favorably impressed
with Carson from the first. The answers to the inquiries which he made
concerning the famous guide and mountaineer, were satisfactory in the
highest degree. He engaged Carson as his guide, agreeing to pay him a
salary of one hundred dollars a month.

The party of explorers were mainly gathered in St. Louis. It was
composed mostly of Creole and Canadian voyageurs, Charles Preuss, a
learned German, a young son of Colonel Benton (which statesman was the
father in law of Fremont), several other friends, including a noted
mountaineer named Maxwell, who was employed as the hunter of the party.
Including the commander, the entire company numbered twenty-eight.

With this party of explorers Fremont ascended the Missouri until the
mouth of the Kansas was reached, when they disembarked and made their
preparations for the long and dangerous journey before them. The march
westward began June 10, 1842.

The course lay along the banks of the Kansas. All the party were well
armed and well mounted, excepting eight men, each of whom drove a
cart, drawn by two mules. These carts contained the stores, baggage
and instruments of the expedition. A number of spare horses were taken
along, so as to provide against loss in that respect. In addition, they
had four oxen intended to serve as a reserve in the event of provisions
running short.

It was the custom to arouse the camp at daybreak and turn out the
animals to graze; breakfast followed and the march was begun. The noon
halt lasted from one to two hours and the afternoon's march ended a
short time before sunset. The tents were then pitched, horses hobbled
and turned out to graze, and the evening meal prepared. When it became
dark, all the animals were brought in and picketed, the carts arranged
so as to serve as barricades and guard mounted.

An Indian guide conducted the expedition for the first forty miles along
the Kansas, when he departed and the responsibility was turned over to
Carson. The pilot had guided the steamer out of the harbor and upon the
great ocean, and henceforth the hand of Carson was to be at the helm.

The soil over which they journeyed for many miles was of the most
fertile character. Numbers of Indian farms were seen, and one could
not but reflect on the possibilities of the future for the red man,
who should abandon war and give his energies to the cultivation of the
ground.

Such an expedition could not go far without a taste of the t