The men and the mountain;: Fremont's fourth expedition

by William Brandon

337 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

William Brandon was an American writer and historian.

During his long career Brandon published a variety of short fiction, essays, and poetry, which appeared in magazines such as Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The Saturday Evening Post, and Reader's Digest. However, he is best known for his historical work documenting Native Americans and the American West. Although Brandon's formal education ended after high school, his scholarship was sufficiently respected that he was from 1966–1967 a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts, and later conducted a seminar series on Native American literature at California State College in Long Beach, California.

Brandon died in Clearlake, California, on 11 April 2002, of cancer.



-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great history, very dated. Names of the passes in the La Garita Wilderness area are no longer current, so it can be confusing to understand which pass is meant. Prose is bombastic, typical of the era.

[Kiri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an epic retelling of John Charles Fremont's 4th expedition (winter of 1848), across the forbidding and treacherous Rocky Mountains. The writing style is very engaging. In addition to chronicling the expedition (and providing the context of Fremont's previous expeditions), it also serves as a character portrait of Fremont, and his men, and his mules, and the whole western frontier's attitudes, and even the mountains themselves, and the storm, and the winter -- and inescapably, it is also a portrait of the time in which it was written, with a very strong author voice.

Why the focus on his 4th expedition? I suspect that this choice was made because the 4th expedition was such a spectacular failure, and it stands out in strong contrast to all of his previous expeditions, which were wildly successful. The goals of the 4th expedition were to consolidate previous surveys and find a central railroad route to California. Fremont chose to tackle the mountains in winter because any such railroad route would need to be navigable year-round. 1848 provided a stunningly harsh winter and ultimately claimed the lives of 10 of the original 35 men before Fremont gave up and turned back in failure.

Despite the doomed outcome, this tale makes for great reading for anyone interested in tales of exploration, adventure, hardship, and courage. The book's very vivid imagery and near-poetic prose reminds me of Isabella L. Bird Bishop or Edward Abbey. It's easy to forget that the author was not a member of the expedition, and that as the reader, neither are you. Great book for curling up in a warm safe place while marveling at these heroes and their adventures.