volley of musketry told of their reception. In about ten or fifteen minutes afterward, a third volley was fired, the mob now mainly left the streets, and gathered in separate crowds at different points in the vicinity. After the third discharge a company of light artillery arrived and posted their cannon so as to sweep every street in the neighbourhood.

After the firing had ceased, and the military had firmly occupied the ground, the rioters were scattered in squads through the streets, arming themselves with stones, and striving to arouse the indignation of the thousands who had assembled as spectators. They met, however, with but slight success. The crowd numbered it is supposed about twenty-five thousand persons; but it is supposed that but about five hundred took an active part in the riot; and of these half were boys. The whole number of the military engaged was about two hundred and ten. The number of persons killed, was nineteen.

154. Colonel Fremont's Expeditions.

The first expedition of John C. Fremont was made to the Rocky mountains in 1842, under the authority of the government of the United States. The object of this expedition was to explore the country lying between the Missouri river and the Rocky mountains, on the line of the Kansas and Great Platte rivers. Captain Fremont's party consisted of about twenty-five persons, mostly of French descent, principally creole and Canadian voyageurs, who had become familiar with prairie life in the service of the fur-companies in the Indian country. Christopher Carson (more familiarly known, for his exploits in the mountains, as Kit Carson) was the guide of the expedition. The company assembled at St. Louis, and thence they proceeded in a steamboat about four hundred miles near to Chouteau's trading-house, whence on the 10th of June they departed to explore the country. After an interesting journey, they on the 8th of

August came to the South Pass, and on the 15th Captain Fremont ascended the highest peak of the Rocky mountains, 13,570 feet above the gulf of Mexico.

Captain Fremont, in describing the ascent, says: "We rode on until we came almost immediately below the main peak, which I denominated the 'Snow-Peak,' as it exhibited more snow to the eye than any of the neighbouring summits. Here were three small lakes of a green colour, each of perhaps a thousand yards in diameter, and apparently very deep. . . . We managed to get our mules up to a little bench about a hundred feet above the lakes, where there was a patch of good grass, and turned them loose to graze. . . . Having divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we commenced the ascent. This time, like experienced travellers, we did not press ourselves, but climbed leisurely, sitting down so soon as we found breath beginning to fail. At intervals we reached places where a number of springs gushed from the rocks, and about eighteen hundred feet above the lakes came to the snow-line. From this point our progress was uninterrupted climbing. . . . Here I put on a light, thin pair of moccasins, as the use of our toes became necessary to a further advance. I availed myself of a sort of comb of the mountain, which stood against the wall as a buttress, and which the wind and the solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the smooth rock, had kept almost entirely from snow. Up this I made my way rapidly. In a few minutes we reached a point where the buttress was overhanging, and there was no other way of surmounting the difficulty than by passing around one side of it, which was the face of a vertical precipice of several hundred feet.

...

'Putting my hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded in getting over it, and when I reached the top, found my companions in a small valley below. Descending to them, we continued climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I sprang upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated me into an immense field below. . . . As soon as I had gratified the first feelings of curiosity, I descended, and each

man ascended in his turn; for I would only allow one at a time to mount the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath would hurl into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in the snow of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the national flag to wave in the breeze where never a flag waved before. ... A stillness the most profound, and a terrible solitude, forced themselves constantly on the mind, as the great features of the place. . . . The day was sunny and bright, but a bright, shining mist hung over the lower plains, which interfered with our view of the surrounding country. On one side we overlooked innumerable lakes and streams, the spring of the Colorado of the gulf of California; and on the other was the Wind-river valley, where were the heads of the Yellowstone branch of the Missouri. Far to the north, we could just discover the snowy heads of the Trois Tetons, where were the sources of the Missouri and Columbia rivers; and at the southern extremity of the ridge the peaks were plainly visible, among which were some of the springs of the Nebraska or Platte river. Around us, the whole scene had one main striking feature, which was that of terrible convulsion. . . . We had accomplished an object of laudable ambition, and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We had climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky mountains, and looked down upon the snow below; and, standing where never human foot had stood before, we felt the exultation of first explorers." After making some examination in the vicinity, the party returned to Missouri after an absence of four months.

