John Frémont and Kit Carson set out West, June 10, 1842
On a Missouri River steamboat, Kit Carson met Lieutenant John C. Frémont of the Army Corps of Engineers, who coincidentally was looking to hire an experienced guide to lead him to Wyoming, where he was to survey the South Pass, the most popular route across the Continental Divide. “I have been some time in the mountains and I think I can guide you to any point there you wish to reach,” Carson told him. With twenty-six men, the two set out from St. Louis on the journey that would make Carson and Frémont national heroes.