of its day. Carruthers also wrote The Kentuckian in New York, a volume of sketches, and an account of a perilous ascent of the Natural Bridge, printed in the Knickerbocker Magazine (1838), and used as a selection in popular readers.
CARS, Railway. See Railways.
CAR′SON, Alexander (1776-1844). A Scottish clergyman. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, was educated at Glasgow University, and in 1797 became pastor of a Presbyterian church in Tobermore, or Tubbermore, Ulster, Ireland. In 1805 he turned Independent, and finally (1831), after study of the New Testament for the purpose of refuting Baptist principles, he was converted to those very principles, and published Baptism: Its Mode and Subjects. He was not, however, connected with the Baptist organization of England, nor did he recognize ‘close’ communion. Consult his Life, by Moore (New York, 1853).
CARSON, Christopher (generally known as ‘Kit Carson’) (1809-68). A famous American hunter, trapper, and Western scout. He was born in Madison County, Ky., but when only a year old was taken by his parents to Howard County, Mo., where from 1824 to 1826 he served as a saddler's apprentice. In the latter year he accompanied a party of hunters to Santa Fé, N. Mex., and afterwards devoted himself almost entirely to hunting and trapping. He accompanied an expedition to California in 1829, and another to the Rocky Mountains in the following year, and from 1832 to 1840 was employed as hunter for the garrison at Fort Bent, at the headwaters of the Arkansas. He accompanied Frémont on the latter's expeditions of 1842 and of 1843-44; then spent some time on a ranch, and in 1846-47 served as a guide in Frémont's famous expedition to California. In 1853 he, with a few Mexican drovers, succeeded in driving 6500 sheep to California, and on another occasion, this time unaided, he took fifty horses and mules to Fort Laramie, fully 500 miles from his ranch. In 1854 he was appointed Indian agent for the Utahs and Apaches, at Taos, N. Mex., and in this capacity was able, by reason of his remarkable influence over the Indians, to be of great service to the United States Government. During the Civil War he served the Government with great energy in New Mexico, Colorado, and the Indian Territory, especially against the Confederates in Texas and the Navajo Indians, and in 1865 was brevetted brigadier-general. In the course of his career as a trapper, hunter, Indian-fighter, scout, and Indian agent, he met with many remarkable adventures, some of which read like romance, and he soon came to be regarded throughout the country as the typical frontiersman, resourceful in danger, an adept with the rifle, and skilled even beyond the Indians in woodcraft and the knowledge of wild animals. Consult: Burdette, Life of Kit Carson, the Great Western Hunter and Guide (Philadelphia, 1869); and Peters, Kit Carson's Life and Adventures, from Facts Narrated by Himself (Hartford, 1874).
CARSON, Joseph (1808-76). An American pharmacist and medical botanist, born in Philadelphia. He graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1826, and at the Medical School of the University in 1830, and in 1836-50 was professor of materia medica in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. He held a similar chair in the University of Pennsylvania from 1850 to 1876. In 1870 he was president of the national convention for the revision of the Pharmacopœia, and for a number of years he was an associate editor of the American Journal of Pharmacy. He edited the Elements of Materia Medica of Jonathan Pereira (1843; 2d ed., 2 vols., 1845), and the Materia Medica and Therapeutics of J. Forbes Royle (1847), and published the Illustrations of Medical Botany (1847).
CARSON CITY. The capital of Nevada, and county-seat of Ormsby County, 31 miles south of Reno, on the Virginia and Truckee Railroad (Map: Nevada, D 2). It is in a picturesque region, near the base of the Sierra Nevada, about 12 miles from Lake Tahoe, and contains the Capitol, Federal building, and a branch mint, which receives immense deposits of silver and gold ore. The State prison is 2 miles southeast of the city, and a United States Government Indian school is three miles to the south. Carson City is in a fertile agricultural region, and is engaged principally in mining, lumbering, and agriculture. Founded in 1858, it became the capital of Nevada in 1861, and was chartered as a city in 1875. Population, in 1890, 3950; in 1900, 2100.
CARSON RIVER. A stream in Western Nevada. It rises in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, south of Lake Tahoe, and flows in a northeasterly course, passing a few miles to the south of Carson City (Map: Nevada, D 2). It is about 150 miles in length to where it divides, one branch flowing north and disappearing in Carson Sink, and the other flowing southward into Carson Lake, a small body of water which appears to have no outlet.
CARSTARES, kär′stȧrz, or CARSTAIRS, William (1649-1715). A Scottish statesman and divine, born at Cathcart, near Glasgow, February 11, 1649. He was the son of the Rev. John Carstares, an extreme Covenanter, and was tutored by Sinclair, minister of Ormiston, East Lothian. He distinguished himself at Edinburgh University and graduated in 1667. Two years later he went to Utrecht to study theology, and there his accomplishments attracted the notice of the Prince of Orange, whose life-long friend and confidential adviser on English matters he became. He returned to England in 1674, and on suspicion of being part author of a pamphlet on Scottish grievances, was first committed to the Tower, then transferred to Edinburgh, and kept in prison until 1679. In 1682 he went to London and negotiated between the English and Scotch conspirators in the Rye House Plot. He was arrested and put to the torture of the thumbscrew, but only partly confessed, when assured that his depositions would not be used against any one. Unfortunately, his evidence, notwithstanding his strenuous expostulations, led to the execution of Baillie of Jerviswood (q.v.). He returned to Holland in 1685, and, acting mainly on his advice, the Prince of Orange planned and carried out the invasion of England in 1688. He accompanied the Prince as chaplain, and when the Prince was established as William III., effected a reconciliation between him and the
