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Free Men. Free
Soil. Frémont!
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Miscellaneous
articles by Bob
Graham relating how the study of navigational and
hypsometrical technologies available to navigators and
surveyors of earlier historical periods can lead to the
discovery of lost sites, or the identification of disputed
sites, and other neat stuff.
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See
also the Recents Button in the navigation
bar.
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Excerpts from The
Crossing. This will change to other days from
time to time.
HYPSOMETRY: A study of the mid-nineteenth century
methods of determining elevations used by Frémont in
his surveys, the source of the errors which resulted, and
how they can can be corrected to yield new and valuable
information.
I have just added the results of a simple practical
experiment in the use of the thermometer for determining
elevation. It will be found at the bottom of this
article.
Go to it directly
Also new links to Brewer's and Williamsons's work.
 This
article is adapted fromTHE
CROSSING. This site, and many of the
articles in it, are a companion to the book at
right. The
New Edition November
2000.
The MOUNTAIN BAROMETER. A description of
Frémont's barometers and of a remarkable field
repair in 1842.
Handy formulas to determine elevation by barometer
or boiling point and to reduce upper level barometric
readings to mean sea level equivalent.
Hypsometrical results from the 1855 Sierra Nevada
wagon road survey by George H. Goddard and Sherman
Day.
SOME VIEWS ON THE PEAK CLIMBED IN THE WIND RIVER CHAIN OF
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS IN 1842
 Frémont
Peak, or Mount Woodrow Wilson? Which was it?
Much new material has been recently
added: including a link to a new page which
examines the approach route from the astronomical station
established on the New Fork River near Two
Buttes.
Four different opinions presented, including an
examination of Bonney & Bonney's 1960 determination for
Mt. Woodrow Wilson. Includes a record of the baromeric
determinations made on the climb, compass bearings
recorded, and a summary of Expedition movements in the
area.
Much is added re the routes and new DEM renderings.
THE OTHER FREMONT PEAK:
"Facts
more terrible than thunder! Lightning, hurricanes, volcanic
eruptions! Hear! Hear! Great news! War! Capt.
Frémont of the United States Topographical Corps with
sixty or more mounted riflemen has fortified himself on the
heights between San Juan and Don Joaquin Gomez' rancho..."
Capt. Weber to John Marsh.
The beginnings of a new and deeper look at the location of
the Gabilan [Gabvilan, Hawks] Peak incident of March
1846. This is in progress, and will contain input from
Darrell Boyle, a local landowner (Gabilan Cattle Company)
and California State Parks historian Matt Bischoff. There
will be photos added after a perusal of the area.
GPS, LATITUDE, and the Discovery of Frémont's Long
Camp.The Long Camp was reached by the advance party on
February 10, 1844 and was occupied through the 19th as the
road up from Markleeville (nearly twenty miles) was
constructed to get the horses and mules up the steep canyon
and across the deep snow. It was the base used for
explorations ahead. From the nearby peaks the Central Valley
was in view to the west, and Lake Tahoe was first seen to
the north east.
An examination of previous attempts at location the
route and camps added.
Hiking directions to Frémont's Long Camp.
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Frémont's Long Camp is now a
GEOCACHING site.
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 Click
the GEOCACHING icon to visit the page.
Anyone with a GPS device can participate in this
popular new hobby. There are probably many
geocaches right near you. Geocacher LFlood found
it: Thank you for your scholarship and efforts
to preserve our history. This is a highly deserving
cache location. I'm glad it is still in its
pristine state.
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Brief biographies on some of the men:
Frémont, Carson, Preuss, Godey, and
Fitzpatrick.
THE ROUTE FROM MARKLEEVILLE: A walking examination
following Frémont's narrative of the 1844 winter
route from Markleeville to Charity Valley and the first view
of Carson Pass. Contains photographs, maps, and the
location of a new campsite discovery. The place where Washoe
Indians told Frémont that he could not make it across
the mountains -- "Rock upon rock. Snow upon snow."
Also, an assessment of the route itself, comparing it to
later wagon roads.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE 1844 ROUTE FROM MARKLEEVILLE TO CARSON
PASS. This presents an examination of a determination
of latitude on February 5th, 1844 which is the key to
the route and to the reported distances traveled. It
reconciles the travel distances reported in the narrative
with the distances reported in the Table of Distances. It
reconciles the stages/camps shown on the expedition maps
with the actual campsites as reported in the narrative.
This answers what had been my own biggest puzzle for five
years!
Mount Diablo--Carson's the little mountain?
An examination by Bob Graham and Peter Lathrop.
WHO DISCOVERED CARSON PASS?
