of the Cherokee
country in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. A war cloud was
rising; the peril of the expedition was its charm to Fremont. "St.
Louis was then on the border of an immense and almost unexplored
Indian country. The caravans of merchandise going through it to
Santa Fe, ran all the risks you can read of among Bedouins in the
desert; the hunters and trappers, as well as the merchants, started
off into the unknown with only one certainty, that danger was there;
and when they came back--if they ever did--it was as from
underworld."[18]

[Footnote 18: Souvenirs of my Time. Jessie Benton Fremont.]

About this time a distinguished French geographer, M. Nicollet, was
sent to this country by France to explore the sources of the
Mississippi, "in the interests of geography." The United States were
also interested in the geography of the almost unknown Northwest. M.
Nicollet was appointed to make explorations for the United States,
and Fremont was honored with the position of principal assistant. It
was high time that something should be done in the interests of a
geography made up largely from travellers' tales. That there was a
great river, the Buena Ventura, running from the base of the Rocky
Mountains to the Bay of San Francisco, nobody doubted, for there it
was upon the map. The exploration of M. Nicollet, assisted by
Fremont, awakened great interest. They were absent two years; their
field, the territory between the Missouri and the upper rivers, as
far north as the British line. Their report was awaited with
impatience. Fremont came home to find that he had been appointed
second lieutenant of the United States Topographical Engineers. As a
scientific explorer his fame was established. The year following his
return he spent in Washington with M. Nicollet, preparing his report
for publication. Among those most deeply interested was Senator
Benton, of Missouri, "Tom Benton," as he was popularly called, and
"Old Bullion." Benton's hobby was the opening of a road for
immigrants to the Pacific coast, as a necessary step to the
acquisition of the territory held by Mexico--the California of
to-day. Senator Benton's interest in the report of the young
engineer, then about twenty-seven years of age, was surpassed by the
young engineer's interest in the senator's daughter, Jessie, then
only fifteen, an interest which ended in a betrothal contrary to the
wishes of older heads, owing to Miss Benton's youth