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Guide to the Wyoming
Mountains and Wilderness Areas,
Orrin H. and Lorraine Bonney,
Sage Books, Denver, 1960
(illustrations by
longcamp.com)
Page 28,
Fremont:
 For
over a century disagreement has waged over what
peak in the Wind River Range John Charles
Fremont climbed on August 15, 1842.
Among the mountains designated for the
honor are those now known as Atlantic Peak, Wind
River Peak, Mt. Temple, Mt. Baldy (south of Cook
Lakes) , and the present Fremont Peak. None of
these is correct. Fremont's careful description
cannot be fitted to any of these and no expert
has ever been satisfied. One reason for the
difficulty was lack of knowledge of enough Wind
River climbs to make the selection. Most
climbers, like myself, had not gone into the
matter. In obtaining the correct and complete
records for this guide book, it was necessary to
do so.
The illustrations with Fremont's account
unfold a story of their own--and a mystery.
Charles Preuss, a German artist, the
Cartographer of the
expedition, prepared them.
Fremont made careful astronomical
calculations for the location of his peak. He
gave the latitude at 43°
10'18.
Following the Continental Divide to intersect
this latitude pinpoints one peak-only one-the
mountain now known as Woodrow Wilson. Clearly,
definitely, his description of the climb fits no
other peak. Fremont's own story of the climb
became an American classic. It has been
reprinted many times." We have discussed the
climb under Mr. Woodrow Wilson. (Chapt VII, Pk
154).
Right off the bat a fatal flaw: The Bonney
footnote 18 reference is to a footnote at the
bottom of page 54 in Bigelow, John, Memoir of
the Life and Public Services of John Charles
Frémont, Derby & Jackson, New York,
1856.
Bigelow's latitude 43° 10' (he tells us) was
taken from Humboldt's Aspects of Nature. No
evidence at all, but a very curious round-about
reference leading nowhere.
Or, it was taken directly from either Humboldt's
Aspects of Nature or Cosmos (Vol.V,
p. 415), which gives the same information. In any
of these case, it in no latituded observed by
Frémont (not in his Tables of
Astronomical Observartions), but an
approximated latitude taken from later published
maps.
The fact of the matter is, Frémont
arrived at Island Lake on the evening of August
13th and left on the 16th. In the Tables of
Astronomical Observations published with his
Report, we find that he made no determinations
of position between August 11 and August 17,
1842. Before and after, at Bernier's fortified
camp at Boulder Lake, he determinbed latitudes of
42° 49' 55" and 42° 47' 24"
respectively.
See Frémont, J.C., Lieutenant, A
Report on an Exploration of the Country Lying
Between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains,
on the Line of the Kansas and Great Platte
Rivers, Senate Document 243, Washington, 1843,
pp. 145-7
But, to continue, anyway......
It is interesting to note that Mt.
Woodrow Wilson forms the southerly part of the
ridge which connects with Gannett Peak, slightly
more than 200 feet higher. When approached from
the South (as Fremont did), Woodrow Wilson hides
all or most of Gannett. Even where the viewpoint
shows both summits, they blend together so
perfectly to appear as one unless a person has
actual previous knowledge of the separation.
Fremont thought he was on the highest peak. By
eye alone, it is doubtful if he could have
determined otherwise.
Fremont captioned one picture "Wind River
Chain" [View of the Wind River Mountains" is
the title in the Report--top image below]
and says he climbed the prominent snow peak in
the center. It can be identified as Mount
Woodrow Wilson with the peak now called Fremont
on the right.
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 The
picture captioned "Fremont Hoisting the Stars
and Stripes Highest Peak in the Rockies," will
be seen by the climber as an artist-licensed
representation of the summit of Woodrow Wilson
Rather than any part of Fremont Peak. Even the
snow summit of Gannett Peak is seen on the
horizon, looking through the extreme left of the
col. Not published with the original account,
this picture appeared later. This particular
print was used in W. F. Cody The Life of Kit
Carson, 1888 (Carson was a member of the
expedition). Was the picture sketched by Preuss
and later recopied by an engraver or
artist?
There is no reason to suppose that this often
seen romantic view, or any of the many variants,
including the 1888 commemorative stamp, have any
basis at all in any unpublished expedition sketch
by Charles Preuss. Preuss's views are all
landscapes, for cartographic reference--something
not possible from his own position on the summit.
Any unpublished drawings of Charles Preuss's were
in Frémont's possession and were lost in two
separate fires: the Benton home in 1855, and
Morrell's Warehouse in New York in 1881. No such
view was included in Frémont's own
elaborately illustrated 1887 Memoirs of My
Life. Preuss died in 1854, and not even his
diary was known of until it was found in Germany in
the 1954.
See some of the versions 1856-1900
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 The
picture captioned "Central Chain of the Wind
River Mountains" [lower image at right]
shows pinnacles and sharp peaks which have no
Counterpart in the region of Fremont Peak--or
Woodrow Wilson. Compare this with Finis
Mitchell's photo in this book, "The Cirque of
the Towers From the. West," which we think it
represents. Did Fremont lack a view from Island
Lake to illustrate his journal? Was this one
substituted because the Lake had an island in
it? But when did the party penetrate the
Southern Wind Rivers to make the sketch? Is the
lake shown the one now known as Dad's Lake, as
many of those familiar with the country
think?
On the contrary, the views are rather good--see
first link below.
As to Bonney & Bonney's route description of
a climb to Mt. Woodrow Wilson (p. 125, 145d), they
have failed to appreciate that Frémont's
narrative describes two separate routes--that of
the failed attempt of August 14th through Titcomb
Valley, and the successful attempt on August 15th
through Indian Basin. See the details in this next
item:
My views on the peak climbed.
Frémont Peak--the story, and more
views on the identity of the peak.
Frémont and Charles Preuss climb Red Lake
Peak in the Sierra Nevada on February 14, 1844
to look for the Sacramento Valley and discover Lake
Tahoe.
A history of Frémont 's training in
mathematics, navigation, and mapmaking.
The mountain barometer.
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