Scouting with Kit Carson

by Everett T. Tomlinson

Meanwhile Reuben Benton was highly prosperous in St. Louis. With the money which he had saved from the sale of his skins he had been able in a modest way to go into the business of buying furs when they were brought to the trading-post by the trappers. In this way he had been able to maintain a home of his own, in which his father remained a member as long as he lived.

Whenever Kit Carson returned to St. Louis, although there were occasions when he was highly honoured by people of the highest standing, he did not forget the man who had been with him as a boy on his trapping expeditions in the Far West. The friendship between the two deepened with the years, and among those who were loudest in their praises of the scout when he had become most famous was Reuben Benton of St. Louis.

There came a time in the life of Kit Carson, after he had left Lieutenant Fremont, when he thought he would be able to settle down and become a farmer. Not long before this time he had married a Spanish girl, whose beauty was famous all along the border. On the great ranch which he purchased he erected a house in which his wife was to make her home, and there he was busily engaged in building barns that would be adequate for the stock he expected to raise.

Abruptly, however, there came a message from Fremont urging Carson to rejoin him at once; and the scout was unable to decline. Perhaps he did not wish to. At all events, he sold his farm, provided for his wife during his absence, and then set forth with one companion to join Fremont’s expedition.

The Indians had told many stories of the region known as the Great Basin, a desert so bleak and perilous that no human being might expect to cross it safely. This was the region now to be explored by Fremont and his followers. Fortunately they discovered that the reports had exaggerated the difficulties as well as the desert nature of the region.

All this, however, was not known until after the work of the explorers had been completed. So fearful were the men that the reports they had heard were well founded that they were extremely cautious in all their movements.

Kit Carson, with a few men as hardy as he, kept well in advance of the main party. Whenever they discovered a place where water was to be had and there was grass for the horses, there they built fires, the smoke of which served as an invitation to the other members of the party behind them to advance.

At last they made their way into northern California and there encountered their first serious difficulty with the Indians. The little band was attacked by one thousand of the savages, but fortunately the redmen were ignorant of the use of rifles, and as soon as the guns were discharged they fled in wild confusion.

About this time the object of the expedition speedily changed. There was war declared upon Mexico and immediately Fremont and his followers enrolled themselves as soldiers of their country. Other men joined them and soon there were sufficient soldiers to form a regiment. Lieutenant Fremont was extremely eager that the President should be informed concerning his plans and work. The only way by which word could be sent him was by messenger, and there was no messenger like Kit Carson. Accordingly in response to the fresh appeal of Fremont, Carson set forth as a messenger to carry the dispatches to the capital of the nation. His letters, however, were very brief, for Fremont relied upon Kit Carson’s own ability to explain conditions as they existed on the Pacific Coast.

Before the scout had completed his journey he met a body of soldiers on their way to California. General Kearny was in command of them, and as soon as he was informed of the purpose of Kit Carson he at once urged him to permit some one else to carry the dispatches to the President while the scout himself should return with the men. Kit Carson, however, was a man who did not consider any task completed until he himself had personally done all that had been assigned to him. When, at last, General Kearny ordered him to do as he had suggested there was no other course but to obey, and accordingly the scout returned with the men. It was not the last time, however, that he was sent over the perilous way with messages for the men at Washington.