to the season of the year; and the hostile and warlike character attributed to the Indians about it;—­all make it a desirable object to visit and examine.  From this lake our course was intended to be about southeast, to a reported lake called Mary’s, at some days’ journey in the Great Basin; and thence, still on southeast, to the reputed Buenaventura River, which has a place in so many maps, and countenanced the belief of the existence of a great river flowing from the Rocky Mountains to the Bay of San Francisco.  From the Buenaventura the next point was intended to be in that section of the Rocky Mountains which includes the heads of Arkansas River, and of the opposite waters of the California Gulf; and thence down the Arkansas to Bent’s Fort, and home.

“This was our projected line of return—­a great part of it absolutely new to geographical, botanical, and geological science—­and the subject of reports in relation to lakes, rivers, deserts, and savages, hardly above the condition of mere wild animals, which inflamed desire to know what this terra incognita really contained.  It was a serious enterprise, at the commencement of winter, to undertake the traverse of such a region, and with a party consisting only of twenty-five persons, and they of many nations—­American, French, German, Canadian, Indian, and colored—­and most of them young, several being under twenty-one years of age.

“All knew that a strange country was to be explored, and dangers and hardships to be encountered; but no one blenched at the prospect.  On the contrary, courage and confidence animated the whole party.  Cheerfulness, readiness, subordination, prompt obedience, characterized all; nor did any extremity or peril and privation, to which we were afterward exposed, ever belie, or derogate from, the fine spirit of this brave and generous commencement.

“The course of the narrative will show at what point, and for what reasons, we were prevented from the complete execution of this plan, after having made considerable progress upon it, and how we were forced by desert plains and mountain ranges, and deep snows, far to the south and near to the Pacific Ocean, and along the western base of the Sierra Nevada; where, indeed, a new and ample field of exploration opened itself before us.”

From these quotations it is evident that Fremont had no idea of entering California at this time.  He was simply driven to it by circumstances over which he had no control.

Leaving the Dalles, Fremont followed up the Des Chutes River to its headwaters in southeastern Oregon, thence he crossed over the divide to the waters of the Klamath, which he followed southward to what is known as Klamath Marsh.  This he called “Klamath Lake.”

Now started the hunt for Mary’s Lake and the San Buenaventura River.  The party came down through southeastern Oregon into Nevada, where they camped on the night of December 26, in Coleman Valley, on what is called Twelve-Mile Creek, and about eleven miles from the present California line.  It may be noted here that at that time the parallel between Nevada and California on the south and Oregon on the north, was the southern boundary of the territory of the United States.  Fremont was, therefore, about to cross into Mexican territory.