Frémont's
Route Across the Great Basin in 1854
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1848:
"These mountains are not
explored, being only seen from
elevated points on the
northern exploring
line."
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1854:
"Although biased in favor of
the Virgin river route, I
determined to examine this one
in the interest of
geography."
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Larger with route below
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LETTER
OF
J. C.
FREMONT
TO
THE EDITORS OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER
COMMUNICATING
Some General Results of a Recent Expedition
Across the Rocky Mountains, for the Survey of a
Route for a Railroad to the Pacific
33d Congress
[SENATE] Misc. Doc. No. 67,
JUNE 15,1854.
Pages 5-6, route description (my
emphases):
"At this point [Parowan, Utah]
the line of exploration entered the third or
western section, comprehending the  mountainous
plateau between the Wahsatch mountains and the
Sierra Nevada of California. Two routes here
suggested themselves to me for examination: one
directly across the plateau, between the 37th and
38th parallels; the other keeping to the south of
the mountains, and following for about two hundred
miles down a valley of' the Rio Virgin--Virgin
river--thence direct to the Tejon Pass, at the head
of' the San Joaquin valley. This route down the
Virgin river had been examined the year before,
with a view to settlement this summer by a Mormon
exploring party under the command of Major Steele,
of Parowan, who (and others of' the party) informed
me that they found fertile valleys inhabited by
Indians who cultivated corn and melons, and the
rich ground in many places matted over with
grapevines. The Tejon Passes are two, one of them
(from the abundance of vines at its lower end)
called Caxon de las Uvas [today's I-5
"Grapevine" route]. They were of long use, and
were examined by me and their practicability
ascertained by my expedition of 1848--'49 ; and in
1851 I again passed through them both, bringing
three thousand head of cattle through one of
them.
"Knowing the practicability of' these passes,
and confiding in the report of Major Steele as to
the intermediate country, I determined to take
the other  (between
the 37th and 38th parallels,) it recommending
itself to me as being more direct towards San
Francisco, and preferable on that account for a
road, if suitable ground could be found; and also
as being unknown, the Mormons informing me that
various attempts had been made to explore it, and
all failed for want of water. A lthough
biased in favor of the Virgin river route, I
determined to examine this one in the interest of
geography, and accordingly set out for this
purpose from the settlement about the 20th of
February, travelling directly westward from Cedar
City, (eighteen miles west of Parowan. We found
the country a high table land, bristling with
mountains, often in short isolated blocks, and
sometimes accumulated into considerable ranges,
with numerous open and low passes.
"We were thus always in a valley, and always
surrounded by mountains more or less closely, which
apparently altered in shape and position as we
advanced. The valleys are dry and naked, without
water or wood; but the mountains are generally
covered with grass and well wooded with pines.
Springs are very rare, and occasional small streams
are at remote distances. Not a human being was
encountered between the Santa Clara road near the
Mormon settlements and the Sierra Nevada, over a
distance of more than three hundred miles. The
solitary character of this uninhabited region, and
naked valleys without water courses, among
mountains with fertile soil and grass and woods
abundant, give it the appearance of an unfinished
country.
"Commencing at the 38th [parallel], we
struck the Sierra Nevada on about the 37th parallel
about the 15th March. On our route across we had
for the greater pat of the time pleasant and rather
warm weather; the valley grounds and low ridges
uncovered, but snow over the upper parts of the
higher mountains. Between the 20th of February and
17th of March we had several snow storms, sometimes
accompanied with hail and heavy thunder; but the
snow remained on the valley grounds only a few
hours after the storm was over. It forms not the
least impediment at any time of the winter."
Here is that route and range shown on the
1886 Map Showing Country Explored by John
Charles Frémont From 1841 through 1854
Inclusive, Drawn and Engraved Expressly for
Frémont's Memoirs by A Zeese &
Company in Chicago.
When Frémont and Charles Preuss
constructed the 1848
Map of Oregon and Upper California, the
depicted east-west transverse range that was shown
as the southern boundary carried the caveat
"These mountains [also titled "Range" on the
map] are not explored, being only seen from
elevated points on the northern exploring
line."
