Fremont to ascertain
the elevations both of the plains and of the mountains, astronomical
observations were made to ascertain latitudes and longitudes, the
face of the country was marked as arable or sterile, the facility of
traveling and the practicability of routes noted, the grand features
of nature described and some represented in drawings, military
positions indicated, and a large contribution to geology and botany
was made in varieties of plants, flowers, shrubs, trees and grasses,
and rocks and earths, which were enumerated." The second expedition
of May, 1843, was upon a larger scale, and it was not completed until
the month of July, 1844. He was directed to extend his survey across
the continent, on the line of travel between the State of Missouri and
the tide-water region of the Columbia.
In its execution, much more ground was covered than had been
contemplated in the order. Fremont was the first person that visited
the basin of the Great Salt Lake who was able to furnish a scientific
and accurate description of the region. Von Humboldt, in his work
entitled "Aspects of Nature" (pp. 32-34) has given a summary of the
results reached by Fremont in his first and second expeditions, as
follows:
"Fremont's map and geographical researches embrace the immense tract
of land extending from the confluence of the Kansas River with the
Missouri to the cataracts of the Columbia, and the missions of Santa
Barbara and the Pueblo de los Angeles in New California, presenting a
space amounting to 28 degrees of longitude (about 1,300 miles) between
the 34th and 35th parallels of north latitude.
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