, and Charleston to Cincinnati. Then he accompanied an army
detachment on a military reconnoissance of the mountainous Cherokee
country in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee, made in the depth of
winter. In 1838-9 he accompanied M. Nicollet in explorations of the
country between the Missouri and the British line, and his first detail
of any importance, after he had been commissioned by President Van
Buren, was to make an examination of the river Des Moines, then on the
Western frontier. In 1841 he projected his first trans-continental
expedition, and left Washington May 2, 1842, and accomplished the object
of his trip, examined the South Pass, explored the Wind River mountains,
ascended in August, the highest peak of that range, now known as
Fremont's Peak, and returned, after an absence of four months. His
report of the expedition attracted great attention in the United States
and abroad. Fremont began to plan another and a second expedition. He
determined to extend his explorations across the continent; and in May,
1843, commenced his journey with thirty-nine men, and September 6, after
traveling over 1,700 miles, arrived at the Great Salt Lake; there made
some important discoveries, and then pushed on to the upper Columbia,
down whose valley he proceeded to Fort Vancouver, near its mouth. On
Nov. 10, he set out to return East, selecting a southeasterly course,
leading from the lower part of the Columbia to the upper Colorado,
through an almost unknown region, crossed by high and rugged mountains.
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