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John C. Frémont
on the Boise
River
The "Pathfinder of the West," John
Charles Frémont (1813-1890), was a young lieutenant in the U.S. Army when
assigned the task of mapping the Oregon Trail. The explorer Robert Stuart
had found the most practicable route from Missouri to Oregon in 1812, but it was
another 30 years before Americans in any great numbers began trekking west on
that trail with their wagons, their children, and their worldly possessions.
In 1843, Frémont was given the job of making a comprehensive map of the route.
The trail passed through the Boise valley through the site of the future city of Boise and then followed the stream to its juncture with the
Snake River. There was located Fort Boise, a fur-trading post established
by the Hudson's Bay Company in 1834. Frémont wrote about his experiences
in the West in a report he submitted to Congress. It was published by
order of the U.S. Senate in 1845 under the title Report of the Exploring
Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in the Year 1842, and to Oregon and North
California in the Years 1843-'44. Reproduced at the links below is
Frémont's account of his travel through the Boise valley, October 7-8, 1843.
View Frémont's
map of the Oregon Trail through the Boise valley
View the web exhibit,
The Boise River on 19th Century Maps
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Special Collections Department
This page last changed: 8 May 2006
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