DESPITE at least eight book-length biographies of Christopher (Eat) Carson, to say nothing of numerous periodical articles and works for juveniles, many gaps still exist in his story. For example, What was he doing in of 1847-48? In his autobiography, Carson merely stated that late in 1847 he was assigned to duty with Capt. A. J. Smith's com pany of dragoons at Los Angeles, and that during the greater part of winter he was stationed at Tejon Pass in command of a detachment of twenty-five men and was charged with preventing from taking through stolen animals.1 It is rather surprising that no one has questioned Carson's statement that he occupied a position at Tejon Pass.2 The location was ninety miles north of Los Angeles, at summit of Tehachapi Mountains which sep arate southern end of San Joaquin Valley from Mojave Desert. It was a strategic spot, for through it principal trail from Los Angeles and Antelope Valley crossed range before dropping down to Tulare Lake region.3 But in 1847 there were few travelers with sufficient courage to venture into San Joaquin Valley. Therefore military authorities at Los Angeles probably had little reason to station soldiers at pass, as one writer says, to examine manifests and packs, and men and motives.* The Indians in vicinity of Tejon were troublesome, so troublesome indeed that they appear long before last months of 1847 to have driven most, if not all, of few ranchers in region back into settlements.5 Thus there probably were no horses or cattle in neighborhood of pass to be preyed upon by thieving savages. If ranchos in San Fernando area required protection, they doubtless could have been better defended from a more centrally located spot than distant and easily by-passed Tejon.8 Therefore, although possible, it does not seem likely that Carson was sta tioned at Tejon Pass during of 1847-1848, a conclusion which is borne out by what is known of record. In 1847 Carson was at peak of his fame as a mountain man and scout. He was as well known on prairies, said an English naval officer who saw him at Monterey in 1846, as was Duke of Wellington in Europe.7 And indeed he had come far since time in 1826 when, a mere boy of about 16, he had run away from David Workman's saddlery shop in Franklin, Missouri, and joined a caravan bound for Santa Fe. After three years as a teamster and roustabout, lad was accepted as a member of a trapping expedition, and during next thirteen years he hunted beaver and buffalo throughout plains and Rockies, gaining thereby a superb knowledge of western geography and a modest renown among fron 29