So, in 1854, Frémont did explore it. It
is interesting to note that this 5th expedition
route is only route shown on the 1886 map that
includes the astronomical stations (my arrows.)
Apparently Frémont himself considered this
important!
The conjectured transverse range of the 1848 map
has been replaced by an observed east-west ranging
string of detached
mountains.
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 The
24" x 24" 1886 map at a scale of about 1:3000000
appeared only in Memoirs of My
 Life,
John Charles Frémont, Belford, Clark &
Company, Chicago, 1887. First appearance of the
Memoirs, a very expensive production, was the first
of ten parts issued semi-monthly by subscription
beginning January 1886 in the wrappers shown above.
The complete bound volume (right) followed. This
was Volume I of two planned volumes, but, because
of poor sales, the second volume was never printed.
A pity, because we would have much more detail of
the later expeditions and events after 1847, and
the extensive artwork produced from the drawings of
Edward and Richard Kern and the daguerreotypes of
Soloman
Nuñes Carvalho, who painted this
portrait of General Frémont in 1864 for the
Metropolitan Fair, the
forerunner of the New York Metropolitan
Museum, to be auctioned "for
the benefit the Sick and Wounded
Soldiers."
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The journals of Lewis and Clark, May
23rd, 1805: "This creek [Teapot
creek] seems to come from a range
of low hills, which run from east to
west for 70 miles..."
"Lewis has here in view certain
mountains, which to his line of vision
seem continuous, but they are not." Elliot
Coues, editor, 1893.
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Frémont and the Great Basin:
- Blodget, Lorin, Climatology of the United
States and the Temperate Latitudes of the North
American Continent, J. B. Lippincott and
Co., Philadelphia: 1857.
- Cline, Gloria Griffin, Exploring the
Great Basin, University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman, 1963 (and University of Nevada Press
reprint 1988)
- Francaviglia, Richard. V., Mapping and
Imagination in the Great Basin: a Cartographic
History, University of Nevada Press, Reno,
2005.
- Frémont, Brevet Captain J. C.,
Report of The Exploring Expedition to the
Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon
and North California in the Years 1843-'44,
Printed by order of the Senate of the United
States (Senate Document No. 174), Gales and
Seaton, Washington, 1845. Contains the 1845
Frémont/Preuss map.
 Frémont,
John Charles, Geographical Memoir Upon Upper
California, Senate. 30th Congress, Misc.
No.148, Wendell and Van Benthuysen, Washington,
1848. Contains the 1848 Frémont/Preuss
map.- Frémont, John Charles, Memoirs of
My Life, Belford, Clark & Company,
Chicago, 1887.
- J. C. Frémont, Letter of J. C.
Frémont to The Editors of the National
Intellengencer Communicating Some General
Results of a Recent Expedition Across the Rocky
Mountains, for the Survey of a Route for a
Railroad to the Pacific, U.S. Senate, 33rd
Congress, Misc. Document No. 67, 1854.
- Fletcher, F. N., Early Nevada--the Period
of Exploration, 1776-1848, Reno, 1929.
- Hine, Robert V., In the Shadow of
Frémont: Edward Kern and the Art of
Exploration. 1845-1860, University of
Oklahoma Press, Noeman, 1982.
- Jackson, Donald, and Mary Lee Spence, The
Expeditions of John Charles Frémont: Vol.
I, Travels from 1838 to 1844; Vol. II, The Bear
Flag Revolt and the Court-Martial,
University of Illinois Press, 1970.
- Jackson, Donald, The Expeditions of John
Charles Frémont: Map Portfolio,
University of Illinois Press, 1970. Full size
facsimiles of the 1839-40, 1843, 1845, 1848, and
7-section map of the road to Oregon.
- Jepson, Willis Linn, A Manual of the
Flowering Plants of California, University
Of California Press, (1925), 1953.
- Kelly, Charles, Salt Desert Trails,
Western Printing Co., Salt Lake City, 1930.
- McPhee, John, Basin and Range, New
York: Farrar Straus, 1981.
- Preuss, Charles, Exploring With
Frémont, Translated by Erwin G. and
Elisabeth K., Gudde, University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman, 1958.
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The
Frémont-Preuss maps defining the
Great Basin--1845 and 1848.
Frémont's
expedition: the Reports.
