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diff --git a/29543.txt b/29543.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ae439 --- /dev/null +++ b/29543.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6609 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail, by +Ezra Meeker and Howard R. Driggs + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail + +Author: Ezra Meeker + Howard R. Driggs + +Illustrator: F. N. Wilson + +Release Date: July 29, 2009 [EBook #29543] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OX-TEAM DAYS ON THE OREGON TRAIL *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Emmy and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + +Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail + +[Illustration: Ezra Meeker.] + +[Illustration: Signature: Ezra Meeker] + + + + +_Pioneer Life Series_ + + * * * * * + +Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail + +by +_Ezra Meeker_ + + in collaboration with + _Howard R. Driggs_ + + Professor of Education in English + University of Utah + +[Illustration] + + _Illustrated with drawings + by F. N. Wilson + and with photographs_ + + + Yonkers-on-Hudson, New York + + _World Book Company_ + + 1927 + + + + +WORLD BOOK COMPANY + +THE HOUSE OF APPLIED KNOWLEDGE + + Established 1905 by Caspar W. Hodgson + YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK + 2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO + + +The Oregon Trail--what suggestion the name carries of the heroic toil of +pioneers! Yet a few years' ago the route of the trail was only vaguely +known. Then public interest was awakened by the report that one of the +very men who had made the trip to Oregon in the old days was traversing +the trail once more, moving with ox team and covered wagon from his home +in the state of Washington, and marking the old route as he went. The +man with the ox team was Ezra Meeker. He went on to the capital, where +Mr. Roosevelt, then President, met him with joy. Then he traversed the +long trail once more with team and wagon--back to that Northwest which +he had so long made his home. This book gives Mr. Meeker's story of his +experiences on the Oregon Trail when it was new, and again when, +advanced in years, he retraced the journey of his youth that Americans +might ever know where led the footsteps of the pioneers. The publication +of this book in its Pioneer Life Series carries forward one of the +cherished purposes of World Book Company--to supply as a background to +the study of American history interesting and authentic narratives based +on the personal experiences of brave men and women who helped to push +the frontier of our country across the continent. + +[Illustration] + +PLS:MDOTD-5 + + + Copyright 1922 by World Book Company + Copyright in Great Britain + _All rights reserved_ + PRINTED IN U. S. A. + + + + +AN INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR + + +OUT in the state of Washington recently, a veteran of more than ninety +years stepped into an aeroplane with the mail pilot and flew from +Seattle to Victoria in British Columbia, and back again. The aged +pioneer took the trip with all the zest of youth and returned +enthusiastic over the adventure. + +This youthful veteran was Ezra Meeker, of Oregon Trail fame, who +throughout his long, courageous, useful life has ever kept in the +vanguard of progress. Seventy years ago he became one of the +trail-blazers of the Farther West. In 1852, with his young wife and +child, he made the hazardous journey over plains and mountains all the +way from Iowa to Oregon by ox team. Then, after fifty-four years of +struggle in helping to develop the country beyond the Cascades, this +undaunted pioneer decided to reblaze the almost lost Oregon Trail. + +An old "prairie schooner" was rebuilt, and a yoke of sturdy oxen was +trained to make the trip. With one companion and a faithful dog, the +veteran started out. It took nearly two years, but the ox-team journey +from Washington, the state, to Washington, our national capital, was +finally accomplished. + +The chief purpose of Mr. Meeker in this enterprise was to induce people +to mark the famous old highway. To him it represented a great battle +ground in our nation's struggle to win and hold the West. The story of +the Oregon Trail, he rightly felt, is an American epic which must be +preserved. Through his energy and inspiration and the help of thousands +of loyal men and women, school boys and school girls, substantial +monuments have now been placed along the greater part of the old pioneer +way. + +Two years ago it was my privilege to meet the author in his home city. +Our mutual interest in pioneer stories brought us together in an effort +to preserve some of them, and several days were spent in talking over +the old times and visiting historic spots. + +Everywhere we went there was a glowing welcome for "Father Meeker," as +he was called by some of his home folks, while "Uncle Ezra" was the name +used affectionately by others. The ovation given him when he arose to +speak to the teachers and students of the high school in Puyallup--the +city he founded--was evidence of the high regard in which he is held by +those who know him best. + +Other boys and girls and older folk all over the country would enjoy +meeting Ezra Meeker and hearing of his experiences. Since this is not +possible, the record of what he has seen and done is given to us in this +little volume. + +The book makes the story of the Oregon Trail live again. This famous old +way to the West was traced in the beginning by wild animals--the bear, +the elk, the buffalo, the soft-footed wolf, and the coyote. Trailing +after these animals in quest of food and skins, came the Indians. Then +followed the fur-trading mountaineers, the home-seeking pioneers, the +gold seekers, the soldiers, and the cowboys. Now railroad trains, +automobiles, and even aeroplanes go whizzing along over parts of the old +highway. + +Every turn in the Trail holds some tale of danger and daring or romance. +Most of the stories have been forever lost in the passing away of those +who took part in this ox-team migration across our continent. For that +reason the accounts that have been saved are the more precious. + +Ezra Meeker has done a signal service for our country in reblazing the +Oregon Trail. He has accomplished an even greater work in helping to +humanize our history and vitalize the geography of our land, by giving +to us, through this little volume, a vivid picture of the heroic +pioneering of the Farther West. + + HOWARD R. DRIGGS + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION TO THE AUTHOR v + + +PART ONE--FROM OHIO TO THE COAST + + 1. BACK TO BEGINNINGS 1 + + 2. BOYHOOD DAYS IN OLD INDIANA 9 + + 3. LEAVING THE HOME NEST FOR IOWA 15 + + 4. TAKING THE TRAIL FOR OREGON 21 + + 5. THE WESTWARD RUSH 33 + + 6. THE PIONEER ARMY OF THE PLAINS 38 + + 7. INDIANS AND BUFFALOES ON THE PLAINS 43 + + 8. TRAILING THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN LAND 49 + + 9. REACHING THE END OF THE TRAIL 57 + + +PART TWO--SETTLING IN THE NORTHWEST COUNTRY + + 10. GETTING A NEW START IN THE NEW LAND 69 + + 11. HUNTING FOR ANOTHER HOME SITE 78 + + 12. CRUISING ABOUT ON PUGET SOUND 86 + + 13. MOVING FROM THE COLUMBIA TO PUGET SOUND 99 + + 14. MESSAGES AND MESSENGERS 106 + + 15. BLAZING THE WAY THROUGH NATCHESS PASS 115 + + 16. CLIMBING THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS 122 + + 17. FINDING MY PEOPLE 128 + + 18. INDIAN WAR DAYS 135 + + 19. THE STAMPEDE FOR THE GOLD DIGGINGS 141 + + 20. MAKING A PERMANENT HOME IN THE WILDS 146 + + 21. FINDING AND LOSING A FORTUNE 154 + + 22. TRYING FOR A FORTUNE IN ALASKA 160 + + +PART THREE--RETRACING THE OLD OREGON TRAIL + + 23. A PLAN FOR A MEMORIAL TO THE PIONEERS 165 + + 24. ON THE OVERLAND TRAIL AGAIN 177 + + 25. TRAILING ON TO THE SOUTH PASS 185 + + 26. REVIVING OLD MEMORIES OF THE TRAIL 195 + + 27. A BIT OF BAD LUCK 204 + + 28. DRIVING ON TO THE CAPITAL 212 + + 29. THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL 219 + + + + +THE WORLD'S GREATEST TRAIL + + +WORN deep and wide by the migration of three hundred thousand people, +lined by the graves of twenty thousand dead, witness of romance and +tragedy, the Oregon Trail is unique in history and will always be sacred +to the memories of the pioneers. Reaching the summit of the Rockies upon +an evenly distributed grade of eight feet to the mile, following the +watercourse of the River Platte and tributaries to within two miles of +the summit of the South Pass, through the Rocky Mountain barrier, +descending to the tidewaters of the Pacific, through the Valleys of the +Snake and the Columbia, the route of the Oregon Trail points the way for +a great National Highway from the Missouri River to Puget Sound: a +roadway of greatest commercial importance, a highway of military +preparedness, a route for a lasting memorial to the pioneers, thus +combining utility and sentiment. + +[Illustration: Signature: Ezra Meeker] + + + + +PART ONE + +FROM OHIO TO THE COAST + +[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA IN 1830] + +This map shows the main divisions of North America as they were when +Ezra Meeker was born. The shading in the Arctic region shows how much +there was still for the explorers to discover. + +The Oregon Country is shown as part of the United States, although the +whole region was in dispute between the United States and Great Britain. +In the United States itself the settled part of the country was east of +the dotted line that runs from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico. West +of this line was the Indian country, with only a few forts as outposts +of settlement. Several territories had been organized, but Oregon, +Missouri, and Nebraska were little more than names for vast undetermined +regions. + + + + +[Illustration: The old Meeker homestead near Elizabeth, New Jersey.] + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +BACK TO BEGINNINGS + + +I WAS born in Huntsville, Butler County, Ohio, on December 29, 1830. +That was, at this writing, more than ninety years ago. + +My father's ancestors came from England in 1637. In 1665 they settled +near Elizabeth City, New Jersey, building there a very substantial house +which stood till almost 1910. More than a score of hardy soldiers from +this family fought for the Colonies in the War of Independence. They +were noted for their stalwart strength, steady habits, and patriotic +ardor. + +Both my parents were sincere, though not austere, Christian people. +Father inherited to the full the sturdy traits of his ancestors. I well +remember that for three years, during our life in Indiana, he worked +eighteen hours a day as a miller. For this hard service he received only +twenty dollars a month and bran for the cow. Yet out of the ordeal he +came seemingly as strong and healthy as when he entered it. + +My mother's maiden name was Phoebe Baker. English and Welsh strains of +blood ran in her veins. Her father settled in Butler County, Ohio, in +the year 1804, or thereabouts. My mother, like my father, could and did +endure continuous long hours of severe labor without much discomfort. I +have known her frequently to patch and mend our clothing until very late +at night, and yet she would invariably be up in the morning by four to +resume her labors. + +Small wonder that with such parents and with such early surroundings I +am able to say that for fifty-eight years I was never sick in bed a +single day. I, too, have endured long hours of labor during my whole +life, and I can truthfully say that I have always liked to do my work +and that I never watched for the sun to go down to relieve me from the +burden of labor. My mother said I was "always the busiest young 'un" she +ever saw, by which she meant that I was restless from the +beginning--born so. + +According to the best information obtainable, I was born in a log cabin, +where the fireplace was nearly as wide as the cabin. The two doors on +opposite sides permitted the horse, dragging the backlog, to enter at +one and then to go out at the other. Of course, the solid floor of split +logs defied injury from such treatment. + +The skillet and the Dutch oven were used instead of the cook stove to +bake the pone or johnny cake, to parch the corn, or to fry the venison +which was then obtainable in the wilds of Ohio. + +A curtain at the farther end of the cabin marked the confines of a +bedchamber for the "old folks." The older children climbed the ladder +nailed to the wall to get to the loft floored with loose clapboards that +rattled when trodden upon. The straw beds were so near the roof that +the patter of the rain made music to the ear, and the spray of the +falling water would often baptize the "tow-heads" left uncovered. + +[Illustration: Bringing in the backlog.] + +Our diet was simple, and the mush pot was a great factor in our home +life. A large, heavy iron pot was hung on the crane in the chimney +corner, where the mush would slowly bubble and sputter over or near a +bed of oak coals for half the afternoon. And such mush!--always made +from yellow corn meal and cooked three hours or more. This, eaten with +plenty of fresh, rich milk, furnished the supper for the children. Tea? +Not to be thought of. Sugar? It was too expensive--cost fifteen to +eighteen cents a pound, and at a time when it took a week's labor to +earn as much money as a day's labor would earn now. Cheap molasses we +had sometimes, but not often, meat not more than once a day, but eggs in +abundance. + +Everything father had to sell was low-priced, while everything mother +must buy at the store was high. Wheat brought twenty-five cents a +bushel; corn, fifteen cents; pork, two and two and a half cents a pound, +with bacon sometimes used as fuel by reckless, racing steamboat +captains of the Ohio and Mississippi. + +My earliest recollection, curiously enough, is of my schoolboy days, +although I had so few. I was certainly not five years old when a +drunken, brutal teacher undertook to spank me because I did not speak a +word plainly. That is the first fight of which I have any recollection. +I could hardly remember that but for the witnesses, one of them my +oldest brother, who saw the struggle. My teeth, he said, did excellent +work and drew blood quite freely. + +What a spectacle--a half-drunken teacher maltreating his pupils! But +then, that was the time before a free school system. It was the time +when even the parson would not hesitate to take a "wee drop," and when, +if the decanter was not on the sideboard, the jug and gourd served as +well in the field or in the house. In our neighborhood, to harvest +without whisky in the field was not to be thought of; nobody ever heard +of a log-rolling or barn-raising without whisky. Be it said to the +everlasting honor of my father, that he set himself firmly against the +practice. He said his grain should rot in the field before he would +supply whisky to his harvest hands. I have only one recollection of ever +tasting any alcoholic liquor in my boyhood days. + +I did, however, learn to smoke when very young. It came about in this +way. My mother always smoked, as far back as I can remember. Women +smoked in those days, as well as men, and nothing was thought of it. +Well, that was before the time of matches,--leastwise, it was a time +when it was necessary to economize in their use,--and mother, who was a +corpulent woman, would send me to put a coal in her pipe. I would take a +whiff or two, just to get it started, you know, and this soon developed +into the habit of lingering to keep it going. But let me be just to +myself. More than forty years ago I threw away my pipe and have never +smoked since, and never will smoke again. + +My next recollection of school days was after father had moved to +Lockland, Ohio, then ten miles north of Cincinnati. It is now, I +presume, a suburb of that city. I played hooky instead of going to +school; but one day, while I was under the canal bridge, the noise of +passing teams so frightened me that I ran home and betrayed myself. Did +my mother whip me? Bless her dear soul, no! Whipping of children, both +at home and in the school-room, was then about as common as eating one's +breakfast; but the family government of my parents was exceptional for +that time, for they did not think it was necessary to rule by the rod. + +Because my mind did not run to school work and because my disposition +was restless, my mother allowed me to work at odd jobs for pay instead +of compelling me to attend school. This cut down my actual school days +to less than six months. It was, to say the least, a dangerous +experiment, and one to be undertaken only by a mother who knew her child +better than any other person could. I do not by any means advise other +mothers to adopt such a course. + +In those days apprenticeship was quite common. It was not thought to be +a disgrace for a boy to be "bound out" until he was twenty-one, +especially if he was to be learning a trade. Father took a notion he +would bind me out to a Mr. Arthens, the mill owner at Lockland, who was +childless, and one day he took me with him to talk it over. When asked, +finally, how I should like the change, I promptly replied that it would +be all right if Mrs. Arthens would "do up my sore toes," whereupon +there was such an outburst of merriment that I never forgot it. We must +remember that boys in those days did not wear shoes in summer, and quite +often not in winter either. But mother put an end to the whole matter by +saying that the family must not be divided, and it was not. + +Our pioneer home was full of love and helpfulness. My mother expected +each child to work as well as to play. We were trained to take our part +at home. The labor was light, to be sure, but it was service, and it +brought happiness into our lives. For, after all, that home is happiest +where every one helps. + +Our move to Indiana was a very important event in my boyhood days. This +move was made during the autumn of 1839, when I was nine years old. I +vividly remember the trip, for I walked every step of the way from +Lockland, Ohio, to Attica, Indiana, about two hundred miles. + +There was no room in the heavily laden wagon for me or for my brother +Oliver, aged eleven. It was piled so high with household goods that +little space was left even for mother and the two babies, one yet in +arms. But we lads did not mind riding on "Shank's ponies." + +The horses walked so briskly that we had to stick to business to keep up +with them. We did find time, though, to throw a few stones at the frisky +squirrels, or to kill a garter snake, or to gather some flowers for +mother and the little ones, or to watch the redheaded woodpeckers +hammering at the trees. The journey was full of interest for two lively +boys. + +Our appearance was what might well be called primitive, for we went +barefooted and wore "tow pants" and checkered "linsey-woolsey" shirts, +with a strip of cloth for "galluses," as suspenders were at that time +called. Little did we think or care about appearance, bent as we were +on having a good time--and that we surely had. + +[Illustration: On the corduroy road.] + +One dreary stretch of swamp that kept us on the corduroy road behind the +jolting wagon I remember well; this was near Crawfordsville, Indiana. It +is now gone, the corduroy and the timber as well. In their places great +barns and comfortable houses dot the landscape as far as the eye can +reach. + +One habit that we boys acquired on that trip stuck to us all our lives, +until the brother was lost at sea. When we followed behind the wagon, as +we did part of the time, each took the name of the horse on his side of +the road. I was "Tip," on the off side; while brother was "Top," on the +near side. Tip and Top, a span of big, fat, gray horses that would run +away "at the drop of the hat," were something to be proud of. This habit +of Oliver's walking on the near side and my walking on the off continued +for years and through many a mile of travel. + + + + +[Illustration: Plowing through the oak grubs on the Wabash.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +BOYHOOD DAYS IN OLD INDIANA + + +WHEN we reached Indiana we settled down on a rented farm. Times were +hard with us, and for a season all the members of the household were +called upon to contribute their mite. I drove four yoke of oxen for +twenty-five cents a day, and during part of the time boarded at home at +that. This was on the Wabash, where oak grubs grew, my father often +said, "as thick as hair on a dog's back;" but they were really not so +thick as that. + +We used to force the big plowshare through and cut grubs as big as my +wrist. When we saw a patch of them ahead, I would halloo and shout at +the poor oxen and lay on the whip; but father wouldn't let me swear at +them. Let me say here that I later discontinued this foolish fashion of +driving, and always talked to my oxen in a conversational tone and used +the whip sparingly. + +That reminds me of an experience I had later, in the summer when I was +nineteen. Uncle John Kinworthy--a good soul he was, and an ardent +Quaker--lived neighbor to us in Bridgeport, Indiana. One day I went to +his house with three yoke of oxen to haul into place a heavy beam for a +cider-press. The oxen had to be driven through the front dooryard in +full sight and hearing of Uncle John's wife and three buxom Quaker +girls, who either stood in the door or poked their heads out of the +window. + +The cattle would not go through the front yard past those girls. They +kept doubling back, first on one side and then on the other. Uncle +Johnny, noticing that I did not swear at the cattle, and attributing the +absence of oaths to the presence of ladies, or maybe thinking, like a +good many others, that oxen could not be driven without swearing at +them, sought an opportunity, when the mistress of the house could not +hear him, to say in a low tone, "If thee can do any better, thee had +better let out the word." + +My father, though a miller by trade, early taught me some valuable +lessons about farming that I never forgot. We--I say "we" advisedly, as +father continued to work in the mill and left me in charge of the +farm--soon brought the run-down farm to the point where it produced +twenty-three bushels of wheat to the acre instead of ten, by the +rotation of corn and clover and then wheat. But there was no money in +farming at the prices then prevailing, and the land for which father +paid ten dollars an acre would not yield a rental equal to the interest +on the money. The same land has recently sold for six hundred dollars an +acre. + +For a time I worked in the _Journal_ printing office for S. V. B. Noel, +who published a Free Soil paper. A part of my duty was to deliver the +papers to subscribers. They treated me civilly, but when I was caught in +the streets of Indianapolis with the Free Soil papers in my hand I was +sure of abuse from some one, and a number of times narrowly escaped +personal violence from the pro-slavery people. + +In the office I was known as the "devil," a term that annoyed me not a +little. I worked with Wood, the pressman, as a roller boy, and in the +same room was a power press, the power being a stalwart negro who turned +a crank. Wood and I used to race with the power press, and then I would +fly the sheets,--that is, take them off, when printed, with one hand and +roll the type with the other. This so pleased Noel that he advanced my +wages to a dollar and a half a week. + +One of the subscribers to whom I delivered that anti-slavery paper was +Henry Ward Beecher, then pastor of the Congregational Church that faced +the Governor's Circle. At that time he had not attained the fame that +came to him later in life. I became attached to him because of his kind +manner and the gentle words he always found time to give me. + +[Illustration: Carrying papers to Henry Ward Beecher.] + +One episode of my life at this time I remember because I thought my +parents were in the wrong. Vocal music was taught in singing school, +which was conducted almost as regularly as were the day schools. I was +passionately fond of music. Before the change of my voice came I had a +fine alto voice and was a leader in my part of the class. This fact +coming to the notice of the trustees of Beecher's church, an effort was +made to have me join the choir. Mother first objected, because my +clothes were not good enough. Then an offer was made to clothe me +suitably and pay me something besides. And now father objected, because +he did not want me to listen to preaching of a sect other than that to +which he belonged. The incident set me to thinking, and finally drove +me, young as I was, into a more liberal faith, though I dared not openly +espouse it. + +Another incident that occurred while I was working in the printing +office I have remembered vividly all these years. During the campaign of +1844, the Whigs held a gathering on the Tippecanoe battle ground. It +could hardly be called a convention; a better name for it would be a +political camp meeting. The people came in wagons, on horseback, +afoot--any way to get there--and camped, just as people used to do at +religious camp meetings. + +The journeymen printers of the _Journal_ office planned to go in a +covered wagon, and they offered to make a place for the "devil" if his +parents would let him go along. This was speedily arranged with mother, +who always took charge of such matters. When the proposition came to +Noel's ears, he asked the men to print me some campaign songs. This they +did with a will, Wood running them off the press after the day's work +while I rolled the type for him. + +My, wasn't I the proudest boy that ever walked the earth! Visions of a +pocketful of money haunted me almost day and night until we arrived on +the battle field. But lo and behold, nobody would pay any attention to +me! Bands were playing here and there; glee clubs would sing and march, +first on one side of the ground and then on the other; processions were +parading and crowds surging, making it necessary to look out lest one be +run over. Although the rain would pour down in torrents, the marching +and countermarching went on all the same and continued for a week. + +An elderly journeyman printer named May, who in a way stood sponsor for +our party, told me that if I would get up on the fence and sing the +songs, the people would buy them. Sure enough, when I stood up and sang +the crowds came, and I sold every copy I had. I went home with eleven +dollars in my pocket, the richest boy on earth. + +In the year 1845 a letter came from Grandfather Baker in Ohio to my +mother, saying that he would give her a thousand dollars with which to +buy a farm. The burning question with my father and mother was how to +get the money out from Ohio to Indiana. They actually went in a covered +wagon to Ohio for it and hauled it home, all silver, in a box. This +silver was nearly all foreign coin. Prior to that time but a few million +dollars had been coined by the United States Government. + +Grandfather Baker had accumulated his money by marketing small things in +Cincinnati, twenty-five miles distant. I have heard my mother tell of +going to market on horseback with grandfather many times, carrying eggs, +butter, and even live chickens on the horse she rode. Grandfather would +not go into debt, so he lived on his farm a long time without a wagon. +He finally became so wealthy that he was reputed to have a barrel of +money--silver, of course. Out of this store came the thousand dollars +that he gave mother. It took nearly a whole day to count the money. At +least one of nearly every coin from every nation on earth seemed to be +there, and the "tables" had to be consulted in computing the value. + +I was working on the _Journal_ at the time when the farm was bought, but +it seemed that I was not cut out for a printer. My inclinations ran more +to open-air life, so father placed me on the farm as soon as the +purchase was made and left me in full charge of the work there, while he +gave his time to milling. Be it said that I early turned my attention to +the girls as well as to the farm and married young, before I reached the +age of twenty-one. This truly was a fortunate venture, for my wife and I +lived happily together for fifty-eight years. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: The first railroad in Indiana.] + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +LEAVING THE HOME NEST FOR IOWA + + +IN the early '50's there lived near Indianapolis two young people. Their +fathers were old-time farmers, keeping no "hired man" and buying very +little "store goods." The girl could spin and weave, make delicious +butter, knit soft, well-shaped socks, and cook as good a meal as any +other country girl around. She was, withal, as buxom a lass as ever grew +in Indiana. The young man was a little uncouth in appearance, +round-faced, rather stout in build--almost fat. He loved to hunt possums +and coons in the woods round about. He was a little boisterous, always +restless, and not especially polished in manners. Yet he had at least +one redeeming trait of character: he loved to work and was known to be +as industrious a lad as any in the neighborhood. + +These two young people grew up to the age of manhood and womanhood, +knowing but little of the world outside their home sphere. Who can say +that they were not as happy as if they had seen the whole world? Had +they not experienced the joys of the sugar camp while "stirring off" +the lively, creeping maple sugar? Both had been thumped upon the bare +head by the falling hickory nuts in windy weather; had hunted the black +walnuts half hidden in the leaves; had scraped the ground for the +elusive beechnuts. They had ventured to apple parings together when not +yet out of their 'teens. + +"I'm going to be a farmer when I get married," the lad quite abruptly +said to the lass one day, without any previous conversation to lead up +to the statement. + +His companion showed by her confusion that she had not mistaken what was +in his mind. After a while she remarked, "Yes, I want to be a farmer +too. But I want to be a farmer on our own land." + +Two bargains were confirmed then and there when the lad said, "We will +go West and not live on pap's farm," and she responded, "Nor in the old +cabin, nor any cabin unless it's our own." + +So the resolution was made that they would go to Iowa, get some land, +and grow up with the country. + +About the first week of October, in 1851, a covered wagon drew up in +front of Thomas Sumner's house, then but four miles out from +Indianapolis on the National Road. It was ready to be loaded for the +start. + +Eliza Jane, Thomas Sumner's second daughter, the lass already described, +was now the wife of the young man mentioned (the author). She also was +ready for the journey. She had prepared supplies enough to last all the +way,--cake and butter and pumpkin pies, jellies and the like, with +plenty of substantials besides. The two young people had plenty of +blankets, a good-sized Dutch oven, an extra pair of shoes apiece, cloth +for two dresses for the wife, and an extra pair of trousers for the +husband. + +Tears could not be restrained as the loading progressed and the +realization faced the parents of both that the young people were about +to leave them. + +"Why, mother, we are only going to Iowa, you know, where we can get a +home that shall be our own. It's not so far away--only about five +hundred miles." + +[Illustration: A Dutch oven.] + +"Yes, I know, but suppose you get sick in that uninhabited country; who +will take care of you?" + +Notwithstanding this motherly solicitude, the young people could not +fail to know that there was a secret feeling of approval in the good +woman's breast. After a few miles' travel the reluctant final parting +came. We could not then know that this loved parent would lay down her +life a few years later in a heroic attempt to follow the wanderers to +Oregon. She rests in an unknown and unmarked grave in the Platte valley. + +What shall I say of that October drive from the home near Indianapolis +to Eddyville, Iowa, in the delightful atmosphere of Indian summer? It +was an atmosphere of hope and content. We had the wide world before us; +we had good health; and above all we had each other. + +At this time but one railroad entered Indianapolis--it would be called a +tramway now--from Madison on the Ohio River. When we cut loose from that +embryo city we left railroads behind us, except where rails were laid +crosswise in the wagon track to keep the wagon out of the mud. No matter +if the road was rough--we could go a little slower, and shouldn't we +have a better appetite for supper because of the jolting, and sleep the +sounder? Everything in the world looked bright. + +The great Mississippi was crossed at Burlington. After a few days of +further driving, we arrived at Eddyville, in Iowa. Though we did not +realize it at the time, this was destined to be only a place to winter, +a way station on our route to Oregon. + +My first introduction to an Iowa winter was in a surveyor's camp on the +western borders of the state. This was a little north of Kanesville, now +Council Bluffs. I began as cook for the camp, but very soon changed this +position for that of flagman. + +If there are any settlers now left of the Iowa of that day, they will +remember that the winter was bitter cold. On the way back from the +surveying party to Eddyville, just before Christmas, I encountered one +of the bitterest of those bitter days. + +A companion named Vance rested with me overnight in a cabin. We had +scant food for ourselves or for the mare we led. It was thirty-five +miles to the next cabin; we must reach that place or lie out in the +snow. So a very early start was made before daybreak, while the wind +lay. The good woman of the cabin baked us some biscuits for a noon +lunch, but they were frozen solid in our pockets before we had been out +two hours. The wind rose with the sun, and with the sun two bright sun +dogs--a beautiful sight to behold, but arising from conditions +intolerable to bear. Vance came near freezing to death, and would have +done so had I not succeeded in arousing him to anger and getting him off +the mare. + +[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA IN 1850 + +By 1850 the general divisions of the continent had taken the shape that +they have today. The states of Texas and California and the territories +of Utah and New Mexico had been added to the United States, all as a +result of the war with Mexico. The dispute with Great Britain over the +Oregon Country had been settled by a compromise. The region just west of +the Missouri, known as the Nebraska Territory, was still beyond the +frontier.] + +I vowed then and there that I did not like the Iowa climate, and the +Oregon fever that had already seized me was heightened. The settlement +of the northern boundary by treaty in 1846 had ended the dispute between +the United States and Great Britain for ownership of the region north of +the Columbia. As a consequence, American settlers were beginning to +cross the Columbia in numbers, and stories were coming back of the +wonderful climate, the rich soil, and the wealth of lumber. The Oregon +Country of that day included the present states of Oregon, Washington, +and Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. + +It was a special consideration for us that if we went to Oregon the +government would give us three hundred and twenty acres of land, whereas +in Iowa we should have to purchase it. The price would be low, to be +sure, but the land must be bought and paid for on the spot. There were +no preemption laws or beneficial homestead laws in force then, nor did +they come until many years later. + +But what about going to Oregon when springtime came? An event was +pending that rendered a positive decision impossible for the moment. It +was not until the first week of April, 1852, when our first-born baby +boy was a month old, that we could say we were going to Oregon in 1852. +It would be a long, hard journey for such a little fellow, but as it +turned out, he stood it like a young hero. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: Crossing the muddy Missouri.] + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +TAKING THE TRAIL FOR OREGON + + +WHEN we drove out of Eddyville, headed for the Oregon Country, our train +consisted of but one wagon, two yoke of four-year old steers, and one +yoke of cows. We also had one extra cow. This cow was the only animal we +lost on the whole journey; she strayed away in the river bottom before +we crossed the Missouri. + +Now as to the members of our little party. William Buck, who had joined +us as partner for the expedition, was a man six years my senior. He had +had some experience on the Plains, and he knew what outfit was needed; +but he had little knowledge in regard to a team of cattle. He was an +impulsive man, and to some extent excitable; yet withal a man of +excellent judgment and honest as God makes men. No lazy bones occupied a +place in Buck's body. He was scrupulously neat and cleanly in all his +ways; courteous to every one; always in good humor and always looking +upon the bright side of things. A better trail mate could not have been +found. + +Buck's skill in camp work and his lack of ability to handle the team +naturally settled the division of the work between us. It was he who +selected the outfit to go into the wagon, while I fitted up the wagon +and bought the team. We had butter packed in the center of the flour, +which was in double sacks; eggs packed in corn meal or flour, enough to +last us nearly five hundred miles; fruit in abundance, and dried +pumpkins; a little jerked beef, not too salt. Last though not least, +there was a demijohn of brandy "for medicinal purposes only," as Buck +said, with a merry twinkle of the eye. + +The little wife had prepared the homemade yeast cake which she knew so +well how to make and dry, and we had light bread to eat all the way +across. We baked the bread in a tin reflector instead of the heavy Dutch +oven so much in use on the Plains. + +The butter in part melted and mingled with the flour, yet it did not +matter much, as the "shortcake" that resulted made us almost glad the +mishap had occurred. Besides, did we not have plenty of fresh butter, +from the milk of our own cows, churned every day in the can by the +jostling of the wagon? Then the buttermilk! What a luxury! I shall +never, as long as I live, forget the shortcake and corn bread, the +puddings and pumpkin pies, and above all the buttermilk. + +As we gradually crept out on the Plains and saw the sickness due to +improper food, or in some cases to its improper preparation, it was +borne in upon me how blessed I was, with such a trail partner as Buck +and such a life partner as my wife. Some trains were without fruit, and +most of them depended upon saleratus for raising their bread. Many had +only fat bacon for meat until the buffalo supplied a change; and no +doubt much of the sickness attributed to the cholera was caused by bad +diet. + +I am willing to claim credit to myself for the team, every hoof of which +reached the Coast in safety. Four steers and two cows were sufficient +for our light wagon and the light outfit, not a pound of which but was +useful (except the brandy) and necessary for our comfort. I had chosen +steers that had never been under the yoke, though plenty of broken-in +oxen could have been had, generally of that class that had been broken +in spirit as well as to the yoke. + +The ox has had much to do with the settlement of the country. The +pioneers could take care of an ox team in a new settlement so much +cheaper than a horse team that this fact alone would have been +conclusive; but aside from this, oxen were better for the work in the +clearings or for breaking up the vast stretches of wild prairie sod. We +used to work four or five yoke to the plow, and when dark came we +unhitched and turned them on the unbroken sod to pasture for the night. + +I have often been asked how old an ox will live to be. I never knew of a +yoke over fourteen years old, but I once heard of one that lived to be +twenty-four. + +On the Plains, oxen were better than horses for getting their feed and +fording streams. There was another advantage, and a very important one, +to oxen: the Indians could not run them off at night as easily as they +could horses. + +[Illustration: The tin reflector used for baking.] + +The first day's drive out from Eddyville was a short one. When we got to +plodding along over the Plains, we made from fifteen to twenty miles a +day. That was counted a good day's drive, without unusual accidents or +delays. + +As I now remember, this was the only day on the entire trip when the +cattle were allowed to stand in the yoke at noontime, while the owners +lunched and rested. When it was near nightfall we made our first camp. +Buck excitedly insisted that we must not unyoke the cattle. + +"What shall we do?" I asked. "They can't live in the yoke always." + +"Yes, but if you unyoke here you will never catch them again," he said. + +One word brought on another until we were almost in a dispute, when a +stranger, Thomas McAuley, who was camped near by, stepped in. He said +his own cattle were gentle; there were three men of his party, and they +would help us yoke up in the morning. I gratefully accepted his offer +and unyoked, and we had no trouble in starting off the next morning. +After that, never a word with the least semblance of contention to it +passed between Buck and me. + +Scanning McAuley's outfit in the morning, I was quite troubled to start +out with him. His teams, principally cows, were light, and they were +thin in flesh; his wagons were apparently light and as frail as the +teams. But I soon found that his outfit, like ours, carried no extra +weight, and he knew how to care for a team. He was, besides, an obliging +neighbor, which was fully demonstrated on many trying occasions, as we +traveled in company for more than a thousand miles, until his road to +California parted from ours at the big bend of the Bear River. + +Of the trip through Iowa little remains to be said further than that the +grass was thin and washy, the roads muddy and slippery, and the weather +execrable, although May had been ushered in long before we reached the +little Mormon town of Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), a few miles +above the place where we were to cross the Missouri River. Here my +brother Oliver joined us, having come from Indianapolis with old-time +comrades and friends. Now, with the McAuleys and Oliver's party, we +mustered a train of five wagons. + +[Illustration: A yoke of oxen.] + +It was here at Kanesville that the last purchases were made, the last +letter sent back to anxious friends. Once across the Missouri and headed +westward, we should have to cross the Rocky Mountains to find a town +again. + +We had now come to the beginning of the second stage of our long +journey. We had reached the Missouri River. From the western bank of the +river we should strike out across the Plains, through what is now +Nebraska and Wyoming, to the crest of the continent. We should follow +the ox-team trail along the north bank of the Platte, and then up the +north fork of the Platte to the mountains. But first we must get across +the Missouri. + +"What on earth is that?" exclaimed one of the women, as we approached +the landing for the ferry which crossed the river to a point a few miles +below where Omaha now stands. + +"It looks for all the world like a big white flatiron," answered +another. + +[Illustration: On this page and the following are shown the main trails +that stretched across the continent, west of the Missouri, in the years +before the building of railroads. The Oregon Trail from Kanesville to +Portland is marked with the heaviest line. The lighter line from +Huntsville to Kanesville shows Ezra Meeker's early travels; this marks +not a trail but a main-traveled road. People starting out from St. Louis +for the Oregon Country went by way of the Santa Fe Trail about as far as +Fort Leavenworth, then northwest to Fort Kearney on the Platte River, +where they joined the trail from Kanesville. The Santa Fe Trail was the +earliest trail to be made; trading expeditions had gone from St. Louis +to Santa Fe since the early 1800's. The California Trail and the Oregon +Trail are the same as far as the big bend of the Bear River, at which +point the California Trail goes off to the southwest.] + +[Illustration] + +We drivers had little time for looking and for making comparisons. All +our attention had to be given to our teams, for as we neared the +landing we found the roads terribly cut up on account of the +concentrated travel. + +It was indeed a sight long to be remembered. The "white flatiron" proved +to be wagons with their tongues pointing to the landing. A center train +with other parallel trains extended back in the rear, gradually covering +a wider range the farther back from the river it went. Several hundred +wagons were thus closely interlocked, completely blocking the approach +to the landing. + +All about were camps of every kind, some without any covering at all, +others with comfortable tents. Nearly everybody appeared to be intent on +merrymaking, and the fiddlers and dancers were busy; but here and there +were small groups engaged in devotional services. These camps contained +the outfits, in great part, of the wagons in line; some of them had been +there for two weeks with still no prospect of securing an early +crossing. Two scows only were engaged in crossing the wagons and teams. + +The muddy waters of the Missouri had already swallowed up two victims. +On the first day we were there, I saw a third victim go under the drift +of a small island within sight of his shrieking wife. The stock had +rushed to one side of the boat, submerging the gunwale, and had +precipitated the whole load into the dangerous river. One yoke of oxen +that had reached the farther shore deliberately reentered the river with +a heavy yoke on, and swam to the Iowa side; there they were finally +saved by the helping hands of the assembled emigrants. + +"What shall we do?" was the question passed around in our party, without +answer. Tom McAuley was not yet looked upon as a leader, as was the case +later. + +"Build a boat," said his sister Margaret, a most determined maiden lady, +the oldest of the party and as resolute and brave as the bravest. + +But of what should we build it? While a search for material was being +made, one of our party, who had got across the river in search of +timber, discovered a scow, almost completely buried, on the sandpit +opposite the landing. The report seemed too good to be true. + +The next thing to do was to find the owner. We discovered him eleven +miles down the river. + +"Yes, if you will agree to deliver the boat safely to me after crossing +your five wagons and teams, you may have it," said he. + +[Illustration: Digging out the scow.] + +The bargain was closed then and there. My, but that night didn't we make +the sand fly from the boat! By morning we could begin to see the end of +the job. Then, while busy hands began to cut a landing on the +perpendicular sandy bank of the Iowa side, others were preparing sweeps. +All was bustle and stir. + +Meanwhile it had become noised around that another boat would be put on +to ferry people over, and we were besieged with applications from +detained emigrants. Finally, the word coming to the ears of the +ferrymen, they were foolish enough to undertake to prevent us from +crossing without their help. A writ of replevin or some other process +was issued,--I never knew exactly what,--directing the sheriff to take +possession of the boat when it landed. This he attempted to do. + +I never before or since attempted to resist an officer of the law; but +when that sheriff put in an appearance and we realized what his coming +meant, there wasn't a man in our party that did not run to the nearby +camp for his gun. It is needless to add that we did not need to use the +guns. As if by magic a hundred other guns came in sight. The sheriff +withdrew, and the crossing went on peaceably till all our wagons were +safely landed. + +We had still another danger to face. We learned that an attempt would be +made to take the boat from us, the action being not against us, but +against the owner. Thanks to the adroit management of McAuley and my +brother Oliver, we were able to fulfill our engagement to deliver the +boat safely to the owner. + +We were now across the river, and it might almost be said that we had +left the United States. When we set foot upon the right bank of the +Missouri River we were outside the pale of law. We were within the +Indian country, where no organized civil government existed. + +Some people and some writers have assumed that on the Plains each man +was "a law unto himself" and free to do his own will,--dependent, of +course, upon his physical ability to enforce it. Nothing could be +farther from the facts than this assumption, as evil-doers soon found +out to their discomfort. + +It is true that no general organization for law and order was effected +on the western side of the river. But the American instinct for fair +play and a hearing for everybody prevailed, so that while there was no +mob law, the law of self-preservation asserted itself, and the counsels +of the level-headed older men prevailed. When an occasion called for +action, a "high court" was convened, and woe betide the man that would +undertake to defy its mandates after its deliberations were made public! + +An incident that occurred in what is now Wyoming, well up on the +Sweetwater River, will illustrate the spirit of determination of the +sturdy men of the Plains. A murder had been committed, and it was clear +that the motive was robbery. The suspected man and his family were +traveling along with the moving column. Men who had volunteered to +search for the missing man finally found evidence proving the guilt of +the person suspected. A council of twelve men was called, and it +deliberated until the second day, meanwhile holding the murderer safely. + +What were they to do? Here were a wife and four little children +depending upon this man for their lives. What would become of his family +if justice was meted out to him? Soon there developed an undercurrent of +opinion that it was probably better to waive punishment than to endanger +the lives of the family; but the council would not be swerved from its +resolution. At sundown of the third day the criminal was hanged in the +presence of the whole camp. This was not done until ample provision had +been made to insure the safety of the family by providing a driver to +finish the journey. I came so near to seeing the hanging that I did see +the ends of the wagon tongues in the air and the rope dangling +therefrom. + +From necessity, murder was punishable with death. The penalty for +stealing was whipping, which, when inflicted by one of those long ox +lashes in the hands of an expert, would bring the blood from the +victim's back at every stroke. Minor offenses, or differences generally, +were arbitrated. Each party would abide by the decision as if it had +come from a court of law. Lawlessness was not common on the Plains. It +was less common, indeed, than in the communities from which the great +body of the emigrants had been drawn, for punishment was swift and +certain. + +The greater body of the emigrants formed themselves into large companies +and elected captains. These combinations soon began to dissolve and +re-form, only to dissolve again, with a steady accompaniment of +contentions. I would not enter into any organized company, but neither +could I travel alone. By tacit agreement our party and the McAuleys +travelled together, the outfit consisting of four wagons and thirteen +persons--nine men, three women, and the baby. Yet although we kept apart +as a separate unit, we were all the while in one great train, never out +of sight and hearing of others. In fact, at times the road would be so +full of wagons that all could not travel in one track, and this fact +accounts for the double roadbeds seen in so many places on the trail. + + + + +[Illustration: Giving chase to the buffaloes.] + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +THE WESTWARD RUSH + + +WE crossed the Missouri on the seventeenth and eighteenth of May. The +next day we made a short drive, and camped within hearing of the shrill +steamboat whistle that resounded far over the prairie. + +The whistle announced the arrival of a steamer. This meant that a dozen +or more wagons could be carried across the river at a time, and that a +dozen or more trips could be made during the day, with as many more at +night. Very soon we were overtaken by this throng of wagons. They gave +us some troubles, and much discomfort. + +The rush for the West was then at its height. The plan of action was to +push ahead and make as big a day's drive as possible; hence it is not to +be wondered at that nearly all the thousand wagons that crossed the +river after we did soon passed us. + +"Now, fellers, jist let 'em rush on. If we keep cool, we'll overcatch +'em afore long," said McAuley. + +And we did. We passed many a team, broken down as a result of those +first few days of rush. People often brought these and other ills upon +themselves by their own indiscretion. + +The traveling had not progressed far until there came a general outcry +against the heavy loads and unnecessary articles. Soon we began to see +abandoned property. First it might be a table or a cupboard, or perhaps +a bedstead or a cast-iron cookstove. Then feather beds, blankets, +quilts, and pillows were seen. Very soon, here and there would be an +abandoned wagon; then provisions, stacks of flour and bacon being the +most abundant--all left as common property. + +It was a case of help yourself if you would; no one would interfere. In +some places such a sign was posted,--"Help yourself." Hundreds of wagons +were left and hundreds of tons of goods. People seemed to vie with each +other in giving away their property. There was no chance to sell, and +they disliked to destroy their goods. + +Long after the end of the mania for getting rid of goods to lighten +loads, the abandonment of wagons continued, as the teams became weaker +and the ravages of cholera among the emigrants began to tell. It was +then that many lost their heads and ruined their teams by furious +driving, by lack of care, and by abuse. There came a veritable +stampede--a strife for possession of the road, to see who should get +ahead. It was against the rule to attempt to pass a team ahead; a wagon +that had withdrawn from the line and stopped beside the trail could get +into the line again, but on the march it could not cut ahead of the +wagon in front of it. Yet now whole trains would strive, often with bad +blood, for the mastery of the trail, one attempting to pass the other. +Frequently there were drivers on both sides of the team to urge the +poor, suffering brutes forward. + +[Illustration: _United States Geological Survey_ + +The Platte River. Along this old stream the Oregon Trail wound its way +for nearly five hundred miles.] + +We were on the trail along the north side of the Platte River. The +cholera epidemic struck our moving column where the throng from the +south side of the Platte began crossing. This, as I recollect, was near +where the city of Kearney now stands, about two hundred miles west of +the Missouri River. + +"What shall we do?" passed from one to another in our little family +council. + +"Now, fellers," said McAuley, "don't lose your heads, but do jist as +you've been doing. You gals, jist make your bread as light as ever, and +we'll take river water the same as ever, even if it is most as thick as +mud, and boil it." + +We had all along refused to dig little wells near the banks of the +Platte, as many others did; for we had soon learned that the water +obtained was strongly charged with alkali, while the river water was +comparatively pure, except for the sediment, so fine as seemingly to be +held in solution. + +"Keep cool," McAuley continued. "Maybe we'll have to lay down, and maybe +not. Anyway, it's no use frettin'. What's to be will be, 'specially if +we but help things along." + +This homely yet wise counsel fell upon willing ears, as most of us were +already of the same mind. We did just as we had been doing, and all but +one of our party escaped unharmed. + +We had then been in the buffalo country for several days. Some of the +young men, keen for hunting, had made themselves sick by getting +overheated and drinking impure water. Such was the experience of my +brother Oliver. Being of an adventurous spirit, he could not restrain +his ardor, gave chase to the buffaloes, and fell sick almost to death. + +This occurred just at the time when we encountered the cholera panic. It +must be the cholera that had taken hold of him, his companions argued. +Some of his party could not delay. + +"It is certain death," I said, "to take him along in that condition." + +They admitted this to be true. + +"Divide the outfit, then," it was suggested. + +Two of Oliver's companions, the Davenport brothers, would not leave him; +so their portion of the outfit was set aside with his. This gave the +three a wagon and a team. + +Turning to Buck, I said, "I can't ask you to stay with me." + +The answer came back as quick as a flash, "I'm going to stay with you +without asking." + +And he did, too, though my brother was almost a total stranger to him. + +We nursed the sick man for four days amidst scenes of death and +excitement such as I hope never again to see. On the fifth day we were +able to proceed and to take the convalescent man with us. + +The experience of our camp was the experience of hundreds of others: +there were countless incidents of friends parting; of desertion; of +noble sacrifice; of the revelation of the best and the worst in man. + +In a diary of one of these pioneers, I find the following: "Found a +family consisting of husband, wife, and four small children, whose +cattle we supposed had given out and died. They were here all alone, and +no wagon or cattle in sight." They had been thrown out by the owner of a +wagon and left on the road to die. + +From a nearby page of the same diary, I read: "Here we met Mr. Lot +Whitcom, direct from Oregon. Told me a great deal about Oregon. He has +provisions, but none to sell; but gives to all he finds in want, and who +are unable to buy." + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: Pioneers on the march.] + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +THE PIONEER ARMY OF THE PLAINS + + +DURING the ox-team days a mighty army of pioneers went West. In the year +that we crossed (1852), when the migration was at its height, this army +made an unbroken column fully five hundred miles long. We knew by the +inscribed dates found on Independence Rock and elsewhere that there were +wagons three hundred miles ahead of us, and the throng continued +crossing the river for more than a month after we had crossed it. + +How many people this army comprised cannot be known; the roll was never +called. History has no record of a greater number of emigrants ever +making so long a journey as did these pioneers. There must have been +three hundred and fifty thousand in the years of the great rush +overland, from 1843 to 1857. Careful estimates of the total migration +westward from 1843 to 1869, when the first railroad across the continent +was completed, make the number nearly half a million. + +The animals driven over the Plains during these years were legion. +Besides those that labored under the yoke, in harness, and under saddle, +there was a vast herd of loose stock. A conservative estimate would be +not less than six animals to the wagon, and surely there were three +loose animals to each one in the teams. Sixteen hundred wagons passed us +while we waited for Oliver to recover. With these teams must have been +nearly ten thousand beasts of burden and thirty thousand head of loose +stock. + +Is it any wonder that the old trail was worn so deep that even now in +places it looks like a great canal? At one point near Split Rock, +Wyoming, I found the road cut so deep in the solid sandstone that the +kingbolt of my wagon dragged on the high center. + +The pioneer army was a moving mass of human beings and dumb brutes, at +times mixed in inextricable confusion, a hundred feet wide or more. +Sometimes two columns of wagons, traveling on parallel lines and near +each other, would serve as a barrier to prevent loose stock from +crossing; but usually there would be a confused mass of cows, young +cattle, horses, and men afoot moving along the outskirts. Here and there +would be the drivers of loose stock, some on foot and some on horseback: +a young girl, maybe, riding astride and with a younger child behind her, +going here and there after an intractable cow, while the mother could be +seen in the confusion lending a helping hand. As in a thronged city +street, no one seemed to look to the right or to the left, or to pay +much attention, if any, to others, all being bent only on accomplishing +the task in hand. + +The dust was intolerable. In calm weather it would rise so thick at +times that the lead team of oxen could not be seen from the wagon. Like +a London fog, it seemed thick enough to cut. Then again, the steady flow +of wind through the South Pass would hurl the dust and sand like fine +hail, sometimes with force enough to sting the face and hands. + +Sometimes we had trying storms that would wet us to the skin in no time. +One such I remember well, being caught in it while out on watch. The +cattle traveled so fast that it was difficult to keep up with them. I +could do nothing but follow, as it would have been impossible to turn +them. I have always thought of this storm as a cloudburst. Anyhow, in an +incredibly short time there was not a dry thread left on me. My boots +were as full of water as if I had been wading over boot-top depth, and +the water ran through my hat as though it were a sieve. I was almost +blinded in the fury of the wind and water. Many tents were leveled by +this storm. One of our neighboring trains suffered great loss by the +sheets of water on the ground floating away camp equipage, ox yokes, and +all loose articles; and they narrowly escaped having a wagon engulfed in +the raging torrent that came so unexpectedly upon them. + +Fording a river was usually tiresome, and sometimes dangerous. I +remember fording the Loup fork of the Platte with a large number of +wagons fastened together with ropes or chains, so that if a wagon got +into trouble the teams in front would help to pull it out. The quicksand +would cease to sustain the wheels so suddenly that the wagon would drop +a few inches with a jolt, and up again the wheel would come as new sand +was struck; then down again it would go, up and down, precisely as if +the wagons were passing over a rough corduroy road that "nearly jolted +the life out of us," as the women folks said after it was over, and no +wonder, for the river at this point was half a mile wide. + +Many of the pioneers crossed rivers in their wagon boxes and very few +lost their lives in doing so. The difference between one of these +prairie-schooner wagon boxes and that of a scow-shaped, flat-bottomed +boat is that the wagon box has the ribs on the outside, while in a boat +they are on the inside. + +The number of casualties in that army of emigrants I hesitate to guess +at. Shall we say that ten per cent fell on the way? Many old plainsmen +would think that estimate too low; yet ten per cent would give us five +thousand lives as one year's toll paid for the peopling of the Oregon +Country. Mrs. Cecilia McMillen Adams, late of Hillsboro, Oregon, kept a +painstaking diary when she crossed the Plains in 1852. She counted the +graves passed and noted down the number. In this diary, published in +full by the Oregon Pioneer Association, I find the following entries: + + June 14. Passed seven new-made graves. + June 16. Passed eleven new graves. + June 17. Passed six new graves. + June 18. We have passed twenty-one new graves today. + June 19. Passed thirteen graves today. + June 20. Passed ten graves. + June 21. No report. + June 22. Passed seven graves. If we should go by the camping grounds, + we should see five times as many graves as we do. + +This report of Mrs. Adams's, coupled with the facts that a parallel +column from which we have no report was traveling up the south side of +the river, and that the outbreak of cholera had taken place originally +in this column coming from the southeast, fully confirms the estimate of +five thousand deaths on the Plains in 1852. It is probably under rather +than over the actual number. + +To the emigrants the fact that all the graves were new-made brought an +added touch of sadness. The graves of previous years had disappeared, +leveled by the storms of wind or rain, by the hoofs of the stock, or +possibly by ravages of the hungry wolf. Many believed that the Indians +had robbed the graves for the clothing on the bodies. Whatever the +cause, all, or nearly all, graves of previous years were lost, and we +knew that the last resting places of those that we might leave behind +would also be lost by the next year. + +One of the incidents that made a profound impression upon the minds of +all was the meeting with eleven wagons returning, and not a man left in +the entire train. All the men had died and had been buried on the way, +and the women and children were returning to their homes alone from a +point well up on the Platte, below Fort Laramie. The difficulties of the +return trip were multiplied on account of the throng moving westward. +How those women succeeded in their attempt, or what became of them, we +never knew. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: In an instant each Indian had dropped to the side of his +horse.] + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +INDIANS AND BUFFALOES ON THE PLAINS + + +OUR trail led straight across the Indian lands most of the way. The +redmen naturally resented this intrusion into their territory; but they +did not at this time fight against it. Their attitude was rather one of +expecting pay for the privilege of using their land, their grass, and +their game. + +As soon as a part of our outfits were landed on the right bank of the +Missouri River, our trouble with the Indians began, not in open +hostilities, but in robbery under the guise of beggary. The word had +been passed around in our little party that not a cent's worth of +provisions would we give up to the Indians. We believed this policy to +be our only safeguard from spoliation, and in that we were right. + +Our women folks had been taken over the river with the first wagon and +had gone on to a convenient camp site nearby. The first show of weapons +came from that side of our little community, when some of the bolder +Pawnees attempted to pilfer around the wagons. No blood was shed, +however, and indeed there was none shed by any of our party during the +entire journey. + +[Illustration: Demanding pay for crossing.] + +Soon after we had left the Missouri River we came to a small bridge over +a washout across the road, evidently constructed by some train just +ahead of us. The Indians had taken possession and were demanding pay for +crossing. Some parties ahead of us had paid, while others were +hesitating; but with a few there was a determined resolution not to pay. +When our party came up it remained for that fearless man, McAuley, to +clear the way in short order, though the Indians were there in +considerable numbers. + +"You fellers come right on," said McAuley. "I'm goin' across that bridge +if I have to run right over that Injen settin' there." + +And he did almost run over the Indian, who at the last moment got out of +the way of his team. Other teams followed in such quick succession and +with such a show of guns that the Indians withdrew and left the road +unobstructed. + +Once I came very near to getting into serious trouble with three Indians +on horseback. We had hauled my wagon away from the road to get water, I +think, and had become separated from the passing throng. We were +almost, but not quite, out of sight of any wagons or camps. + +The Indians came up ostensibly to beg, but really to rob. They began +first to solicit, and afterwards to threaten. I started to drive on, not +thinking they would use actual violence, as there were other wagons +certainly within a half mile. I thought they were merely trying to +frighten me into giving up at least a part of my outfit. Finally one of +the Indians whipped out his knife and cut loose the cow that I was +leading behind the wagon. + +I did not have to ask for my gun. My wife, who had been watching from +within the wagon, saw that the time had come to fight and handed my +rifle to me from under the cover. Before the savages had time to do +anything further they saw the gun. They were near enough to make it +certain that one shot would take deadly effect; but instead of shooting +one Indian, I trained the gun so that I might quickly choose among the +three. In an instant each Indian had dropped to the side of his horse +and was speeding away in great haste. The old saying that "almost any +one will fight when cornered" was exemplified in this incident; but I +did not want any more such experiences, and consequently thereafter +became more careful not to be separated from the other wagons. + +On the whole, we did not have much trouble with the Indians in 1852. The +great numbers of the emigrants, coupled with the superiority of their +arms, made them comparatively safe. It must be remembered, also, that +this was before the treaty-making period, and the Indians of the Plains +were not yet incensed against white men in general. + +Herds of buffalo were more often seen than bands of Indians. The buffalo +trails generally followed the water courses or paralleled them. But +sometimes they would lead across the country with scarcely any +deviation from a direct course. When on the road a herd would +persistently follow their leader, whether in the wild tumult of a +stampede or in leisurely grazing as they traveled. + +A story is told, and it is doubtless true, of a chase in the upper +regions of the Missouri, where the leaders of the buffalo herd, either +voluntarily or by pressure from the mass behind, leaped to their death +over a perpendicular bluff a hundred feet high, overlooking the river. +The herd followed blindly until not only hundreds but thousands lay +struggling at the foot of the bluff. They piled one upon another till +the space between the river and the bluff was bridged, and the last of +the victims plunged headlong into the river. + +Well up on the Platte, but below Fort Laramie, we had the experience of +a night stampede that struck terror to the heart of man and beast. It so +happened that we had brought our cattle into camp that evening, a thing +we did not usually do. We had driven the wagons into a circle, with the +tongue of each wagon chained to the hind axletree of the wagon ahead. +The cattle were led inside the circle and the tents were pitched +outside. + +[Illustration: A night out on the range.] + +Usually I would be out on the range with the oxen at night, and if I +slept at all, snuggled up close to the back of my good ox, Dandy; but +that night, with the oxen safe inside the enclosure, I slept in the +wagon. + +William Buck and my brother Oliver were in a tent near by, sleeping on +the ground. + +[Illustration: _L. A. Huffman_ + +A remnant of the buffalo herds that once