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dream of the change that a few years would bring about upon those remote and desolate shores. The party left their camp by the lake on the 12th of September, and, proceeding northward, reached the plains of the Columbia on the 18th, "in sight of the famous Three Buttes,' a well-known landmark in the country, distant about forty-five miles."

In the month of November, having reached Fort Vancouver, and fully accomplished the duties assigned him, Colonel Frémont set out on his return by a new and dangerous route. Nothing but a perusal of the journal of the expedition can convey an adequate idea of the dangers and difficulties attendant upon the remainder of this enterprise, in which the complete circuit was made of that immense and unexplored basin lying between the Sierra Nevada and the Wahsatch or Bear River range of the Rocky Mountains; a region thus laid down in Frémont's chart: "The Great Basin: diameter 11° of latitude: elevation above the sea, between 4000 and 5000 feet: surrounded by lofty mountains: contents almost unknown, but believed to be filled with rivers and lakes which have no communication with the sea, desert and oases which have never been explored, and savage tribes which no traveler has seen or described."

The following synopsis of the narrative of Frémont's return from the Pacific to the States is from the pen of the popular author before cited: "It was the beginning of winter. Without resources, adequate supplies, or even a guide, and with only twenty-five companions, he turned his face once more towards the Rocky Mountains. Then began that wonderful expedition, filled with romance, achievement, daring, and suffering, in which he was lost from the world nine months, traversing 3500 miles in sight of eternal snow; in which he explored and revealed the grand features of Alta California, its great basin, the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento, exploded the fabulous Buenaventura, revealed the real El Dorado, and established the geography of the western part of this continent."

The account of the terrible passage of the Sierra Nevada in the months of February and March, is one of the most thrilling narratives ever recorded of the triumph of heroic endurance over every conceivable difficulty. The ascent was commenced on the 2d of February; the Indian guide "shook his head as he pointed to the icy pinnacles, shooting high up into the sky," and opposing an apparently insuperable barrier to further progress. After weeks of toil and suffering, subsisting upon their mules and horses, for whom it was almost impossible to procure sufficient grass and herbage to support life, the party descended the western slope of the Sierra. Two of the men had lost their reason from suffering and anxiety: one of them, Derosier, who had staid behind for the purpose of bringing a favorite horse of Colonel Frémont, on rejoining the party, in the words of the narrative, "came in, and sitting down by the fire, began to tell us where he had been. He imagined he had been gone several days, and thought we were still at the camp where he had left us; and we were pained to see that his mind was deranged. ***The times were severe when stout men lost their minds from extremity of suffering-when horses died-and when mules and horses,

ready to die of starvation, were killed for food. Yet there was no murmuring or hesitation."

"In August, 1844, Colonel Frémont was again in Washington, after an absence of sixteen months. His report put the seal to the fame of the young explorer. He was planning a third expedition while writing a history of the second; and before its publication, in 1845, he was again on his way to the Pacific, collecting his mountain comrades, to examine in detail the Asiatic slope of the North American continent, which resulted in giving a volume of new science to the world, and California to the United States."*

The events immediately succeeding, although highly interesting, as connected with the most important particulars in the political history of the United States, are beyond our limits to record. It is sufficient to state, that throughout the difficulties in which Colonel Frémont was involved, and the lengthened examination to which he was subjected before a court-martial, the sympathies of the public were generally enlisted in his behalf.

As a private citizen, he contemplated yet another survey of a southern route through the western territory to California, and we cannot suf ficiently admire the ardor and self-reliance with which he entered upon the undertaking, after such fearful experience of the dangers attendant on attempting an unknown passage of the great mountain ranges which must be crossed. To resume the remarks of Mr. Lester: "Again he appeared on the far west: his old mountaineers flocked around him; and, with thirty-three men and one hundred and thirty mules, perfectly equip ped, he started for the Pacific.

"On the Sierra Juan all his mules and a third of his men perished in a more than Russian cold; and Frémont arrived on foot at Santa Fé, stripped of every thing but life. It was a moment for the last pang of despair which breaks the heart, or the moral heroism which conquers

fate itself.

"The men of the wilderness knew Frémont; they refitted his expedi tion; he started again, pierced the country the fierce and remorseless Apaches; met, awed, or defeated savage tribes; and in a hundred days from Santa Fé he stood on the glittering banks of the Sacramento." In the new state where he took up his abode, his popularity and prosperity have been unsurpassed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY LYING BETWEEN MISSOURI AND CALIFORNIA.

