Note Back to Main Text — LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (continued 5)

August 8, 1842, he reached the South Pass, and then the unexplored was before him—untrodden ground. Kit Carson was his guide; twenty-eight men made up his party—Canadian voyageurs, picked men, well mounted and armed—only eight of the expedition driving wagons. Randolph Benton, a lad of twelve, Frémont's brother-in-law, was one of the number. The great event of this expedition, so full of thrilling adventure, was the first ascent of that highest peak of the Wind River Mountains, now called Frémont's Peak, 13,570 feet in height. "We mounted the barometer in the snow of the summit," Frémont wrote, "and fixing a ramrod in the crevice, unfurled the national flag where never flag waved before.... While we were sitting on the rock a solitary bumble-bee came winging its flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the knee of one of the men." They run a cañon in the Platte, singing a Canadian boat-song for all the peril.... Their boat is whirled over, food, ammunition, and valuable records lost. Climbing up and out of the cañon, they admire the scenery in spite of their forlornity ... cacti and bare feet, hunger and thirst ... but astronomical and barometrical observations and drawings are made, botanical specimens collected, and a mass of information, making the report of this expedition[19] what has been called the most enduring monument of Frémont's fame. The report was hailed in England as well as the United States, and was followed by an increase of the wagon-trains across the mountains via the South Pass.