roamed the Plains.] + +Suddenly there was a sound like an approaching storm. Almost instantly +every animal in the corral was on its feet. The alarm was given and all +hands turned out, not yet knowing what caused the general commotion. The +roar we heard was like that of a heavy railroad train passing at no +great distance on a still night. As by instinct all seemed to know +suddenly that it was a buffalo stampede. The tents were emptied of their +inmates, the weak parts of the corral guarded, the frightened cattle +looked after, and every one in the camp was on the alert to watch what +was coming. + +In the darkness of the night we could see first the forms of the +leaders, and then such dense masses that we could not distinguish one +buffalo from the other. How long they were in passing we forgot to note; +it seemed like an age. When daylight came the few stragglers yet to be +seen fell under the unerring aim of the frontiersman's rifle. + +We were lucky, but our neighbors in camp did not escape loss. Some were +detained for days, gathering up their scattered stock, while others were +unable to find their teams. Some of the animals never were recovered. + +When not on the road, the buffalo were shy, difficult to approach, and +hard to bag, even with the long-range rifles of the pioneers. But for +over six hundred miles along the trail, a goodly supply of fresh meat +was obtainable. + + + + +[Illustration: The prairie wagon used as a boat.] + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +TRAILING THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN LAND + + +AS the column of wagons passed up the Platte in what is now western +Nebraska, there was some relief from the dust. The throng was visibly +thinned out; some had pushed on beyond the congested district, while +others had lagged behind. The dead, too, had left room upon the road. + +When we reached the higher lands of Wyoming, our traveling became still +more pleasant. The nights were cooler, and we had clearer, purer water. +As we gradually ascended the Sweetwater, life grew more tolerable and +discomfort less acute. + +We were now nearing the crest of the continent. The climb was so +gradual, however, as to be hardly observable. The summit of the Rocky +Mountains, through the South Pass, presents a wide, open, undulating +country. The Pass offers, therefore, an easy gateway to the West. + +Passing Pacific Springs at the summit, we rolled over to Big Sandy +Creek. At this point we left the Salt Lake Trail (known also as the +Mormon Trail) and took the Sublette Cut-off over to Bear River. This +was a shorter trail to the Oregon Country, made by William Sublette, one +of the American fur traders of the early days. The earlier emigrants to +Oregon went on to Fort Bridger before leaving the Salt Lake route. + +[Illustration: _Howard R. Driggs_ + +The big bend of the Bear River in Idaho.] + +The most attractive natural phenomenon encountered on the whole trip was +found at the Soda Springs, near Bear River in Idaho. Some of the +springs, in fact, are right in the bed of the river. One of them, +Steamboat Spring, was spouting at regular intervals as we passed. + +Just after leaving Soda Springs our little company of friends separated. +The McAuleys and William Buck took the trail to California, while with +Oliver and the Davenport brothers we went northwest to Oregon. Jacob, +the younger of the brothers, fell sick and gradually grew worse as the +journey grew harder. Shortly after reaching Portland the poor boy died. + +Thomas McAuley settled in the Hobart hills in California and became a +respected citizen of that state. When last I heard of him he was +eighty-eight years old. + +William Buck has long since lain down to rest. A few years after we had +parted on the big bend of the Bear River, I heard from William in a way +that was characteristic of the man. He had been back to "the States," as +we then called the eastern part of our country, and returning to +California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, he had brought fifty swarms +of bees. Three of these swarms he sent up to me in Washington. As far as +I know these were the first honey bees in that state. William Buck was a +man who was always doing a good turn for his friends. + +When Snake River was reached, and in fact even before that, the heat +again became oppressive, the dust stifling, and the thirst at times +almost maddening. In some places we could see the water of the Snake +winding through the lava gorges; but we could not reach it, as the river +ran in the inaccessible depths of the canyon. Sickness again became +prevalent, and another outbreak of cholera claimed many victims. + +There were but few ferries, and none at all in many places where +crossings were to be made. Even where there was a ferry, the charges +were so high that they were out of reach of most of the emigrants. As +for me, all my funds had been absorbed in procuring my outfit at +Eddyville, in Iowa. We had not dreamed that there would be use for money +on the Plains, where there were neither supplies nor people. But we soon +found out our mistake. + +The crossing of the Snake River, although late in the journey, gave us +the opportunity to mend matters. About thirty miles below Salmon Falls +the dilemma confronted us of either crossing the Snake River or having +our teams starve on the trip down the river on the south bank. We found +that some emigrants had calked two wagon beds and lashed them together, +and were using this craft for crossing. But they would not help others +across for less than three to five dollars a wagon, the party swimming +their own stock. + +If others could cross in wagon beds, why couldn't we do likewise? +Without more ado all the old clothing that could possibly be spared was +assembled, and tar buckets were scraped. Old chisels and broken knives +were hunted up, and a boat repairing and calking campaign began. Very +soon the wagon box rode placidly, even if not gracefully, on the waters +of the Snake River. + +My boyhood experience at playing with logs and leaky old skiffs in the +waters of White River now served me well; I could row a boat. My first +venture across the Snake River was with the wagon gear run over the +wagon box, the whole being gradually worked out into deep water. The +load was so heavy that a very small margin was left to prevent the water +from breaking over the sides, and some water did enter as light ripples +on the surface struck the _Mary Jane_--for we had duly named our craft. +I got over safely, but after that I took lighter loads, and I really +enjoyed the work, with the change from the intolerable dust to the clear +atmosphere of the river. + +Some people were so infatuated with the idea of floating on the water +that they were easily persuaded by an unprincipled trader at the lower +crossing to dispose of their teams for a song and to embark in their +wagon beds for a voyage down the river. A number of people thus lost +everything they had, and some even lost their lives. After terrible +hardships, the survivors reached the road again, to become objects of +charity. I knew one survivor who was out seven days without food other +than a scant supply of berries and vegetable growth and "a few +crickets, but not many." + +We had no trouble to get the cattle across, although the river was wide. +Dandy would do almost anything I asked of him; so, leading him to the +water's edge, with a little coaxing I got him into swimming water and +guided him across with the wagon bed. The others all followed, having +been driven into deep water after the leader. It seems almost incredible +how passively obedient cattle will become after long training on such a +journey. Indeed, the ox is always patient, and usually quite obedient; +but when oxen get heated and thirsty, they become headstrong and +reckless, and won't obey. I have known them to take off the road to a +water hole, when apparently nothing could stop them till they had gone +so far into the mud and water that it was a hard job for them to get out +again. + +We had not finished crossing when tempting offers came from others to +cross them; but all our party said, "No, we must travel." The rule had +been adopted to travel some distance every day that it was possible. +"Travel, travel, travel," was the watchword, and nothing could divert us +from that resolution. On the third day we were ready to pull out from +the river, with the cattle rested by the enforced wait. + +Now the question was, what about the lower crossing? Those who had +crossed over the river must somehow get back. It was less than a hundred +and fifty miles to the place where we must again cross to the south side +(the left bank) of the river. I could walk that distance in three days, +while it would take our teams ten. Could I go on ahead, procure a wagon +box, and start a ferry of my own? The thought brought an affirmative +answer at once. + +With only food and a small blanket for load, I walked to the lower +crossing. It may be ludicrous, but it is true, that the most I remember +about that tramp is the jack rabbits. Such swarms, as I traveled down +the Boise valley, I had never seen before and I never saw again. + +I soon obtained a wagon bed, and all day long for several days I was at +work crossing people. I continued at this till our teams came up, and +for a few days after that. I left the river with a hundred and ten +dollars in my pocket. All but two dollars and seventy-five cents of this +was gone before I arrived in Portland. + +But we could not delay longer, even to make money. I thought I could see +signs of failing strength in my young wife and the baby. Not for +mountains of gold would we jeopardize their lives. + +All along the way the baby and the little mother had been tenderly cared +for. We used to clear away a space in the wagon bed for them to take a +nap together. The slow swaying of the wagon over smooth, sandy stretches +made a rock-a-by movement that would lull them off to dreamland and make +them forget the weary way. + +When we left the lower crossing, the mother and baby were placed in a +small wagon. A sprightly yoke of oxen was hitched to it that they might +get an early start and keep out of the dust. What few delicacies the +pioneers had were given to them. By this tender care the mother and +child were enabled to continue to the end of the long journey, though +the brave little mother was frail and weak from the wearisome struggle +before we reached a resting place at last. + +[Illustration: A nap in the wagon.] + +What became of that baby? He thrived and grew to manhood and he is now +living, sixty-nine years of age, in California. Some of his +grandchildren are almost grown to manhood and womanhood. + +[Illustration: _Myers, Boise, Idaho_ + +Thousand Springs of the Snake River, Idaho.] + + + + +[Illustration: The travel-worn wanderers sing "Home, Sweet Home."] + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +REACHING THE END OF THE TRAIL + + +AFTER leaving the Snake River we had one of the worst stretches of the +trying journey. From the lower crossing of the Snake River at old Fort +Boise to The Dalles is approximately three hundred and fifty miles over +mountains and deserts. It became a serious question with many travelers +whether there would be enough provisions left to keep them from +starvation and whether their teams could muster strength to take the +wagons in. Many wagons were left by the wayside. Everything that could +possibly be spared shared the same fate. Provisions, and provisions +only, were religiously cared for. Considering the weakened condition of +both man and beast, it was small wonder that some ill-advised persons +should take to the river in their wagon beds, many thus going to their +death. + +[Illustration: _Benj. A. Gifford_ + +The cataract of the Columbia.] + +The dust got deeper every day. Going through it was like wading in water +as to resistance. Often it would lie in the road fully six inches deep, +so fine that a person wading through it would scarcely leave a track. +And when disturbed, such clouds! No words can describe it. + +[Illustration: _Benj. A. Gifford_ + +Shifting sands of eastern Oregon.] + +At length, after we had endured five long months of soul-trying travel +and had covered about eighteen hundred miles, counting from the crossing +of the Missouri, we dragged ourselves on to the end of the Overland +Trail at The Dalles on the Columbia River. From here my wife and I, with +the baby, went by boat down the river, while Oliver took the ox team on +to Portland by the land way. + +The Dalles is a name given to the peculiar lava rock formation that +strikes across the Columbia, nearly two hundred miles from the mouth. +These rocks throw the great stream into a fury of foaming rapids. An +Indian legend says that the Bridge of the Gods was once near The Dalles, +but that the bridge broke and fell. + +On the September day in 1852 when we reached The Dalles, we found there +a great crowd of travel-worn people. This assemblage was constantly +changing. It was a coming-and-going congregation. + +[Illustration: _Gifford & Prentiss_ + +Where the Columbia cuts through the Cascades.] + +The appearance of this crowd of emigrants beggars description. Their +dress was as varied as pieces in a crazy quilt. Here was a matronly dame +in clean apparel, but without shoes; her husband perhaps lacked both +shoes and hat. Youngsters of all sizes were running about with scarcely +enough clothing to cover their nakedness. Some suits and dresses were so +patched that it was impossible to tell what was the original cloth. The +color of practically everybody's clothing was that of desert dust. + +Every little while other sweat-streaked, motley-dressed homeseekers +would straggle up to this end of the long trail. Their thoughts went +back to their old homes, or to the loved ones that they had laid away +tenderly in the shifting sands of the Plains. Most of them faced the +future with fortitude; the difficulties they had met and mastered had +but steeled them to meet the difficulties ahead. There was an +undercurrent of gladness in their souls with the thought that they had +achieved the end of the Overland Trail. They were ready now to go on +down the Columbia to find their new homes in this great, unknown Land of +Promise. + +Almost every nationality was represented among them. All traces of race +peculiarity and race prejudice, however, had been ground away in the +mill of adversity. The trying times through which these pioneers had +just passed had brought all to a kinship of feeling such as only trail +and danger can beget. + +Friendships, sincere and lasting, came as one of the sweet rewards of +those days of common struggle and adversity. Few of the pioneers are now +left to talk over the old days; when any of them do meet, the greeting +is one of brotherhood indeed. + +We camped but two days on the bank of the Columbia River. When I say +"we," let it be understood that I mean myself, my young wife, and the +baby boy who was but seven weeks old when the start was made from +Eddyville. + +[Illustration: _Kiser Bros._ + +St. Peter's Dome--one of the sentinels of the Columbia.] + +I do not remember the embarking on the great scow for our trip down +the Columbia to the Cascades. But incidents of the voyage come to me as +vividly as if they had happened but yesterday. + +Those who took passage felt that the journey was ended. The cattle had +been unyoked for the last time; the wagons had been rolled to the last +bivouac; the embers of the last camp fire had died out. We were entering +now upon a new field with new present experiences, and with new +expectancy for the morrow. + +The scow, or lighter, upon which we took passage was decked over, but +without railing, offering a smooth surface upon which to pile our +belongings. These, in the majority of cases, made but a very small +showing. The whole deck surface of the scow was covered with the +remnants of the homeseekers' outfits, which in turn were covered by the +owners, either sitting or reclining upon their possessions, with but +scant room to change position or move about in any way. There must have +been a dozen families or more on the boat, or about sixty persons. These +were principally women and children; the young men and some of the older +ones were still struggling on the mountain trail to get the teams +through to the west side of the Cascade Mountains. + +As we went floating down that wonderful old river, the deep depression +of spirits that, for lack of a better name, we call "the blues," seized +upon us. Do you wonder why? We were like an army that had burned the +bridges behind it. We had scant knowledge of what lay in the track +before us. Here we were, more than two thousand miles from +home,--separated from it by a trackless, uninhabited waste of country. +It was impossible for us to retrace our steps. Go ahead we must, no +matter what we were to encounter. + +Then, too, we had for months borne the burden of duties that could not +be avoided or delayed, until many were on the verge of collapse from +strain and overwork. Some were sick, and all were reduced in flesh from +the urgent toil at camp duty and from lack of variety of food. Such was +the condition of the motley crowd of sixty persons as we slowly neared +that wonderful channel through which the great Columbia flows while +passing the Cascade range. + +For myself, I can truly say that the journey had not drawn on my +vitality as it had with so many. True, I had been worked down in flesh, +having lost nearly twenty pounds; but what weight I had left was the +bone and sinew of my system. The good body my parents had given me +carried me then and afterwards through many hardships without great +distress. + +[Illustration: _Benj. A. Gifford_ + +Multnomah Falls along the Columbia; named after a famous Indian chief.] + +In our company, a party of three, a young married couple and an +unmarried sister, lounged on their belongings, listlessly watching the +ripples on the water, as did also others of the party. But little +conversation was passing. Each seemed to be communing with himself or +herself, but it was easy to see what were the thoughts occupying the +minds of all. The young husband, it was plain to be seen, would soon +complete that greater journey to the unknown beyond, a condition that +weighed so heavily upon the ladies of the party that they could ill +conceal their solicitude and sorrow. Finally, to cheer up the sick +husband and brother, the ladies began in sweet, subdued voices to sing +the old familiar song of "Home, Sweet Home," whereupon others of the +party joined in the chorus with increased volume of sound. As the echo +died away, at the moment of gliding under the shadow of the high +mountain, the second verse was begun, but was never finished. If an +electric shock had startled every individual of the party, there could +have been no more simultaneous effect than when the second line of the +second verse was reached, when instead of song, sobs and outcries of +grief poured forth from all lips. It seemed as if there were a tumult of +despair mingled with prayer. The rugged boatmen rested upon their oars +in awe, and gave way in sympathy with the scene before them, until it +could be truly said no dry eyes were left nor aching heart but was +relieved. Like the downpour of a summer shower that suddenly clears the +atmosphere to welcome the bright shining sun that follows, so this +sudden outburst of grief cleared away the despondency, to be replaced by +an exalted, exhilarating feeling of buoyancy and hopefulness. The tears +were not dried till mirth took possession--a real hysterical +manifestation of the whole party, ending all depression for the rest of +the trip. + +On this last stage of the journey other parties had much more trying +experiences than ours. John Whitacre, afterward governor of Oregon, was +the head of a party of nine that constructed a raft at The Dalles out of +dry poles hauled from the adjacent country. While their stock was +started out over the trail, their two wagons were put upon the raft. +With the women and children in the wagons, perched on the provisions and +bedding, the start was made to float down the river to the Cascades. + +They had hardly begun the journey when the waves swept over the raft. It +was like a submerged foundation upon which their wagons stood. A landing +a few miles out of The Dalles averted a total wreck, and afforded +opportunity to strengthen the buoyancy of the raft with extra timber +carried upon the backs of the men for long distances. + +Then the question arose, how should they know when they would reach the +falls? Would they be able to discover the falls in time to make a +landing? Their fears finally got the better of them and a line was run +ashore; but instead of making a landing, they found themselves hard +aground out of reach of land, except by wading a long distance. This +occurred while they were many miles above the falls, or Cascades. At +last they gave up the raft and procured a scow. In this they reached the +head of the Cascades in safety. + +As we neared Portland we felt that a long task had been completed. Yet +reaching the end of the Overland Trail did not mean that our pioneer +struggles were over. Before us lay still another task--the conquest of +the new land. And it was no easy work, we were to learn, to find a home +or make one in the western wilderness. + + + + +PART TWO + +SETTLING IN THE NORTHWEST COUNTRY + +[Illustration: This is the region in which Ezra Meeker settled in 1852, +when it was all known as the Oregon Country and had not been divided +into Washington and Oregon. The journey from Portland to Kalama, where +the first cabin was built, is shown by line 1. The line marked 2 shows +the route followed in the journey to explore the Puget Sound region. The +brothers went as far as Port Townsend, but turned back to make the +second home at Steilacoom. Line 3 is the trail through the Natchess +Pass, the trail that Ezra Meeker followed to meet his father's party +coming up through the Blue Mountains.] + + + + +[Illustration: Looking for work on the good ship _Mary Melville_.] + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +GETTING A NEW START IN THE NEW LAND + + +ON the first day of October, 1852, at about nine o'clock at night, with +a bright moon shining, we reached Portland. Oliver met us; he had come +ahead by the trail and had found a place for us to lodge. + +I carried my wife, who had fallen ill, in my arms up the steep bank of +the Willamette River and three blocks away to the lodging house, which +was kept by a colored man. + +"Why, suh, I didn't think yuse could do that, yuse don't look it," said +my colored friend, as I placed my wife on the clean bed in a cozy little +room. + +This was the first house we had been in for five months. From April +until October we had been on the move. Never a roof had been over our +heads other than the wagon cover or tent, and no softer bed had we known +than the ground or the bottom of the wagon. + +We had found a little steamer to carry us from the Cascades to Portland, +along with most of the company that had floated in the scow down the +river from The Dalles. The great Oregon Country, then including the +Puget Sound region, was large enough to swallow up a thousand such +migrations. + +Portland was no paradise at that time. It would be difficult to imagine +a sorrier-looking place than the one that confronted us upon arrival. +Some rain had fallen, and more soon followed. With the stumps and logs +and mud and the uneven stretches of ground, it was no easy matter to +find a resting place. + +The tented city was continually enlarging. People seemed to be dazed; it +was hard to find paying work; there was insufficient shelter to house +all. The country looked a great field of forests and mountains. + +Oliver and I had between us a cash capital of about three dollars. It +was clear that we must find work at once, so at earliest dawn next day +Oliver took the trail leading down the river, to search for something to +do. I had a possible opportunity for work and wages already in mind. + +As we were passing up the Willamette, a few miles below Portland, on the +evening of our arrival, a bark lay seemingly right in our path as we +steamed by. This vessel looked to our inexperienced eyes like a +veritable monster, with hull towering high above our heads and masts +reaching to the sky. Probably not one of that whole party of +frontiersmen had ever before seen a deep-sea vessel. + +The word went around that the bark was bound for Portland with a cargo +of merchandise and was to take a return cargo of lumber. As we passed +her there flashed through my mind the thought that there might be +opportunity for work on that vessel next day. Sure enough, when morning +came, the staunch bark _Mary Melville_ lay quietly in front of the +mill. + +Without loss of time my inquiry was made: "Do you want any men on board +this ship?" + +A gruff-looking fellow eyed me all over as much as to say, "Not you +anyhow." But he answered, "Yes. Go below and get your breakfast." + +I fairly stammered out, "I must go and see my wife first, and let her +know where I am." + +Thereupon came back a growl: "Of course, that will be the last of you! +That's the way with these newcomers, always hunting for work and never +wanting it." This last aside to a companion, in my hearing. + +I swallowed my indignation, assured him that I would be back in five +minutes, and went post-haste to impart the good news. + +Put yourself in my place, you who have never come under the domination +of a surly mate on a sailing vessel of seventy years ago. My ears fairly +tingled with anger at the harshness of the orders, but I stuck to the +work, smothering my rage at being berated while doing my very best. As +the day went on I realized that the man was not angry; he had merely +fallen into that way of talking. The sailors paid slight heed to what he +said. Before night the fellow seemed to let up on me, while increasing +his tirades at the regular men. The second and third day wore off. I had +blistered hands, but never a word about wages or pay. + +"Say, boss, I'se got to pay my rent, and we'se always gits our pay in +advance. I doan' like to ask you, but can't you git the old boss to put +up somethin' on your work?" + +I could plainly see that my landlord was serving notice to pay or move. +What should I do? Suppose the old skipper should discharge me for asking +for wages before the end of the week? But when I told him what I wanted +the money for, the old man's eyes moistened. Without a word he gave me +more money than I had asked for, and that night the steward handed me a +bottle of wine for the "missus." I knew that it came from the old +captain. + +The baby's Sunday visit to the ship, the Sunday dinner in the cabin, the +presents of delicacies that followed, even from the gruff mate, made me +feel that under all this roughness lay a tender humanity. Away out here, +three thousand miles from home, the same sort of people lived as those I +had left behind me. + +Then came this message: + + + St. Helens, October 7th, 1852. + + Dear Brother: Come as soon as you can. Have rented + a house, sixty boarders. This is going to be the + place. Shall I send you money? + + OLIVER P. MEEKER. + +The mate importuned me to stay until the cargo was on board. I did stay +until the last stick of lumber was stowed, the last pig in the pen, and +the ship swinging off, bound on her outward voyage. I felt as if I had +an interest in her. + +Sure enough, I found St. Helens to be the place. Here was to be the +terminus of the steamship line from San Francisco. "Wasn't the company +building this wharf?" "They wouldn't set sixty men to work on the dock +unless they meant business." "Ships can't get up the Willamette--that's +nothing but a creek. The big city is going to be here." + +This was the talk that greeted my ears as I went looking about. We had +carried my wife, this time in a chair, to our hotel--yes, our +hotel!--and there we had placed her, and the baby too, of course, in the +best room the house afforded. + +One January morning in 1853, our sixty men boarders did not go to work +at the dock building as usual. Orders had come to suspend work. Nobody +knew why, or for how long. We soon learned that the steamship company +had given up the fight against Portland and would thenceforward run its +steamers to that port. The dock was never finished and was allowed to +fall into decay. With our boarders scattered, our occupation was gone, +and our supplies were in great part rendered worthless to us by the +change. + +Meantime, snow had fallen to a great depth. The price of forage for +cattle rose by leaps and bounds, and we found that we must part with +half of our stock to save the rest. It might be necessary to provide +feed for a month, or for three months; we could not tell. The last cow +was given up that we might keep one yoke of oxen, so necessary for the +work on a new place. + +The search for a claim began at once. After one day's struggle against +the current of the Lewis River, and a night standing in a snow and sleet +storm around a camp fire of green wood, Oliver and I found our ardor +cooled a little. Two hours sufficed to take us back home next morning. + +Claims we must have, though. That was what we had come to Oregon for. We +were going to be farmers; wife and I had made that bargain before we +closed the other more important contract. We were still of one mind as +to both contracts. + +Early in January of 1853 the snow began disappearing rapidly, and the +search for claims became more earnest. Finally, about the twentieth of +January, I drove my stake for a claim. It included the site where the +city of Kalama now stands. + +With my mind's eye I can see our first cabin as vividly as on the day +it was finished. It was placed among the trees on a hillside, with the +door in the end facing the beautiful river. The rocky nature of the site +permitted little grading, but it added to the picturesqueness. + +The great river, the Columbia, was a mile wide at the point where our +house stood. Once a day at least it seemed to tire from its ceaseless +flow and to take a nooning spell. This was when the tides from the ocean +held back the waters of the river. Immediately in front of our landing +lay a small island of a few acres, covered with heavy timber and +driftwood. This has long since been washed away, and ships now pass over +the place in safety. + +The cabin was built of small, straight logs. The ribs projected a few +feet to provide an open front porch--not for ornament, but for storage +of dry wood and kindling. The walls were but a scant five feet high; the +roof was not very steep; and there was a large stone fireplace and a +chimney. + +The cabin was not large nor did it contain much in the way of +furnishings; but it was home--our home. + +Our home! What a thrill of joy that thought brought to us! It was the +first home we had ever had. We had been married nearly two years, yet +this was really our first abiding place, for all other dwellings had +been merely way stations on our march from Indianapolis to this cabin. +The thought brought not only happiness but health to us. The glow +returned to my wife's cheek, the dimple to the baby's. And such a baby! +In the innocence of our souls we honestly thought we had the smartest, +cutest baby on earth. + +Scarcely had we settled in our new home before there came a mighty flood +that covered the waters of the river with wrecks of property. Oliver and +I, with one of our neighbors, began to secure the logs that came +floating down in great numbers. In a very short time we had a raft that +was worth a good sum of money, could we but get it to market. + +[Illustration: Our first cabin home.] + +Encouraged by this find, we immediately turned our attention to some +fine timber standing close to the bank near by, and began hand-logging +to supplement what we had already secured afloat. This work soon gave us +ample means to buy our winter supplies, even though flour was fifty +dollars a barrel. And yet, because of that same hand-logging work, my +wife came very near becoming a widow one morning before breakfast; but +she did not know of it until long afterwards. + +It occurred in this way. We did not then know how to scaffold up above +the tough, swelled bases of the large trees, and this made it very +difficult to chop them down. So we burned through them. We bored two +holes at an angle to meet inside the inner bark, and when we got a fire +started there the heart of the tree would burn through, leaving an outer +shell of bark. + +One morning, as usual, I was up early. After lighting the fire in the +stove and putting on the kettle, I hastened to the burning timber to +start the logging fires afresh. As I neared a clump of three giants, two +hundred and fifty feet tall, one began toppling over toward me. In my +confusion I ran across the path where it fell. This tree had scarcely +reached the ground when a second started to fall almost parallel to it, +the two tops barely thirty feet apart and the limbs flying in several +directions. I was between the two trees. If I had not become entangled +in some brush, I should have been crushed by the second falling tree. It +was an escape so marvelous as almost to lead one to think that there is +such a thing as a charmed life. + +[Illustration: A narrow escape.] + +In rafting our precious accumulations of timber down the Columbia River +to Oak Point, we were carried by the current past the place where we had +expected to sell our logs at six dollars a thousand feet. Following the +raft to the larger waters, we finally reached Astoria, where we sold the +logs for eight dollars a thousand instead of six, thus profiting by our +misfortunes. + +But this final success had meant an involuntary plunge off the raft into +the river with my boots on, for me, and three days and nights of +ceaseless toil and watching for all of us. We voted unanimously that we +would have no more such work. + +The flour sack was nearly empty when I left home. We were expecting to +be absent but one night, and we had been gone a week. There were no +neighbors nearer our cabin than four miles, and no roads--scarcely a +trail. The only communication was by the river. What about the wife and +baby alone in the cabin, with the deep timber at the rear and a heavy +jungle of brush in front? Happily we found them all right upon our +return. + + + + +[Illustration: A lesson in the art of clam baking.] + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +HUNTING FOR ANOTHER HOME SITE + + +OUR enjoyment of this first home did not last long. Hardly were we +fairly settled, when news came that unsettled us again. + +In April of 1853, the word had begun to pass around that we were to have +a new Territory to embrace the country north of the Columbia River. Its +capital was to be on Puget Sound. Here on the Columbia we should be away +off to one side, out of touch with the people who would shortly become a +great separate commonwealth. + +It seemed advisable to look about a little, before making the move; so +leaving the little wife and baby in the cabin home one bright morning in +May, Oliver and I each made a pack of forty pounds and took the trail, +bound for Puget Sound. We camped where night overtook us, sleeping in +the open air without shelter or cover other than that afforded by some +friendly tree with drooping limbs. + +Our trail first led us down near the right bank of the Columbia to the +Cowlitz, thence up the latter river thirty miles or more, and then +across the country nearly sixty miles to Olympia. + +At this time there might have been, about Puget Sound, two thousand +white people all told, while now there are nearer a million. But these +people were so scattered we did not realize there were even that number, +for the Puget Sound country is a big place--more than two hundred miles +long and seventy-five miles wide--between two mountain ranges, with the +Cascades on the east and the Olympics on the west. The waters of the +Sound, including all the channels and bays and inlets and shores of +forty islands, make more than sixteen hundred miles of shore +line--nearly as many miles as the Oregon Trail is long; that is, almost +as many miles as we had the previous year traversed from the Missouri +River to the Sound. + +Our expectations had been raised high by the glowing accounts of Puget +Sound. But a feeling of deep disappointment fell upon us when we could +see in the foreground only bare, dismal mud flats, and beyond these a +channel scarcely twice as wide as that of the great river we had left, +bounded on either side by high, heavily timbered land. We wished +ourselves back at our cabin on the Columbia. + +Should we turn around and go back? No; we had never done that since +leaving our Indiana home. But what was the use of stopping here? We +wanted a place to make a farm, and we could not do it on such forbidding +land as this. The dense forest stretching out before us was interesting +enough to the lumberman, and for aught I knew there were channels for +the ships; but I wanted to be neither lumberman nor sailor. My first +camp on Puget Sound was not cheerful. + +Olympia at the time contained about one hundred inhabitants. It had +three stores, a hotel, a livery stable, a saloon, and one weekly +newspaper. A glance at the advertising columns of this paper, _The +Columbian_ (the name which was expected to be that of the new +territory), disclosed but a few local advertisers. "Everybody knows +everybody here," a resident remarked to me, "so what's the use of +advertising?" + +We could not stay at Olympia. We had pushed on past some good locations +on the Chehalis, and farther south, without locating. Should we now +retrace our steps? Oliver said no, and my better judgment also said no, +though I was sorely pressed with a feeling of homesickness. + +The decision was quickly made to see more of this Puget Sound. But how +were we to see these--to us--unexplored waters? I declared that I would +not go in one of those Indian canoes, that we should upset it before we +were out half an hour. I had to admit that the Indians navigated the +whole Sound in these canoes and were safe, but I would not trust myself +in a craft that would tip as easily as a Siwash canoe. When I came to +know the Indians better and saw their performances in these frail craft, +my admiration for the canoes was even greater than my distrust had been. + +Neither Oliver nor I had much experience in boating, and we had none in +boat building. However, when we had discarded the idea of taking a +canoe, we set to work with a hearty good will to build us a skiff. We +made it out of light lumber, then easily obtained at Tumwater. We +determined to have the skiff broad enough not to upset easily, and long +enough to carry us and our light cargo of food and bedding. + +As in the trip across the Plains, we must provide our own +transportation. Here and there might be a vessel loading piles and +square timber for the San Francisco market, but not a steamer was then +plying on the Sound; there was not even a sailing craft that essayed to +carry passengers. + +As the tide drew us off on the placid waters of the bay at Olympia, with +just a breath of air stirring, our little eighteen-foot craft behaved +splendidly. The slight ripples jostling against the bow brought dreams +of a pleasure trip, to make amends for the tiresome pack across the +country. + +[Illustration: A Siwash Indian in his canoe.] + +We floated lazily with the tide, sometimes taking a few strokes with the +oars, and at other times whistling for the wind. The little town of +Olympia to the south became dimmed by distance. But we were no sooner +fairly out of sight of the little village than the question came up +which way to go. What channel should we take? + +"Let the tide decide; that will carry us out toward the ocean." + +"No, we are drifting into another bay; that cannot be where we want to +go." + +"Why, we are drifting right back almost in the same direction from which +we came, but into another bay! We'll pull this way to that point to the +northeast." + +"But there seems a greater opening of water to the northwest." + +"Yes, but I do not see any way out there." + +So we talked and pulled and puzzled, until finally it dawned upon us +that the tide had turned and we were being carried back into South Bay, +to almost the very spot whence we had come. + +"The best thing we can do is to camp," said Oliver. + +I readily assented. So our first night's camp was scarcely twelve miles +from where we had started in the morning. It was a fine camping place. A +beautiful pebbly beach extended almost to the water's edge even at low +tide. There was a grassy level spit, a background of evergreen giant-fir +timber, and clear, cool water gushing out from the bank near by. And +such fuel for the camp fire!