eded, for Texas entered our Union in 1845. It was
to be expected that the people of Mexico would not like this. They were
very angry, and the outcome was the Mexican War which lasted nearly two
years.

In 1846 Texas sent Houston to the United States Senate, where he served
his State for fourteen years. When the Civil War broke out he was governor
of Texas and, although his State seceded, Houston remained firm for the
Union. On his refusal to resign, he was forced to give up his office. He
died in 1863.

JOHN C. FREMONT THE PATHFINDER

Still another man who acted as agent in this transfer of land from Mexico
was John C. Fremont. He helped in securing California.

He was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1813. His father died when he was a
young child, and his mother went to Charleston, South Carolina, to live,
and there gave her son a good education. After graduating from Charleston
College he was employed by the government as assistant engineer in making
surveys for a railroad between Charleston and Cincinnati, and also in
exploring the mountain passes between North Carolina and Tennessee.

[Illustration: John C. Fremont]

He enjoyed this work so much that he was eager to explore the regions of
the far western part of our country, which were still largely unknown.
Accordingly, he made several expeditions beyond the Rocky Mountains, three
of which are of special importance in our story.

His first expedition was made in 1842, when he was sent out by the War
Department to explore the Rocky Mountains, especially the South Pass,
which is in the State of Wyoming. He made his way up the Kansas River,
crossed over to the Platte, which he ascended, and then pushed on to the
South Pass. Four months after starting he had explored this pass and, with
four of his men, had gone up to the top of Fremont's Peak, where he
unfurled to the breeze the beautiful stars and stripes.

The excellent report he made of the expedition was examined with much
interest by men of science in our own country and in foreign lands.

In this and also in his second expedition Fremont received much help from
a follower, Kit Carson. Kit Carson was one of the famous scouts and
hunters of the West, who felt smothered by the civilization of a town or
city, and loved the free, roaming life of the woodsman.

[Illustration: Fremont's Expedition Crossing the Rocky Mountains.]

Before joining Fremont, Kit Carson had travelled over nearly all of the
Rocky M