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

=
generally been entrusted, since its founds
ton, called upon to-day to select from anon
! the men of the age one who more thorough
embodies, in all particulars and respects
: what might be regarded as the Genius q
Anne lea, it would przz,e all their learnin
and experience to find superior to jour
i CHARLES Fremont. We wish it under
stood, that we conGne ourselves to this par
ticular point in speaking of him thus enthu
{ siasticaliy. He embodies the Genius O
), America as it now is-of this day and Thu
hoIr-a man not of the Past, except as
moulder of his own fame and fortunes, bu
of the Present in all respects, morally, SO
cially and politically. AS President of tn.
United States, he would bring to the dis
charge Of the duties of that high Office 6
practical self study of the wants of the PEG.
pie, and will and energy to carry those
wants into practical usefulness, in spite Of
corrupt cliques and scheming POLITICIANS.
The nation knows no man of his years Sc
well as she knows Fremont, and knows nc
one SO fa7orably. 1t will be strange thing
to us if upon weighing him in the balance
with so musty remnant of the Past as
James Buchanan-a remn: mt, too, of party
who would have sacrificed the country in it's
second struggle for independence should
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 will be checked by no such absurd YER
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.
Several years ago the Gallery of Illus
trious American detained the following
sketch of Frsrsgs-., ..tten as 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 ilIimitabIe resources. The young
est 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
attention 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. = = = $50
On his return to Washington, he CONT
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-
tons 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 pene-
trate the Rocky Mountains. His plan was
approved, and in 1912, with 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 are
now pressing to California-he defined tile
astronomy, geography, botany, geology and
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 languages, and the
scientific world looked on Fremont as one OF
it's benefactors. =,
Impatient, however, for broader and more
hazardous fields, he planned new expedi-
ton to the distant territory of Oregon. His
first had carrie 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 thousand miles
which was a blank in GEOGRAPHY.
In May, l843 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 had approached the
mountains by a new line, scaled their sum-
mits south of the South Pass, detected to
the Great Salt Lake, and pushed examine
tons 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 Colunl-
bia, and he wished to find another. With
out resources, adequate supplies or even a
guide, and with ousy twenty-five companions,
he turned his face once more towards the
Rocky Mountains. - . =
Then began that wonderful Expedition, fill
led With romance, achievement, daring and
| suffering, in which he was lost from the
world nine months, traversing $500 miles in
sight of eternal SHOWS; inwhich he explored
and revealed the grand features of Alta
California, its great basin, the Sierra Nevada
the valleys Of San Joaquin and Sacramento,
explored the fabulous BuenaVentura, reveal
ed the real Fl Dorado, and established the
geography of the Western part of our con-
finent. In August, 1914, he was again IN
washington, after an absence of sixteen
months. His Report put the seal to the
fame Of the Young explorer.