The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1849-05-12
Col. Fremont's Disaster.

Mr Kcrn,Who made one orCll. Frcmout's
S,nrly IA his a,o disastrous attempt To cross
.lr' mountains, writes to friend, Mr \. Rob
dcnuN, of ST. Joseph, many particulars of
tic snd cvcut.wblch nrc new as well ms deep
=, interesting Ne find them in The -. yo-
srph Ga2c,lr, pr the l3tIi uit.
Mr. Kern says that, TO BcuI's Fori, every
hing went welt. Williams, m old guide,
was with them, nrd gave confidence u all.
"J.caving Hard Scrabble, we continued ~
its creek into the mountains. As We dyuuC-
cd tie snow increased. Crossing tie fret
'Angc, we ftll upowiho w7lcr- pC the WHp-
l,anal,, passing through Ike mountains To tie
Del Noric, 10y Your Old wagon roud-thc
'suow still Increasing.
WE cou,iuucd couple of days on III"
Del Nuric, aud ileu ,utnrd up what Wi
Gams called your pu~s ON The Comwguo.--
Ia this lie was evidently mieUhcn, for
worse read never saw. We went up un
the Canon, Our animals falling aud the SNOW
deepening orerv step lrG ienG, Kidding iulr
ms it subsequently turned OIL, to defeat our
crossing. On the 18th of December we ot-
tempted o. cross what we supposed 70 hc
the dividing Rldgc between 81 Johns nuY'
the waters Of The Del Movie, hut were dIE-
cn hack by the Storm. The ucN, day wWre-
ougi to get on the other side u small clump
.ot pines We uuparkrd our uuimals nn "a,
.hprc point, aud drove them 10 the l1li.top in
hopes Of their finding suilicloury of food
LORI day. rs the snow had dri(tcd from it.iu
sp.uc,s. From this hill they never came n
gain; the Storm continuing, aud linvn" no
-heitor, they -pcrishcd. Camp tLcu COM
ncnccd 4lasing portngcs, in hopes Of reach
LII lie IIAcr------
4
nllLg down. On thr Goth, King was Sent n
hord.wuh Old Bill to Abnque, to bring IL
relief while we we're td continue down.
ON the lth or January, lac not nrriving, the
Colonel became ANXIOUS and started with
his mess md Cooley, IN hopes of meeting the
rclcrpn Our provisions had given ont,
md we were living on pRrctleshes and tug
.opcs. Already ProuS had persisted from
hungornnd exposure. On the 10th, all hnv-
ing reached the river, we made our little
packs ofbcddiug, aud with Our rifles started
T. iot-God only knew where. Here commcnc-
ed our greatest suffering. The company
Ind for its head Vincent lluler, about ms CON
tDmplihlc und cownrdly fellow az ever
walked his own lack Of courage quickly diff
fused itself among tho ncn-,so YOU may
suppose how things wnut nn.-.l
"Prohnhly up to the ooh we had lost nine
men, Our mess aud nnnlher lad made our
fnalcnlnp. .We.werc blind from the snow
and unable 10 see the sights Oruur rifles 4
,ond wolf wns Nil we had to sustain life n.
mong unc men. had closed all my affairs
and felt that n day or two more would end
my troubles, when, about noon on the 2Slh,
wc heard n shout, md Cooley entered the
camp. Here ended our troubles. From
him we learned tho fate of Kings party, who
mud been found hv him on his way down on
Iue lG,h. Poor King had died from eNhnus-
ton somewhere about the 9th; the rcst were
in miserable condtion--irozen aud partly
) cruzcd. They had given up oil hopes of re-
turning to- us with relief
"'fhus ended the Spedition-commcnce
80 far rs ouIiitwH concerned, under rs Hat
tering prospects MS ever one started. The
goss in dollars has amounted TO over ttlf
n'.ausand-in life, ten