 nts inserted it 1 per square for the first . ., i subsequent insertion court or 5 percent higher . f va per cent will he made to those b iir _ prom tin.1 national intelligencer npt.w fremoffs second exploring expedition i x :.' ded ... y ,„ in — thi morning as soon as there rjji enough to follow tracks i set out mv ji « iti mr fitzpatrick and several men in search of tabcan we went to the spot where irance of puddled blood had been seen : and tbis we saw a.t once had been the place v\,cre i fell i1 died blood upon the leaves m ii down hushes showed that he had . und about twenty paces from where 1,7 thai he had struggled for his life — probably been shot through the lungs arrow prom the place where he lay ■uld be seen that he had been drag i v river bank and thrown into it no jm of what had belonged to him could be l j except a fragment of his horse equipment _• ii clothes — all became the prey of rahs of lhe new world iym an had been one of our best men and ippy death spread a gloom over our par ly men who have gone through such dangers rings as we had ri'n become like . and feel each other's loss to defend nge each other is the deep feeling of all he wished to avenge his death but the condi ifon of our horses languishing for grass and re pose forba le an expedition into unknown moun lains we knew the tribe who had done the mischief — the same which had been insulting n camp they knew what they deserved ami had the discretion to show themselves to us no more the day before they infested our camp now nol one appeared ; nor did we ev er afterwards see but one who even belonged to ■ame tribe and he at a distance " on the 12th may the expedition reached -. vegas dr sniilii clara which bad been so long presented to us as lhe terminating point of the desert and where the annual caravan from california to new mexico halted and recruited for some week it was a very suitable place • i from the fatigue and exhaustion of a month's suffering in the hot and steril desert the meadow was about a mile wide and some ten miles long bordered by grassy hills aud mountains — some of the latter rising two thou sand feet and white with snow down to the le rel of thc tegas its elevation above the sea ivas 5,280 feet : latitude by observation 7 29 2 , and its distance from where we first struck thc spanish trail about 400 miles count ing from the time we reached the desert and hegan to skirt at our descent from walker's pass in the siena nevada we had travelled ill miles occupying twenty-seven davs in ihat inhospitable region iu passing before the great caravan we had the advantage of find ing more grass but the disadvantage of find ing also the marauding savages who had gath ered down upon the trail waiting lhe approach i'l ilmi prey this greatly increased our labors besides costing us the life of a valuable man 1 ■move all dav in a stale of w atch and prepared for combat — scouts and flankers nut a front and rear division of cur men and bajgage animals in the centre at night camp duty was severe those who had toiled all dar had to guard by turn the camp and the night frequently om third of the irfj were on guard at once : and noth ing hut this vigilance saved us from attack — we were constantly dogged by bands and even whole tribes of the marauders ; and although tabeau was killed and our camp infested and insulted by some while swarms of them re mained on the hills and mountain sides there was manifestly a consultation and calculation p>ing on to decide ihe question of attacking us having reached the resting place of the vegas de santa clara we had complete relief from lhe heal and privations of the desert and some relaxation fiom the severity of camp duty — some relaxation and relaxation onlv — for camp guards horse guards and scouts are indispen i the time of lea ing the frontiers of missouri until we return to ihem on the 1 ti li may after ! 1 miles of trav elling on a trail which served fora road we igain found ourselves under the necessity of ex ploring a track through the wilderness the spanish hail had borne off to the southeast ■; using the wah-satch ranee ( kir course led to the northeast along the foot ot that range nd lea ing ii on the right the mountain pre nted itself to us under ihc form of several dges rising one above the other rocky and • ith pine and cedar ; the lasl ridge cov i now sevier river flowing north to the lake of the ame name collects js principal waters from this section of the • h chain wo had now entered a re - " ol great pastoral promise abounding with ms the rich bunch grass soil that irodtice wheat and indigenuous flax growing as if il had been sown consistent ftth the general character of its bordering fountains this fertility of soil and vegetation psnol extend ihr int the croat basin mr oseph walk r our guide who joined us on the h-th.aml who has more knowledge of these m.n anv man 1 know informed me that all lile country to the left was unknown to him and i the digger tribes which frequented sevier could tell him nothing about it ' v : 20 — wc met a baud of utah indians ) a well known chud who had obtain f he american or english name of walker . tt'hich he is quoted and well known they ri nil mounted armed with riiles and use hfir rifles well the chief bad a fusee which '.'' bad rallied slung in addition to his rifle — .', '".