Arizona republican., 1901-06-14
CRAVE OF THE PATHFINDER

That republics are ungratefur seems to be borne out by the case of General John c. Fremont, whose deeds have been almost forgotten by the present generation. The great work of the Pathfinder" has been ignored en- | tirely. if one may judge by the fact that on his grave there is not even a stone to indicate the resting place of a man whom foreign nations delighted to honor for the important work he had done.
 All that remains of the man who opened q way over the Rocky noun tains, who suffered great privation and almost lost his life for the benefit of his fellow man, is now resting in Rock land cemetery. in the lower part of Rockland county. The body of Gen era! Fremont might just as well be in any ordinary pasture lot as where it is. so far as any distinguishing marks are concerned. His grave is overgrown with grasses and weeds and only the men employed regularly in the ceme- tery are able to find the grave of man whose reports of explorations in this country stirred the whole civilized world.
 Rockland cemetery is in Sparkill. and runs up to one of the highest points along the historic Hudson river. The The highest point was selected for General Fremonts grave. From this spot is afforded a view for many miles around. To the west one may look over the better part of Rockland county and see the Ramapo noun tains; to the north the mountains that line the west shore of the Hudson to the south the Palisades. and to the east the hills of Westchaster county. with Long Island sound beyond. On a clear day il is possible to see across Long Island and get view of the sea. When the body of General Fremont was taken to Rockland cemetery there was much talk of erecting suitable monument to mark the spot where he was buried. subsequently an effort was made to erect such monument. but 1t never got beyond supplying a base for a shaft. The base was put in position. and for a year or so means were furnished to keep the grave in order. Then interest in the movement Jagged, and there was an end to it. For several years nothing has been done with the grave. Weeds and wild grasses have grown over it until all trace of the original grave has disap- peared. One man, acting as the rep re sentative of Grand Army post here saw that the grave was properly dec oratsd with flowers on Memorial day much to the surprise of the cemetery attendants.
 General Fremont began his career In the service of his country as a teacher of mathematics on the sloop of war Natchez, and went from there to the post of teacher of maths matics on the frigate Indeps sndence, in 1885. Piesi- dent Van Buren appointed him sec ond lieutenant in the corps of topo- graphical engineers. Tn 1s42 he ex- plorsd the south pass of the Rocky mountains and did 1t with only hand full of msn. In doing that he demon strated the feasibility of overland com munication between the two sides of the continent, and opened the route to California. That feat commanded at- tention both at home and abroad. He made more extensive explorations later and in order to save the lives of his party was compelled to push through to California. On one occasion, when caught in heavy snows that baffied the Indian guides, the party was com pelled to resort to cannibalism in order to keep alive. When what was left of the party reached Sacramento every man of them was nothing more than q living skeleton.
 The then Captain Fremont took an active part in the Mexican war. He was elected a senator from California in 1S49. A year later the king of Prus- sia, through Baron Humboldt, sent him a golden medal for progress in the sciences" and he was made member of the Geographical Society of Berlin. By the Geographical Society of London he was awarded Founders medal for pre-eminent services in promoting the cause of geographical science"
 General Fremont was later nomi- mated for president of the United States and was the first republican candidate for that office. Prior to that time he had been a whig. He was defeated by James B. Buchanan.
 In 1861 General Fremont Mns ap- pointed major general by President Lincoln. He resigned from the army in 1862 and was nominated for the pres idency in 1864, but withdrew from the contest.-New York Mail and Express.
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