were the first to prove did not exist at all. From San
Francisco back to Salt Lake, three thousand five hundred miles in
eight months, not once out of the sight of snow. Geography had
gained an important fact--the Colorado was the only river flowing
from the Rocky Mountains on that part of the continent. For eight
months not a word had been heard from the party, at the East, and
then Fremont came home "thin as a shadow," and Mrs. Fremont could
tell him that she might have prevented his going at all had she
chosen, for an order from Washington, countermanding the expedition,
had been received by her addressed to her husband, soon after his
departure from St. Louis. The expedition was not too far away when
the despatch came for her to get it to him, but she decided to
withhold it. Because he had taken a mountain howitzer in his outfit
he was ordered to stay at home. What a scientific expedition could
want of a howitzer was not plain to the authorities, who seemed to
think that hostile Indians knew at sight the difference between a
military and a scientific party and would respect it. Mrs. Fremont
tells the story in _The Century_ for March, 1891, how she not only
did not send on the despatch, but a messenger instead, bidding
Fremont "Go on at once without asking why," so fearful was she a
duplicate order might defeat his going at all.

General Scott was Commander in Chief of our Army in 1845. At his
instance Lieutenant Fremont was made captain in the United States
Army, and in the fall of that year was sent by the Government on
another expedition ... this time to find the best road to the
Pacific coast. Trouble with Mexico was growing fast. Our
southwestern territory needed looking after; the northwestern of
Mexico as well. Fremont was to follow the Arkansas River to its
source in the Rocky Mountains, explore the Great Basin, the
Cascades, and the Sierra Nevada, and define a route in a southern
latitude for emigrants. Kit Carson was among the sixty men of this
party, and several veterans of the two former expeditions. They
struck out for the Sierra by the way of the Humboldt River. The war
with Mexico broke out soon after their departure.

It was another story of fearful hardship--the Sacramento Valley was
reached at last, and Fremont hastened to Monterey to get permission
from the Mexican authorities to make a scientific exploration of the
region. His request was granted, and permission given to replenish
his exhauste