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John Charles Fremont and the exploration of the American West - USA Yesterday - Biography
USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), Sept, 2003 by Gerald F. Kreyche
This first expedition made as its terminus the storied Wind River Mountains in present-day northwestern Wyoming, a favorite but formidable place for the beaver men over the previous two decades. Several trapper rendezvous were held in this vicinity. Fremont climbed what was a particularly prominent peak, mistakenly thinking it was the highest in the nation (it was 12,237 feet) and Fremont Peak bears his name today.
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Once back in St. Louis, the explorer wrote up his report, which included maps drawn by Preuss. The maps were incredibly accurate and were to replace the previous ones that had egregious errors. Fremont dictated notes to Jessie, his indispensable chief helper, and sent the report to Congress. (Jessie had her hands lull as she just had given birth to a daughter, the Fremonts' first child.) Unlike the legalese of other Congressional documents, one of the merits of the report was the readability of its prose. This was especially helpful to those planning to journey to the Far West. Although Jessie's writing talents are evident, Fremont also wrote well. The document read like an adventure story and, in perusing it, many a reader traveled west vicariously. Congress liked it, too, and an extra 1,000 copies were published. The entire Corps gloried in it, and the publicity made funding for future projects less formidable.
The next year, Fremont was pressed into another trip, this time to go all the way to Walla Walla, just 40 miles east of the bend of the Columbia River and part of the Oregonland. Indeed, Fremont and some of his men went even farther west to the Hudson Bay outpost of Ft. Vancouver, opposite today's Portland, Ore. The explorer characteristically always "went that extra mile," although sometimes it got him into trouble. Previously, Commander Charles Wilkes had produced a survey with maps covering the northern Pacific coast to Walla Walla. Together with Fremont's map, this section of the country now became accurately charted from St. Louis to the Pacific.
The expedition's leader saw to it that his 25 men were exceedingly well-armed and even took a howitzer with him--this under questionable authorization. Army brass wondered why such an instrument of war was necessary for only an "exploratory" expedition. Additionally, officials felt huffy that they were not fully consulted on the matter and sent a message to Fremont to return and explain this "pilferage," but the order got to Fremont's group too late. Some historians say its tardiness was due in part to interference by the lieutenant's backers. The Army, however, does not forget what it regards as transgressions by junior officers, and Fremont was to pay dearly for tiffs later in his career.
Fremont's luck continued to hold, as, besides rehiring Kit Carson, he was able to obtain the services of another famed mountain man, Tom "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick, to serve as guide. Along the way, another ex-trapper, Alexis Godey, a friend of Carson, joined the expedition. Fremont regarded him as fully the equal of Carson, although another hire, Basil Lajeunesse, certainly came close to both. Fremont, thus, had some of the most knowledgeable guides in the West. Their availability was due to the petering out of the beaver fur trade, whose peak years were 1825-40.