- were journeying slowly tow aids the span sh trail to levy their usual tribute upon the j-rta california caravan they were rob r of a higher order than those ofthe desert dieted their depredations with form "* the color of trade and toll for passing w">ugh their country instead of attacking h killing they affect to pun base — taking the y they like and giving something nominal feturn j'he child was quit civil to me — personally acquainted with his name . e our guide who made my name known to 1i he knew of my expedition of 1 12 and tokens of friendship and proof that we had " i proposed an interchange of presents we no great tore to choose out of so he gave a mexican blanket and i gave him a very one which i had obtained at vancouver _*_ crossing on the 24th may a slight ridge jng the river we entered a handsome moun t n vauey covered with fine grass and directed , r course towards a high snowy peak at the v °' which lay the utah lake on our right tr j . f high mountains their summits cov j ecl with snow constituting the dividing ridge i the carolina watchman bruner & james i editors <$• proprietors \ " keep a ~~~ up0n all yurk ' j is safe ( new series rlleks ) number 25 of volume ii salisbury n c october 18 1845 between the basin waters and those of the col orado at noon we fell in with a party of in dians coming out of the mountain and in the af ternoon encamped on a tributary to the lake which is separated from the waters of the se vier by very slight dividing grounds '* early the next tl.-.y we came in sight of the lake ; and as we descended to the broad bot toms of the spanish fork three horsemen were seen galloping towards us who proved to be i tali indian — scouts from a village which was encamped near the mouth of the river thev wen armed with rilles and their horses were in good condition wc encamped near them on the spanish fork which is one ofthe princi pal tributaries to the hike finding the indi ans troublesome and desirous to remain here a day we removed the next morning further down the lake and encamped on a fertile bottom near the foot of the same mountainous ridge which borders the great salt lake and along which we had journeyed the previous september — here the principal plants in bloom were two which were remarkable as affording to the snake indians — the one an abundant supply of food and the other the most useful among the applications which they use for wounds these were the kooyah plant growing in fields of ex traordinary luxuriance and convallaria stellatta which from the experience of mr walker is the best remedial plant known among those in dians a few miles bi low us was another vil lage of indians from which we obtained some fish — among them a few salmon trout which were very much interior in size to those alongthe ( alifornian mountains the season tin taking them had not vet arrived : but the indians were daily expecting them to come out ofthe lake " we had now accomplished an object we had in view when leaving the dalles ofthe co lumbia in november last : we had reached the utah lake but by a route very different from what we had intended and without sufficient time remaining to make the examinations which were desired it is a lake of note in this coun try under the dominion of the i'talis who re port to it for fish its greatest breadth is about fifteen miles stretching far to the north narrow ing as it goes and connecting with the great salt lake this is the report and which i be lieve lo be correct ; but it is fresh water while the other is nol only salt but a saturated solu tion of alt ; and here is a problem which re ' quires to be solved it is almost entirely sur rounded by mountains walled on the north and east by a high and snowy range which supplies to it a fan of tributary streams •* in arriving at the utah lake we had com pleled an immense circuit of twelve degrees diameter north and south and ten degrees east and west ,* and found ourselves in mav 1844 on the same sheet of water which we had left iu september 1842 the utah is the south ern limb ofthe itrt'tin^irtairet^i^"thus we " had seen that remarkable sheet of water both at its nortiiern and southern extremity and were able to fix its position at these two points the circuit which we had made and wliich j had cost us eight months of time and 3,500 miles of travelling had given us a view of or egon and of north california from the rocky mountains to the pacific ocean and ofthe two principal streams which form bays or harbors on the coast of that sea having completed this circuit and being now about to turn the back upon the pacific slope of our continent and to rccross the roekey mountains it is natural to look back upon our footsteps and take some brief view ofthe leading features and general structure of the country we had traversed — these arc peculiar and striking and differ es sentially from the atlantic side of our country the mountains all are higher more numerous and more distinctly defined in their ranges