--broken limbs with just enough pitch to +make a cheerful blaze and yet body enough to last well. We felt so happy +that we were almost glad the journey had been interrupted. + +Oliver was the carpenter of the party, the tent-builder, wood-getter, +and general roustabout, while I, the junior, was "chief cook and +bottle-washer." + +An encampment of Indians being near, a party of them soon visited our +camp and began making signs for trade. + +"_Mika tik eh_[1] clams?" said one of the matrons of the party. + +"What does she say, Oliver?" + +"I'm blessed if I know, but it looks as if she wanted to sell some +clams." + +After considerable dickering, with signs and gestures and words many +times repeated, we were able to impart the information that we wanted a +lesson in cookery. If she would show us how to cook the clams, we would +buy some. This brought some merriment in the camp. The idea that there +lived a person who did not know how to cook clams! Without saying by +your leave or anything else, the motherly looking native woman began +tearing down our camp fire. + +[Illustration: _Edward S. Curtis_ + +Indians gathering clams on the beach.] + +"Let her alone, and see what she's up to," said Oliver, noticing that I +was disturbed at such interference with my well-laid plans for +bread-baking. + +She covered the hot pebbles and sand where the fire had been with a +lighter layer of pebbles. Upon these the clams were deposited. They were +covered with fine twigs, and upon the twigs earth was placed. + +"_Kloshe_,"[2] she said. + +"_Hyas kloshe_,"[3] said her husband, who squatted near by, watching the +proceedings with evident approval. + +"What did they say?" I asked. + +"I know what they said, but I don't know what they meant," responded +Oliver, "unless it was she had done a good job; and I think she has." + +Thus began and ended our first lesson in the Chinook jargon, and our +first experience with a clam bake. + +This first clam bake gave us great encouragement. We soon learned that +the bivalves were to be found in almost unlimited quantity and were +widely distributed. The harvest was ready twice a day, when the tide was +out, and we need have no fear of a famine even if cast away in some +unfrequented place. + +"_Ya-ka kloshe al-ta_,"[4] said the Indian woman, uncovering the +steaming mass and placing the clams on a sliver found near by. "_De-late +kloshe muck a muck alta._"[5] + +Without understanding her words, but knowing well what she meant, we +fell to disposing of this, our first clam dinner. We divided with the +Indians the bread that had been baked and some potatoes that had been +boiled. The natives soon withdrew to their own camp. + +Before retiring for the night, we repaid the visit. To see the little +fellows of the camp scud behind their mother when the strangers entered, +and shyly peep out from their retreat, while the mother lovingly +reassured them with kind and affectionate caresses, and finally coaxed +them out from under cover, revealed something of the character of the +natives that neither of us had realized before. We had been in Indian +country for nearly a year, but with guns by our side, if not in our +hands, during nearly half the time. We had not stopped to study the +Indian character. We took it for granted that the Indians were our +enemies and watched them suspiciously; but here seemed to be a +disposition to be neighborly and helpful. + +We took a lesson in Chinook, and by signs and words held conversation +until a late hour. When we were ready to leave they gave us a slice of +venison, enough for several meals. Upon offering to pay for it we were +met with a shake of the head, and with the words, "_Wake, wake, kul-tus +pot-latch_," which we understood by their actions to mean they made us a +present of it. + +We had made the Indians a present first, it is true; but we did not +expect any return, except perhaps goodwill. From that time on during the +trip,--I may say, for all time since,--I found the Indians of Puget +Sound always ready to reciprocate acts of kindness. They hold in high +esteem a favor granted, if it is not accompanied by acts showing it to +be designed simply to gain an advantage. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] You want. + +[2] Good. + +[3] Very good. + +[4] Good now; ready to serve now. + +[5] Exceedingly good to eat. + + + + +[Illustration: A fleet of Siwash canoes.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +CRUISING ABOUT ON PUGET SOUND + + +OUR second day's cruise about the Sound took us past historic grounds. +We went by old Fort Nisqually, one of the earliest posts of the Hudson's +Bay Company on Puget Sound. Some houses had been built on the spot in +1829 or 1830, though the fort, one fourth of a mile back from water, was +not constructed until 1833, just twenty years before our visit. + +As the tide and wind favored us, we did not stop. Soon we came in sight +of a fleet of seven vessels lying at anchor in a large bay, several +miles in extent. The sight of those seven vessels lying in the offing +made a profound impression upon our minds. We had never before seen so +many ships at one place. Curiously enough, among them was the good bark +_Mary Melville_, with her gruff mate and big-hearted master, Captain +Barston. + +Upon the eastern slope of the shores of this bay lay the two towns, Port +Steilacoom, and Steilacoom City, both established in 1851. A far larger +trade centered here than at any other point on Puget Sound, and we +decided on a halt to make ourselves acquainted with the surroundings. A +mile and a half from the shore we found also Fort Steilacoom. It was +simply the camp of a company of United States soldiers, quartered in +wooden shells of houses and log cabins. + +Intense rivalry ran between the two towns, upper and lower Steilacoom, +at this time. As a result things were booming. We were sorely tempted to +accept the flattering offer of four dollars a day for common labor in a +timber camp, but concluded not to be swerved from the search for a new +homesite. + +During this visit we began seeing Indians in considerable numbers. They +seemed to be a listless lot, with no thought for the future, or even for +the immediate present. The Indians in those days seemed to work or play +by spurts and spells. Here and there we saw a family industriously +pursuing some object; but as a class they seemed to me the laziest set +of people on earth. + +That opinion was materially modified later, as I became better +acquainted with their habits. I have found just as industrious people, +both men and women, among the Indians as among the whites. The workers, +it may be said, are less numerous among the men; the women are all +industrious. + +Should we camp here and spy out the land, or should we go forward and +see what lay before us? After a sober second thought, we realized that +we had nothing to trade but labor; and we had not come as far as this to +be laborers for hire. We had come to find a place to make a farm, and a +farm we were going to have. Again we set about searching for claims, and +the more we searched the less we liked the look of things. + +Finally, on the fourth day, after a long, wearisome tramp, we cast off +at high tide, and in a dead calm, to continue our cruise. Oliver soon +dropped into a comfortable afternoon nap, leaving me in full command. As +the sun shone warm and the tide was taking us rapidly in the direction +we wanted to go, why shouldn't I doze a little too, even if we did miss +some of the sightseeing? + +I was aroused from my nap by Oliver's exclaiming, "What is that?" Then, +half to himself, "As I live, it's a deer swimming out here in the bay!" + +"It surely can't be," I responded, three quarters asleep. + +"That's what it is!" he asserted. + +We were wide awake now and gave chase. Very soon we caught up with the +animal and succeeded in throwing a rope over its horns. By this time we +had drifted into the Narrows, and we soon found we had something more +important to do than to tow a deer. + +We were among the tide rips of the Sound. Turning the deer loose, we +pulled our best for the shore, and found shelter in an eddy. A +perpendicular bluff rose from the highwater mark, leaving no place for +camp fire or bed. + +The tide seemed to roll in waves and with contending forces of currents +and counter currents, yet all moving in a general direction. It was our +first introduction to a genuine tide rip. The waters boiled as if in a +veritable caldron, swelling up here and there in centers and whirling +with dizzy velocity. A flat-bottomed boat like our little skiff, we +thought, could not stay afloat there very long. + +Just then some Indian canoes came along, moving with the tide. We +expected to see them swamped as they encountered the troubled waters; +but to our astonishment they passed right through without taking a drop +of water Then there came two well-manned canoes creeping alongshore +against the tide. I have said well-manned, but half the paddles, in +fact, were wielded by women, and the post of honor, or that where most +dexterity was required, was occupied by a woman. + +[Illustration: _Edward S. Curtis_ + +Sunset on the Pacific.] + +"_Me-si-ka-kwass kopa s'kookum chuck?_"[6] said the maiden in the bow of +the first canoe, as it drew alongside our boat, in which we were +sitting. + +Since our evening's experience at the clambake camp, we had been +industriously studying the Chinook language, and we could understand +that she was asking if we were afraid of the rough waters. We responded, +partly in English and partly in Chinook, that we were, and besides that +it was impossible for us to proceed against the strong current. + +"_Ne-si-ka mit-lite_,"[7] she replied; that is to say, she told us that +the Indians were going to camp with us and wait for the turn of the +tide, and accordingly they landed near by. + +[Illustration: _Asahel Curtis_ + +Mt. Rainier.] + +By the time the tide had turned, night had come. We hardly knew +whether to camp in our boat or to start out on unknown waters in the +dark. Our Indian visitors made preparations to proceed on their journey, +and assured us it was all right ahead. They offered to show us to good +camping grounds in a big bay where the current was not strong. + +Sure enough, a short pull with a favorable current brought us to the +Narrows and into Commencement Bay, in sight of numerous camp fires in +the distance. I remember that camp quite vividly; though I cannot locate +it exactly, I know that it was on the water front within the present +limits of the large and thriving city of Tacoma. + +I well remember our supper of fresh salmon. Of all the delicious fish +known, give me the salmon caught by trolling in early summer in the deep +waters of Puget Sound, the fish so fat that the excess of oil must be +turned out of the pan while cooking. We had scarcely got our camp fire +started before a salmon was offered us; I cannot recall what we paid, +but I know it was not a high price, else we could not have purchased. + +The following day we could see Mt. Rainier, with its reflection in the +placid waters of the bay. Theodore Winthrop, the observant traveler who +came into these same waters a few months later and wrote of it as Mt. +Tacoma, described it as "a giant mountain dome of snow, seeming to fill +the aerial spaces as the image displaced the blue deeps of tranquil +water." A wondrous sight it was and is, whatever the name. + +Next day we entered the mouth of the Puyallup River. We had not +proceeded far up this stream before we were interrupted by a solid drift +of monster trees and logs, extending from bank to bank up the river for +a quarter of a mile or more. The Indians told us that there were two +other like obstructions a few miles farther up the river, and that the +current was very strong. + +We secured the services of an Indian and his canoe to help us up the +river, and left our boat at the Indians' camp near the mouth. It took a +tugging of two days to go six miles. We had to unload our outfit three +times to pack it over cut-off trails, and drag our canoe around the +drifts. It was a story of constant toil with consequent discouragement, +not ending until we camped on the bank of the river within the present +limits of the thriving little city of Puyallup. + +The Puyallup valley at that time was a solitude. No white settlers were +found, though it was known that two men had staked claims and had made +some slight improvements. An Indian trail led up the river from +Commencement Bay, and another led westward to the Nisqually plains. Over +these pack animals could pass, but wagon roads there were none; and +whether a feasible route for one could be found, only time and labor +could determine. + +We retraced our steps, and in the evening landed again at the mouth of +the river after a severe day's toil. We were in no cheerful mood. Oliver +did not sing as usual while preparing for camp. Neither did I have much +to say; but I fell to work, mechanically preparing the much-needed meal. +We ate in silence and then went to sleep. + +We had crossed the two great states of Illinois and Iowa, over hundreds +of miles of unoccupied prairie land as rich as anything that ever "lay +out of doors," on our way from Indiana to Oregon in search of land on +which to make a home. Here, at what we might call the end of our rope, +we had found the land, but with conditions that seemed almost too +adverse to overcome. + +It was a discouraging outlook, even if there had been roads. Such +timber! It seemed an appalling undertaking to clear this land, the +greater part of it being covered with a heavy growth of balm and alder +trees and a thick tangle of underbrush besides. When we fell asleep that +night, it was without visions of new-found wealth. And yet later I did +tackle a quarter-section of that heaviest timber land, and never let up +until the last tree, log, stump, and root had disappeared, though of +course, not all cleared off by my own hands. + +If we could have known what was coming four months later, we would have +remained, in spite of our discouragement, and searched the valley +diligently for the choicest locations. For in October following there +came the first immigrants over the Natchess Pass Trail into Washington. +They located in a body over nearly the whole valley, and before the year +was ended had made a rough wagon road out to the prairies and to +Steilacoom, the county seat. + +We lingered at the mouth of the river in doubt as to what best to do. My +thoughts went back to wife and baby in the lonely cabin on the Columbia +River, and again to that bargain we had made before marriage, that we +were going to be farmers. How could we be farmers if we did not have +land? Under the donation act we could hold three hundred and twenty +acres, but we must live on it for four years; it behooved us to look out +and secure our location before the act expired, which would occur the +following year. + +With misgivings and doubts, on the fourth day Oliver and I loaded our +outfit into our skiff and floated out on the receding tide, whither, we +did not know. + +As we drew off from the mouth of the Puyallup River, numerous parties of +Indians were in sight. Some were trolling for salmon, with a lone Indian +in the bow of each canoe; others with poles were fishing for smelt; +still others with nets seemed waiting for fisherman's luck. + +Other parties were passing, those in each canoe singing a plaintive +chant in minor key, accompanied by heavy strokes of the paddle handles +against the sides of the canoe, as if to keep time. There were some fine +voices to be heard, and though there were but slight variations in the +sounds or words, the Indians seemed never to tire in repeating, and I +must confess we never tired of listening. + +During the afternoon, after we had traveled some twenty miles, we saw +ahead of us larger waters, into which we entered, finding ourselves in a +bay five or six miles wide, with no very certain prospect of a camping +place. Just then we espied a cluster of cabins and houses on a point to +the east. There we made a landing, at what is now known as Alki Point, +though it then bore the pretentious name of New York. + +We soon pushed on to the east shore, where the steam from a sawmill +served as a guide, and landed at a point that cannot be far from the +western limit of the present Pioneer Place, in Seattle, near where the +totem pole now stands. + +As we were not looking for a mill site or town site, we pushed on next +day. We had gone but a few miles when a favorable breeze sprang up, +bringing with it visions of a happy time sailing; but behind us lay a +long stretch of open waters several miles wide, and ahead we could see +no visible shelter and no lessening of width; consequently the breeze +was not entirely welcome. In a short time the breeze stiffened, and we +began to realize that we were in danger. We were afraid to attempt a +landing on the surf-beaten shore; but finally, the wind increasing, the +clouds lowering, and the rain coming down in torrents, we had to take +the risk. Letting down the sail, we headed our frail craft towards the +shore. Fortune favored us, for we found a good sandy beach upon which to +land, though we got a thorough drenching while so doing. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +A rich haul of salmon.] + +Here we were compelled to remain two or three days in a dismal camp, +until the weather became more favorable. Then launching our boat, we +pulled for the head of Whidbey's Island, a few miles to the northwest. + +Now I have a fish story to tell. I have always been shy about telling +it, lest some smart fellow should up and say I was drawing on my +imagination: I am not. + +When we had broken camp and were sailing along, we heard a dull sound +like that often heard from the tide rips. As we rested on our oars, we +could see that there was a disturbance in the water and that it was +moving toward us. It extended as far as we could see, in the direction +we were going. The sound increased and became like the roar of a heavy +fall of rain or hail on water, and we became aware that it was a vast +school of fish moving south, while millions were seemingly dancing on +the surface of the water or leaping in the air. + +We could feel the fish striking against the boat in such vast numbers +that they fairly moved it. The leap in the air was so high that we tried +tipping the boat to catch some as they fell back, and sure enough, here +and there one would drop into the boat. We soon discovered some Indians +following the school. They quickly loaded their canoes by using the +barbed pole and throwing the impaled fish into their canoes. With an +improvised net we too soon obtained all we wanted. + +When we began to go on we were embarrassed by the mass of fish moving in +the water. As far as we could see there was no end to the school ahead +of us; but we finally got clear of the moving mass and reached the +island shore in safety, only to become weather-bound in the wilds once +more. + +This camp did not prove so dreary as the last one, although it was more +exposed to the swell of the big waters and the sweep of the wind. To the +north we had a view of thirty miles or more, to where horizon and water +blended, leaving it doubtful whether land was in sight or not. As we +afterwards ascertained, we could see the famous San Juan Island, later +the bone of contention between our government and Great Britain, when +the northern boundary of the United States was settled. + +Port Townsend lay some ten miles from our camp, but was shut out from +view by an intervening headland. We did not know the exact location of +the town. Like the lost hunters, "we knew where we were, but we didn't +know where any place else was." Not lost ourselves, the world was lost +from us. + +Three ships passed us while we were at this camp, one coming from out of +space, as it seemed, a mere speck, and growing to a full-fledged +deep-sea vessel, with all sails set, scudding before the wind. The other +two were gracefully beating their way out against the stiff breeze to +the open waters beyond. What prettier sight is there than a full-rigged +vessel with all sails spread! The enthusiasm that rose as we gazed at +the ships, coupled with a spirit of adventure, prompted us to go +farther. + +[Illustration: A deep-sea vessel sailing before the wind.] + +It was a calm, beautiful day when we reached Port Townsend. Distance +lends enchantment, the old adage says; but in this case the nearer we +approached to the place, the greater our admiration. The shining, pebbly +beach in front, the clear, level spot adjoining, with the beautiful open +and comparatively level plateau in the background, and two or three +vessels at anchor in the foreground, made a picture of a perfect city +site. + +Upon closer examination of the little town we found that the first +impression, gained from a distance, was illusory. Many shacks and +camps, at first mistaken for the white men's houses, were found to be +occupied by natives. They were a drunken, rascally rabble, spending +their gains from the sale of fish and oil in a debauch that would last +as long as their money held out. + +This seemed to be a more stalwart race of Indians than those to the +south, doubtless from the buffeting received in the larger waters. They +would often go out even to the open sea on their fishing excursions in +canoes manned by thirty men or more. + +After spending two or three days exploring the country, we turned back +to the bay where lay the seven ships we had seen near Steilacoom. We +remembered the timber camps, the bustle and stir of the little new +village, and the activity that we saw there, greater than anywhere else +on the waters of the Sound. Most of all, my thoughts would go on to the +little cabin on the Columbia River. + +Three days sufficed to land us back in the bay we sought, but the ships +were gone. Not a sailing craft of any kind was in sight of the little +town, though the building activity was going on as before. + +The memory of those ships, however, remained with us and determined our +minds on the important question where the trade center was to be. We +decided therefore that our new home should be near Steilacoom, and we +finally staked out a claim on an island not far from that place. + +Once the claim had been decided upon, my next desire naturally was to +get home to my family. The expedition had taken thirty days, and of +course there had been no news from my wife, nor had I been able to send +back any word to her. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[6] Are you afraid of the rapid water? + +[7] I will stay with you. + + + + +[Illustration: On the trail again with Buck and Dandy.] + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +MOVING FROM THE COLUMBIA TO PUGET SOUND + + +"CAN I get home tonight?" I asked myself. + +It was an afternoon of the last week of June, in 1853, and the sun was +yet high. I was well up the left bank of the Cowlitz River; how far I +could not tell, for there were no milestones on the crooked, +half-obstructed trail leading downstream. At best it would be a race +with the sun, but the days were long, and the twilight was long, and I +would camp that much nearer home if I made haste. + +My pack had been discarded on the Sound. I had neither coat nor blanket. +I wore a heavy woolen shirt, a slouch hat, and worn shoes; both hat and +shoes gave ample ventilation. Socks I had none; neither had I +suspenders, an improvised belt taking their place. I was dressed for the +race and was eager for the trial. At Olympia I had parted with my +brother, who had returned to stay at the claims we had taken, while I +was to go home for the wife and baby, to remove them to our new home. + +I did not particularly mind the camping, but I did not fancy the idea +of lying out so near home if by extra exertion I could reach the cabin +before night. There was no friendly ox to snug up to for warmth, as in +so many of the bivouacs on the plains; but I had matches, and there were +many mossy places for a bed under the friendly shelter of drooping +cedars. We never thought of catching cold from lying on the ground or on +cedar boughs, or from getting a good drenching. + +After all, the cabin could not be reached, as the trail could not be +followed at night. Slackening pace at nightfall to cool my system +gradually, I finally made my camp and slept as soundly as if on a bed of +down. My consolation was that the night was short and I could see to +travel by three o'clock. + +I do not look upon those years of camp and cabin life as years of +hardship. To be sure, our food was plain as well as our dress; our hours +of labor were long and the labor itself was frequently severe; the +pioneers appeared rough and uncouth. Yet underlying all this there ran a +vein of good cheer, of hopefulness. We never watched for the sun to go +down, or for the seven o'clock whistle, or for the boss to quicken our +steps. The days were always too short, and interest in our work was +always unabated. + +The cabin could not be seen until the trail came quite near it. When I +caught sight of a curl of smoke I knew I was almost there. Then I saw +the cabin and a little lady in almost bloomer dress milking the cow. She +never finished milking that cow, nor did she ever milk any cow when her +husband was at home. + +There were so many things to talk about that we could scarcely tell +where to begin or when to stop. Much of the conversation naturally +centered on the question of our moving to a new home. + +"Why, at Olympia, eggs were a dollar a dozen. I saw them selling at +that. The butter you have there would bring you a dollar a pound as fast +as you could weigh it out. I saw stuff they called butter sell for that. +Potatoes are selling for three dollars a bushel and onions at four. +Everything the farmer raises sells high." + +"Who buys?" + +"Oh, almost everybody has to buy. There are ships and timber camps and +the hotels, and--" + +"Where do they get the money?" + +"Everybody seems to have money. Some take it there with them. Men +working in the timber camps get four dollars a day and their board. At +one place they paid four dollars a cord for wood to ship to San +Francisco, and a man can sell all the shingles he can make at four +dollars a thousand. I was offered five cents a foot for piles. If we had +Buck and Dandy over there we could make twenty dollars a day putting in +piles." + +"Where could you get the piles?" + +"Off the government land, of course. All help themselves to what they +want. Then there are the fish and the clams and oysters, and--" + +"But what about the land for the claim?" + +That question was a stumper. The little wife never lost sight of that +bargain made before we were married. Now I found myself praising a +country for the agricultural qualities of which I could not say much. +But if we could sell produce higher, might we not well lower our +standard of an ideal farm? The claim I had taken was described with a +touch of apology, in quality falling so far below what we had hoped to +acquire. However, we decided to move, and began to prepare for the +journey. + +The wife, baby, bedding, ox yoke, and log chain were sent up the Cowlitz +in a canoe. Buck and Dandy and I took the trail. On this occasion I was +ill prepared for a cool night camp, having neither blanket nor coat. I +had expected to reach Hard Bread's Hotel, where the people in the canoe +would stop overnight. But I could not make it, so again I lay out on the +trail. "Hard Bread's," an odd name for a hotel, was so called because +the old widower that kept the place fed his patrons on hardtack three +times a day. + +I found that my wife had not fared any better than I had on the trail, +and in fact not so well. The floor of the cabin--that is, the hotel--was +a great deal harder than the sand spit where I had passed the night. I +had plenty of pure, fresh air, while she, in a closed cabin and in the +same room with many others, had neither fresh air nor freedom from +creeping things that make life miserable. With her shoes for a pillow, a +shawl for covering, small wonder that she reported, "I did not sleep a +wink last night." + +We soon arrived at the Cowlitz landing, the end of the canoe journey. +Striking the tent that had served us so well on the Plains and making a +cheerful camp fire, we speedily forgot the hard experiences of the +trail. + +Fifty miles more of travel lay before us. And such a road! However, we +had one consolation,--it would be worse in winter than at that time. + +Our wagon had been left at The Dalles and we had never seen or heard of +it again. Our cows were gone--given for provender to save the lives of +the oxen during the deep December snow. So when we took account of +stock, we had the baby, Buck and Dandy, a tent, an ox yoke and chain, +enough clothing and bedding to keep us comfortable, a very little food, +and no money. The money had all been expended on the canoe passage. + +Should we pack the oxen and walk, and carry the baby, or should we build +a sled and drag our things over to the Sound, or should I make an effort +to get a wagon? This last proposition was the most attractive, and so +next morning, driving my oxen before me and leaving wife and baby to +take care of the camp, I began the search for a wagon. + +That great-hearted pioneer, John R. Jackson, did not hesitate a moment, +stranger though I was, to say, "Yes, you can have two if you need them." + +Jackson had settled there eight years before, ten miles out from the +landing, and now had an abundance around him. Like all the earlier +pioneers, he took a pride in helping others who came later. He would not +listen to our proceeding any farther before the next day. He insisted on +entertaining us in his comfortable cabin, and sent us on our way in the +morning, rejoicing in plenty. + +Without special incident we in due time arrived at the falls of the +Deschutes (Tumwater) and on the shore of Puget Sound. Here a camp must +be established again. The wife and baby were left there while I drove +the wagon back over the tedious road to Jackson's and then returned with +the oxen to tidewater. + +[Illustration: A cat-and-clay chimney, made of small split sticks +embedded in layers of clay mortar.] + +My feelings may well be imagined when, upon returning, I found wife, +baby, and tent all gone. I knew that smallpox was raging among the +Indians, and that a camp where it was prevalent was less than a quarter +of a mile away. The dread disease had terrors then that it does not now +possess. Could it be possible my folks had been taken sick and had been +removed? + +[Illustration] + +The question was soon solved. It appeared that I had scarcely got out of +sight on my trip back with the oxen before one of those royal pioneer +matrons had come to the camp. She pleaded and insisted, and finally +almost