Without entering upon the duties of the
place, he declined the position, and accepted the post of surveyor and
railroad engineer upon the railway line between Charleston and Augusta.
In 1838 and 1839 he was associated with M. Nicollet, a Frenchman and a
member of the Academy of Science, in an exploring expedition over the
Northwestern prairie and along the valley of the Mississippi. During
his absence, he was appointed by President Van Buren a second
lieutenant in the corps of topographical engineers. Upon his return
from the Upper Mississippi, and for the period of a year, he was
engaged with Nicollet and Mr. Hassler, then the head of the Coast
Survey, in the arrangement of the scientific materials that had been
collected during the expedition, and in the preparation of a map and
a report. In 1842 he was directed by Colonel Abert, the chief of the
topographical corps, to make an exploration of the Northwestern
frontier of the State of Missouri to the Rocky Mountains, and with
special reference to an examination of what was known as South Pass in
those mountains. This expedition was on a small scale, consisting of
twenty-one men only, most of whom were of French extraction. In this
expedition he traced the waters of the Platte to the South Pass, which
he reached the 8th of August. It was stated by Dr. Linn, then a
Senator from the State of Missouri, that "over the whole course of the
road barometrical observations were made by Mr.
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