and directions ; and what is so contrary to the na tural order of such formations one of these ranges which is near the coast the sierra nevada and the coast range presents high er elevations and peaks than any which are to be found in the rocky mountains themselves in our eight months circuit we were never out of sight of snow ; and the siena nevada where we crossed il was near j ()();) feet higher than the south pass iu the rocky mountains in height these mountains greatly exceeded those ofthe atlantic side constantly presenting peaks which enter the region ol menial snow ; and s une of them volcanic and in a frequent state of activity they are seen at great distances and guide the traveller in his courses the course and elevation of these ranges give direction to the rivers and character to the coast no great river does or can take its rise below the cascade and sierra nevada range : the distance to the sea is too short to ad nit of it the rivers ofthe san francisco bay which are the largest after the columbia are local to that bay and lateral to the coast having their sources about on a line with the dalles ofthe columbia atid running each in a valley of its own between coast range and the cascade and sierra nevada range i'he co lumbia is tho only river which traverses the whole breadth of the country breaking through all the ranges and entering the sea — draw ing its waters from a section of ten de grees of latitude in the rocky mountains which are collected into one stream by three main forks lewis's clark's and the ninth fork near the centre ofthe oregon vallev this great river thence proceeds bya single channel to the sea while its three forks lead each to a pass in the mountains which opens the way into the interior of the continent this fact in rela tion to the rivers ofthis region jjives an immense value to the columbia its mouth is the only inlet and outlet to and from the sea its three inks lead to the passes in the mountains ; it is therefore the only line of communication be tween the pacific and the interior of north a merica ; and all operations ot war or commerce of national or intercourse must be conducted upon it this gives it a value beyond estima tion and would involve irreparable injury if lost in this unity and concentration of its wa ters the pacific side of our continent differs entirely from the atlantic side where the wa ters of the alleghany mountains are dispersed into many rivers having their different entran ces into the sea and opening many lines ofcom munication with the interior " the pacific coast is equally different from that of the atlantic the coast of the allan tic is low and open indented with numerous bays sounds and river estuaries accessible every where and opening by many channels into the heart of the country the pacific coast on the contrary is high and compact with few bays and but one tbat opens into the heart of the country the immense coast is what the seamen call iron bound a little within it is skirted by two successive ranges of mountains standing as ramparts between the sea and the interior country and to get through which tliere is but one irate and that narrow and easily de fended this structure of ihe coast backed by these two ranges of mountains with its con centration and unity of waters gives to the coun try an iinniep.se military strength and will pro bably render the most impregnable country in the world " differing so much from the atlantic side of our continent in coast mountains and rivers the pacific side differs from it in another most nue and singular feature — that of the great in terior basin of which i have so often spoken and the whole form and character of which i was so anxious to ascertain its existence is vouched for by such ofthe american traders and hunters as have knowledge of that region the structure of the sierra nevada range of moun tains requires it to be there ; and my own ob servations confirm it mr joseph walker who is so well acquainted in those parts informed mo that from the great salt lake west there xvas a succession of lakes and rivers which have no outlet to the sea nor any connexion with the columbia or with the colorado of the gulf of california he described some of these | lakes as being large with numerous streams and even considerable rivers tailing into ihem i in fact all concur in the general report of these ' interior river and lakes ; and for want of under : standing the lorce and power of evaporation which so soon establishes an equilibrium be tween the loss and supply of waters the fable . of whirlpools and subterraneous outlets has gained belief as the only imaginable way of carrying oft tbe waters which have no visible dicsharge the structure ofthe country would require this formation of interior lakes ; for the waters which would collect between the rocky mountains and the sierra nevada not bein'o able to cross this formidable barrier nor to get totbe columbia or the colorada must natural ly collect in reservoirs each of which would have its little system of streams and rivers to supply it this would be the natural effect and what i saw went to confirm it the great salt