frightened the little wife into going with her and sharing her +house, which was near by, but out of danger from the smallpox. God bless +those earlier pioneers! They were all good to us, sometimes to the point +of embarrassment, in their generous hospitality. + +Oliver was to have had the cabin ready by the time I returned. He not +only had not done that, but had taken the boat and had left no sign to +tell us where either brother or boat could be found. Not knowing what +else to do, I paddled over to the town of Steilacoom. There I found out +where the boat and the provisions had been left, and after an earnest +parley succeeded in getting possession. With my canoe in tow I soon made +my way back to where my little flock was, and speedily transferred all +to the spot that was to be our island dwelling. We set up our tent, and +felt at home once more. + +[Illustration: Crows breaking clams by dropping them on boulders.] + +Steilacoom, three miles across the bay, had grown during my absence, and +in the distance it looked like a city in fact as well as in name. Mt. +Rainier looked bigger and taller than ever. Even the songs of the +Indians sounded better; the canoes looked more graceful, and the paddles +seemed to be wielded more expertly. Everything looked cheerful; +everything interested us, especially the crows, with their trick of +breaking clams by rising in the air and dropping them on the boulders. +There were so many new things to observe that for a time we almost +forgot that we were nearly out of provisions and money and did not know +what had happened to Oliver. + +Next morning Oliver returned to the village. Finding that the boat and +provisions had been taken and seeing smoke in the bight, he surmised +what had happened and came paddling across to the tent. He had received +a tempting offer to help load a ship and had just completed his +contract. As a result of this work, he was able to exhibit a slug of +California gold and other money that looked precious indeed in our eyes. + +The building of our second cabin with its stone fireplace, cat-and-clay +chimney, lumber floor, real window with glass in it, together with the +high-post bedstead made out of tapering cedar saplings, the table +fastened to the wall, the rustic chairs, seemed but like a play spell. +No eight-hour day there--eighteen would be nearer the mark; we never +tired. + +It was in this same year, 1853, that Congress cut off from Oregon the +region that now comprises the state of Washington and all of Idaho north +of the Snake River. The new district was called Washington Territory, so +we who had moved out to the Oregon Country found ourselves living in +Washington. + + + + +[Illustration: Bobby carried me safely over the sixty crossings and +more.] + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +MESSAGES AND MESSENGERS + + +AT last we were really settled and could begin the business for which we +had come West; henceforth the quiet life of the farmer was to be ours, +we thought. But again we had not reckoned with the unexpected. + +While we were working on our new cabin, we received a letter from +father, saying: "Boys, if Oliver will come back to cross with us, we +will go to Oregon next year." The letter was nearly three months old +when we received it. + +Our answer was immediate: "Oliver will be with you next spring." + +Then came the question of money. Would Davenport, who had bought the +Columbia River claims, pay in the fall? Could he? We decided that we +must go to the timber camp to earn the money to pay the expenses of +Oliver's journey, that we must not depend altogether on the Columbia +River asset. + +"What shall we do with the things?" asked my wife. + +"Lock them up in the cabin," suggested Oliver. + +"And you go and stay with the Dofflemires," I added. + +"Not I," she returned. "I'm going along to cook." + +All our well-laid plans were thus suddenly changed. Our clearing of the +land was deferred; the chicken house, the inmates of which were to make +us rich, was not built; the pigs were not bought to fatten on the clams, +and many other pet schemes were dropped that Oliver might go back East +to bring father and mother across the Plains. + +We struck awkward but rapid and heavy strokes in the timber camp +established on the bluff overlooking the falls at Tumwater. The little +cook supplied the huckleberry pudding for dinner, with plenty of the +lightest, whitest bread, and vegetables, meat, and fish served in style +good enough for kings. Such appetites! No coaxing was required to get us +to eat a hearty meal. Such sound sleep, such satisfaction! Talk about +hardships--it was all pleasure as we counted the eleven dollars a day +that the Tullis brothers paid us for cutting logs, at one dollar and +seventy cents a thousand. We earned this every day. Yes, we should be +able to make money enough together to pay Oliver's passage to Iowa. + +It was to be a long journey--over to the Columbia River, out from there +by steamer to San Francisco, then to the Isthmus, then to New York. +After that, by rail as far west as there was a railroad, then on foot to +Eddyville, Iowa, where the start was again to be made. It would take +Oliver two months to reach Eddyville, and then at least seven more to +lead the newcomers over the trail from Iowa to Puget Sound. + +Oliver was soon speeding on his way, and again my wife and I were left +without money and with but a scant supply of provisions. How we made out +through the winter I can hardly remember, but we managed somehow and +kept well and happy. Soon after Oliver's departure our second baby was +born. + +In the latter part of August, 1854, eight months after Oliver had left +us, James K. Hurd, of Olympia, sent me word that he had been out on the +immigrant trail and had heard that some of my relatives were on the +road, but that they were belated and short of provisions. He advised me +to go to their assistance, to make sure of their coming directly over +the Cascade Mountains, and not down the Columbia River. + +How my people, with Oliver's experience to guide them, should be in the +condition described, was past my comprehension. However, I accepted the +statement as true. I felt the particular importance of their having +certain knowledge as to prevailing conditions of an over-mountain trip +through the Natchess Pass. The immigrants of the previous year had +encountered formidable difficulties in the mountains, narrowly escaping +the loss of everything, if not facing actual starvation. I could not +help feeling that possibly the same conditions still prevailed. The only +way to determine the question was to go and see for myself, to meet my +father's party and pilot them through the pass. + +[Illustration: We struck awkward but rapid and heavy strokes.] + +But how could I go and leave wife and two babies on our island home? +The summer had been spent in clearing land and planting crops, and my +money was very low. To remove my family would cost something in cash, +besides the abandonment of the season's work to almost certain +destruction. Without a moment's hesitation my wife said to go; she and +Mrs. Darrow, who was with us as nurse and companion, would stay right +where they were until I got back. + +I was not so confident of the outcome as she. At best the trip was +hazardous, even when undertaken well-prepared and with company. As far +as I could see, I might have to go on foot and pack my food and blanket +on my back. I knew that I should have to go alone. Some work had been +done on the road during the summer, but I was unable to learn definitely +whether any camps were yet in the mountains. + +At Steilacoom there was a certain character, a doctor, then understood +by few, and I may say not by many even to the end. Yet, somehow, I had +implicit confidence in him, though between him and me there would seem +to have been a gulf that could not be closed. Our habits of life were +diametrically opposite. I would never touch a drop, while the doctor was +always drinking--never sober, neither ever drunk. + +It was to this man that I entrusted the safe keeping of my little +family. I knew my wife had such an aversion to people of his kind that I +did not even tell her with whom I would arrange to look out for her +welfare, but suggested another person to whom she might apply in case of +need. + +When I spoke to the doctor about what I wanted, he seemed pleased to be +able to do a kind act. To reassure me, he got out his field glasses and +turned them on the cabin across the water, three miles distant. Looking +through them intently for a moment he said, "I can see everything going +on over there. You need have no uneasiness about your folks while you +are gone." + +And I did not need to have any concern. Twice a week during all the time +I was away an Indian woman visited the cabin on the island, always with +some little presents. She would ask about the babies and whether there +was anything needed. Then with the parting "_Alki nika keelapie_,"[8] +she would leave. + +With a fifty-pound flour sack filled with hard bread, or navy biscuit, a +small piece of dried venison, a couple of pounds of cheese, a tin cup, +and half of a three-point blanket, all made into a pack of less than +forty pounds, I climbed the hill at Steilacoom and took the road leading +to Puyallup. The first night was spent with Jonathan McCarty, whose +cabin was near where the town of Sumner now stands. + +McCarty said: "You can't cross the streams on foot; I'll let you have a +pony. He's small, but sure-footed and hardy, and he'll carry you across +the rivers anyhow." McCarty also said: "Tell your folks this is the +greatest grass country on earth. Why, I am sure I harvested five tons of +timothy to the acre this year." + +[Illustration: Twice a week the Indian woman visited the cabin.] + +The next day found me on the road with my blanket under the saddle, my +sack of hard bread strapped on behind. I was mounted to ride on level +stretches of the road, or across streams, of which I had fully sixty +crossings to make. + +White River on the upper reaches is a roaring torrent; the rush of +waters can be heard for a mile or more from the high bluff overlooking +the narrow valley. The river is not fordable except in low water, and +then in but few places. The river bed is full of stones worn rounded and +smooth and slippery, from the size of a man's head to large boulders, +thus making footing for animals uncertain. After my first experience, I +dreaded the crossings to come more than all else on the trip, for a +misstep of the pony's might be fatal. + +The little fellow, Bobby, seemed to be equal to the occasion. If the +footing became too uncertain, he would stop stock still and pound the +water with one foot, then reach out carefully until he could find secure +footing, and finally move up a step or two. The water of the river is so +charged with sediment that the bottom cannot be seen; hence the +necessity of feeling the way. I soon learned that my pony could be +trusted on the fords better than I. Thereafter I held only a supporting, +not a guiding, rein and he carried me safely over all the crossings on +my way out. + +Allan Porter lived near the first crossing. As he was the last settler I +should see and his the last place where I could get feed for my pony, +other than grass or browse, I put up for the night under his roof. + +He said I was going on a "Tom Fool's errand," for my folks could take +care of themselves, and he tried to dissuade me from proceeding on my +journey. But I would not be turned back. The following morning I cut +loose from the settlements and plunged into the deep forest of the +mountains. + +The road, if it could be called a road, lay in the narrow valley of +White River or on the mountains adjacent. In some places, as at Mud +Mountain, it reached more than a thousand feet above the river bed. +There were stretches where the forest was so dense that one could +scarcely see to read at midday, while elsewhere large burned areas gave +an opening for daylight. + +During the forenoon of this day, in one of those deepest of deep +forests, Bobby stopped short, his ears pricked up. Just then I caught an +indistinct sight of a movement ahead, and thought I heard voices; the +pony made an effort to turn and bolt in the opposite direction. Soon +there appeared three women and eight children on foot, coming down the +road in complete ignorance of the presence of any one but themselves in +the forest. + +"Why, stranger! Where on earth did you come from? Where are you going, +and what are you here for?" asked the foremost woman of the party. + +Mutual explanations followed. I learned that their teams had become +exhausted and all the wagons but one had been abandoned, and that this +one was on the road a few miles behind. They were entirely out of +provisions and had had nothing to eat for twenty hours except what +natural food they had gathered, and that was not much. They eagerly +inquired the distance to food, which I thought they might possibly reach +that night. Meanwhile I had opened my sack of hard bread and had given +each a cracker, at the eating of which the sound resembled pigs cracking +dry, hard corn. + +Neither they nor I had time to parley long. The women with their +children, barefoot and ragged, bareheaded and unkempt, started down the +mountain, intent on reaching food, while I went up the road wondering +how often this scene was to be repeated as I advanced on my journey. + +[Illustration: _Edward S. Curtis_ + +White River in the upper reaches is a roaring torrent.] + +A dozen biscuits of bread is usually a very small matter, but with me it +might mean a great deal. How far should I have to go? When could I find +out? What would be the plight of my people when found? Or should I find +them at all? Might they not pass by and be on the way down the Columbia +River before I could reach the main immigrant trail? These and kindred +questions weighed on my mind as I slowly ascended the mountain. + +[Illustration] + +FOOTNOTE: + +[8] By and by I will return. + + + + +[Illustration: The boy led his mother across the log.] + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +BLAZING THE WAY THROUGH NATCHESS PASS + + +THE Natchess Pass Trail, along which I must make my way, had been blazed +by a party of intrepid pioneers during the summer of 1853. Fifteen +thousand dollars had been appropriated by Congress to be expended for a +military road through the pass. I saw some of the work, but do not +remember seeing any of the men who were improving the road. + +I stuck close to the old trail, making my first camp alone, just west of +the summit. I had reached an altitude where the night chill was keenly +felt, and with only my light blanket missed the friendly contact of the +faithful ox that had served me so well on the Plains. My pony had +nothing but browse for supper, and he was restless. Nevertheless I slept +soundly and was up early, refreshed and ready to resume the journey. + +Such a road as I found is difficult to imagine. How the pioneer +trail-blazers had made their way through it is a marvel. It seemed +incredible that forests so tall and so dense could have existed +anywhere on earth. Curiously enough, the heavier the standing timber, +the easier it had been to slip through with wagons, there being but +little undecayed timber or down timber. In the ancient days, however, +great giants had been uprooted, lifting considerable earth with the +upturned roots. As time went on the roots decayed, making mounds two, +three, or four feet high and leaving a corresponding hollow into which +one would plunge; for the whole was covered by a dense, short evergreen +growth that completely hid from view the unevenness of the ground. Over +these hillocks and hollows and over great roots on top of the ground, +they had rolled their wagons. + +All sorts of devices had been tried to overcome obstructions. In many +places, where the roots were not too large, cuts had been taken out. In +other places the large timber had been bridged by piling up smaller +logs, rotten chunks, brush, or earth, so that the wheels of the wagon +could be rolled over the body of the tree. Usually three notches would +be cut on the top of the log, two for the wheels and one for the reach, +or coupling pole, to pass through. + +In such places the oxen would be taken to the opposite side, and a chain +or rope would be run to the end of the wagon tongue. One man drove, one +or two guided the tongue, others helped at the wheels. In this way, with +infinite labor and great care, the wagons would gradually be worked over +all obstacles and down the mountain in the direction of the settlements. + +But the more numerous the difficulties, the more determined I became to +push through at all hazards, for the greater was the necessity of +acquainting myself with the obstacles to be encountered and of reaching +my friends to encourage and help them. + +[Illustration: _Edward S. Curtis_ + +In the heart of a Cascade forest.] + +Before me lay the summit of the great range, the pass, at five thousand +feet above sea level. At this summit, about twenty miles north of Mt. +Rainier in the Cascade range, is a small stretch of picturesque open +country known as Summit Prairie, in the Natchess Pass. + +In this prairie, during the autumn of 1853, a camp of immigrants had +encountered grave difficulties. A short way out from the camp, a steep +mountain declivity lay squarely across their track. One of the women of +the party exclaimed, when she first saw it, "Have we come to the +jumping-off place at last?" It was no exclamation for effect, but a +fervent prayer for deliverance. They could not go back; they must either +go ahead or starve in the mountains. + +Stout hearts in the party were not to be deterred from making the effort +to proceed. Go around this hill they could not. Go down it with logs +trailed to the wagons, as they had done at other places, they dared not, +for the hill was so steep the logs would go end over end and would be a +danger instead of a help. The rope they had was run down the hill and +turned out to be too short to reach the bottom. + +James Biles, one of the leaders, commanded, "Kill a steer." They killed +a steer, cut his hide into strips, and spliced the strips to the rope. +It was found to be still too short to reach to the bottom. + +The order went out: "Kill two more steers!" And two more steers were +killed, their hides cut into strips and the strips spliced to the rope, +which then reached to the bottom of the hill. + +By the aid of that rope and the strips of the hides of those three +steers, twenty-nine wagons were lowered down the mountain side to the +bottom of the steep hill. Only one broke away; it crashed down the +mountain and was smashed into splinters. + +The feat of bringing that train of wagons in, with the loss of only one +out of twenty-nine, is the greatest I ever knew or heard of in the way +of pioneer travel. + +[Illustration: By the aid of one short rope and the strips of the hides +of three steers, twenty-nine wagons were lowered down the mountain +side.] + +Nor were the trials ended when the wagons had been brought down to the +bottom of that hill. With snail-like movements, the cattle and men +becoming weaker and weaker, the train crept along, making less progress +each day, until finally it seemed that the oxen could do no more. It +became necessary to send them forward on the trail ten miles, to a place +where it was known that plenty of grass could be had. Meanwhile the work +on the road continued until the third day, when the last particle of +food was gone. Then the teams were brought back, the trip over the whole +ten miles was made, and Connell's Prairie was reached at dark. + +In the struggle over that ten miles the women and children had largely +to take care of themselves while the men tugged at the wagons. One +mother and her children, a ten-year old boy, a child of four years, and +a babe of eight months, in some way were passed by the wagons. These +four were left on the right bank of the river when the others had +crossed. + +A large fallen tree reached across the river, but the top on the farther +side lay so close to the water that a constant trembling and swaying +made it a dangerous bridge to cross on. None of the four had eaten +anything since the day before, and but a scant supply then; but the boy +resolutely shouldered the four-year-old child and deposited him safely +on the other side. Then came the little tot, the baby, to be carried +across in his arms. Last came the mother. + +"I can't go!" she exclaimed. "It makes me so dizzy!" + +"Put one hand over your eyes, mother, and take hold of me with the +other," said the boy. They began to move out sidewise on the log, half a +step at a time. + +"Hold steady, mother; we are nearly over." + +"Oh, I am gone!" she cried, as she lost her balance and fell into the +river. Happily, they were so near the farther bank that the little boy +was able to catch with one hand a branch that hung over the bank while +he held on to his mother with the other hand, and so she was saved. + +It was then nearly dark, and without knowing how far it was to camp, the +little party started on the road, tarrying on the bank of the river only +long enough for the mother to wring the water out of her skirts. The boy +carried the baby, while the four-year-old child walked beside his +mother. After nearly two miles of travel and the ascent of a very steep +hill, they caught the glimmer of camp lights; the mother fell senseless, +utterly prostrated. + +The boy hurried his two little brothers into camp, calling for help to +rescue his mother. The appeal was promptly responded to; she was carried +into camp and tenderly cared for until she revived. + +There were one hundred and twenty-eight people in that train. Among +them, as a boy, was George Himes, who for many years has been Secretary +of the Oregon Historical Society. To him we are indebted for most of +this story of pioneer heroism. + + + + +[Illustration: Bobby and I went up the mountain in a zig-zag course.] + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +CLIMBING THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS + + +UP through the Natchess Pass Bobby and I took our lonely way, to reach +and bring over this same difficult trail the party in which were my +parents and my brothers and sisters. + +From the first chill night, following the sweat due to the climb of the +day before, my muscles were a bit stiffened; but I was ready for the +climb to the summit. Bobby was of a different mind. As I have said, he +had been restless during the night. I had just strapped the roll of +blankets and hard bread securely behind the saddle, when he suddenly +turned his face homeward and trotted off gaily, down the mountain. + +I could do nothing but follow him. The narrow cut of the road and +impenetrable obstructions on either side prevented my heading off his +rascally maneuvers. Finally, on finding a nip of grass by the roadside, +he slackened his gait, and after several futile attempts I managed to +get a firm hold of his tail. After this we went down the mountain +together, much more rapidly than we had come up the evening before. + +Bobby forgot to use his heels, else he might for a longer time have been +master of the situation. The fact was he did not want to hurt me, but +was determined to go no farther into mountains where he could not get a +supper. The contest was finally settled in my favor when I managed to +catch hold of the rein. Did I chastise him? Not a bit. I did not blame +him; we were partners, but it was a one-sided partnership, as he had no +interest in the enterprise other than to get enough to eat as we went +along, and when he saw no prospect of food, he rebelled. + +We were soon past our camping ground of the night before, and on our way +up the mountain. Bobby would not be led; if I tried to lead him, he +would hold back for a while, then, making a rush up the steep ascent, he +would be on my heels or toes before I could get out of the way. I would +seize his tail with a firm grasp and follow. When he moved rapidly, I +was helped up the mountain. When he slackened his pace, then came the +resting spell. The engineering instinct of the horse tells him how to +reduce grades by angles, and Bobby led me up the mountains in zig-zag +courses, I following always with the firm grasp of the tail that meant +we would not part company, and we did not. + +By noon we had surmounted all obstacles and stood upon the summit +prairie--one of them, for there are several. Here Bobby feasted to his +heart's content, while for me it was the same old story--hardtack and +cheese, with a small allotment of dried venison. + +To the south, apparently but a few miles distant, the old mountain, +Rainier, loomed up into the clouds fully ten thousand feet higher than +where I stood, a grand scene to behold, worthy of all the effort +expended to reach this point. But I was not attuned to view with +ecstasy the grandeur of what lay before me; rather I scanned the horizon +to ascertain, if I could, what the morrow might bring forth. + +This mountain served the pioneer as a huge barometer to forecast the +weather. "How is the mountain this morning?" the farmer asked in harvest +time. "Has the mountain got his nightcap on?" the housewife inquired +before her wash was hung on the line. The Indian would watch the +mountain with intent to determine whether he might expect _snass_ +(rain), or _kull snass_ (hail), or _t'kope snass_ (snow), and seldom +failed in his conclusions. So that day I scanned the mountain top, +partially hid in the clouds, with forebodings verified at nightfall. + +A light snow came on just before night, which, with the high mountains +on either side of the river, spread darkness rapidly. I was loath to +camp. If I could safely have found my way, I would have traveled all +night. The trail in places was very indistinct and the canyon was but a +few hundred yards wide, with the tortuous river striking first one bluff +and then the other, making numerous crossings necessary. + +Finally I saw that I must camp. I crossed the river to an opening where +the bear tracks were so thick that the spot seemed a playground for all +these animals roundabout. The black bears on the western slope were +timid and not dangerous; but I did not know about this species of the +eastern slope. + +I found two good-sized trees that had fallen obliquely across each +other. With my pony tethered as a sentinel, and my fire as an advance +post, I went to bed, nearly supperless. I felt lonesome; but I kept my +fire burning all night, and I slept soundly. + +Early next morning found Bobby and me on the trail. We were a little +chilled by the cold mountain air and very willing to travel. Towards +nightfall I heard the welcome tinkling of a bell, and soon saw first the +smoke of camp fires, and then a village of tents and grime-covered +wagons. How I tugged at Bobby's halter to make him go faster and then +mounted him, without getting much more speed, can better be imagined +than told. + +[Illustration: A night camp in the mountains with a fire to keep off the +bears.] + +Could it be the camp I was searching for? It had about the number of +wagons and tents that I expected to meet. No; I was doomed to +disappointment. Yet I rejoiced to find some one to camp with and talk to +other than the pony. + +The greeting given me by those tired and almost discouraged travelers +could not have been more cordial had they been my relatives. They had +been toiling for nearly five months on the road across the Plains, and +now there loomed up before them this great mountain range to cross. +Could they do it? If they could not get over with their wagons, could +they get the women and children through safely? I was able to lift a +load of doubt and fear from their jaded minds. + +Before I knew what was happening, I caught the fragrance of boiling +coffee and fresh meat cooking. The good matrons knew without telling +that I was hungry and had set to work to prepare me a meal, a sumptuous +meal at that, taking into account the whetted appetite incident to a +diet of hard bread straight, and not much of that either, for two days. + +We had met on the Yakima River, at the place where the old trail crosses +that river near the site of the present flourishing city of North +Yakima. + +[Illustration: Mountain wolves.] + +In this party were some of the people who next year lost their lives in +the White River massacre. They were Harvey H. Jones, his wife, and three +children, and George E. King, his wife, and one child. One of the little +boys of the camp, John I. King, lived to write a graphic account of the +tragedy in which his mother and stepfather and their neighbors lost +their lives. Another boy, a five-year-old child, was taken off, and +after being held captive for nearly four months was then safely +delivered over by the Indians to the military authorities at Fort +Steilacoom. + +I never think of those people but with sadness. Their struggle, +doubtless the supreme effort of their lives, was only to go to their +death. I had pointed out to them where to go to get good claims, and +they had lost no time, but had gone straight to the locality recommended +and had set immediately to work preparing shelter for the winter. + +"Are you going out on those plains alone?" Mrs. Jones asked me +anxiously. + +When I told her that I would have the pony with me, she insisted, "Well, +I don't think it is safe." + +Mr. Jones explained that his wife was thinking of the danger from the +ravenous wolves that infested the open country. The party had lost +weakened stock from their forages right close to the camp. He advised me +not to camp near the watering places, but to go up on the high ridge. I +followed his advice with the result, as we shall see, of missing my road +and losing considerable time, which meant not a little trouble and +anxiety. + + + + +[Illustration: To dig under was the only way to pass the obstruction.] + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +FINDING MY PEOPLE + + +ON leaving my newly found friends I faced a discouraging prospect. The +start for the high, arid table-lands bordering the Yakima valley cut me +loose from all communication. No more immigrants were met until I +reached the main-traveled route beyond the Columbia River. + +The road lay through a forbidding sage plain, or rather an undulating +country, covered by shifting sands and dead grass of comparatively scant +growth. As the sun rose, the heat became intolerable. The dust, in +places, brought vivid memories of the trip across the Plains. + +Strive against it as I might, my eyes would strain at the horizon to +catch a glimpse of the expected train. Then an intolerable thirst seized +upon me and compelled me to leave the road and descend into the valley +for water. + +I dared not linger off the trail and take chances of missing the +expected train. So I went through another stretch of travel, of heat, +and of thirst, that lasted until during the afternoon, when I found +water on the trail. Tethering my pony for his much-needed dinner, I +opened my sack of hard bread to count the contents; my store was half +gone. I lay down in the shade of a small tree near the spring to take an +afternoon nap. Rousing before sundown, refreshed, Bobby and I took the +trail with new courage. + +When night came, I could not find it in my heart to camp. The cool of +the evening invigorated the pony, and we pushed on. Finding that the +road could be followed, though but dimly seen, I kept on the trail until +a late hour, when I unsaddled and hobbled the pony. The saddle blanket +was brought into use, and I was soon off in dreamland forgetting all +about the dust, the trail, or the morrow. + +In the morning I awoke to find that the pony had wandered far off on the +hillside, so far, in fact, that it required close scanning to discover +him. To make matters worse, his hobbles had become loosened, giving him +free use of all his feet, and he was in no mood to take the trail again. +Coaxing was of no avail, driving would do no good. Taking an opportunity +to seize his tail, I followed him around about over the plain and +through the sage brush at a rapid gait; finally he slackened pace and I +again became master. + +[Illustration: Hobbling the pony.] + +For the life of me I could not be sure of the direction of the trail +after all this roaming over the plain at Bobby's heels, but I happened +to take the right course. When the trail was found, there was the saddle +to look for, and this was located with some difficulty. + +The sun was high when we started on our journey. A few hundred yards of +travel brought uneasiness, as it was evident that we were not on the +regular trail. Not knowing but this was some cut-off, I went on until +the Columbia River bluff was reached and the great river was in sight, +half a mile distant and several hundred feet lower. Taking a trail down +the bluff that seemed more promising than the wagon tracks, I began to +search for the road at the foot of the bluff, only to find every +semblance of a road gone. I lost more than a half-day's precious time, +and again was thrown into anxiety lest I had missed the long-sought +train. + +The next incident that I remember vividly was my attempt to cross the +Columbia, just below the mouth of the Snake River. I had seen but few +Indians on the whole trip and, in fact, the camp I found there on the +bank of the great river was the first I distinctly remember coming upon. +I could not induce the Indians to cross me over; they seemed surly and +unfriendly. Their behavior was so in contrast to that of the Indians on +the Sound that I could not help wondering what it meant. No one, to my +knowledge, lost his life at the hands of the Indians that season, but +the next summer all or nearly all the travelers who ventured into that +country unprotected were murdered. + +That night I camped late, opposite Wallula (old Fort Walla Walla), in a +sand storm of great fury. I tethered my pony this time, and rolled +myself up in the blanket, only to find myself fairly buried in the +drifting sand in the morning. It required a great effort to creep out of +the blanket, and an even greater effort to free the blanket from the +accumulated sand. By this time the wind had gone down and comparative +calm prevailed. + +[Illustration: I spent two hours calling across the river at the top of +my voice.] + +Then came the attempt to make myself heard across the wide river by the +people of the fort. I traveled up and down the river bank for half a +mile or so, in the hope of catching a favorable breeze to carry my voice +to the fort, yet all to no avail. I sat upon the bank hopelessly +discouraged, not knowing what to do. I must have been two hours +hallooing at the top of my voice, until I was hoarse from the violent +effort. + +Finally, while sitting there wondering what to do, I spied a blue smoke +arising from a cabin on the other side. Soon after I saw a man; he +immediately responded to my renewed efforts to attract attention. The +trouble had been that the people were all asleep, while I was there in +the early morning expending my breath for nothing. + +The man was Shirley Ensign, of Olympia, who had established a ferry +across the Columbia River and had lingered to set over belated +immigrants, if any should come along. He came across the river and gave +me glad tidings. He had been out on the trail fifty miles or more and +had met my people. They were camped some thirty miles away, he thought, +and they would reach the ferry on the following day. + +But I could not wait there for them. Procuring a fresh horse, I started +out in a cheerful mood, determined to reach camp that night if I could +possibly do so. Sundown came, and there were no signs of camp. Dusk came +on, and still no signs. Then I spied some cattle grazing on the upland, +and soon came upon the camp