John C. Fremont

John C. Fremont was one of the most famous explorers of the nineteenth century. With a team of mapmakers, scientists, soldiers and scout Kit Carson, he explored the Oregon Trail in 1842 and 1843. His lively accounts told of five great expeditions including his monumental climb of Fremont Peak in the Wyoming Rockies, crossing the Great Salt Lake in a raft, and fighting Indians in the Mohave Desert.

In this account from his journal of the first expedition, the great explorer chronicled his ascent of one of the tallest peaks of the Rockies. The expedition was almost out of food, and the ten-thousand-foot altitude was making Fremont and his men violently sick with headaches and vomiting. Fremont pushed on past undiscovered lakes and waterfalls, taking scientific measurements of position and altitude as he went along. After a breakfast of dried...