lake is a formation ofthis kind and quite ' a large one ; and having many streams and one \ considerable river four or five hundred miles long fiillino into it this lake and river i saxv an dexamined myself and also saw the wah satch and bear river mountains wliich enclose ttntx^j-pf on the east and consti tute in that quarlm*7!i"*rt*.i;*-4j-_jhe great basin afterwards along the eastern base i>£uhej3ier ra nevada where we travelled forty-two ilavs^f saw the line of lakes and rivers which lie at the foot of that sierra and which sierra is the western rim of the basin iti going down lewis's fork and the main columbia i crossed only inferior streams coming in from the left such as could draw their water from a short dis tance only ; and i often saw the mountains at their heads white with snow ; which all ac counts said divided the waters ofthe desert from those of the columbia and which could be no other than thc range of mountains which form the rim of the basin on its northern side and in returning from california along the spanish trail as far as the head of the santa clara fork of the rio virgen i crossed only small streams making their way south to the colora do or lost in sand — as tlie mo-hah-ve ; while to the left lofty mountains their summits white with snoxx were often visible and wliich must have turned water to the north as xvell as to the south and thus constituted on this part the sou thern rim of the basin at the head of the santa clara fork and in the vergas de santa clara xve crossed the ridge which parted the two systems of waters we entered the ba sin at that point and have travelled in it ever since having its southeastern rim the wah satch mountain on the right and crossing the streams which flow doxvn into it the exist ence of the basin is therefore an established fact in my mind : its extent and contents are yet to be better ascertained it cannot be less than four or five hundred miles each way and must lie principally in the alta calitornia : the demarcation latitude of 12 probably cutting a segment from the north part of the rim of its interior but little is known it is called a desert and from what i saw of it sterility may be its prominent characteristic ; but where there is so much water tliere must be some oasis the great river and the great lake re ported may not be equal to the report but where there is so much snow there must be streams and where there is no outlet tliere must be lakes to hold the accumulated xvaters or sands to swallow them up in this eastern part of the basin containing sevier utah and the great salt lakes and the rivers and creeks filling into them xve know there is good soil and j_ood grass adapted to civilized settlements in the western part on salmon trout river and some other streams the same remark may be made the contents of this great basin are yet to be examined that it is peopled xve know ; but miserably and sparsely from ail that i heard and saw i should say that humanity here ap peared in its lowest form and in its most ele mentary state dispersed in single families without fire-arms ; eating seeds and insects dio-_-h_«t roots and hence their name — such is the^condition ot the greater part others are a degree higher and live in communities upon some lake or river that supplies fish and from which thev repulse the miserable digger — the rabbit is the largest animal known in this desert : its tlesh affords a little meat ; and their bag-like covering is made of its skins the wild sage is their only wood and here it is of extraordinary size — sometimes a foot in diame ter and six or eight feet high it serves for fu el for building material for shelter to the rah bits and for some sort of covering for the feet i and legs in cold weather such are the ac counts ofthe inhabitants and productions ofthe great basin ; and which though imperfect must have some foundation and excite our de sire to know the whole " the whole idea of such a desert and such a people is a novelty in our country and ex cites asiatic not american ideas interior ba sins with their own systems of lakes and rivers and often steril are common enough in asia people still in the elementary state of families living in deserts with no other occupation than the mere animal search for food may still be seen in tha ancient quarter of the globe but in america such things are new and strange unknown and unsuspected and discredited when related but i flatter myself that what is dis covered though not enough to satisfy curiosity is sufficient to excite it and that subsequent explorations will complete what has been com menced " this account of the great basin it will be remembered belongs to the alta california and has no application to oregon whose capa bilities may justify a separate remark refer ring to my journal for particular descriptions and for sectional boundaries between good and bad districts i can only say in general and comparative teims that in lhat branch of ag riculture which implies the cultivation of grains and staple crops it would be inferior to the at lantic states though many parts are superior for wheat ; while in the rearing of flocks and herds