Frémont and '49 : the story of a remarkable career and its relation to the exploration and development of our western territory, especially of California . Sierra westwardto the valley of the Sacramento wherever a practical passcould be found. My decision, he writes, was heard withjoy by the people and diffused new life throughout the was still uncertain about the Buenaventura but he hadnot given up the desire to elucidate that mystery. It isevident that Carson and Fitzpatrick believed in the existenceof the river, which is strange, for both knew about Jedediah Comfort Scorned 203 Smit
Frémont and '49 : the story of a remarkable career and its relation to the exploration and development of our western territory, especially of California . Sierra westwardto the valley of the Sacramento wherever a practical passcould be found. My decision, he writes, was heard withjoy by the people and diffused new life throughout the was still uncertain about the Buenaventura but he hadnot given up the desire to elucidate that mystery. It isevident that Carson and Fitzpatrick believed in the existenceof the river, which is strange, for both knew about Jedediah Comfort Scorned 203 Smith. The next step was to cross the Sierra in winter,a task of formidable proportions, yet he could have winteredvery comfortably on Salmon Trout River, and the questionarises. Why did he not do it? There were many rabbits inthe valleys and antelope in the foothills, not to mentionpine nuts. The stock would have grown fat on the grass,and their hoofs would have become fit for rough parties could have been sent out in alldirections. But no! It was across the Sierra, regardlessof adverse conditions, that the march must be CHAPTER X ACROSS THE SIERRA NEVADA IN WINTER A Bold Project—Americans not Wanted—Fifth to Scale the Sierra—Thosewho Went Before—New Indians and Pine Nuts—Sign Language—Chilly Days—Up the Hill and Down Again—Rocks on Rocks—Snow onSnow—Famine—Dog and Mule Steaks—Through the Pass—Down theAmerican Fork—Preuss Wanders—Sutters Fort. THE stupendous range of the Sierra Nevada, attainingtowards the south an altitude of 14,500 feet, andgradually declining in height as it trends northward,presents along its entire eastern front for all these hundredsof miles a forbidding, precipitous face; the sixth and last ofthe great barriers against exploration and travel from theeastward, enumerated in an earlier chapter. Feasiblepasses are rare; at the time when Fremont made the attemptto cross, they were practically imkno
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