The proposition for a Railroad to the Pacific has been before Congress for several sessions. In January, 1855, the Hon. THOS. H. BENTON made a speech in the House of Representatives upon the subject,

* Gallery of Illustrious Americans.

advocating the great central route for the location of the road. The following extract from his speech is valuable, as a description of the physical features of the country between Missouri and California on the great emigrant route, and its adaptation to settlement. After noticing other proposed railroad routes, Mr. Benton said:

"I make no comparison of routes, but vindicate the one I prefer from erroneous imputations, and invite rigorous examination into its character. The belt of country, about 4° wide, extending from Missouri to California, and of which the parallels 38 and 39 would be about the centre, this belt would be the region for the road; and of this region, its physical geography and adaptation to settlement, and to the construction of the road, it is my intention to speak, and to publish, as a part of this speech, something of what I have spoken elsewhere, but do not now repeat, because unnecessary here, but essential to the full exposition of the subject in the prepared and published speech.

I have paid some attention to this geography, induced by a local position and some turn for geographical inquiry; and, in a period of more than thirty years, have collected whatever information was to be obtained from the reading of books, the reports of travelers, and the conversation of hunters and traders, and all with a view to a practical application. I have studied the country with a view to results, and feel authorized to believe, from all that I have learned, that this vast region is capable of sustaining populous communities, and exalting them to wealth and power; that the line of great States which now stretch half way across our continent in the same latitudes-Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri- may be matched by an equal number of States, equally great, between Missouri and California; and that the country is perfectly adapted to the construction of a railroad, and all sorts of roads, traversable in all seasons. This is my opinion, and I proceed to verify it: and first, of the five States, their diagrams and relative positions; and then their capabilities.

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The present Territory of Kansas, extending 700 miles in length, upon 200 in breadth, and containing above 100,000 square miles, would form two states of above 50,000 square miles each. A section of the Rocky Mountains, embracing the Three Parks, and the head-waters of the South Platte, the Arkansas, Del Norte, and the eastern branches of the Great Colorado of the West, would form another State, larger in the opinion of Frémont-than all the Swiss cantons put together, and presenting every thing grand and beautiful that is to be found in Switzerland, without its draw-backs of avalanches and glaciers. The valley of the Upper Colorado, from the western base of the Rocky Mountains to the eastern base of the Wahsatch and Anterria ranges, 200 miles wide by 200 long, and now a part of Utah, might form the fourth; and the remainder of Utah, from the Wahsatch to California, would form the fifth, of which the part this way, covering the Santa Clara meadows, and the Wahsatch and Anterria ranges, would be the brightest part. Here, then, are five diagrams of territory, sufficient in extent, as any map will show, to form five States of the first magnitude. That much is demonstrated. Now for their capabilities to sustain populous communities, and their adaptation to the construction of a railroad.

We begin with the Territory of Kansas, and find its length above three times its breadth, and naturally divisible into two States by a north and south line, half way to the mountains. The eastern half is beginning to be known from the reports of emigrants and explorers; but to understand its whole interior, the general outline of the whole territory must first be traced, in the mind's eye or upon a map. Maps are not convenient in so large an assemblage; so the mind's eye must be put in requisition, and made to follow the lines as indicated, thus: beginning on the western boundary of Missouri, in the latitude of 37°, and following that parallel west to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; then a deflection of one degree north to the parallel of 38°; and on that parallel to the summit of the Rocky Mountains; then northwardly along that summit to the parallel of 40°; then east with that parallel to the Mis souri line; and south with that line to the beginning. This is the outline; now for the interior; and for the sake of distinctness, we will examine that by sections, conformable to the natural divisions of the country.

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I. We commence with the Kansas river, on the north side of the Territory, and its four long forks-the Smoky Hill, the Saline, Solomon's and the Republican; of which the Smoky Hill is the most considerable, and in the best place for the advantage of the Territory. All these forks flow in the right direction-from west to east-aud are beautifully parallel to each other, without mountains or ridges between to interrupt their communications, and making, after their junction, near 200 miles of steamboat ravigation before their united waters reach the great Missouri river. All the land drained by these streams constitute the valley of Kansas, if the term valley can be applied to a region which has but little perceptible depression below the general level of the country. We will consider the term applicable to all the territory drained by all the Kansas forks and all their tributaries. One general description applies to the whole the soil rich like Egypt, and tempting as Egypt would be if raised above the slimy flood, waved into gentle undulations, variegated with groves and meadows, sprinkled with springs, coursed by streams, and warmed by a sun which warms without burning, and blessed with the alternation of seasons which give vigor to the mind and body. Egypt thus raised up and changed might stand for Kansas; as she is, the only point of comparison is in the soil. For this valley is high and clean, diversified with wood and prairie, watered by springs and streams, grassy and flowery; its bosom filled with stone for building, coal for fuel, and iron for the home supply of that first of metals. This s the Kansas of the northern, or Kansas river side, where Frémont says -and he has a right to know-a continuous cornfield 200 miles in length might be made, so rich and level is the country. But of this part it is not necessary to say much, as the crowds of emigrants are directing themselves upon it, and vying with each other in the glowing description which they give of its beauty, salubrity, and fertility.

I turn to the south side of the territory, of which little has been said, and much is to be told, and all profitable to be known. In the first place, this south side includes the whole body of the Arkansas River, from

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