Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fre'mont Was Western Explorer Of America

Winners of the 1995-96 Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest in Prescott Middle School are Jared Beck, fifth grade; Casey Ward, sixth grade; Aaron Helmick, seventh grade; and Laura Johnston, eighth grade. This week's essay is written by Laura Johnston. This is the last of the series. The contest is sponsored by the Benjamin Culp Chapter of the DAR.

In the early 1800's, the people going west were tough and rugged. Later, colorful stories of the west and increases in immigrants to our country prompted those in the east to consider moving westward. Manifest Destiny (expanding a group's borders) was a big topic in Washington. Fre'mont's father-in-law was for it, and this probably caused Fre'mont to take on the same idea.

In 1838 the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers was organized. Members were surveyors and mapmakers who were helped by the Army. These were men who were very smart and had graduated from West Point. Some members were not from West Point, but had been appointed by some political leader. Through Joel Poinsett, a diplomat and statesman, Fre'mont got his first surveying assignment in the southern Appalachians. This led to his western projects.

Fre'mont worked with Joseph Nicollett from France. Nicollett was probably the best mapmaker in America at that time. Nicollett taught Fre'mont a lot about the art of mapmaking.

Nicollett was supposed to head up the survey of the Oregon Trail, but he was too sick to take on this job offered to him by Congress. Senator Benton got his son-in-law, Fre'mont, the job. Congress wanted maps made and a description of the land, but senator Benton, a believer in America expanding, also wanted Fre'mont to report back in such a way as to make the west an attractive place for the eastern Americans.

On this expedition Fre'mont took with him Kit Carson and Charles Preuss. Fre'mont and Carson met on a steamboat in Missouri. Fre'mont hired Carson as a guide. Carson had a lot of experience in fighting Indians, getting through hard winters, and traveling from Mexico to the Pacific Northwest. Fre'mont and Carson really got along well with each other. They were friends for life. Preuss was in charge of the scientific details. He was a German mapmaker and was very hard-working. Fre'mont also thought of Preuss as a good friend.

This expedition was a great success. It led to other expeditions which would also encourage easterners to want to move westward. The results of these expeditions were excellent maps and rousing descriptions of the west which prompted the expansion of the borders of our young country.

Fre'mont later continued in his career with the U.S. Army. He eventually entered politics, serving as a U.S. senator, ran as a presidential candidate, and a territorial governor. He also fought in the Civil War. Most of these endeavors were not very successful for Fre'mont. He bought land in California and later found out it was rich in gold. Because of bad business practices, he lost the millions the estate was valued at. In his old age it was up to his wife to support the family. She did this by writing magazine articles and books. Fre'mont died in 1890 in a boarding house.

Fre'mont was a major contributor to the growth of our young nation. He opened the doors on the beauty of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Oceant to the people of America. His maps helped people know where to go and how to get there, and most of all, his reports of what he had seen of the west caused people to want to see what he had seen. Kit Carson, himself considered to be a great mountain man, wrote that Fre'mont's services to America were among the best given.

DeSoto decided at last to try to reach Mexico. He made his way down the valley of the Arkansas River. At the site of modern Natchez, Mississippi, he came down with a fever. His body was very sick, and his spirit was broken. He took to his bed, lay there a month and died. Fearing attack from the Indians, DeSoto's men secretly wrapped his body in blankets, weighted it with sand, and took it out into the river. Many months later those who had survived made it to Mexico. Of the 600 men who had landed with Hernando DeSoto in Florida, only 311 were still alive.

This ended the great game that DeSoto had felt so sure he could win. To undertake it, he had sold his place in Seville and invested one of the largest fortunes in Spain. DeSoto did not find the treasures he had hoped for, but he did explore a large area of southeast America that was previously unknown to the world. Spain gave up forever the search for new lands. For the next 40 years Spanish adventurers were content with shipping home the wealth they brought from the West Indies, Mexico, and South America.