in a ravine that had shut it from view. + +Rejoicing and outbursts of grief followed. I inquired for my mother the +first thing. She was not there. Months before she had been buried in the +sands of the Platte valley. My younger brother also lay buried on the +Plains, near Independence Rock. The scene that followed is of too sacred +memory to write about. + +When we came to consider how the party should proceed, I advised the +over-mountain trip. But I cautioned them to expect some snow and much +hard work. + +"How long will it take?" they asked. + +"About three weeks." + +This brought disappointment; they had thought they were about through +with the journey. + +"You came to stay with us, didn't you?" + +"I want to; but what about my wife and the two babies, at the island?" + +Father said some one must go and look after them. So Oliver was sent +ahead, while I was to take his place and help the immigrants through the +Natchess Pass. + +In our train were fifty or more head of stock, seven wagons, and +seventeen people. We made the trip across the divide in twenty-two days +without serious mishap or loss. This was good time, considering the +difficulties that beset our way at every step. Every man literally "put +his shoulder to the wheel." We were compelled often to take hold of the +wheels to boost the wagons over the logs or to ease them down steep +places. Our force was divided into three groups,--one man to each wagon +to drive; four to act as wheelmen; father and the women, on foot or +horseback, to drive the stock. God bless the women folks of the Plains! +Nobler, braver, more uncomplaining souls were never known. I have often +thought that some one ought to write a just tribute to their valor and +patience, a book of their heroic deeds. + +One day we encountered a newly fallen tree, cocked up on its own +upturned roots, four feet from the ground. Go around it we could not; to +cut it out with our dulled, flimsy saw seemed an endless task. + +"Dig down, boys," said father, and in short order every available shovel +was out of the wagons. Very soon the way was open fully four feet deep, +and oxen and wagons passed under the obstruction. + +Do you say that we endured great hardships? That depends upon the point +of view. As to this return trip, I can truly say for myself that it was +not one of hardship. I enjoyed overcoming the difficulties, and so did +the greater number of the company. Many of them, it is true, were +weakened by the long trip across the Plains; but better food was +obtainable, and the goal was near at hand. It was a positive pleasure, +therefore, to pass over the miles, one by one, assured that final +success was a matter of only a very short time. + +When our little train at last emerged from the forests and came out +into the Nisqually plains, it was almost as if we had come into a +noonday sun from a dungeon, so marked was the contrast. Hundreds of +cattle, sheep, and horses were quietly grazing, scattered over the +landscape as far as one could see. The spirits of the tired party rose +as they looked upon this scene, indicating a contentment and prosperity +in which they might participate if they so desired. + +Our cabin, eighteen feet square, could not hold all the visitors. +However, it was an easy matter to set up the three tents they had +brought with them, and for several days we held a true reunion. Great +was the feasting, with clam bakes, huckleberry pies and puddings, +venison for meat, and fresh vegetables from our garden, at which the +newcomers could not cease from marveling. The row of sweet peas that my +wife had planted near the cabin helped to put heart into those +travel-weary pioneers; where flowers could be planted, a home could be +made. + +For a short time the little party halted to take breath and to look over +the new country. This rest, however, could not last long. Preparations +must be made without delay for shelter from the coming storms of winter; +the stock must be cared for, and other beginnings made for a new life of +independence. + +After surveying the situation, father said the island home would not do. +He had come two thousand miles to live neighbors; I must give up my +claim and take up another near his, on the mainland. Abandoning the +results of more than a year's hard work, I acted upon his request, and +across the bay we built our third cabin. + + + + +[Illustration: The night ride to the fort.] + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +INDIAN WAR DAYS + + +ONE of the saddest chapters in the early history of Washington Territory +was the trouble with the Indians, which led finally to open war. + +On October 28, 1855, word came that all the settlers living on White +River had been killed by the Indians and that the next day those in the +Puyallup valley would be massacred. At the risk of his life a friendly +Indian brought this news to us in the dead hours of the night. + +The massacre had occurred less than twenty miles from where we lived. +For all we knew the Indians might be on us at any moment. There were +three men of us, and each had a gun. + +The first thing we did was to harness and hitch the team to the wagon. +Then we opened the gates to let the calves get to their mothers, turned +the pigs loose, and opened the chicken-house door--all this without +light. Then the drive for our lives began, the women and babies lying +close to the bottom of the wagon, the men with guns ready for action. + +We reached Fort Steilacoom unmolested. But we could not in safety stop +there. The place was really no fort at all, only an encampment, and it +was already filled with refugees from the surrounding settlements. So we +pushed on into the town and stayed there until a blockhouse was built. + +This building was about fifty feet wide and nearly a hundred feet long. +It was bullet-proof, without windows, and two stories high. A heavy door +swung at the front entrance to the lower story, while an inclined walk +from higher ground in the rear enabled us to reach the upper story; +inside, a ladder served the purpose of a stairway between the two +stories. + +The blockhouse proved a haven of safety during the Indian trouble, not +only to our own family but to many of our neighbors besides. +Seventy-five such houses were built during these troublous times. +Numbers of settlers did not go back to their homes for several years. + +The Indians finally came in force just across the Sound and defied the +troops. They also prevented the soldiers from landing from the steamer +sent against them. A few days later we heard the guns from Fort +Nisqually, which, however, I have always thought was a false alarm. It +was when a captive child was brought in that we began to feel the +gravity of the situation. + +Yet many of our fears turned out to be baseless. For instance, one day +Johnny Boatman, a little boy not quite four years old, was lost. His +mother was almost crazed, for word went out that the Indians had stolen +him. A day later the lad was found under a tree, asleep. He had simply +wandered away. + +A perplexing feature of the whole affair came from the fact that there +were two warring camps among the forces of both the Indians and the +whites. Some of the Indians were friendly; we had ample proof of that +fact. Some of the whites were against the harsh measures taken by those +in charge. This dissension led to much unnecessary trouble and +bloodshed. + +[Illustration: The blockhouse, a haven of safety.] + +The war was brought on by the fact that the Indians had been wronged. +This seems certain. They had been robbed of their lands, by the treaties +made in 1854, and there had been atrocious murders of Indians by +irresponsible white men. The result was suffering and trouble for all of +us. + +The war brought troops, many of whom were reckless men; the army then +was not up to the standard of today. Besides, there came in the wake of +the soldiers a trail of gamblers and other disreputable people to vex +and perplex us. In the blockhouses could be seen bullet marks which we +knew did not come from Indians. + +I remember a little drummer boy, known as Scotty, who used frequently to +come over to our home. He was a bright little fellow, and the Colonel, +finding it was agreeable to us, encouraged him to make these visits, +perhaps to get him away a little from the rough life of the post. Scotty +had been living with a soldier there who, as report had it, used to get +drunk and beat his wife. When my wife asked Scotty one day if the +soldier abused his wife, he replied, "Well, I can't say exactly that he +abuses her. He only cuffs and kicks her around the house sometimes." +Poor boy! he had seen so much rough living that he didn't know what +abuse meant. + +Not all the soldiers were of this drunken cast, of course. Many brave +and noble men were among the military forces. The Indians, naturally, +did not discriminate between good and bad soldiers. They hated and +fought the troops, while at the same time they would often protect the +pioneers, with whom they had been generally friendly. + +I had lived in peace with these Indians and they had gained my +confidence. As events subsequently showed, I held their friendship and +confidence. At one time, during the war, a party of Indians held me +harmless within their power. They had said they would not harm those who +had advocated their cause at the time the treaties were made. + +[Illustration: The lost child.] + +Soon after the outbreak noted, I disregarded the earnest entreaties of +many persons and went back to my stock and to the cabin to care for the +abandoned dairy and young cattle. + +I did not believe the Indians would molest me, but took the precaution +of having my rifle in a convenient place. I did not need to use it. When +nightfall came I did withdraw from my cabin, not from fear of war +parties, but of individual outlaws. + +The sole military experience of my life consisted in an expedition to +the Puyallup valley with a company of seventeen settlers soon after the +outbreak described. The settlers of Puyallup had left their homes the +day after the massacre in such haste that they were almost destitute of +clothing, bedding, and food, as well as shelter. A strong military force +had penetrated the Indian country--the upper Puyallup valley and beyond. +We knew of this, but did not know that the soldiers had retreated by +another road, virtually driven out, the very day we went in armed with +all sorts of guns and with scarcely any organization. + +We had gone into the Indian stronghold not to fight Indians, but to +recover property. Nevertheless, there would have been hot work if we had +been attacked. The settlers knew the country as well as did the Indians +and were prepared to meet them on their own ground and in their own way. + +The Indians were in great force but a few miles distant. They had scouts +on our tracks, but did not molest us. We visited every settler's cabin +and secured the belongings not destroyed. On the sixth day we came away +with great loads of "plunder." All the while we were in blissful +ignorance that the troops had been withdrawn, and that no protection lay +between us and the Indian forces. + +After this outbreak, Indians and settlers about our neighborhood lived +in peace, on the whole. To anyone who treated them fairly, the Indians +became loyal friends. + +Mowich Man, an Indian whom I was to know during many years, was one of +our neighbors. He frequently passed our cabin with his canoe and +people. He was a great hunter, a crack shot, and an all-round Indian of +good parts. Many is the saddle of venison that he brought me in the +course of years. Other pioneers likewise had special friends among the +Indians. + +Some of Mowich Man's people were fine singers. His camp, or his canoe if +he was traveling, was always the center for song and merriment. It is a +curious fact that one seldom can get the Indian music by asking for it, +but rather must wait for its spontaneous outburst. Indian songs in those +days came from nearly every nook and corner and seemed to pervade the +whole country. We often could hear the songs and accompanying stroke of +the paddle long before we saw the floating canoes. + + + + +[Illustration: Carrying a dairy to the new mining town.] + + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN + +THE STAMPEDE FOR THE GOLD DIGGINGS + + +HARDLY had we got fairly over the Indian War when another wave of +excitement broke up our pioneer plans again. On March 21, 1858, the +schooner _Wild Pigeon_ arrived at Steilacoom with the news that the +Indians had discovered gold on Fraser River, that they had traded +several pounds of the precious metal with the Hudson's Bay Company, and +that three hundred people had left Victoria and its vicinity for the new +land of El Dorado. Furthermore, the report ran, the mines were +exceedingly rich. + +The wave of excitement that went through the little settlement upon the +receipt of this news was repeated in every town and hamlet of the whole +Pacific Coast. It continued even around the world, summoning adventurous +spirits from all civilized countries of the earth. + +Everybody, women folk and all, wanted to go, and would have started pell +mell had there not been that restraining influence of the second +thought, especially powerful with people who had just gone through the +mill of adversity. My family was still in the blockhouse that we had +built in the town of Steilacoom during the Indian War. Our cattle were +peacefully grazing on the plains a few miles away. + +One of the local merchants, Samuel McCaw, bundled up a few goods, made a +flying trip up Fraser River, and came back with fifty ounces of gold +dust and the news that the mines were all that had been reported and +more, too. This of course, added fuel to the flame. We all believed a +new era had dawned upon us, similar to that of ten years before in +California, which changed the world's history. High hopes were built, +most of them to end in disappointment. + +Not but that there were extensive mines, and that they were rich, and +that they were easily worked; how to get to them was the puzzling +question. The early voyagers had slipped up the Fraser before the +freshets came down from the melting snows to swell the torrents of that +river. Those going later either failed altogether and gave up the +unequal contest, or lost an average of one canoe or boat out of three in +the persistent attempt. How many lives were lost never will be known. + +Contingents began to arrive in Steilacoom from Oregon, from California, +and finally from "the States." Steamers great and small began to appear, +with little cargo but with passenger lists that were said to be nothing +compared to those of ships coming in less than a hundred miles to the +north of us. These people landing in Whatcom in such great numbers must +be fed, we agreed. If the multitude would not come to us to drink the +milk of our cows and eat their butter, what better could we do than to +take our cows to the place where we were told the multitude did not +hesitate to pay a dollar a gallon for milk and any price one might ask +for fresh butter! + +But how to get even to Whatcom was the rub. All space on the steamers +was taken from week to week for freight and passengers, and no room was +left for cattle. In fact, the run on provisions for the gold rush was so +great that at one time we were almost threatened with famine. Finally +our cattle, mostly cows, were loaded in an open scow and taken in tow +alongside the steamer, the _Sea Bird_, I think it was. + +[Illustration: A "shaker" used to wash out gold.] + +All went well enough until we arrived off the head of Whidby Island. +Here a choppy sea from a light wind began slopping over the scow and +evidently would sink us despite our utmost efforts at bailing. When the +captain would slow down the speed of his steamer, all was well; but the +moment greater power was applied, over the gunwales would come the +water. + +The dialogue that ensued between the captain and me was more emphatic +than elegant. He dared not risk letting go of us, however, or of running +us under, for fear of incurring the risk of heavy damages. I would not +consent to be landed. So about the twentieth of June we were set adrift +in Bellingham Bay and, tired and sleepy, landed on the beach. + +Our cows must have feed, they must be milked, the milk must be marketed. +There was no rest for us during another thirty-six hours. In fact, there +was but little sleep for anybody on that beach at the time. Several +ocean steamers had just dumped three thousand people on the beach, and +there was still a scramble to find a place to build a house or stretch +a tent, or even to spread a blanket, for there were great numbers +already there, landed by previous steamers. The staking of lots on the +tide flats at night, when the tide was out, seemed to be a staple +industry. + +A few days after my arrival four steamers came with an aggregate of more +than two thousand passengers. Many of these, however, did not leave the +steamer; they took passage either to their port of departure--San +Francisco or Victoria--or to points on the Sound. The ebb tide had set +in, and although many steamers came later and landed passengers, their +return lists soon became large and the population began to diminish. + +Taking my little dory that we had with us on the scow, I rowed to the +largest steamer lying at anchor. So many small boats surrounded the +steamer that I could not get within a hundred feet of it. All sorts of +craft filled the intervening space, from the smallest Indian canoe to +large barges, the owner of each craft striving to secure customers. + +The great difficulty was to find a trail to the gold fields. This pass +and that pass was tried without success. I saw sixty men with heavy +packs on their backs start out in one company. Every one of these had to +come back after floundering in the mountains for weeks. The Indians, +among whom the spirit of war still smouldered, headed off some of the +parties. The snows kept back others; and finally the British, watching +their own interests, blocked the way through their land. As a result the +boom burst, and people resought their old homes. + +It is doubtful if another stampede of such dimensions as that to the +Fraser in 1858 ever occurred where the suffering was so great, the +prizes so few, and the loss of life proportionately so great. Probably +not one in ten that made the effort reached the mines, and of those who +did the usual percentage drew the blanks inevitable in such stampedes. +And yet the mines were immensely rich; many millions of dollars of gold +came from the find in the lapse of years, and gold is still coming, +though now more than sixty years have passed. + +While the losses of the people of the Puget Sound country were great, +nevertheless good came out of the great stampede in the large accession +of population that remained after the return tide was over. Many people +had become stranded and could not leave the country, but went to work +with a will to make a living there. Of these not a few are still honored +citizens of the state that has been carved out of the territory of that +day. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: Carrie sees "a big cat" sharpening its claws.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY + +MAKING A PERMANENT HOME IN THE WILDS + + +THE days that followed our venture in the gold field were more peaceful +and prosperous. Soon after the Indian War we had moved to a new claim. +We began now to realize to the full our dream of earlier days, to settle +on a farm and build a home. + +Three neighbors were all we had, and the nearest lived nearly two miles +away. Two of them kept bachelor's hall. The thick, high timber made it +impossible for us to see any of our neighbors' houses. We could reach +only one by a road; to the others we might go by a trail. Under such +conditions we could not have a public school. This, however, did not +keep us from having a school of our own. + +One day one of our farther-off neighbors, who lived more than four miles +away, came to visit us. Naturally the children flocked around him to +hear his stories in broad Scotch and to ply him with questions. In his +turn, he began to ask them questions. One of these was, "When do you +expect to go to school?" + +"Oh, we have school now," responded the children. "We have school every +day." + +"And pray, who is your teacher, and where is your schoolhouse?" + +"Father teaches us at home every morning before breakfast. He hears the +lessons then, and mother helps us too." + +"Your father told me a while ago that you had your breakfast at six +o'clock. What time do you get up?" + +"Why, father sets the clock for half-past four, and that gives us an +hour while mother gets breakfast, you know." + +Boys and girls of today may pity those poor pioneer children who had to +get up so early. They may as well dismiss such feelings from their +hearts. The children were cheerful and healthy; they did some work +during the day in addition to studying their lessons; and besides they +went to bed earlier than some boys and girls do these days. + +In January 1861 the wreck of the steamer _Northerner_ brought great +sorrow to us, for my brother Oliver was among those lost. The ship +struck on an uncharted rock. + +During the stay at Steilacoom in the time of the Indian troubles, we had +begun a trading venture, in a small way. The venture having proved +successful, we invested all our savings in a new stock of merchandise, +and this stock, not all paid for, went down with the ship. Again we must +start in life, and we moved to a new location, a homestead in the +Puyallup valley. Here we lived and farmed for forty-one years, seeing +the town of Puyallup grow up on and around the homestead. + +In the Puyallup valley there were more neighbors--two families to the +square mile. Yet no neighbors were in sight, because the timber and +underbrush were so thick we could scarcely see two rods from the edge of +our clearing. But the neighbors were near enough for us to provide a +public school and build a schoolhouse. + +Some of the neighbors took their axes to cut the logs, some their oxen +to drag them, others their saws and cleaving tools to make clapboards +for the roof. Others again, more handy with tools, made the benches out +of split logs, or, as we called them, puncheons. With willing hands to +help, the schoolhouse soon received the finishing touches. + +The side walls were scarcely high enough for the doorway, so one was cut +in the end. The door hung on wooden hinges, which squeaked a good deal +when the door was opened or shut; but the children did not mind that. +The roof answered well enough for the ceiling overhead, and a cut in one +of the logs on each side made two long, narrow windows for light. The +children sat with their faces to the walls, with long shelves in front +of them, while the smaller tots sat on low benches near the middle of +the room. When the weather would permit, the teacher left the door open +to admit more light. There was no need to let in more fresh air, as the +roof was quite open and the cracks between the logs let in plenty of it. + +Sometimes we had a woman for teacher, and then the salary was smaller, +as she boarded around. That meant some discomfort for her during part of +the time, where the surroundings were not pleasant. + +One day little Carrie, my daughter, started to go to school, but soon +came running back out of breath. + +"Mamma! Mamma! I saw a great big cat sharpening his claws on a great big +tree, just the way pussy does!" she said as soon as she could catch her +breath. + +Sure enough, upon examination, there were the marks of a cougar as high +up on the tree as I could reach. It must have been a big one to reach so +far up the tree. But the incident soon dropped out of mind and the +children went to school on the trail as if nothing had happened. + +Afterwards I met a cougar on a lonely trail in the woods near where +Auburn now stands. I had been attempting to drive some wild cattle home, +but they were so unruly that they scattered through the timber and I was +obliged to go on without them late in the day. The forest was so dense +that it was hard to see the road even when the sun was shining; on a +cloudy day it seemed almost like night, though I could see well enough +to keep on the crooked trail. + +Just before I got to Stuck River crossing I came to a turn in the trail +where it crossed the top of a big fir that had been turned up by the +roots and had fallen nearly parallel with the trail. The big roots held +the butt of the tree up from the ground. I think the tree was four feet +in diameter a hundred feet from the butt, and the whole body, from root +to top, was eighty-four steps long, or about two hundred and fifty feet. + +I didn't stop to step it then. But you may be sure I took some pretty +long strides about that time; for just as I stepped over the fallen tree +near the top, I saw something move on the big body near the roots. The +thing was coming right towards me. In an instant I realized that it was +a great cougar. He was pretty, but he did not look especially pleasing +to me. + +I didn't know what to do. I had no gun with me, and I knew perfectly +well there was no use to run. Was I scared, did you say? Did you ever +have creepers run up your back and right to the roots of your hair, and +nearly to the top of your head? + +Did the cougar hurt me? If I had been hurt I shouldn't have been here to +tell you this story. The fun of it was that the cougar hadn't seen me +yet, but as soon as he did he scampered off as if the Old Harry himself +were after him, while I sped off down the trail as if old Beelzebub were +after me. + +But no wild animals ever harmed us, and we did not die for want of +food, clothing, or shelter, although we did have some experiences that +were trying. Before the clearings were large we sometimes were pinched +for both food and clothing. I will not say we suffered much for either, +though I know that some families at times lived on potatoes, straight. +Usually fish could be had in abundance, and there was considerable +game--some bear and plenty of deer. + +[Illustration: The Christmas tree with its homemade gifts.] + +The clothing gave us more trouble, as but little money came to us for +the small quantity of produce we had to spare. I remember one winter +when we were at our wits' ends for shoes. We just could not get money to +buy shoes enough to go around, but we managed to get leather to make +each member of the family one pair. We killed a pig to get bristles for +the wax-ends, cut the pegs from alder log and seasoned them in the oven, +and made the lasts out of the same timber. Those shoes were clumsy, to +be sure; but they kept our feet dry and warm, and we felt thankful for +them and sorry for some neighbors' children, who had to go barefooted +even in quite cold weather. Carrie once had a pair of nice white shoes +"for best," I remember, that one of her brothers made for her, with +buckskin uppers and light tan-colored soles. + +You must not think that we had no recreation and that we were a +sorrowful set. There was never a happier lot of people than these same +hard-working pioneers and their families. We had joy in our home life, +and amusements as well as labor. + +Music was our greatest pleasure. We never tired of it. "Uncle John," as +every one called him, the old teacher, was constantly teaching the +children music; so it soon came about they could read their music as +readily as they could their school books. + +No Christmas ever went by without a Christmas tree, at which the whole +neighborhood joined. The Fourth of July was never passed without a +celebration. We made the presents for the tree if we could not buy them, +and supplied the musicians, reader, and orator for the celebration. +Everybody had something to do and a voice in saying what should be done, +and that very fact made all happy. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +A dairy farm in Washington, where once the forest stood.] + +It was sixteen miles to our market town, Steilacoom, over the roughest +kind of road. Nobody had horse teams at the start; we had to go with ox +teams. We could not make the trip out and back in one day, and we did +not have money to pay hotel bills. We managed in this way: we would +drive out part of the way and camp; the next morning we would drive into +town very early, do our trading, and if possible, drive back home the +same day. If not able to do this, we camped on the road again. But if +the night was not too dark we would reach home that night. And oh, what +an appetite we would have, and how bright the fire would be, and how +joyous the welcome in the cabin home! + +The trees and stumps are all gone now and brick buildings and other good +houses occupy much of the land. As many people now live in that school +district as lived both east and west of the mountains when the Territory +was created in March of 1853. Instead of going in ox teams, or even +sleds, the people have carriages or automobiles; they can travel on any +of the eighteen passenger trains that pass daily through Puyallup, or on +street cars to Tacoma, and also on some of the twenty to twenty-four +freight trains, some of which are a third of a mile long. Such are some +of the changes wrought in fifty years since pioneer life began in the +Puyallup valley. + + + + +[Illustration: A hop field with the hops ready for picking.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE + +FINDING AND LOSING A FORTUNE + + +OUR youthful dream of becoming farmers was now realized in fullest +measure. The clearing was gradually enlarged, and abundant crops came to +reward our efforts. The comfort and plenty we had hoped and struggled +for was attained. Next came a development in the family fortunes that we +had not dreamed of. Never had we thought to see the Meeker family +conducting a business that would require a London office. + +This unexpected prosperity came to us through the hop-growing industry, +upon which we entered with all our force. The business was well started +by the time of my father's death in 1869, and in the fifteen years +following the acreage planted to hops was increased until the crop-yield +of 1882, a yield of more than seventy-one tons, gave the Puyallup valley +the banner crop, as to quantity, of the United States--and, some +persons asserted, of the world. + +The public, generally, gave me the credit of introducing hop culture +into the Northwest. Therefore it seems fitting to tell here the story of +the beginnings of an industry that came to have great importance. + +In March of 1865, Charles Wood of Olympia sent about three pecks of hop +roots to Steilacoom for my father, Jacob R. Meeker, who then lived on +his claim in the Puyallup valley. John V. Meeker, my brother, passed by +my cabin when he carried the sack of roots on his back from Steilacoom +to my father's home, a distance of about twenty miles, and from the sack +I took roots enough to plant six hills of hops. As far as I know those +were the first hops planted in the Puyallup valley. My father planted +the remainder, and in the following September harvested the equivalent +of one bale of hops, 180 pounds. This was sold for eighty-five cents a +pound, or a little more than a hundred and fifty dollars for the bale. + +This sum was more money than had been received by any of the settlers in +the Puyallup valley, except perhaps two, from the products of their +farms for that year. My father's near neighbors obtained a barrel of hop +roots from California the next year, and planted them the following +spring--four acres. I obtained what roots I could get that year, but not +enough to plant an acre. The following year (1867) I planted four acres, +and for twenty-six successive years thereafter we added to the area +planted, until our holdings reached past the five-hundred-acre mark and +our production was more than four hundred tons a year. + +None of us knew anything about the hop business, and it was entirely by +accident that we engaged in it. But seeing that there were possibilities +of great gain, I took pains to study hop culture, and found that by +allowing our hops to mature thoroughly, curing them at a low +temperature, and baling them while hot, we could produce hops that would +compete with any product in the world. Others of my neighbors planted +them, and so did many people in Oregon, until soon there came to be a +field for purchasing and shipping hops. But the fluctuations in price +were so great that in a few years many growers became discouraged and +lost their holdings. + +[Illustration: The site of the cabin home in Puyallup is now Pioneer +Park, Ezra Meeker's gift to the city that he founded. In it still stands +the ivy vine that for fifty years grew over the cabin.] + +Finally, during the failure of the world's hop crop in the year 1882, +there came to be unheard-of prices for hops, and fully one third of the +crop of the Puyallup valley was sold for a dollar a pound. I had that +year nearly one hundred thousand pounds, which brought an average of +seventy cents a pound. + +My first hop house was built in 1868--a log house. It still stands in +Pioneer Park in Puyallup. We frequently employed more than a thousand +people during harvest time. Many of these were Indians, some of whom +would come for a thousand miles down the coast from British Columbia +and even the confines of Alaska; they came in the great cedar-log canoes +manned with twenty paddlers or more. For the most part I managed my +Indian workers very easily. Once I had to tie up two of them to a tree +for getting drunk; their friends came and stole away the +prisoners--which was what I intended they should do. + +It was in 1870, eighteen years after my arrival from across the Plains, +that I made my first return journey to the States. I had to go through +the mud to the Columbia River, then out over the bar to the Pacific +Ocean, and down to San Francisco. Then there was the seven days' journey +over the Central and Union Pacific and connecting lines; this meant +sitting bolt upright all the way, for there were no sleeping cars then, +and no diners either. + +About 1882 I had come to realize that the important market for hops was +in England, and E. Meeker & Co. began sending trial shipments, first +seven bales, then the following year five hundred bales, then fifteen +hundred. Finally our annual shipments reached eleven thousand bales a +year, or the equivalent in value of half a million dollars--said at that +time to be the largest export hop business of any one concern in the +United States. At one time I had two full trainloads between the Pacific +and the Atlantic, on their way to London. I spent four winters in London +dealing in the hop market. + +Little as I had thought ever to handle an international business, still +less had I thought ever to write a book. My first publication was an +eighty-page pamphlet descriptive of Washington Territory, printed in +1870. My first real book, _Hop Culture in the United States_, was +published in 1883. I mention this fact simply as one instance out of the +many that could be given of the unexpected lines of development that +life in the new land opened out to the pioneers. + +The hop business could not be called a venture; it was simply a growth. +The conditions were favorable to us in that we could produce hops for +the world's market at the lowest prices. We actually pressed the English +growers so closely that more than fifteen thousand acres of hops were +destroyed in that country. + +Our great prosperity was not to last. One evening in 1892, as I stepped +out of my office and cast my eyes toward one group of hop houses, it +struck me that the hop foliage of a field near by was off color--did not +look natural. One of my clerks from the office said the same thing--the +vines did not look natural. I walked down to the yards, a quarter of a +mile away, and there first saw the hop louse. The yard was literally +alive with lice, and they were destroying at least the quality of the +hops. I issued a hop circular, sending it to more than six hundred +correspondents all along the coast in California, Oregon, Washington, +and British Columbia, and before the week was out I began to receive +samples from them, and letters asking what was the matter with the hops. + +It appeared that the attack of lice was simultaneous in Oregon, +Washington, and British Columbia, extending over a distance coastwise of +more than five hundred miles, and even inland up the Skagit River, where +there was an isolated yard. This plague was like a clap of thunder out +of a clear sky to us. + +I sent my second son, Fred Meeker, to London to learn the English +methods of fighting the pest and to import some spraying machinery. We +found to our cost, however, in the course of time, that the English +methods did not suit our different conditions; for while we could kill +the lice, we had to use so much spraying material on the dense foliage +that, in killing them, we virtually destroyed the hops. Instead of being +able to sell our hops at the top price of the market, we saw our product +fall to the foot of the list. The last crop I raised cost me eleven +cents a pound and sold for three under the hammer at sheriff's sale. + +At that time I had advanced to my neighbors and others upon their hop +crops more than a hundred thousand dollars, which was lost. These people +simply could not pay, and I forgave the debt, taking no judgments +against them, and I have never regretted the action. All my +accumulations were swept away, and I quit the business--or, rather, the +business quit me. + +After a long struggle with the hop plague, nearly all the hops were +plowed up and the land in the Puyallup valley and elsewhere was used for +dairy farming, fruit growing, and general crops. It is actually of a +higher value now than when it was bearing hops. + + + + +[Illustration: _United States Forest Service_ + +Going up the Chilkoot Pass.