On the Trail with Fremont and Carson

John Charles Fremont and Kit Carson led an expedition in 1842 to map out the Oregon Trail.  They traveled the familiar route along the Platte River, crossed South Pass and explored the West River Range where they climbed the peak later named Mount Fremont.  These side trips were not part of Fremont's instructions but they were good promotion.  On the return trip Fremont rashly insisted on shooting the rapids on the Platte River in a rubber boat.  The boat overturned, records were lost along with costly scientific equipment and specimens.

Fremont did compile an accurate report of the expedition of the Oregon Trail with route maps and campsites for each day's journey.  It was also a colorful adventure story - starring Fremont and superscout Carson.  It was an immediate bestseller.  Was Fremont's purpose to write a great adventure or map out territory for the government?

A second expedition a year later attempted in vain to find a passage through the Central Rockies and explore the Great Salt Lake region ending at Marcus Whitman's Oregon mission.  Fremont and Carson picked up supplies at Fort Vancouver, followed the eastern foothills of the Cascades down to Nevada.  They then made a foolhardy crossing of the Sierra Nevada in midwinter barely making it through alive.  The final report, although it corrected some of the mistakes of earlier maps, contained many errors.  Nevertheless it was a immediate hit with the public...

Fremont and Carson were only half finished...

Next time...Expedition #3 and #4
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On March 27, 1911, In one of the darkest moments of America's industrial history, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burns down, killing 145 workers. The tragedy led to the development of a series of laws and regulations that better protected the safety of factory workers.

The Paiutes Incident

Captain Walker encountered the Paiute Indians, who began following his group of men. Supposedly fascinated by their equipment, the Indians began to be adept at pilfering - but Walker refused his men vengeance .

Bill Craig, Levin Mitchell, and Crazy Bill Williams in particular, those with a murderous reputation, decided while hunting one day that they would kill a few Paiutes against the Captain's orders.  They did it again the next day but this time Walker caught on.  It is not known what discipline Walker meted out, but the killings stopped abruptly.  

That's not the end of the story...

The next morning the Paiutes were back at Walker's camp.  Walker and his men were moving camp and the Indians would cut in front of them to delay the move.  80-100 Paiutes came forward which made Walker quite nervous, but his cool temperament ruled and he gave orders for the charge. When it was all over 30 Paiute lay dead in the field, and the remainder ran into the high grass in every direction howling like wolves.    
 
What could or should have been done on that day is a matter of judgment in the history books.  Walker lived it first hand, his critics of the day did not.  He accomplished what needed to be done - the Paiutes were gone and his party continued crossing the Humboldt River on rafts through regions where no white man had ever gone before, passing what later became Carson Lake, Walker Lake and Walker River, toward the mountains.  

Next time - Out of Options...