it would claim a high place its grazing capabilities are great ; and even in the indi genous grass now there an element of individ ual and national wealth may be found in fact the valuable grasses begin within one hundred and lifty miles of the missouri frontier and ex tend to the pacific ocean east of the rocky mountains it is the short curly grass on which the buffalo delight to feed whenca its name of buffalo and which is still good when dry and apparently dead west of those mountains it is a larger growth in clusters and hence call ed bunchgrass and which has a second or fall growth plains and mountains both exhibit them ; and i have seen good pasturage at an elevation often thousand feet in this sponta neous product the trading or travelling cara vans can lind subsistence for their animals ; and in military operations any number of cavalry may be moved and any number of cattle may be driven ; and thus men and horses be sup ported on long expeditions and even iu winter in the sheltered situations •" commercially the value of the oregon countrv must be great washed as it is by the north pacific ocean — fronting asia — producing many of the elements of commerce — mild and healthy in its climate — and becoming as it na turally will a thoroughfare for the kast india and china trade but little novelty of incident befell our travellers during their comparatively easy journeying homeward on thu 13th june they were about two degrees south of the i sovtrn ijass in the rocky mountains " our course home says capt f " would have been easlwardly ; but that would have ta ken us over ground already examined and therefore without the interest which would ex ; cite curiosity southwardly there were objects worthy to be explored to wit the approxima tion ofthe head-waters of three different rivers — the platte the arkansas and the grand ri ver fork of lhe rio colorado of the gulf of california ; the passes at the heads of ihese rivers ; and the three remarkable mountain coves called parks in which they took their rise one of these parks was of course on the western side of the dividing ridge ; and a visit to it would require us once more to cross the summit of the rocky mountains to the west and then to re cross to the east making in all with the transit xvc had just accomplish ed three crossings of that mountain in this sec tion of its course but no matter the coves the heads of lhe rivers the approximation of tlieir waters the practicability ot the mountain passes and the locality of the thiski parks were all objects of interest and although well known to hunters and trappers were unknown to science and to history we therefore chang ed our course and turned up the valley of thc platte instead of going down it " we crossed several small affluents and a gain made a fortified camp in a grove the country had noxv become very beautiful — rich in water grass and game ; and to these were added the charm of scenery and pleasant wea ther after an interesting visit to the " xew and old parks which are described as being fertile and well wooded and water ed valleys and a paradise to all grazing animals the party arrived on the 22d june at he summit cf thc dividing ridge to which capt f gives an estimated height of 11,200 feet " on the 23d we ivere met by a party of utah women who told us that on the other side of the ridge their village was fighting with the arapahoes as soon as they had given us this information they tilled the air with cries and lamentations which made us understand that some of their chiefs had been killed " extending along the river directly ahead of us xvas a low piney ridge leaving between it and the stream a small open bottom on which the i'tahs had very injudiciously placed their village according to the women numbered a bout 300 warriors advancing in the cover of the pines the arapahoes about daylight char ged into the village driving off a great number of their horses and killing four men : among them the principal chief of the village they drove the horses perhaps a mile beyond the vil a"-e to the end of a hollow where they had previously foiled at the edge ofthe pines here ihe utahs had instantly attacked them in turn and according to thc report of tbe women were rettin-t rather best of the day the women pressed us eagerly to join with their people and would immediately have provided us with the best horses at the village ; but it was not for us to interfere in such a conflict neither party were our friends nor under our protection ; and each was ready to prey upon us lhat could — but we could not help feeling an unusual ex citement at being within a few hundred yards of a lioht in which 500 men were closely en gaged and hearing the sharp cracks of their riiles we weie iu a bad position and suhject to be attacked in it either party wliich we might meet victorious or defeated was certain to fall upon us ; and gearing u immediately we kept close along the pines of the ridge hav ing it between us and the village and keeping the scouts on tli summit to give us notice of the approach of indians as wo pissed by the village which was immediately below us horse men were galloping to