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO + +TRYING FOR A FORTUNE IN ALASKA + + +AFTER the failure of the hop business, I was left more or less at sea +for some years. I tried various other projects--among them the raising +of sugar beets. The country, we soon found, was not adapted to this +industry. Then I tried banking, likewise with little success. Finally I +decided to strike out for the mines of Alaska. This adventure, taken +when I was nearly three score and ten years of age, was full of exciting +experiences. Indeed, it left me richer only in experience. + +I had lived in the old Oregon country forty-four years and had never +seen a mine. Mining had had no attraction for me. But when my +accumulations had all been swallowed up, I decided to take a chance. In +the spring of 1898 I made my first trip over the Chilkoot Pass, went +down the Yukon river to Dawson in a flatboat, and ran the famous White +Horse Rapids with my load of vegetables for the Klondike miners. + +One may read most graphic descriptions of Chilkoot Pass; but the +difficulties met by those earlier fortune-seekers who tried it were +worse than the wildest fancy can picture. I started in with fifteen tons +of freight and got through with nine. On one stretch of two thousand +feet, I paid forty dollars a ton. Some others paid even more. + +The trip part of the way reminded me of the scenes on the Plains in +1852, when the people and teams crowded each other on the several +parallel trails. At the pass, most of the travel came upon one track, +and that so steep the ascent could be made only by cutting steps in the +ice and snow--fifteen hundred steps in all. Frequently every step would +be full, while crowds jostled each other at the foot of the ascent to +get into the single file, each man carrying a hundred-pound pack on his +back. + +After all sorts of trying experiences, I finally arrived in Dawson, +where I sold my fresh potatoes at thirty-six dollars a bushel and other +things at proportionate prices. In two weeks I started up the river, +homeward bound, with two hundred ounces of Klondike gold in my belt. But +four round trips in two years satisfied me that I did not want any more +of such experiences. + +Once, fortunately, I was detained for a couple of days, and thereby +escaped an avalanche that buried fifty-two other people in the snow. I +passed by the morgue the second day after the catastrophe on my way to +the summit, doubtless over the bodies of many unknown dead, embedded so +deeply in the snow that it was utterly impossible to recover them. + +The good ducking I received in my first passage through the White Horse +Rapids made me resolve I would not go through there again. But I did it +on the very next trip that same year, and came out of it dry. Again, +when going down the Thirty-Mile River, it did seem that we could not +escape being dashed upon the rocks. But somehow or other we got through +safely, though the bank was strewn with wrecks and the waters had +swallowed up many victims. + +When the Yukon proper was reached, the current was less swift, but the +shoals were numerous. More than once we were "hung up" on the bar, each +time uncertain how we should get off. No mishap resulted, except once +when a hole was jammed into the scow, and we thought we were "goners" +for sure; but we effected a landing so quickly that we unloaded our +cargo dry. + +While I now blame myself for taking such risks, I must admit that I +enjoyed it. I was sustained, no doubt, by high hopes of coming out with +my "pile." But fate or something else was against me, for mining +ventures swept all my gains away "slick as a mitten," as the old phrase +goes. I came out over the rotten ice of the Yukon in April of 1901 to +stay, and to vow I never wanted to see another mine or visit another +mining country. + +In two weeks after my arrival home my wife and I celebrated our golden +wedding. There was nothing but a golden welcome home, even if I had not +returned with my pockets filled with gold. + +Since I was then past my allotted three score years and ten, it +naturally seemed that my ventures were at an end. But for many of these +years I had been cherishing a dream that I felt must come true to round +out my days most satisfactorily. I longed to go back over the old Oregon +Trail and mark it for all time for the children of the pioneers who +blazed it, and for the world. How that dream was made to come true is +the story to be told in the succeeding part of this book of pioneer +stories. + + + + +PART THREE + +RETRACING THE OLD OREGON TRAIL + +[Illustration: With the development of railroad construction it was +thought that roads would go out of use except for local communication. +But since the advent of motor vehicles, transcontinental highways have +again become of great importance. For many reasons it is highly +desirable that there should be good roads clear across the continent. +Two have been proposed, and in sections meet the requirements of a great +transcontinental highway; but neither is yet completed. One is the +Oregon Highway, which follows the old Oregon Trail. This is the route +over which Ezra Meeker traveled by ox-team in 1906 and on which many +monuments have been erected to commemorate the pioneers of the 1840's +and '50's. The other is the Lincoln Highway, shown by the lighter line +on this map.] + + + + +[Illustration: Out on the trail again.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE + +A PLAN FOR A MEMORIAL TO THE PIONEERS + + +THE ox is passing--in fact, has passed. The old-time spinning wheel and +the hand loom, the quaint old cobbler's bench with its handmade lasts +and shoe pegs, the heavy iron mush pot on the crane in the chimney +corner,--all have gone. The men and women of sixty years or more ago are +passing, too. All are laid aside for what is new in the drama of life. +While these old-time ways and scenes and actors have had their day, yet +the experiences and the lessons they taught are not lost to the world. + +The difference between a civilized and an untutored people lies in the +application of experiences. The civilized man builds upon the +foundations of the past, with hope and ambition for the future. The +savage has neither past nor aspiration for the future. To keep the flame +of patriotism alive, we must keep the memory of the past vividly before +us. + +It was with these thoughts in mind that the expedition to mark the old +Oregon Trail was undertaken. There was this further thought, that on +this trail heroic men and women had fought a veritable battle--a battle +that wrested half a continent from the native race and from another +mighty nation contending for mastery in unknown regions of the West. To +mark the field of that battle for future generations was a duty waiting +for some one; I determined to be the one to fulfill it. + +The journey back over the old Oregon Trail by ox team was made during my +seventy-seventh year. On January 29, 1906, I left my home in Puyallup, +Washington, and on November 29, 1907, just twenty-two months later to +the day, I reached Washington, our national capital, with my cattle and +my old prairie schooner. Not all of this time was spent in travel, of +course; a good deal of it was taken up in furthering the purpose of the +trip by arranging for the erection and dedication of monuments to mark +the Trail. + +To accomplish the purpose of marking the trail would have been enough to +make the journey worth while to me, besides all the interest of +freshening my recollections of old times and reviving old memories. +There is not space in this book to dwell on all the contrasts that came +to my mind constantly,--of the uncleared forests with the farms and +orchards of today, of the unbroken prairie lands with the ranches and +farms and cities that now border the old trail from the Rockies to the +Mississippi. There is nothing like an ox-team journey, I maintain, to +make a person realize this country, realize its size, the number of its +people, and the variety of conditions in which they live and of +occupations by which they live. I wish I could share with every boy and +girl in the country the panorama view that unrolled itself before me in +this journey from tidewater to tidewater. + +The ox team was chosen as a typical reminder of pioneer days. The Oregon +Trail, it must be remembered, is essentially an ox-team trail. No more +effective instrument, therefore, could have been chosen to attract +attention, arouse enthusiasm, and secure aid in forwarding the work, +than this living symbol of the old days. + +Indeed, too much attention, in one sense, was attracted. I had scarcely +driven the outfit away from my own dooryard before the wagon and wagon +cover, and even the map of the old trail on the sides of the cover, +began to be defaced. First I noticed a name or two written on the wagon +bed, then a dozen or more, all stealthily placed there, until the whole +was so closely covered that there was no room for more. Finally the +vandals began carving initials on the wagon bed and cutting off pieces +to carry away. Eventually I put a stop to such vandalism by employing +special police, posting notices, and nabbing some offenders in the very +act. + +Give me Indians on the Plains to contend with; give me fleas or even the +detested sage-brush ticks to burrow into the flesh; but deliver me from +cheap notoriety seekers! + +I had decided to take along one helper, and a man by the name of Herman +Goebel went as far as The Dalles with the outfit. There William Marden +joined me for the journey across the Plains. Marden stayed with me for +three years, and proved to be faithful and helpful. + +And now a word as to my oxen. The first team consisted of one +seven-year-old ox, Twist, and one unbroken five-year-old range steer, +Dave. When we were ready to start, Twist weighed 1,470 pounds and Dave +1,560. This order of weight was soon changed. In three months' time +Twist gained 130 pounds and Dave lost 80. All this time I fed them with +a lavish hand all the rolled barley I dared give and all the hay they +would eat. + +[Illustration: Preparing to cross a river; unyoking the oxen.] + +Dave would hook and kick and perform every other mean trick. Besides, he +would stick his tongue out from the smallest kind of exertion. He had +just been shipped in off the Montana cattle range and had never had a +rope on him, unless it was when he was branded. Like a great over-grown +booby of a boy, he was flabby in flesh, and he could not endure any sort +of exertion without discomfort. At one time I became very nearly +discouraged with him. + +Yet this was the ox that made the round trip. He bore his end of the +yoke from the tidewaters of the Pacific to the tidewaters of the +Atlantic, at the Battery, New York City, and on to Washington City to +meet the President. He finally became subdued, though not conquered. At +times he became threatening with his horns, and I never did trust his +heels. + +[Illustration: Taking off the wagon box.] + +The other ox, Twist, died suddenly on August 9, 1906, and was buried +within a few rods of the trail. It was two months to a day after his +death before I could find a mate for the Dave ox, and then I had to take +another five-year-old steer off the cattle range of Nebraska. This +steer, Dandy, evidently had never been handled; but he came of good +stock and, with the exception of awkwardness, gave me no serious +trouble. Dandy was purchased out of the stockyard at Omaha. He then +weighed 1,470 pounds, and the day before he went to see the President he +tipped the scales at the 1,760-pound notch. Dandy proved to be a +faithful, serviceable ox. + +On the journey Dave had to be shod fourteen times, I think, and he +always struggled to get away. Once, on the summit of the Rocky +Mountains, we had to throw Dave and tie him hard and fast before we +could shoe him. It takes two shoes to one foot for an ox, instead of one +as for a horse, though the fastening is the same; that is, by nailing +into the hoof. At one time Dandy's hoofs became so worn that I could not +fasten a shoe on him, and so I had what we called leather boots put on, +that left a track like an elephant's; but he could not pull well with +them on. + +[Illustration: Calking the wagon box to turn it into a boat.] + +Besides the oxen we had a dog, Jim. More will be told of him later. + +An authentic prairie schooner, a true veteran of the Plains, was out of +the question. In building the new one, use was made of parts of three +old wagons. The woodwork of the wagon had to be new throughout except +for one hub, which had done service across the Plains in 1853. This hub +and the bands, boxes, and other iron parts were from two old-time wagons +that had crossed the Plains in 1853. They differed somewhat in size and +shape; hence the hubs of the fore and hind wheels did not match. + +[Illustration: Launching the schooner to cross the river.] + +The axles were of wood, with the old-time linchpins and steel skeins, +which called for the use of tar and the tar bucket instead of axle +grease. Why? Because if grease were used, the spokes would work loose, +and soon the whole wheel would collapse. The bed was of the old +prairie-schooner style, with the bottom boat-shaped and the ribs on the +outside. + +My first camp for the return journey over the old trail was made in my +own dooryard at Puyallup. This was maintained for several days to give +the wagon and team a trial. After the weak points had been strengthened +and everything pronounced to be in order, I left home for the long +trip. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Great changes had taken place along the old trail through +Washington and Oregon; here are strawberries growing where the forest +stood in 1852.] + +The first drive was to Seattle through the towns of Sumner, Auburn, and +Kent. In Seattle I had a host of friends and acquaintances, and I +thought that there I could arouse interest in my plan and secure some +aid for it. Nothing came of the effort. My closest friends, on the +contrary, tried to dissuade me from going; and, I may say, actually +tried to convince others that it would be an act of friendship not to +lend any aid to the enterprise. I knew, or thought I knew, that my +strength would warrant undertaking the ordeal; I felt sure I could make +the trip successfully. But my friends remained unconvinced; so after +spending two weeks in Seattle I shipped my outfit by steamer to Tacoma, +only to meet the same spirit there. + +One pleasant incident broke the monotony. Henry Hewitt, of Tacoma, +drove up alongside my team and said, "Meeker, if you get broke out there +on the Plains, just telegraph me for money to come back on." + +"No," I said, "I'd rather hear you say to telegraph for money to go on +with." + +"All right," came the response, "have it that way, then." + +Henry drove off, perhaps not giving the conversation a second thought +until he received my telegram two months later, telling him that I had +lost an ox and wanted him to send me two hundred dollars. The money was +immediately wired to me. + +Somehow no serious thought of turning back ever entered my mind. When I +had once resolved to make the trip, nothing but utter physical +disability could deter me. I felt on this point just as I did when I +first crossed the Plains in 1852. + +From Tacoma I shipped again by steamer to Olympia. The end of the old +trail is but two miles distant from Olympia at Tumwater, the extreme +southern point of Puget Sound. Here the first American party of +homeseekers to Washington rested and settled in 1845. At this point I +set a post, and afterwards arranged for a stone to be placed to mark the +spot. + +On the twentieth of February I went to Tenino, south of Olympia, on the +train. My outfit was drawn to this place by a horse team, the oxen being +taken along under yoke. Dave was still not an ox, but an unruly steer. I +dared not intrust driving him to other hands, yet I had to go ahead to +arrange for the monument and the lecture. + +The twenty-first of February was a red-letter day. At Tenino I had the +satisfaction of helping to dedicate the first monument erected to mark +the old trail. The stores were closed, and the school children in a +body came over to the dedication. The monument was donated by the Tenino +Quarry Company; it is inscribed "Old Oregon Trail: 1843-57." + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +A prosperous fruit farm along the trail.] + +In the evening I addressed a good-sized audience, and sixteen dollars +was received to help on the good work. The spirit of the people, more +than the money, was encouraging. + +At Chehalis, Washington, the Commercial Club undertook to erect and +dedicate a monument. John R. Jackson was the first American citizen to +settle north of the Columbia River. One of the daughters, Mrs. Ware, +accompanied by her husband, indicated the spot where the monument should +be erected, and a post was planted. A touching incident was that Mrs. +Ware was requested to put the post in place and hold it while her +husband tamped the earth around it. + +At Toledo, the place where the pioneers left the Cowlitz River on the +trail to the Sound, another marker was placed by the citizens. + +[Illustration: The first boulder marked on the old trail; near The +Dalles of the Columbia.] + +From Toledo I shipped the whole outfit by steamer down the Cowlitz +River, and took passage with my assistants to Portland, thus reversing +the order of travel in 1853. We used steam instead of the brawn of +stalwart pioneers and Indians to propel the boat. On the evening of +March the first I pitched my tent in the heart of the city of Portland, +on a grassy vacant lot. + +On the morning of the tenth of March I took steamer with my outfit, +bound up the Columbia for The Dalles. How wondrous the change! +Fifty-four years before, I had come floating down this same stream in a +flatboat with a party of poor, heartsick pioneers; now I made the trip +enjoying cushioned chairs, delicious foods, fine linens, magazines and +books--every luxury of civilized life. + +That night I arrived at The Dalles, and drove nearly three quarters of a +mile to a camping ground near the park. The streets were muddy, and the +cattle were impatient and walked very fast, which made it necessary for +me to tramp through the mud at their heads. We had no supper or even +tea, as we did not build a fire. It was clear that night, but raining in +the morning. + +Prior to leaving home I had written to the ladies of the Landmark +Committee at The Dalles. What should they do but provide a monument +already inscribed and in place, and notify me that I had been selected +to deliver the dedicatory address! + +The weather of the next day treated us to some hardships that I had +missed on the first overland journey. Ice formed in the camp half an +inch thick, and the high wind joined forces with the damper of our +stove, which had got out of order, to fill the tent with smoke and make +life miserable. + +The fierce, cold wind also made it necessary to postpone the dedication +for a day and finally to carry it out with less ceremony than had been +planned. Nevertheless, I felt that the expedition was now fairly +started. We had reached the point where the real journey would begin, +and the interest shown in the plan by the towns along the way had been +most encouraging. + + + + +[Illustration: The Dalles, on the Columbia River.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR + +ON THE OVERLAND TRAIL AGAIN + + +IT was the fourteenth of March when I drove out of The Dalles to make +the long overland journey. By rail, it is 1734 miles from The Dalles to +Omaha, where our work of marking the old trail was to end. By wagon road +the distance is greater, but not much greater--probably 1800 miles. + +The load was very heavy, and so were the roads. With a team untrained to +the road and one of the oxen unbroken, with no experienced ox driver to +assist me, and the grades heavy, small wonder if a feeling of depression +crept over me. On some long hills we could move only a few rods at a +time, and on level roads, with the least warm sun, the unbroken ox would +poke out his tongue. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +An apple orchard in Washington.] + +We were passing now through the great farming district of eastern +Oregon. The desert over which we had dragged ourselves in those long-ago +days has been largely turned into great wheat fields. As we drew into +camp one night a young man approached, driving eight harnessed horses. +He told me that he had harrowed in thirty-five acres of wheat that day, +and that it was just a common day's work to plow seven acres of land. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Where a wheat farm of today has taken the place of the unbroken prairie +in eastern Oregon.] + +I recalled my boyhood days when father spoke approvingly if I plowed two +acres a day, and when to harrow ten acres was the biggest kind of a +day's work. I also recalled the time when we cut the wheat with a +sickle, or maybe with a hand cradle, and threshed it out with horses on +the barn floor. Sometimes we had a fanning mill, and how it would make +my arms ache to turn the crank! At other times, if a stiff breeze sprang +up, the wheat and chaff would be shaken loose and the chaff would be +blown away. If all other means failed, two stout arms at either end of a +blanket or a sheet would move the sheet as a fan to clean the wheat. Now +we see the great combination harvester garner thirty acres a day, and +thresh it as well and sack it ready for the mill or warehouse. There +is no shocking, no stacking or housing: all in one operation, the grain +is made ready for market. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +In spite of the wide-spreading farms and fruit orchards, there are still +forests in Washington and Oregon, and lumbering is still a great +industry.] + +As we journeyed eastward, the Blue Mountains came into distant view. +Half a day's brisk travel brought us well up toward the snow line. The +country became less broken, the soil seemed better, the rainfall had +been greater. We began to see red barns and comfortable farmhouses, +still set wide apart, though, for the farms are large. + +In the Walla Walla valley the scene is different. Smaller farms are the +rule and orchards are to be seen everywhere. We now passed the historic +spot where the Whitman massacre occurred in 1847. Soon afterward we were +in camp in the very heart of the thriving city of Walla Walla. It was +near here that I had met my father when I crossed by the Natchess Pass +Trail in 1854. + +Another day's travel brought us to Pendleton, Oregon. Here the +Commercial Club took hold with a will and provided funds for a stone +monument. On the last day of March it was dedicated with appropriate +ceremonies. + +That evening I drove out to the Indian school in a fierce rainstorm to +talk to the teachers and pupils about the Oregon Trail. A night in the +wagon without fire and with only a scant supper sent my spirits down to +zero. Nor did they rise when I learned next morning that the snow had +fallen eighteen inches deep in the mountains. However, with this news +came a warm invitation from the school authorities to use a room they +had allotted to us, with a stove, and to help ourselves to fuel. That +cheered us up greatly. + +There was doubt whether we could cross the Blue Mountains in all this +snow. I decided to investigate; so I took the train. About midnight I +was landed in the snow at Meacham, with no visible light in the hotel +and no track beaten to it. + +Morning confirmed the report of the storm; twenty inches of snow had +fallen in the mountains. + +An old mountaineer told me, "Yes, it is possible to cross, but I warn +you it will be a hard job." + +It was at once arranged that the second morning thereafter his team +should leave Meacham on the way to meet me. + +"But what about a monument, Mr. Burns?" I said. "Meacham is a historic +place, with Lee's encampment in sight." (It was in 1834 that the +Reverend Jason Lee had crossed the continent with Wyeth's second +expedition.) + +"We have no money," came the quick reply, "but we've got plenty of +muscle. Send us a stone and I'll warrant you the foundation will be +built and the monument put in place." + +A belated train gave opportunity to return at once to Pendleton, where +an appeal for aid to provide an inscribed stone for Meacham was +responded to with alacrity. The stone was ordered, and a sound night's +sleep followed. + +I quote from my journal. "Camp No. 31, April 4, 1906. We are now on the +snow line of Blue Mountains (8 P.M.), and am writing this by our first +really out-of-doors camp fire, under the spreading boughs of a friendly +pine tree. We estimate we have driven twelve miles; started from the +school at 7 A.M. The first three or four miles over a beautiful farming +country; then we began climbing the foothills, up, up, up, four miles, +reaching first snow at three o'clock." + +True to promise, the mountaineer's team met us on the way to Meacham, +but not till we had reached the snow. We were axle-deep in it and had +the shovel in use to clear the way, when Burns came upon us. By night we +were safely encamped at Meacham, with the cheering news that the +monument had arrived and could be dedicated the next day. + +The summit of the mountain had not been reached, and the worst tug lay +ahead of us. But casting thoughts of this from mind, all hands turned to +the monument, which by eleven o'clock was in place. Twist and Dave stood +near it, hitched up, and ready for the start as soon as the order was +given. Everybody in town was there, the little school coming in a body. +After the speech we moved on to battle with the snow, and finally won +our way over the summit. + +[Illustration: A monument to the old trail, on the high school grounds +at Baker City, Oregon.] + +The sunshine that was let into our hearts at La Grande was also +refreshing. "Yes, we will have a monument," the people responded. And +they got one, too, dedicating it while I tarried. + +We had taken with us an inscribed stone to set up at an intersection +near the mouth of Ladd's Canyon, eight miles out of La Grande. The +school near by came in a body. The children sang "Columbia, the Gem of +the Ocean," after which I talked to the assemblage for a few moments, +and the exercises closed with all singing "America." Each child brought +a stone and cast it upon the pile surrounding the base of the monument. + +The citizens of Baker City lent a willing ear to the suggestion to erect +a monument on the high-school grounds, although the trail is six miles +off to the north, and a fine granite shaft was provided for the +high-school grounds and was dedicated. A marker was set on the trail. +Eight hundred school children contributed an aggregate of sixty dollars +to place a children's bronze tablet on this shaft. Two thousand people +participated in the ceremony of dedication. + +News of these events was now beginning to pass along the line ahead. As +a result the citizens in other places began to take hold of the work +with a will. Old Mount Pleasant, Durkee, Huntington, and Vale were other +Oregon towns that followed the good lead and erected monuments to mark +the old trail. A most gratifying feature of the work was the hearty +participation in it of the school children. + + + + +[Illustration: _Howard R. Driggs_ + +A sheep herder's wagon in the sage-covered hills of Wyoming near the +Oregon Trail.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE + +TRAILING ON TO THE SOUTH PASS + + +THE Snake River was crossed just below the mouth of the Boise, about +where, almost fifty-four years before, we had made our second crossing +of the river. + +We were landed on the historic site of old Fort Boise, established by +the Hudson's Bay Company in September, 1834. This fort was established +for the purpose of preventing the success of the American venture at +Fort Hall, a post established earlier in 1834 by Nathaniel J. Wyeth. +Wyeth's venture proved a failure, and the fort soon passed to his rival, +the Hudson's Bay Company. Thus for the time being the British had rule +of the whole of that vast region known as the Inland Empire, then the +Oregon Country. + +Some relics of the old fort at Boise were secured. Arrangements were +made for planting a doubly inscribed stone to mark the trail and the +site of the fort, and afterwards, through the liberality of the +citizens of Boise City, a stone was ordered and put in place. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Sheep ready for shipment at Caldwell, Idaho.] + +At Boise, the capital of Idaho, there were nearly twelve hundred +contributions to the monument fund by the pupils of the public schools. +The monument stands on the State House grounds and is inscribed as the +children's offering to the memory of the pioneers. More than three +thousand people attended the dedication service. + +The spirit of cooperation and good will towards the enterprise that was +manifested at the capital city prevailed all through Idaho. From Parma, +the first town we came to on the western edge, to Montpelier, near the +eastern boundary, the people of Idaho seemed anxious to do their part in +marking the old trail. Besides the places already named, Twin Falls, +American Falls, Pocatello, and Soda Springs all responded to the appeal +by erecting monuments to mark the Old Trail. + +One rather exciting incident happened near Montpelier. A vicious bull +attacked my ox team, first from one side and then the other. Then he +got in between the oxen and caused them nearly to upset the wagon. I was +thrown down in the mix-up, but fortunately escaped unharmed. + +[Illustration: The monument to the trail at Boise, Idaho.] + +This incident reminded me of a scrape one of our neighboring trains got +into on the Platte in 1852, with a wounded buffalo. The train had +encountered a large herd of these animals, feeding and traveling at +right angles to the road. The older heads of the party, fearing a +stampede of their teams, had ordered the men not to molest the +buffaloes, but to give their whole attention to the care of the teams. +One impulsive young fellow would not be restrained; he fired into the +herd and wounded a large bull. The maddened bull charged upon a wagon +filled with women and children and drawn by a team of mules. He became +entangled in the harness and was caught on the wagon-tongue between the +mules. The air was full of excitement for a while. The women screamed, +the children cried, and the men began to shout. But the practical +question was how to dispatch the bull without shooting the mules as +well. Trainmen forgot their own teams and rushed to the wagon in +trouble. The guns began to pop and the buffalo was finally killed. The +wonder is that nobody was harmed. + +From Cokeville to Pacific Springs, just west of the summit of the Rocky +Mountains at South Pass, by the road and trail we traveled, is one +hundred and fifty-eight miles. Ninety miles of this stretch is away from +the sound of the locomotive, the click of the telegraph, or the voice of +the "hello girl." The mountains here are from six to seven thousand feet +above sea level, with scanty vegetable growth. The country is still +almost a solitude, save as here and there a sheep herder or his wagon +may be discerned. The sly coyote, the simple antelope, and the cunning +sage hen still hold sway as they did when I first traversed the country. +The old trail is there in all its grandeur. + +[Illustration: Monument at Pocatello, Idaho.] + +"Why mark that trail!" I exclaimed. Miles and miles of it are worn so +deep that centuries of storm will not efface it; generations may pass +and the origin of the trail may become a legend, but these marks will +remain. + +We wondered to see the trail worn fifty feet wide and three feet deep, +and we hastened to photograph it. But after we were over the crest of +the mountain, we saw it a hundred feet wide and fifteen feet deep. The +tramp of thousands upon thousands of men and women, the hoofs of +millions of animals, and the wheels of untold numbers of vehicles had +loosened the soil, and the fierce winds had carried it away. In one +place we found ruts worn a foot deep into the solid rock. + +The mountain region was as wild as it had been when I first saw it. One +day, while we were still west of the Rocky Mountains, in Wyoming, two +antelopes crossed the road about a hundred yards ahead of us, a buck and +a doe. The doe soon disappeared, but the buck came near the road and +stood gazing at us in wonderment, as if to ask, "Who the mischief are +you?" + +[Illustration: Deep ruts had been worn in the solid rock of the trail +through the mountain country.] + +Our dog Jim soon scented him, and away they went up the mountain side +until Jim got tired and came back to the wagon. Then the antelope +stopped on a little eminence on the mountain, and for a long distance we +could see him plainly against a background of sky. + +At another time we actually got near enough to get a shot with our +kodaks at two antelopes; but they were too far off to make good +pictures. Our road was leading us obliquely up a gentle hill, gradually +approaching nearer to one of the antelopes. I noticed that he would come +toward us for a while and then turn around and look the other way for a +while. Then we saw what at first we took to be a kid, or young antelope; +but soon we discovered that it was a coyote wolf, prowling on the track +of the antelope, and watching both of us. Just after the wagon had +stopped, I saw six big, fat sage hens feeding not more than twice the +length of the wagon away, just as I had seen them in 1852. + +[Illustration: Jim, the collie that made the journey from Washington to +Washington.] + +The dog, Jim, had several other adventures with animals on the way. +First of all, he and Dave did not get along very well. Once Dave caught +Jim under the ribs with his right horn, which was bent forward and stood +out nearly straight, and tossed him over some sage brush near by. +Sometimes, if the yoke prevented him from getting a chance at Jim with +his horn, he would throw out his nose and snort, just like a horse that +has been running at play and stops for a moment's rest. But Jim would +manage to get even with him. Sometimes we put loose hay under the wagon +to keep it out of the storm, and Jim would make a bed on it. Then woe +betide Dave if he tried to get any of that hay! I saw Jim one day catch +the ox by the nose and draw blood. You may readily imagine that the war +was renewed between them with greater rancor than ever. They never did +become friends. + +One day Jim got his foot under the wheel of our wagon, and I was sure it +was broken, but it was not; yet he nursed it for a week by riding in the +wagon. He never liked to ride in the wagon except during a thunderstorm. +Once a sharp clap of thunder frightened Jim so that he jumped from the +ground clear into the wagon while it was in motion and landed at my +feet. How in the world he could do it I never could tell. + +Jim had some exciting experiences with wild animals, too. He was always +chasing birds, jack rabbits, squirrels, or anything in the world that +could get into motion. One day a coyote crossed the road just a few rods +behind the wagon, and Jim took after him. It looked as if Jim would +overtake him, and, being dubious of the result of a tussle between them, +I called Jim back. No sooner had he turned than the coyote turned, too, +and made chase, and there they came, nip and tuck, to see who could run +the faster. I think the coyote could, but he did not catch up until they +got so near the wagon that he became frightened and scampered away up +the slope of a hill. + +At another time a young coyote came along, and Jim played with him +awhile. But by and by the little fellow snapped at Jim and made Jim +angry, and he bounced on the coyote and gave him a good trouncing. + +Before we sheared him, Jim would get very warm when the weather was hot. +Whenever the wagon stopped he would dig off the top earth or sand that +was hot, to have a cool bed to lie in; but he was always ready to go +when the wagon started. + +Cokeville was the first town reached in Wyoming. It stands on Smith's +Fork, near where that stream empties into Bear River. It is also at the +western end of the Sublette Cut-off Trail from Bear River to Big Sandy +Creek, the cut-off that we had taken in 1852. