Memoirs of My Life and Times
I find it impossible to describe the hardships through which we passed, nor am I capable of doing justice to the credit which Fremont deserves (Christopher "Kit" Carson, legendary mountain man and Fremont's guide)John Charles Fremont was the explorerextraordinaireof the first half of the nineteenth century...In Fremont's time, west of the awesome Missippi-Missouri River system was seemingly endless, featureless void, shown on maps as the ' Great American Desert.'...By his explorations Fremont revealed the true nature of this desert. He shrank the region into something comprehensible and showed the nation that it might be habitable. This, undoubtedly, was his greatest achievement.The republication of the "Pathfinder's" fascinating 1887Memoirsopens a window to the past and reveals vivid descriptions of panoramic sites and virgin landscapes never before seen by a white man. These help show the contemporary reader the true importance and far-reaching significance of Fremont's bold explorations in encouraging Western settlement. (History Teacher)