The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1856-06-28
TUESDAY MORNING, JUNE "a, 1856


John o. Fremont. IL ',-.i
Were the thoughtful men of the nation
tm men to whom its destinies are now en-
trusted, and to whom those desrinies hav
generally been entrusted, since its fognda
ton, called upon to-day to select from amon
the men ofthe age one who more thoroughl,
embodes, in. all particulars and respects
what might be regarded as the Genius O
Ame' ica, il would przz,e au their learuin,
and experience to find superior to jon,
CHARLES FREmoSr. We wish it under
stood, that we coniine ourselves to this par
ticular point in speaking of him thus enthu
siasticaly. He embodies the Genius o
America as it now is--of this day and thi.
holr-a man not of the Past, except as .
moulders of his own fame and fortunes, bu
of the Present in oil respects, morally, so
cially and politically. AS President of The
United States, he would bring to the dis
charge Of the duties of that high Office 8
practical self study of the wants of the peo.
pie, and a will and energy to carry those
wants into practical usefulness, in spite ol
corrupt ciiques and scheming POLITICIANS.
The nation knows no man of his years SC
well as she knows Fremont, and knows nc
one SO fayorably. 1t will be strange thing
to us if upon weighing him in the balance
with SO musty remnant of the Past as
James Buchanan remns mt, too, of party
who would have sacrificed the country in it's
second struggle for MISREPRESENTATION
the political beam be kicked in favor of the
man of the Past instead of the man of the
Present. We believe the Progress of the
day viii be checked by no such absurd ver-
dict on the part Of the American people.
To the Young men of America belongs
the honor of achieving this great victory,
and they will achieve it. s.-.r-. .,e.
Several years ago the " Gallery of Illus
trious American" A~optained the following
sketch Off F Frsgsss-s,syAtten as a matter Of
fact and history" As such, we invite the
careful perusal of it by our readers
The feet of three men have passed the
slopes of the Rocky Mountains. whose names
are associated for ever with those vast
ranges Humboldt, the Nestor of scientific
travellers; Audubon, the Interpreter of Ma
ture, and Fremont, the Pathfinder of EN-
pire. Each has done much to illustrate the
natural history of North America, and to de-
velope its illimitable resources. The young
sst of all is likely to become as illustrious as
either, for fortune has linked his name with
a scene in the history Of the republic as
startling to the world as the first announce
ment Of its existence. To his hands was
committed the magnificent task of opening
the gates of our Pacific Empire. His father
was an emigrant gentleman from France, and
his mother lady OF Virginia. Although
his fathers death left him an orphan in his
fourth year, he was Thoroughly educated and
when, at the age of seventeen, he graduated
at Charleston College, b, contributed to the
support Of his mother and her younger
children. y
From teaching mathematics he turned his
:ttention to civil engineering, in which he
displayed so much talent he was recommend
ed by Mr.. Poinsett, Secretary of War, to
Nicollet, as bis assistant in the survey OF
the basin of the Upper Mississippi. Two
years he was with that learned man in his
field of labor, and he won his applause and
friendship. : =
On his return to Washington, he conti-
nued his services to the geoprapher for two
years longer, in drawing up from his field
book the great map which unfolded to
science the vast tract they had explored.
Thirsting for adventure, he now planned the
first of those distant and perilous expedi-
tions which have given lustre to his name.
Having received lieutenant's commission in
the corps of Typographical Engineers, he
proposed to the Secretary of War to rene-
trate the Rocky Mountains. His plan was
approved, and in 1912, with a handful of
men, gathered on the Missouri frontier, he
reached and explored the South Pass. He
not only fixed the locality and character of
that great Pass, through which myriad a1e
now pressing to Galifornia-he defined tie
astronomy, geography, botany, geology dnid
meteorology of the country, and designated
the route since followed, and the points from
which the flag of the Union is now flying
from chain Of wilderness fortresses.
His report was printed by the Senate,
translated into, foreign hnguages,s and the
scientific world looked on Fremont as one OF
it's benefactofs. -
impatient, however, for broader and more
hazardous fields, he planned a new expedi-
ton to the distant territory Of Oregon. His
first had carried him to the submits of the
Rocky Mountains, ~
Wilkes had surveyed the tidewater re-
gions of the Columbia river between the
two explorers lay tractof q thousand miles
u T. s,<<
In May, 1843 he left the frontier Of Mis-
sour, and in November he stood on Fort
Vancouver, with the calm waters of the Pa
ciic at bis feet He bad approached the
mountains by new line, scaled their sum-
mits south of the South Pass, detected to
the Great Salt Lake, and pushed examina-
tions right and left along his entire course
He Joined his survey to Wilkes's Exploring
Expedition, and his orders were fulfilled
But he had opened one route to the Uolunl-
bia, and he wished to find another. With
out resources, adequate supplies or even a
guide, and with ousy twenty five compafiioBs,
he turned his face once more towards the
Rocky Mountains. ~ = - Z :
81 Then began that wonderful Expedition, fil-
led With romance, achievement, daring and
suffering, in which he was lost from the
world nine months, traversfng $500 miles in
sight Of eternal SHOWS; inwhich he explored
and revealed fthe grand features Of Ats
Calif5fnia, it, great basin, the Sierra Nevxd,
the valleys Of San Joaquin and Sacrahhento
explored the fabulous BuenasentIra, reveal
ed the real Ei Dorado, and established th
geography Of. the Western part of our con
lfiHent. In August, 1874 he was aeain !;
lAWashington, after ID ABSENCE of si1tee