12 Conservative.
they continue to cotno to light , for it
seems a rather cnrious thing and not
altogether easy to explain. Why should
Captain Fremont have the popular re
nown of being the one and only dis
coverer of the West , rather than Lewis
and Olark , Pike , Wilson Price Hunt ,
Bouneville , Emory , Oarson , Bridger , or
any other of a score of names ? Is it
that ho was especially endeared to a
large class during his presidential can
didacy ? It would be curious to know.
One of the last instances that have
come to the writer's notice is found in
Mr. G. L. Brown's excellent historical
sketch of Batler county , in volume IV
of the Nebraska State Historical Society's
reports. It is the statement that "prob
ably the exploring party of Gen. John
O. Fremont were the first whites who
stepped upon Butler county soil. " This
is of course not offered as a positive
historical verity , but it illustrates the
prevalence of the Fremont idea in every
quarter. As to the fact , since fur
traders had been making a highway of
the Platte for fifty years before Fremont
appeared on the scene , it is hardly to be
doubted that some of them may have
stepped ashore at some time on its right
bank in Butler county ; and there , too ,
were the missionaries who had been
among the Pawnees for ten years , not
to mention the Spanish explorers. But
the odd thing about the statement is
that Fremont never did stand in Butler
county , at least with an exploring party.
He could have done so only on his first
expedition , and then he passed far to the
south in going out and came down the
opposite bank of the Platte in returning.
Another instance has been noticed in
a book by an elderly British officer ,
Major Price , who went shooting I u Wy
oming with General Coppinger of the
U. S. army , in the summer of 1897. In
the course of their travels they passed
by Independence Rock , and the Major
says : "General Fremont camped here
on the 4th of July , 1848 , and meeting a
train of emigrants on their way to Cali
fornia , made them a speech , and named
the rock Independence in honour of the
day. " His year is wrong to begin with ,
for Fremont was far from there in 1818.
But all the rest is wrong too , so much
HO that the only thing worth considering
is where he got his information ; whore
could he have gotten it save from his
companions ? And do army officers of
General Ooppinger's rank really believe
that Fremont named Independence
Hock ? That was one of the most noted of
landmarks throughout the fur-trading
and freighting periods , and it would
seem that anyone at all' well posted
ought to know that it bore its name long
before Fremont's day. A few travelers
who so speak of it that occur to me are
the Reverend Mr. Parker in 1835 ;
Thomas J. Farnham in 1889 j Father De
Smet in 1841.
These all agree fairly wall also as to
the way in which it got the title , namely ,
that a party of early traders camped
under it on one fourth of July. One ac
count says that this party was led by one
Thorp , and that it was the first to cross
the continent by way of the Platte , but
this seems too free a statement. Thorp ,
at least , has never come to the writer's
notice elsewhere. Another says that
they carved the word "Independence"
and their own names upon the rook , and
many , Fremont in 1842 among them ,
mention this use of it as an autograph
album. Since the rook is a mass of
solid granite , this ought to be easy to
verify , for any names that were ever
carved on it must be there yet. But
how were trappers equipped for making
inscriptions in solid granite ?
Captain Fremont's Fourth of July's
in that region are , moreover , easily ac
counted for. In 1842 he spent the day
near North Flatte , and had macaroni
soup and rich fruit cake for dinner. The
next year he celebrated it with Colonel
St. Vrain at his trading-post , and in
1844 at Bent's Fort.
And now we come to what is probably
the explanation of the matter. I have
not Fremont's own account of his third
expedition , that of 1846 ; but in Lieut.
J. W. Abert's notes of the California
invasion of 1840 , I find the following
passage. "At 10 o'clock , having marched
15 miles , we reached Independence
creek , so called by Colonel Fremont in
consequence of our encamping here on
the 4th of July , one year previous. "
And that seems to me to tell the story.
Instead of its being Rook Independence
in Wyoming that Fremont named , it
was Independence creek , a slender
watercourse in or about Osage county ,
Kansas , which apparently did not stay
christened very long , for there is no ap
pearance of such a name on the maps of
today.
Almost humorous , in view of the gen
erosity of the public mind toward this
explorer , is the suggestion of another
writer in volume IV of the Reports ,
that Nebraska might well name a coun
ty after Captain Fremont. He thinks
our omission to do so constitutes a
"striking vacancy" in the nomenclature
of the counties.
A. T. RICHARDSON.
Nebraska City , Neb. , Aug. 20 , 1900.
Ripans Tabules actually do much
good. This is not a mere supposition ,
it is a fact. Thousands of just such
plain , straightforward statements
as Ihe one given below from a Chicago
cage , Ills. , housekeeper prove it.
< 4I was completely run down in
health. My complexion was sallow ,
I hod dark rings under my eyes and
appstite was such that I became
almost a skeleton. Tonics and
woman's medicines did me no good ,
although expensive. Since taking
Ripans Tabules my appetite has
come back and I feel stronger and
better than for five years. "