and fro and groups of people were gathered around those who were wounded and dead and who were being broughl in from lhe field vve continued to press on and crossing another fork which came in from the right after having made fifteen miles from the village fortified ourselves strongly in the pines a short distance from the river thc party arrived at brent's fort on the 1st july where they were received — " with a cordial welcome and a friendly hos pitality in the enjoyment of which we spent se veral agreeable davs we were now in the region where our mountaineers were accustom ed to live and all the dangers nnd difficulties of the road being considered past four of them in cluding carson and walker temained at the tort the expedition reached the little town of kansas on the hanks of the missouri river on the 31st july having made a jour ney of 3,702 miles from the dalles ofthe columbia and of 2,569 from capt sutter's settlement of new helvetia during our protracted absence of fourteen months in the course of which we had neces sarily been exposed to great varieties of weath er and of climate no one case of sickness had ever occurred among us " here ended onr land journey ; and the day following our arrival we found ourselves on i board a steamboat rapidly gliding down the broad missouri our travel-worn animals had not been sold and dispersed over the country to renewed labor but were placed at good pastur age on the frontier and arc now ready to do their part in the coming expedition thc narrative concludes with tho arri val at st louis on the igth of august where thc party was disbanded andreas fuentes also remained here hav ing readily found employment for thc winter and is one of the men engaged to accompany me the present year " pablo hernandez remains in the family of senator benton where be is well taker care of and conciliates good will by his docility intelli gence and amiability general almonte the mexican minister at washington to whom lie was of course made known kindly offered to . takechargc of him and to carry him back to me7i__ott^fi*-t*-4 to remain where he was until he got an education ioi*'*~t>*t._£;.1 ■■'£, shows equal ardor and aptitude " our chinook indian had his wish to see the whites fully gratified ho accompanied me to washington and after remaining several months at the columbia college was sent by the indian department to philadelphia where among other things be learned to read and write well and speak thc english with some fluency lie will accompany me in a few days to the frontier of missouri whence he will he sent with some one of the emigrant companies to the village at the dalles of the columbia we have thus endeavored to furnish our readers with such an analysis of capt fremont's two expeditions as may with the copious extracts which we have made from the narrative enable them not only to trace his adventurous course but also to estimate what he has accomplished and the great value of thc information which he has collected in a geographical a commercial and a scientific point of view we will not attempt a recapitula tion ; for where so much has been done and so well done it would be only to re peat in another form lhe substance of till which we have already said in geo graphical discovery captain fremoxt has done much : he has shown lhat the trans it across the rocky mountains particular ly at the soul hern pass is comparatively easy that the proportion of absolutely barren country is small : that from with in one hundred and fifty miles of the mis souri frontier to the longitude at fort la ramie 105 deg 40 min there is in gen eral great plenty of the short early grass called buffalo grass westward of lara mie for a considerable distance the region is sandy and apparently steril and thc place of the grass is usurped by the arte mesia : other localities where there is a deficiency of pasturage are found on both sides of the mountains these expedi tions however will furnish to trading car avans or to emigrating parties a knowl edge of thc most practicable routes where they may most generally find sustenance for their animals aud water and fuel for themselves thc road to oregon will be made comparatively easy ; and although the emigrant who contemplates taking up his line of march to that distant region ought to be apprized and guarded against the dangers the difficulties and the plica tions he will have to encounter yet he may be cheered bv the certainty that he will meet with no'thing but what foresight and prudence may in a great measure protect ' him from and courage firmness and per severance overcome he will be called upon to exercise all these qualities ; and the most dangerous error into which he can lull is to imagine the journey is an easy one and the toil and suffering which be will have to undergo trilling and un important the great salt lake the bear river valley and the rivers tho valleys and the mountains of upper california may be said to be now lirst brought to thc knowl edge of civilized man by ihese expeditions the correction of our former geographi cal errors with respect to the river rue nacentura xve owe to captain f ; the ex