Shortly afterward

e proposed to the government to undertake the exploration of the Rocky a? ~= id eet day a come = cogni plan being approv e in 1842, started with a handful of picked men, and reached and. the South Pa . Not only did he fix the locality of that great defile through which you sands have since found their way to California, but he defined the astronomy, geography, botany, geology, and meteorology of that region, described the route since followed, and designated the points upon which a line of United States forts were subsequently erected. In 1845 he cleared the N. part of California of Mexican troops, and then, seeking a broader field of activity, planned an expedition to the distant territory of Oregon. He approached the Rocky Mountains by a new line, scaled the summits S. of the South Pa , deflected to the Great Salt Lake, pushed investigations right and left his entire course, and at the same time connected his survey with that of Commodore Wilkes’ exploring expedition. In this daring expedition he cro ed 3,500 miles of country in sight of eternal snows, discovering the grand features of Alta California, its great basin, the Sierra Nevada, the valleys of San Joaquin and Sacramento, and determined the geographical aes of the W. portion of the North American continent. In 1846 he was promoted lieutenant-colonel and also military commandant and civil governor of the Territory of California, in which capacity he in 184¢ concluded those articles of capitulas tion by which Mexico conceded exclus sive po e ion of that territory to the United States. In the same year he purchased in California the valuable Mariposa estate upon which he settled in 1849. In 1853 he undertook a fifth expedition acro the continent, made new discoveries, and reached California after enduring almost incredible hardships. In 1856 he was the first candidate of the Republican party for the presidency; and in 1861, on the outbreak of the Civil War, was appointed a Major-General of volunteers, He then, as commander of the western Union army, marched into Mi ouri with the view of encountering General Price’s Confederate force then in po e ion of that State, but an unfortunate dispute with a subordinate officer caused the War Department to relieve him of his command. He was governor of Arizona in 1878-1881. He died in New York city, July 13, 1890.