Second Expedition.-The second expedition of Captain Fremont was made to Oregon and north California, in the years 1843-'44. The party amounted in all to thirty-nine men, consisting principally of creole and Canadian French, and Americans. The party set out from Kansas, a little town on the Missouri frontier, their route being up the valley of the Kansas river, to the head of the Arkansas, and to some pass in the mountains (if any could be found) at the sources of that river. On the

13th of August, they crossed the Rocky mountains at the South Pass, on the Oregon road, about fourteen hundred miles from the Columbia river, by the travelled routebeing about half way between the Mississippi and the Pacific ocean.

As the party drew near to the Great Salt Lake, they descended Bear river, which at its entrance was spread out into several branches, covering the low grounds with water, where the miry nature of the bottom did not permit any further advance. The river was bordered with a fringe of willows and canes, among which were interspersed a few plants. The whole morass was animated with multitudes of sea-fowl, which appeared to be very wild-rising for the space of a mile around about at the sound of a gun, with a noise like distant thunder. . . . On the 6th of September they ascended an eminence, and immediately at their feet beheld the object of their anxious search-the waters of the Inland sea stretching in still and solitary grandeur far beyond the limit of their vision. "It was," says Captain Fremont, "one of the great points of the exploration; and as we looked eagerly over the lake in the first emotions of pleasure, I am doubtful if the followers of Balboa felt more enthusiasm when, from the heights of the Andes, they saw for the first time the great western ocean. It was certainly a magnificent object, and a noble terminus to this part of our expedition; and to travellers so long shut up in mountain-ranges, a sudden view over the expanse of the silent waters had in it something sublime."

After making some interesting explorations on the lake, the party resumed their route to the mouth of the Columbia. On the 4th of November, they came to the termination of their land journey westward. From this point they proceeded down the river in boats to Fort Vancou ver, and were hospitably received by Dr. M'Laughlin, the executive officer of the Hudson Bay Company west of the Rocky mountains. On the 25th of November, the party, twenty-five in number, set out on their return by a southern route to the United States. Leaving the Co lumbia river, they passed to the southeastward of the

Cascade range of mountains, to the Pass in the Sierra Nevada, where the party encamped on the summit February 20, 1844, being one thousand miles south from the Dalles of the Columbia.

From this point they proceeded westward toward San Francisco. While passing this mountainous range, the party suffered severely. Some of the men became bewildered and deranged from extremity of suffering. Some of their horses perished; others of their horses and mules, ready to die of starvation, were killed for food: yet there was no murmuring or hesitation.

"On the 6th of March," says Captain Fremont, “we came unexpectedly into a large Indian village, where the people looked clean, and wore cotton shirts and various other articles of dress. They immediately crowded around us, and we had the inexpressible delight to find one who spoke a little indifferent Spanish, but who at first confounded us by saying there were no whites in the country; but just then a well-dressed Indian came up and made his salutations in very well-spoken Spanish. In answer to our inquiries, he informed us that we were upon the Rio de los Americanos (the river of the Americans), and that it joined the Sacramento about ten miles below. Never did a name sound more sweetly! We felt ourselves among our countrymen; for the name of American in these distant parts is applied to the citizens of the United States. To our eager inquiries, he answered, 'I am a vaquero (cowherd) in the service of Captain Sutter, and the people of this rancheria work for him.' Our evident satisfaction made him communicative; and he went on to say that Captain Sutter was a very rich man, and always glad to see his country-people. We asked for his house. He answered that it was just over the hill before us; and offered, if we would wait a moment, to take his horse and conduct us to it. We readily accepted his civil offer. In a short time we came in sight of the fort; and passing on the way the house of a settler on the opposite side (a Mr. Sinclair), we forded the river, and in a few miles were met a short distance from the fort by Captain Sutter himself. He gave us a most