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 of 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.

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.

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 navigation 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

near the Missouri line to its head most spring in the Rocky Mountains-a length of above seven hundred miles on a straight line, and near double that length in the meanders of the stream. This gives to the territory & second large river, and in the right place, and flowing in the right direction and parallel to the other, as if its twin sister, and so near together as to be seldom more than a degree, and sometimes not half a degree from each other, and no mountains or high grounds between them. This, of itself, is a great advantage to the territory, for the Arkansas, like all rivers in the prairie country, brings fertile borders, and groves of wood, and rich grass, and makes an attractive line for settlement and travel. In the next place, it gives a succession of tributaries on each side-each giving lines of wood and water-the only things wanted for settlement. and cultivation. Some of these tributaries are of great length, and drain wide areas as the Neosho, drawing its expanded head waters from the centre of the territory, two hundred miles long, and becoming navigable before it reaches the Arkansas River. The Verdigris is but little less than the Neosho, and next above it, and of the same characteristics, and both adapted to cultivation and pasturage. On the opposite side, coming in from the south, is the Salt Fork of the Arkansas, the lower part of it within the limits of Kansas, with its salt plains and rock salt, impregnating the river, and rendering its waters undrinkable in the dry season. I have seen parcels of this rock salt at St. Louis, cut off with hatchets by the Indians, and of the blown salt, swept up by the squaws with turkey-wing fans when the autumnal sun had evaporated the briny waters of the saline marshes — all so useless now in the hands of the Indians, and to become so valuable in the hands of the whites. Ascending the river, there is a continued succession of affluents from each side, all exercising their fertilizing powers upon bordering lines of wood, soil, and grass, and becoming better to the very base of the mountains. So that the river advantages on the north side of the territory are rivaled by similar advantages on the south side.

I have spoken of the two sides of the territory; now for the centreand that is soon dispatched; an expanded prairie, level to the view, rich in soil, scant (but not destitute) of water, green with grass, and enlivened in the proper season with myriads of buffaloes, spreads illimitably before the eyes of the traveler. Some springs, many small streams, numerous pools, peculiar to these plains, (reservoirs of the rains,) invaluable for stock, furnish the present supply, to be helped out by wells as soon as settled. The annual, autumnal, devastating fires being stopped, the indigenous forest growth will immediately come forth, accompanied by the exotics which the thrifty farmer will lose no time to introduce. Coal will furnish fuel; so that the whole central plain will receive settler from the beginning, and especially on the line of road actually traveled, and where the railroad may be expected to be. In the mean time the settler has an attraction superior with many, and profitable as well as pleasant in itself—to draw him into this vast plain. It is the pastoral pursuit; for this is the bucolic region of our America-now the resort of wild animals, and soon to become the home of the domestic. short, sweet grass, equally nutritious in the green or dried state, (for it

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dries of itself on the ground,) covers the face of the earth, inviting all ruminating animals to take their food upon it, without measure, and with out stint; a great pastoral region, in which the ox will not know his master's crib, nor the ass the hand that feedeth him, but in which the dumb, unconscious beast, without knowing it, will feel the bounty of the and which is the Giver of all good.

This is the description of the first Kansas- the one which will go half way to the mountains- equal in territorial extent to the first class states, exceeded in productive capacity by none- and soon to become one of the great states of the Union. I will call it East Kansas.

II. The second state would occupy the remainder of the territory to the base of the Rocky Mountains, and, like the first half, will have the natural division into three parts, and with the same characteristics, but with a reversal of their localities. The Arkansas River side will be far the most valuable, both intrinsically and in its locality; but the Kansas side will still have its value and attraction. Frémont says of it, "The soil of all this country (Upper Kansas and base of the mountains) is excellent, admirably adapted to agricultural purposes, and would support a large agricultural and pastoral population." He says it is watered by many streams, but without wood, except on their borders; that grass abounds, and among its varieties, the esparcette, a species of clover so valuable for the pasturage of swine, cultivated for that purpose in Germany, but indigenous in all this base of the mountains.

But the valley of the Upper Arkansas would form the pride and strength of the upper state-West Kansas, as I will call it, including, as the territory does, a part of the superb valley of San Luis, and the beautiful Sahwatch, which forms a continuation of it, and which leads to the famous Coochatope pass.

Frémont thus speaks of this upper part of the Arkansas, as seen by him in his various expeditions, and especially in the one of the last winter:

"The immediate valley of the Upper Arkansas, for about two hundred miles, as you approach the mountains, is continuously well adapted to settlements, as well as to roads. Numerous well-watered and fertile valleys, broad and level, open up among the mountains, which present themselves in detached blocks, (outliers,) gradually closing in around the heads of the streams, but leaving open approaches to the central ridges. The whole of the inter-mountain region is abundant in grasses, wood, coal, and fertile soil. The pueblos above Bent's Fort prove it to be well adapted to he grains and vegetables common to the latitude, including Indian corn, which ripens well, and to the support of healthy stock, which increase well, and take care of themselves summer and winter."

Of the climate and winter season in this elevated region he thus speaks: "The climate is mild and the winters short, the autumn usually having its full length of bright open weather, without snow, which in winter falls rarely and passes off quickly. In this belt of country lying along the mountains the snow falls more early and much more thinly than in the open plains to the eastward the storms congregate about the high