LAKE TAHOE DISCOVERED! Two accounts:
Frémont's narrative of February 14, 1844, and a
recent climb of Red Lake Peak by Peter Lathrop of Carson
City, NV.
SNOWSHOES. Frémont used them to
scale the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1844. Where did
he get them?
How bad does a starved mule taste without
salt?
What is THE FRÉMONT REPORT?
Frémont's contributions to METEOROLOGY;
seminal work, but a Definitive result.
Includes evidence of possible climatic changes.
Frémont's contributions to BOTANY. "Among
Frémont's most lasting and important works are
those in the field of botany, a field large largly
ignored by his boigraphers." Stanley L. Welsh
BUNCOMBE
DEPARTMENT: "Jessie really wrote the
Report." Calumny lingers still.
Note: Alan H. Hartley, a researcher for the
Oxford English Dictionary, from Duluth, Minnesota,
tells us at longcamp.com that Frémont's Reports
(The Expeditions of John Charles Frémont,
Jackson & Spence edition), Geographical Memoir
upon Upper California, and Memoirs of My Life,
and Torrey's Plantae Frémontianae have
yielded nearly 600 citations for possible inclusion in
the OED.
The FIRST (and little-known) biography of Kit Carson,
1847.
LONGITUDE AND THE BUENAVENTURA
RIVER, or Frémont's Determination of
Coordinates. A study of the mid-nineteenth
century methods of determining positional coordinates used
by Frémont in his surveys.
Was Frémont really looking for the Buenaventura
River?
HOW
DID FRÉMONT BECOME A SURVEYOR AND MAP MAKER? AND,
HOW GOOD WAS HE? A look at his education and training
in mathematics and science.
WATCHING THE HEAVENS CHANGE.
How polaris has moved 2 degrees closer to the
celestial pole during recorded California history, and
why Frémont got up at 3:00 a.m. and stand in the
snow to sight polaris--hadn't it there all night
long?
HOW DOES LONGITUDE BY CHRONOMETER WORK?
WHAT IS AN ARTIFICIAL HORIZON?
FRÉMONT BIOGRAPHICAL information start here.
A MAN TOO POPULAR: Frémont's Capitulation
of Couenga and Emancipation Proclamation.
THE FAMOUS RIDE of Frémont, Jacob Dodson, and
don Jesús Pico.
 MOUNTAIN
HOWITZER: About the
Lost (?) Frémont
Cannon.
Added recent information on the history of the Mountain
Howitzer in the West submitted to this site
by Lt. Col. Paul R. Rosewitz,
Field Artillery, U.S. Army, Military Education Quota
Manager, in St. Louis, MO.
From the 2000 edition of THE
CROSSING: A HIGHWAY GUIDE to the route
across the Sierra in 1844. Visit many of the sites by
automobile.
CANYON ROADS ALONG THE SOUTH FORK OF THE AMERICAN
RIVER
I have added some information and photographs on the
roads through the canyon of the South Fork of the American
River along the route that the Frémont Expedition
traveled between February 23rd and 26th in 1844. From 1852
until present, this has been an area of intense road
building. Under construction.
FROM THE DRAKE
LANDING SITE PROJECT:
 DETERMINATION
OF LATITUDE BY FRANCIS DRAKE ON THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA IN
1579:
An article describing a study of the navigational methods of
Francis Drake on his voyage of circumnavigation. The source
of errors that Drake unavoidably made in his determinations
of latitude can now be corrected, and the sites of his
landfalls which have been in dispute by historians can now
be located with precision. A particular focus of this
article is the verification of Brian Kelleher's
identification of Drake's landfall on the northern
California coast in the summer of 1579 at Campbell Cove on
Bodega Head.
 Also
available as a pdf download (27 pages, 756KB) for viewing
or printing.
AN EXPERIMENT IN THE DETERMINATION OF LATITUDE:
This is a followup to the proceeding article, in which
the conclusions made therein are put to practical test
that may be repeated by anyone wishing to go to the
trouble.
A DAY AT THE COVE: An actual on-site demonstration of
the determination af latitude with an astrolabe at
Campbell Cove before a group of interested
spectators.
See a comparison of the TABLES OF SOLAR
DECLINATION by Martin Cortes with those of William
Bourne.
WATCHING THE HEAVENS CHANGE.
How polaris has moved 2 degrees closer to the
celestial pole during recorded California history, and
why Frémont got up at 3:00 a.m. to sight
polaris--wasn't it there all night long?
THOREAU
Here is one at IronOrchid
that I originally did in 1990 for The
Chronicle of the Early American Industries
Association:
DOMESTIC ARCHEOLOGY IN CONCORD; Thoreau and the Hunt
House.
And one from the Mocotagan
website on Thoreau's observations on birch canoes and canoe
building.
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