The Rocky Mountains were a wilderness, uncharted and unexplored, that challenged our country's growth westward. John Charles Fremont, a trained topographer as adventurous as any woodsman, met that challenge four times and mapped the wilds of Utah, Oregon and California.

Charley Fremont was a handsome, well-liked boy who dropped out of college because he couldn't explain his frequent absences. The southern woods in that autumn of 1830 held too many attractions for him, forever off on jaunts with his Creole friends. But Charley did well enough in mathematics to earn an appointment as instructor on a three-year cruise of the Navy's training ship Natchez. Back on land he was glad to begin a job in the mid-west forests as surveyor on a field trip for the U.S. Topographical Corps. His success on that mission led to an even more exciting assignment—command of a mapping expedition through the Rockies.

Those were the days of "manifest destiny", the lively era when many statesmen felt that our country's future depended on pushing other nations off the American continent. Indians and the hazards of unknown wilds were an added problem. Charley had all he could handle as soldier, surveyor and diplomat, so he hired seasoned woodsmen to guide him through Sioux and Ute country.

Kit Carson and "Broken Hand" Fitzpatrick were scouts who saw Charley through four famous expeditions. Out from St. Louis, up through the mysterious northern pass and south to California, Charley and Kit Carson searched for trails to aid settlers who would come later. Fremont won many honors in the way he met adversity and in his handling of the arrogant Mexicans in California.

But opinion changed and the respected Col. Fremont found himself accused of crimes against his country. His trial, the loyalty of his wife and friends, and his final honors are fascinating chapters in the story of the dashing explorer who mapped the uncharted West.

From the dust jacket