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A Special to
longcamp.com
A Hypothesis For the
Five Frémont Expedition Routes in the Carson Pass
Area
Peter
Lathrop, Carson City
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Frémont's second expedition spent most of
February 1844 building a trail over what would
become Carson Pass. During this time five trips
were made to the Sierra Crest to view the way ahead
to the goal of the Sacramento Valley. This paper is
an attempt to locate these vista points. The
hypothesizes presented here may go against some
long held beliefs. As has been shown with the
"sighting" of Mt. Diablo by Carson, mistakes can be
passed on from author to author without being
tested in the field. The location of each site in
this work is based upon careful reading of the
accounts of Frémont, Preuss, and Carson,
which are so conveniently correlated in Bob
Graham's The
Crossing.
This research was the basis of personal, onsite
observations taking into consideration the logic
and logistics of moving men, material, and weak
horses over snow covered mountains. Each route to a
vista site is only a hypothesis, ready to be
overturned by a better argument or new
evidence.
NOTE: New names of previously unnamed topographical
features courtesy of Heather and Brittney
Lathrop (left and center in this photo taken on
Red Lake Peak). The sites and routes are numbered
in chronological order.
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 Route
I, Charity Valley to Butterfly
Butte.
On February 6th a party including
Frémont, Carson, and Fitzpatrick explored
ahead of the rest of the company. The entire
company later followed the trail this party laid
out. Therefore the first part of the explorers'
trail would have lead to Windy Ridge and the site
of Long Camp. They would have then headed for the
nearest peak that was higher than the pass, thus
affording a view of the Valley and the Coastal
Range. This peak is Butterfly Butte, at over 9000'
elevation. It is the small peak shown in the center
of the Preuss drawing from Long Camp (see below).
On February 5th (I missed the 1844 date by one day)
I climbed Butterfly Butte and had a great view of
the Sacramento Valley and the Coast Range beyond.
The trail up Butterfly Butte is easy to see from
the east. From that direction Elephant Back (left
of center in drawing) looks unassailable. Even from
Butterfly Butte the possible route on the northwest
side cannot be seen. Having seen into the Valley
they had no need to go farther, not with a long
return trip of ten miles to be made before dark.
Furthermore, Butterfly Butte fits Frémont's
description of "one of the peaks left of the pass":
he didn't say one of the highest; in other
entries Frémont always mentioned when he
climbed the highest peak or summit.
Butterfly Butte is therefore the logical site of
Frémont's and Carson's first view of the
Valley and the Coastal Range beyond. I have
attempted the route from the butte to Elephant Back
and have, so far, been unsuccessful this winter
During milder winters a route up the northwest side
of Elephant Back looked to be passable. This year,
2006, which seems to have fit the weather reported
in 1844, I found the route to be covered with ice,
offering little secure footing and the potential
for a long, bumpy, and extremely rapid descent to
the base of the mountain below.
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Lathrop continued:
Route
II, Bernier and Godey to Elephant
Back.
Bernier and Godey "had been sent to ascend a
higher peak" and confirmed what had been seen
before. They would have most likely followed the
trail established two days before. That trail
should have been easy to follow as the
"reconnoitering party had trampled the snow as
heavily" as they could with snow shoes.
Frémont sent, i.e. ordered them to
climb a higher peak. So the peak they climbed must
have been one Frémont had seen on the 6th.
It is also unlikely that they would have gone off
in a new direction, and to where? Neither
Markleville Peak nor The Nipple offer views to the
west. Raymond and Reynolds would have required
technical climbing. Deadwood Peak would give a view
only to the southwest, is unobservable from Charity
Valley, and the trip would take too long. Round Top
(before 1890 called Alpine Peak) would also be a
very difficult climb and as has been pointed out,
would present a view of Lake Tahoe (William Brewer,
1863 survey note) and much more having a 360°
view. Bernier and Godey most likely followed the
trail toward Butterfly Butte and then found the
relatively easier way around the west side of
Elephant Back and climbed up the sunny, and much
less steep, south slope of the mountain, making its
first accent. Elephant Back is the peak shown to
the center left in the Preuss drawing. They
wouldn't have seen much new but would have been
able to "confirm" what was seen from Butterfly
Butte.
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 Route
III, Charley Preuss goes for a
look-see.
On February 12th Preuss probably followed the
established trail first to Butterfly Butte. The
view from Butterfly Butte is very accurately
represented on his map, whereas Elephant Back is
not. However there is the very slim possibility
based on mileage that Preuss then followed Bernier
and Godey's trail to the top of Elephant Back. On
the 6th Frémont recorded that they traveled
10 miles one way. All of the distances he
subsequently recorded to Long Camp add up to 8 1/2
miles. Preuss's 3 miles would give a total of 11
1/2miles. Elephant Back would be about 1 1/2miles
farther on than Butterfly Butte. Unlike the prior
adventurers, Preuss most likely did not have
snowshoes. There are snow free paths up the
steepest pitches and areas of deep snow to "work
through" in between to the butte. "Walked to an
elevation only 3 miles away" would be a Germanic
way of describing what he would have accomplished
that day. This is in keeping with the his
character. When he was lost on the descent into the
valley he expressed little worry at being lost or
by himself, but complained a lot of being hungry.
After his "walk" he had good reason to return
"completely exhausted!"
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Route IV.
Up Red Lake Peak and the discovery of Lake
Tahoe.
Route
V.
On to the Summit of Carson Pass.
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See Peter Lathrop's study of the preceeding Markleeville
to Charity Valley route.
And his look at the campsite on the East Carson River of
January 31 to February 2, 1844--Frémont's gateway
to the high mountains.
The first descent camp, February 21, 1844.
 The
route from Pyramid Lake to Bridgeport.
Kit Carson to Frémont: "There," he said, "is the
little mountain"
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Editor's
Note: Butterfly Butte is the small
center peak in the Preuss drawing. It is an
essential feature in locating the position of the
Long Camp--the advance camp occupied by
Frémont, Preuss, and a few others from
February 10 through February 20. It cannot be seen
in this relationship with Elephant back and Red
lake Peak from any other place than from
where Preuss made his picture.
