Lieutenant J. C. Fremont's Week in Sublette County

Which summit he stood on is still argued. Frémont called it the loftiest peak of the Rocky Mountains; it was not, and Gannett Peak to the north stands higher. The usual answer is the 13,751-foot peak now named for him, climbed on August 15 with the cartographer Charles Preuss and Johnny Janisse while Kit Carson had gone back for supplies. A 1960 American Alpine Journal study argued from Frémont's own latitude reading that he climbed another peak, and the historian Phil Roberts puts him on Mount Woodrow Wilson. Either way, he planted a flag.

What the plaque says

Lieutenant J. C. Fremont's Week in Sublette County On June 10th, 1842 J. C. Fremont left St. Louis to explore the Wind River Mountains, with Kit Carson as guide, Charles Preuss, topographer, L. Maxwell, hunter, and 20 Canadian voyageurs, including Basil LaJeunesse. Eight two-wheeled mule-drawn carts were used as far as the Platte River. The party crossed South Pass August 8th and camped here at "Two Buttes" August 9th. Leaving 10 men at Boulder Lake, the lieutenant ascended Fremont Peak August 15th stayed here again August 17th and on the 19th re-crossed South Pass. So ended Fremont's exploration of the Wind River Mountains and his stay in Sublette County.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Museum of the Mountain Man — 15 mi
  Six fur-trade rendezvous met near here on the Green; the only artist who ever saw one, Alfred Jacob Miller, came in 1837.

More markers nearby

• To All Pioneers Who Passed This Way (Sand Springs) — 9.0 mi
• Sand Springs - A Stop on the Oregon Trail — 9.0 mi
• The Naming of a Lake — 15 mi
• A Pause on a Journey — 16 mi