The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-08-09

AZ
2Ssef sometimes srked-i. G. cut thin, and suddenly
AIRED by the sun and fire. In the subserviency 0
the buffalo and bunch grasses of the iarthest ives
~ the purposes of war, there Is profound mllltar!
conception, Of which future generals may make tn
duplication
The military reconnaissance, or recommending, was
a. has been remarked the first object of the expedi
non and the object which brought 1t within the Ie
Ultimate scope of an appropriation for the topo
emphical engineers; and the report made upon ih'
ne of march from the frontiers Of Missouri to Ore
oon. showing the nature and practicabllity OF The
eounly between, and the proper places for tempo
ynry camps and permanent stations, with the means
ofconouering or avoiding obstacles, would have been
sdeient to have satisfied all the obligations which
,nlit,ry duty imposed, and 10 have commanded the
nnrobaton of the government. Bot this limited per-
lsmance of duty did not satsfy the laudable ambi-
,on oG the Young explorer. Science came IN for
or share of his attentions; and large share she
,sceiyed Geography, geology, botany, metcorology,
oc seems MS if each had been his sole pursuit; so
ncessgny and so minutely is everything relating 10
IN noted and described; while the popular view
r ,bs country for the benefit of the statesman, and
~ bp information of the current reader, was also
ye,ywhere kept up Seldom has it happened that
nv 5,gnaf has been crowded with such masses Of
arrlaI and on such numerous and various subjects,
f,aurht with such respectable contributions 10 the
encral intelligence of the age.
In geography the additions to our knowledge
a great much of il entirely new. The coun-
~ from the frontiers of Missouri to the Rocky
iouptan5 on the line Of the Kansas and Great
phle, is shown to be arabic and inhabitable, in
tend of being desert and barren, as often hereto
o,e represented. The Rocky Mountains, which
Csntain Fremont crossed at four different places,
rsiead Of being desolate and impossible, are shown
"a have many excellent passes, (of which the South
PISS is the fnest,l and to embosom beautiful val
evs caves, and parks, with lakes and mineral
XsnriIgs. ryalng and surprising the most enchant-
5g paris Of the Alpine regions in Switzerland The
uGIea Salt Lake, one of the wonders Of nature, and
perhaps without rival in the world, {being satu-
Mnlsd solution OF salt, of hundred miles dameter,)
for the FIRST time revealed to our view by ore who
has surveyed its shores and navigated It's waters
The valley, with rich bottoms, fine grass
valledup mountains, hot springs, mineral springs,
soda fountains volcanic rock, volcanic crater, and
saline eloresccnces, and four thousand five hundred
feel above the sea, is for the first time described
The same of the Sierra .Ntrada--of the rivers Sacra
na,lo and San Joaquin, which constitute the waters
If the bay of San FfanciSco-and the same of the
Great Desert, and its Arab inhabitants, which lies
south Of the latitude of that bay and extends many
degrees east towards the Rocky Mountains None OF
these objects have heretofore been described by any
ytayeIler, On the other hand, the famed Buenaren-
hra liger, which has had place on so many maps
and line of such great length traced for il from the
Rocky Mountains TO the sea, Is proved to have no
tyistence--that no such river does, or can, come
down 10 the sea from those mountains the lofty ST.
ara Nsrada in,erposing an insuperabe obstacle
that the Columbia is the only river which trayerses
tie western slope of our continent from the noun
uns to the sea-a fact which give to the Columbia,
az Captain Fremont well remarks, great additional
value in the eyes of nation. The form and charac-
Ter of the valley which holds the waters Of the bay
Of San Francisco is now, for the first time, made
kGown with the important fact that it connects with
the Oregon Territory by It's main river, the Sacra-
mtni0, which heads north of latitude AZ, in the
able-land which holds the romantic lake, or
meadow, called Tiamath, from which Fall riv-
or proceeds direct to the Columbia. But the
greatest and most striking Of all the geographic
aJscoyercs and descriptions is that of the Great
Basin, or vast Interior plain which lies between the
Sierra .Nrpada and the Rocky Mountains east and
west and between the Blue mountains and the Yah.
aIch on the south, and embracing an of five or
SIX hundred miles diameter. The elevation of the
Sierra Aerada, being more lofty than the Rocky
Mountains, accounts for the formation of this Great
Basin as Captain Fremont calls it, and of which he
IS the first to announce its existence to the world.
A basin, which may hold such kingdom as France,
and which has for lis rim circle OF mountains
whose SUBMITS penetrate the region of eternal snow,
IS certainly new and grand object to be revealed to
orr contemplation; and its non-discovery heretofore
ICl only Oe attributed 10 us pOsltion IN tH part OF
Spanish America (the Cafornias) from which
ISpanish jealousy excluded every foreign eye. Its
existence is now established. Capt. Fremont was
Pin and around Height months getting round it,
and never out of sight of snow-capped mountains,
its own elevation being upwards of four thousand
feet abeve the sea. His description of it will be
read with profound interest; and FREMoNT's BASIN
is ossqrcdly the name which justice and propriety
would besow upon II.
Botanical rches were evidently n fayOrie
pursuit with Captain Fremont. Nota day passes,
that he does not note the botany of the route, and
mark the casual as well as the characteristic ants
| and flowers From the zeal with which he sought
them; the cordiaity with which he saluted the new
land beautiful, and the vast collections which he
made and which were still considerable after the
| loss Of a mue-load in the Sierra .Nerada and the
damage Of others in the great flood of the Kanzas
when almost home, it is evident that he found in
| his delightful study of the works Of Nature in one
Of her most elegant and attractive departments,
luxurious enjoyment Of the mind, which compensa-
led and relieved the tolls Of the body With charac-
erlsuc modesty he satisfies himself in gathering
and bringing in these rare and beautiful productions,
and eavcs't TO the professional science Of DIR. Tor
hey, of Princeton, to classify his specimens and
give them 10 the world. This the doctor has done
N an appendix to the report, which will be read
with great interest by the friends and lovers Of
botany.
Geclogy came in for full share OF attention; and
The surface Of the earth not only constantly in
peccd for what it presented externally, but all OPP
porunnes seized in bluffs, cliffs, chasms ra-
ymts river banks, and in The sides and gorges of
mountains, to discover what the disruption of the
EARTH the abrasion Of the waters, the tumblng Of
ayaanehcs might have revealed from the interior.
Characteristic soils end rocks are specified; fossils
and minerals enumerated; and specimens brought in
o. what was new or rare. Of these specimens, one
OF lossIerous rock, having an ooitlc structure, and
pund in the rim of the Great Basin the side that
ehcoSes the Great Salt Lake, will attract the atten-
Ton OF learned men both in Europe and America as
VIII The ipvatle infusora found in the lofty escarp
ments Of the Cascade Range on the lower Coum.
Ma' These specimens, and numerous others, were
eierred to DR., Hall, of New York, and Professor
Bailey, of West Point, whose skillful classification
aud etudlte remarks illustrate all the geological col
Itcions Of Capt Fremont, and will be found in ap-
pendlxes to the report.
Morning, noon, and night, the thermometer was
% hand TO ascertain the degree Of heat cold. As
me country or fell-mountain, plain valley,
axe orflpr--the barometer was applied to tell the
ee'auon above the sea. Every clear night the tel
t.cope was pointed to the heavens, and OSCILLATIONS
q planets, and mmcrsons and emersons Of satellites
watched and all dc astronomical observations made,
winch give the latitude and longitude. Every day