istence ofa great central plain or basin in california is established by him as is also the important fact that there is no river of any navigable size which has its outlet di rectly into lhe pacific,and communication with the western slope of our continent ex cept the columbia between fifty degrees of northern latitude and tht lull california in a military point of view these expedi tions point out where forts and posts may be most advantageously established with a view to the safe occupancy of the coun try and the protection of the inhabitants and the trader from indian out rage or from aggressions or interferences of any kind this xve believe xvas the professedly au thorized ohject ol captain fremont's ex peditious hut his ardent and active tem perament and his love of science and know ledge could nof res satisfied with a bare performance of prescribed duties — lie has submitted to his countrymen and the world in his unpretending and modest narrative a vast body of botanical geo logical and meteorological informal ion the soil and the mineral waters have been subjected to analysis more ihan four hundred and thirty astronomical observa tions are recorded the latitude nnd the longitude of important points accurately determined and the elevation of moun tains ascertained the survey of captain fremont from the eastward meets that of captain wilkes from the westward and so far as is requisite for all immediate pur poses the map of oregon is complete — the appendix to captain fremont's nar rative contains dr james hall's of new york report upon the nature of l lie geo logical formations occupying the portions of oregon and california traversed by captain fremont as deduced from his ob servations and the specimens of minerals and vegetable and animal organic remains which he collected professor torrey maki s the following statement with respect to the botanical collections of the expedition : '• when captain fremont set out on his se cond expedition he was well provided wiih pa per and other means fer making extensive bot anical collections ; and it xvas understood that on his return xve should conjointly prepare a full account of his plants lo be appended to his ■oiioj-i vbout fourteen hundred species xvere collected many of ihem in ' n ".'-* *_" 3 explored by any botanist lu consequence however of the great length of the journey and the numerous accidents to which the party were exposed hut especially owing to the dreadful hood of the kansas which deluged the borders of the missouri and mississippi rivers more than half of his specimens were ruined before he reached the borders of civilization even the portion saved xvere greatly damaged so that in many instances it has been extremely diffi cult to determine the plants as there was not sufficient time before the publication of captain fremont's report for the proper study ofthe re mains ofhis collection it has been deemed ad visable to reserve the greater part of them to in corporate with the plants which xve expect he xvili bring wiih him on returning from bi third expedition upon which he bas just set out thc loss sustained by captain fremont and i mav say by the botanical world will we trust be partly made up the present and next seasons as much of the same country xvill be passed over again and some new regions ex plored arrangements have also been made bv which the botanical collections will be pre served at least from lhe destructive effects of water and a person accompanies lhe expedi tion who is to make drawings of all the most in teresting plants particular attention xvill bo given to the forest trees and thc vegetable pro duetions that are useful in the arts or thai are employed for food or medicine professor torrey furnishes in the appen dix descriptions of about thirty new gene ra and species of plant collected by cap tain fremont the objects of captain fremont's third exploratory tour are we believe correctly detailed in the following paragraph which we extract i':o:n a late number of thc western missouri expositor the expedition to the rocky mountains under command nf captain f c fremont of the u s armv being the third exploring tour of that officer ft westport on the 26th june captain fremont is assisted by two junior iti cers of iho topographical corps and employs eighty mmi thc d sign of this expedition is uncomplete the surveys fthe plain atid mooa tains intervening between lhe western bounda ry of lie pacific heretofore partially arc,mi nlished by the exploring squadron and the two former expeditions of captain fremont a far as xve can x-\v\i this party will proceed to survey the arkansas river to it source sfler completing which the patty xvill be divided — one division will then return by xvay of the bead of the rio del norte through thecountrj of tbe camancbe indians on thc sources of the red river and by lhe low xvaters of the arkansas the main division under captain fremont will cross the colorado complete the surrey ol the great salt lake and penetrate by £•«*»•" of mary's river which flows westward through upper california in the vicinity ot the 4*2.1 de gree parallel of latitude and is lost in a lake at |