SECRETARY TO PRESIDENT: Fremont and his famous guide, Kit Carson, have returned from their second exploring trip to the West and await outside. PRESIDENT: Show them in. (Enter Fremont and party). FREMONT: I have just returned from my explorations, and would like to tell you of the trips. On my first trip I left Kansas City and followed the Kansas River to the South Pass. On my second trip I followed the same route to the South Pass, where I took four men, and continued on, to the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. ONE OF THE MEN: While there and on the top, we unfurled the stars and stripes in all its glory. FREMONT: Then I decided to cross the mountains. After many weary months we beheld a great lake. ONE OF THE MEN: You can imagine what feelings stirred the breasts of men shut in for months by mountains, at seeing what appeared to us to be an ocean here in the midst of a continent. FREMONT: As we strained our eyes along its silent shores, I could hardly repress the almost desire to continue our explorations. MAN: After making preparations, we crossed over the mountains till we reached the Columbia River, and traveled down to Vancouver. Here we were the guests of the Governor of the British Hudson Bay Company. FREMONT: On November tenth, we started across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and then on, till we came to Sutter's Fort. MAN: Here we met the remarkable Captain Sutter. Captain Sutter is a native of Switzerland. He came here with the intention of building a colony. The Spanish Governor, Alvarado, gladly gave him a great tract of land. Captain Sutter has great herds of cattle and many acres of grain. FREMONT: We then decided to cross the mountains farther to the south, where the San Joaquin River makes a gap. Here we beheld a great desert. MAN: An Indian told us that there was neither water nor grass--nothing. Every animal that goes on this desert dies. FREMONT: From here we traveled forward, reaching Salt Lake; having made a circuit of the Great Basin. Here we are, with the story of our trip. PRESIDENT: You have had some wonderful experiences. And now, Mr. Fremont, I would like you to go on a third expedition--to explore the Pacific Coast. FREMONT: Very well, Mr. President. _End of Act II._ ACT III. INTRODUCTION: Fremont did not know about the war with Mexico. On his way to the north, he heard that Mexicans were planning to kill every American in California. Jose Castro was a Mexican general. The Mexicans had one hundred and fifty horses. The Americans captured these horses. That was the first victory in the conquest of California. The Bear Flag Rebellion. The Americans were indeed a rough looking lot. Mounted on horseback, wearing leggings, and carrying pistols and guns. If the Americans had known that war was going on, they would have raised the Stars and Stripes. But not knowing it they decided to make a flag of their own.