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Coal mining is one of the industries that have grown up in Wyoming.] + +The people of the locality resolved to have a monument at this fork in +the old trail, and arrangements were made to erect one out of stone from +a local quarry. This good beginning made in the state, we went on, +climbing first over the rim of the Great Basin, then up and across the +Rockies. + +I quote again from my journal: "Pacific Springs, Wyoming, Camp No. 79, +June 20, 1906. Odometer, 958. [Miles registered from The Dalles, +Oregon.] Arrived at 6 P.M., and camped near Halter's store and the post +office. Ice found in camp during the night." + +On June 22 we were still camped at Pacific Springs. I had searched for a +suitable stone for a monument to be placed on the summit of the range, +and, after almost despairing of finding one, had come upon exactly what +was wanted. The stone lay alone on the mountain side; it is granite, I +think, but mixed with quartz, and is a monument hewed by the hand of +Nature. + +[Illustration: _Chas. S. Hill_ + +Wyoming oil wells.] + +Immediately after dinner we hitched the oxen to Mr. Halter's wagon. With +the help of four men we loaded the stone, after having dragged it on the +ground and over the rocks a hundred yards or so down the mountain side. +We estimated its weight at a thousand pounds. + +There being no stonecutter at Pacific Springs to inscribe the monument, +the clerk at the store formed the letters on stiff pasteboard. He then +cut them out to make a paper stencil, through which the shape of the +letters was transferred to the stone by crayon marks. The letters were +then cut out with a cold chisel, deep enough to make a permanent +inscription. The stone was so hard that it required steady work all day +to cut the twenty letters and figures: THE OREGON TRAIL, 1843-57. + +We drove out of Pacific Springs at a little after noon and stopped at +the summit to dedicate the monument. Then we left the summit and drove +twelve miles to the point called Oregon Slough, where we put up the tent +after dark. + +The reader may think of the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains as a +precipitous defile through narrow canyons and deep gorges. Nothing is +farther from the fact. One can drive through this Pass for several miles +without realizing that the dividing line between the waters of the +Pacific and those of the Atlantic has been passed. The road is over a +broad, open, undulating prairie, the approach is by easy grades, and the +descent, going east, is scarcely noticeable. + +All who were toiling west in the old days looked upon this spot as the +turning point of their journey. There they felt that they had left the +worst of the trip behind them. Poor souls that we were! We did not know +that our worst mountain climbing lay beyond the summit of the Rockies, +over the rugged Western ranges. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration: Nooning beside the prairie schooner.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX + +REVIVING OLD MEMORIES OF THE TRAIL + + +THE sight of Sweetwater River, twenty miles out from South Pass, revived +many pleasant memories and some that were sad. I could remember the +sparkling, clear water, the green skirt of undergrowth along the banks, +and the restful camps, as we trudged along up the stream so many years +ago. And now I saw the same channel, the same hills, and apparently the +same waters swiftly passing. But where were the camp fires? Where was +the herd of gaunt cattle? Where the sound of the din of bells? The +hallooing for lost children? Or the little groups off on the hillside to +bury the dead? All were gone. + +An oppressive silence prevailed as we drove to the river and pitched our +camp within a few feet of the bank, where we could hear the rippling +waters passing and see the fish leaping in the eddies. We had our choice +of a camping place just by the skirt of a refreshing green brush with +an opening to give full view of the river. It had not been so fifty-four +years before, with hundreds of camps ahead of you. The traveler then had +to take what he could get, and in many cases that was a place far back +from the water and removed from other conveniences. + +[Illustration: _United States Geological Survey_ + +Devil's Gate, on the Sweetwater River, one of the many beautiful streams +in the uplands of Wyoming. The pioneer trail followed the course of this +river.] + +The sight and smell of carrion, so common in camping places during that +first journey, also were gone. No bleached bones, even, showed where the +exhausted dumb brute had died. The graves of the dead pioneers had all +been leveled by the hoofs of stock and the lapse of time. + +The country remains as it was in '52. There the trail is to be seen +miles and miles ahead, worn bare and deep, with but one narrow track +where there used to be a dozen, and with the beaten path that vegetation +has not yet recovered from the scourge of passing hoofs and tires of +wagons years ago. + +As in 1852, when the summit was passed I felt that my task was much +more than half done, though half the distance was scarcely compassed. + +On June 30, at about ten o'clock, we encountered a large number of big +flies that ran the cattle nearly wild. I stood on the wagon tongue for +miles to reach them with the whipstock. The cattle were so excited that +we did not stop at noon, but drove on. By half-past two we camped at a +farmhouse, the Split Rock post office, the first we had found in a +hundred miles of travel since leaving Pacific Springs. + +The Devil's Gate, a few miles distant, is one of the two best-known +landmarks on the trail. Here, as at Split Rock, the mountain seems to +have been split apart, leaving an opening a few rods wide, through which +the Sweetwater River pours in a veritable torrent. The river first +approaches to within a few hundred feet of the gap, then suddenly curves +away from it, and after winding through the valley for half a mile or +so, a quarter of a mile away, it takes a straight shoot and makes the +plunge through the canyon. Those who have had the impression that the +emigrants drove their teams through this gap are mistaken, for it's a +feat no mortal man has done or can do, any more than he could drive up +the falls of the Niagara. + +This year, on my 1906 trip, I did clamber through on the left bank, over +boulders head high, under shelving rocks. I ate some ripe gooseberries +from the bushes growing on the border of the river, and plucked some +beautiful wild roses, wondering the while why those wild roses grew +where nobody would see them. + +The gap through the mountains looked familiar as I spied it from the +distance, but the roadbed to the right I had forgotten. I longed to see +this place; for here, somewhere under the sands, lies all that was +mortal of my brother, Clark Meeker, drowned in the Sweetwater in 1854. + +[Illustration: _United States Geological Survey_ + +Devil's Gate, on the Sweetwater River, one of the famous landmarks on +the old trail.] + +Independence Rock is the other most famous landmark. We drove over to +the Rock, a distance of six miles from the Devil's Gate, and camped at +ten o'clock for the day. This famous boulder covers about thirty acres. +We groped our way among the inscriptions, to find some of them nearly +obliterated and many legible only in part. We walked all the way around +the stone, nearly a mile. The huge rock is of irregular shape, and it is +more than a hundred feet high, the walls being so precipitous that +ascent to the top is possible in only two places. + +Unfortunately, we could not find Fremont's inscription. Of this +inscription Fremont writes in his journal of the year 1842: "August 23. +Yesterday evening we reached our encampment at Rock Independence, where +I took some astronomical observations. Here, not unmindful of the custom +of early travelers and explorers in our country, I engraved on this rock +of the Far West a symbol of the Christian faith. Among the thickly +inscribed names, I made on the hard granite the impression of a large +cross. It stands amidst the names of many who have long since found +their way to the grave and for whom the huge rock is a giant +gravestone." + +On Independence Day, 1906, we left Independence Rock. Our noon stop was +on Fish Creek, eleven miles away. The next night we camped on the North +Platte River. Fifty-four years before, I had left the old stream about +fifteen miles below here on my way to the West. + +Next day, while nooning several miles out from Casper, we heard the +whistle of a locomotive. It was the first we had heard for nearly three +hundred miles. As soon as lunch was over, I left the wagon and walked to +Casper ahead of the team to select a camping ground, secure feed, and +get the mail. + +A special meeting of the Commercial Club of Casper was held that +evening, and I laid the matter of building a monument before the +members. They resolved to build one, opened the subscription at once, +and appointed a committee to carry the work forward. Since then a +monument twenty-five feet high has been erected at a cost of fifteen +hundred dollars. + +Glen Rock is a small village, but the ladies there met and resolved they +would have "as nice a monument as Casper's." One enthusiastic lady said, +"We will inscribe it ourselves, if no stonecutter can be had." + +At Douglas also an earnest, well-organized effort to erect the monument +was well in hand before we drove out of town. + +As we journeyed on down the Platte, we passed thrifty ranches and +thriving little towns. It was haying time, and the mowers were busy +cutting alfalfa. The hay was being stacked. Generous ranchers invited us +to help ourselves to their garden stuff. All along the way was a spirit +of good cheer and hearty welcome. + +Fort Laramie brings a flood of reminiscences to the western pioneer and +his children. This old post, first a trappers' stockade, then in 1849 a +soldiers' encampment, stood at the end of the Black Hills and at the +edge of the Plains. Here the Laramie River and the Platte meet. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +The desert before irrigation.] + +The fort was a halfway station on the trail. From the time we crossed +the Missouri in May, 1852, until we reached the old fort, no place name +was so constantly in the minds of the emigrants as that of Fort Laramie. +Here, in '52, we eagerly looked for letters that never came. Perhaps our +friends and relatives had not written; perhaps they had written, but the +letters were lost or sidetracked somewhere in "the States." As for +hearing from home, for that we had to wait patiently until the long +journey should end; then a missive might reach us by way of the Isthmus, +or maybe by sailing vessel around Cape Horn. + +There is no vestige of the old traders' camp or the first United States +fort left. The new fort--not a fort, but an encampment--covers a space +of thirty or forty acres, with all sorts of buildings and ruins. One of +the old barracks, three hundred feet long, was in good preservation in +1906, being utilized by the owner, Joseph Wilde, for a store, post +office, hotel, and residence. The guard house with its grim iron door +and twenty-inch concrete walls is also fairly well preserved. One frame +building of two stories, we were told, was transported by ox team from +Kansas City at a cost of one hundred dollars a ton. The old place is +crumbling away, slowly disappearing with the memories of the past. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +The desert after irrigation.] + +From Fort Laramie onward into western Nebraska we passed through a +succession of thriving cities. The Platte has been turned to splendid +service through the process of irrigation. Great canals lead its +life-giving waters out to the thirsty plains that now "blossom as the +rose." Rich fields of grain and hay and beets cover the valley. Great +sugar factories, railroads, business blocks, and fine homes tell of the +prosperity that has leaped out of the parched plains we trailed across. + +Scott's Bluff, however, is one of the old landmarks that has not +changed. It still looms up as of old on the south side of the river +about eight hundred feet above the trail. The origin of the name, +Scott's Bluff, is not definitely known. Tradition says: "A trapper named +Scott, while returning to the States, was robbed and stripped by the +Indians. He crawled to these Bluffs and there famished. His bones were +afterwards found and buried." These quoted words were written by a +passing emigrant on the spot, June 11, 1852. Another version of the tale +is that Scott fell sick and was abandoned by his traveling companions. +After having crawled almost forty miles, he finally died near the bluff +that bears his name. This occurred prior to 1830. + +From the bluff we drove as directly as possible to a historic grave, two +miles out from the town and on the railroad right of way. In this grave +lies a pioneer mother who died August 15, 1852, nearly six weeks after I +had passed over the ground. Some thoughtful friend had marked her grave +by standing a wagon tire upright in it. But for this, the grave, like +thousands and thousands of others, would have passed out of sight and +mind. + +The tire bore this simple inscription: "Rebecca Winters, aged 50 years." +The hoofs of stock tramped the sunken grave and trod it into dust, but +the arch of the tire remained to defy the strength of thoughtless hands +that would have removed it. + +Finally the railroad surveyors came along. They might have run the track +over the lonely grave but for the thoughtfulness of the man who wielded +the compass. He changed the line, that the resting place of the pioneer +mother should not be disturbed, and the grave was protected and +enclosed. + +The railroad officials did more. They telegraphed word of the finding of +this grave to their representative in Salt Lake City. He gave the story +to the press; the descendants of the pioneer mother read it, and they +provided a monument, lovingly inscribed, to mark the spot. + +[Illustration: _United States Geological Survey_ + +Chimney Rock, an old sentinel on the trail in western Nebraska.] + +About twenty miles from Scott's Bluff stands old Chimney Rock. It is a +curious freak of nature, and a famous landmark on the trail. It covers +perhaps twelve acres, and rises coneshaped for two hundred feet to the +base of the spire-like rock, the "chimney," that rests upon it and rises +a full hundred feet more. + +A local story runs that an army officer trained a cannon on this spire, +shot off about thirty feet from the top, and for this was +court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the army. I could get +no definite confirmation of the story, though it was repeated again and +again. It seems incredible that an intelligent man would do such an act, +and if he did it, he deserved severe punishment. + +It is saddening to think of the many places where equally stupid things +have been done to natural wonders. Coming through Idaho, I had noticed +that at Soda Springs the hand of the vandal had been at work. That +interesting phenomenon, Steamboat Spring, the wonderment of all of us in +1852, with its intermittent spouting, had been tampered with and had +ceased to act. + + + + +[Illustration: Going up the steep, rocky sides of Little Canyon.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN + +A BIT OF BAD LUCK + + +"OLD Oregon Trail Monument Expedition, Brady Island, Nebraska, August 9, +1906, Camp No. 120. Odometer, 1,536 5/8. Yesterday morning Twist ate his +breakfast as usual and showed no signs of sickness until we were on the +road two or three miles, when he began to put his tongue out and his +breathing became heavy. But he leaned on the yoke more heavily than +usual and determined to pull the whole load. I finally stopped, put him +on the off side, gave him the long end of the yoke, and tied his head +back with the halter strap to the chain; but to no purpose, for he +pulled by the head very heavily. I finally unyoked, gave him a quart of +lard, a gill of vinegar, and a handful of sugar, but all to no purpose, +for he soon fell down and in two hours was dead." + +Such is the record in my journal of this noble animal's death. I think +he died from eating some poisonous plant. + +When we started, Twist weighed 1470 pounds. After we had crossed two +ranges of mountains, had wallowed in the snows of the Blue Mountains, +followed the tortuous, rocky canyon of Burnt River, and gone through the +deep sands of the Snake, this ox had gained 137 pounds, and weighed 1607 +pounds. While laboring under the short end of the yoke that gave him +fifty-five per cent of the draft and an increased burden, he would keep +his end of the yoke a little ahead, no matter how much the mate might be +urged to keep up. + +There are pronounced individualities in animals as well as in men. I +might have said virtues, too--and why not? If an animal always does his +duty and is faithful and industrious, why not recognize this character, +even if he is "nothing but an ox"? + +To understand the achievements of this ox it is necessary to know the +burden that he carried. The wagon weighed 1430 pounds, had wooden axles +and wide track, and carried an average load of 800 pounds. Along with an +unbroken four-year old steer, a natural-born shirk, Twist had hauled the +wagon 1776 miles, and he was in better working trim just before he died +than when the trip began. And yet, am I sure that at some points I did +not abuse him? What about coming up out of Little Canyon, or rather up +the steep, rocky steps of stones like stairs, when I used the goad, and +he pulled a shoe off his feet? Was I merciful then, or did I exact more +than I ought? + +I can see him yet, in my mind, on his knees, holding the wagon from +rolling into the canyon till the wheel could be blocked and the brakes +set. Then, when bidden to start the load, he did not flinch. He was the +best ox I ever saw, without exception, and his loss nearly broke up the +expedition. His like I could not find again. He had a decent burial. A +headboard marks his grave and tells of the aid he rendered in this +expedition to perpetuate the memory of the old Oregon Trail. + +[Illustration: Twist, a noble animal.] + +What should I do--abandon the work? No. But I could not go on with one +ox. So a horse team was hired to take us to the next town, Gothenburg, +thirteen miles distant. The lone ox was led behind the wagon. + +Again I hired a horse team to haul the wagon to Lexington. At Lexington +I thought the loss of the ox could be repaired by buying a pair of heavy +cows and breaking them in to work, so I purchased two out of a band of +two hundred cattle. + +"Why, yes, of course they will work," I said, in reply to a bystander's +question. "I have seen whole teams of cows on the Plains in '52. Yes, we +will soon have a team," I declared with all the confidence in the world, +"only we can't go very far in a day with a raw team, especially in this +hot weather." + +But one cow would not go at all! We could neither lead her nor drive +her. Put her in the yoke, and she would stand stock still, just like a +stubborn mule. Hitch the yoke by a strong rope behind the wagon with a +horse team to pull, and she would brace her feet and actually slide +along, but would not lift a foot. I never saw such a brute before, and +hope I never shall again. I have broken wild, fighting, kicking steers +to the yoke and enjoyed the sport, but from a sullen, tame cow, deliver +me! + +"Won't you take her back and give me another?" I asked the seller. + +"Yes, I will give you that red cow,"--one I had rejected as unfit,--"but +not one of the others." + +"What is this cow worth to you?" + +"Thirty dollars." + +So I dropped ten dollars, having paid forty for the first cow. Besides, +I had lost the better part of a day and experienced a good deal of +vexation. If I could only have had Twist back again! + +The fact gradually became apparent that the loss of that fine ox was +almost irreparable. I could not get track of an ox anywhere, nor even of +a steer large enough to mate the Dave ox. Besides, Dave always was a +fool. Twist would watch my every motion, and mind by the wave of the +hand, but Dave never minded anything except to shirk hard work. Twist +seemed to love his work and would go freely all day. It was brought home +to me more forcibly than ever that in the loss of the Twist ox I had +almost lost the whole team. + +When I drove out from Lexington behind a hired horse team that day, with +the Dave ox tagging on behind and sometimes pulling on his halter, and +with an unbroken cow in leading, it may easily be guessed that the pride +of anticipated success died out, and deep discouragement seized upon me. +I had two yokes, one a heavy ox yoke, the other a light cow's yoke; but +the cow, I thought, could not be worked alongside the ox in the ox yoke, +nor the ox with the cow in the cow yoke. I was without a team, but with +a double encumbrance. + +Yes, the ox has passed, for in all Nebraska I was unable to find even +one yoke. + +I trudged along, sometimes behind the led cattle, wondering in my mind +whether or not I had been foolish to undertake this expedition to +perpetuate the memory of the old Oregon Trail. Had I not been rebuffed +at the first by a number of business men who pushed the subject aside +with, "I have no time to look into it"? Hadn't I been compelled to pass +several towns where not even three persons could be found to act on the +committee? And then there was the experience of the constant suspicion +that there was some graft to be discovered, some lurking speculation. +All this could be borne in patience; but when coupled with it came the +virtual loss of the team, is it strange that my spirits went down below +a normal point? + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +The railroad bridge at Omaha, crossing the Missouri where in 1853 we +went over by ferry.] + +Then came the compensatory thought of what had been accomplished. Four +states had responded cordially. Back along the line of more than fifteen +hundred miles already stood many sentinels, mostly granite, to mark the +trail and keep alive the memory of the pioneers. Moreover, I recalled +the enthusiastic reception in so many places, the outpouring of +contributions from thousands of school children, the willing hands of +the people that built these monuments, and the more than twenty +thousand people attending the dedication ceremonies. These heartening +recollections made me forget the loss of Twist, the recalcitrant cow, +and the dilemma that confronted me. I awakened from my reverie in a more +cheerful mood. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Sugar-beet factories were seen when we left behind us the open ranges of +the Wyoming country and came into the sugar-beet section in Nebraska.] + +"Do the best you can," I said to myself, "and don't be cast down." My +spirits rose almost to the point of exultation again. + +We soon reached the beautiful city of Kearney, named after old Fort +Kearney, which stood across the river, and were given a fine camping +place in the center of the town. It was under the shade trees that line +the streets, and we had a fresh-cut greensward upon which to pitch our +tents. People came in great numbers to visit the camp and express their +appreciation of our enterprise. Later a monument was erected in this +city. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +In the corn lands of Nebraska.] + +At Grand Island I found public sentiment in favor of taking action. It +was decided, however, that the best time for the dedication would be in +the following year, upon the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the +settlement. I was a little disappointed in the delay, but felt that good +seed was sown. + +Grand Island, with its stately rows of shade trees, its modest, tasteful +homes, the bustle and stir on its business streets, with the constant +passing of trains, shrieking of whistles, and ringing of bells, +presented a striking contrast to the scene I saw that June day in 1852 +when I passed over the ground near where the city stands. Vast herds of +buffalo then grazed on the hills or leisurely crossed our track and at +times obstructed our way, and herds of antelope watched from vantage +points. + +But now the buffalo and antelope have disappeared; the Indian likewise +is gone. Instead of the parched plain of 1852, with its fierce clouds of +dust rolling up the valley and engulfing whole trains, we saw a +landscape of smiling, fruitful fields, inviting groves of trees, and +contented homes. + +From Grand Island I went to Fremont, Nebraska, to head the procession in +the semi-centennial celebration in honor of the founding of that city. +In the procession I worked the ox and cow together. From Fremont I went +on to Lincoln. + +All the while I was searching for an ox or a steer large enough to mate +the Dave ox, but without avail. Finally, after looking over a thousand +head of cattle in the stockyards of Omaha, I found a five-year-old +steer, Dandy, which I broke in on the way to Indianapolis. This ox +proved to be very satisfactory. He never kicked or hooked, and was +always in good humor. Dave and Dandy made good team-mates. + +"As dumb as an ox" is a very common expression, dating back as far as my +memory goes. In fact, the ox is not so "dumb" as a casual observer might +think. Dave and Dandy knew me as far as they could see; sometimes when I +went to them in the morning, Dave would lift his head, bow his neck, +stretch out his body, and perhaps extend a foot, as if to say, "Good +morning to you; glad to see you." Dandy was driven on the streets of a +hundred cities and towns, and I never knew him to be at a loss to find +his way to the stable or watering-trough, once he had been there and was +started on a return trip. + +I arrived at Indianapolis on January 5, 1907, eleven months and seven +days from the date of departure from my home at Puyallup, twenty-six +hundred miles away. + + + + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +Along the Erie Canal, part of the National Highway to the West.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT + +DRIVING ON TO THE CAPITAL + + +AFTER passing the Missouri, and leaving the trail behind me, I somehow +had a foreboding that I might be mistaken for a faker and looked upon as +an adventurer, and I shrank from the ordeal. My hair had grown long on +the trip across; my boots were somewhat the worse for wear, and my +old-fashioned clothes (understood well enough by pioneers along the +trail) were dilapidated. I was not the most presentable specimen for +every sort of company. Already I had been compelled to say that I was +not a "corn doctor" or any kind of doctor; that I did not have patent +medicine to sell; and that I was not soliciting contributions to support +the expedition. + +The first of March, 1907, found me on the road going eastward from +Indianapolis. I had made up my mind that Washington should be the +objective point. For my main purpose--to secure the building of a +memorial highway--Congress, I felt, would be a better field to work in +than out on the hopelessly long stretch of the trail, where one man's +span of life would certainly pass before the work could be accomplished. +But I thought it well to make a campaign of education to get the work +before the general public so that Congress might know about it. +Therefore a route was laid out to occupy the time until the first of +December, just before Congress would again assemble. The route lay +through Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, Columbus, Buffalo, Albany, New +York, Trenton, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, to Washington. + +For the most part I received a warm welcome all along the route. Dayton +treated me generously. Mayor Badger of Columbus wrote giving me the +freedom of the city; and Mayor Tom Johnson wrote to his chief of police +to "treat Mr. Meeker as the guest of the city of Cleveland," which was +done. + +At Buffalo, a benefit performance for one of the hospitals, in the shape +of a circus, was in preparation. A part of the elaborate program was an +attack by Indians on an emigrant train, the "Indians" being +representative young men of the city. At this juncture I arrived in the +city, and was besought to go and represent the train, for which they +would pay me. + +"No, not for pay," I said, "but I will go." + +So there was quite a realistic show in the ring that afternoon and +evening, and the hospital received more than a thousand dollars' +benefit. + +Near Oneida some one said that I had better take to the towpath on the +canal to save distance and to avoid going over the hill. It was against +the law, he added, but everybody did it and no one would object. So, +when we came to the forks of the road, I followed the best-beaten track +and was soon traveling along on the level, hard, but narrow way, the +towpath. All went well that day. + +We were not so fortunate the next day, however, when a boat with three +men, two women, and three long-eared mules was squarely met, the mules +being on the towpath. The mules took fright, got into a regular mixup, +broke the harness, and went up the towpath at a two-forty gait. + +As I had walked into Oneida the night before, I did not see the sight or +hear the war of words that followed. The men ordered Marden to "take +that outfit off the towpath." His answer was that he could not do it +without upsetting the wagon. The men said if he couldn't they would do +it quick enough. They started toward the wagon, evidently intent upon +executing their threat, meanwhile swearing at the top of their voices +while the women scolded in chorus, one of them fairly shrieking. + +My old muzzle-loading rifle that we had carried across the Plains lay +handy. When the men started toward him, Marden picked up the rifle to +show fight and called on the dog Jim to take hold of the men. As he +raised the gun to use it as a club, one of the boatmen threw up his +hands, bawling at the top of his voice, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" He +forgot to mix in oaths and slunk out of sight behind the wagon. The +others also drew back. Jim showed his teeth, and a truce followed. With +but little inconvenience the mules were taken off the path, and the ox +team was driven past. + +The fun of it was that the gun that had spread such consternation hadn't +been loaded for more than twenty-five years. The sight of it alone was +enough for the three stalwart braves of the canal. + +It took New York to cap the climax--to bring me all sorts of +experiences, sometimes with the police, sometimes with the gaping +crowds, and sometimes at the City Hall. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +In the great automobile factory near Cleveland, Ohio, the old prairie +schooner came into vivid contrast with the new means of following the +trail.] + +Mayor McClellan was not in the city when I arrived; but the acting mayor +said that while he could not grant me a permit to come in, he would have +the police commissioner instruct his men not to molest me. Either the +instructions were not general enough, or else the men paid no attention; +for when I got down as far as 161st Street on Amsterdam Avenue, a +policeman interfered and ordered my driver to take the team to the +police station, which he very properly refused to do. + +It was after dark and I had just gone around the corner to engage +quarters for the night when this occurred. Returning, I saw the young +policeman attempt to move the team, but as he didn't know how, they +wouldn't budge a peg, whereupon he arrested my driver and took him away. + +Another policeman tried to coax me to drive the team down to the police +station. I said, "No, sir, I will not." He couldn't drive the team to +the station, and I wouldn't, and so there we were. To arrest me would +make matters worse, for the team would be left on the street without +any one to care for it. Finally the officer got out of the way, and I +drove the team to the stable. He followed, with a large crowd tagging +after him. Soon the captain of the precinct arrived, called his man off, +and ordered my driver released. + +It appeared that there was an ordinance against allowing cattle to be +driven on the streets of New York. Of course, this was intended to apply +to loose cattle, but the policemen interpreted it to mean any cattle, +and they had the clubs to enforce their interpretation. I was in the +city and couldn't get out without subjecting myself to arrest, according +to their view of the law; and in fact I didn't want to get out. I wanted +to drive down Broadway from one end to the other, and I did, a month +later. + +All hands said nothing short of an ordinance by the board of aldermen +would clear the way; so I tackled the aldermen. The _New York Tribune_ +sent a man over to the City Hall to intercede for me; the _New York +Herald_ did the same thing. And so it came about that the aldermen +passed an ordinance granting me the right of way for thirty days, and +also endorsed my work. I thought my trouble was over when that ordinance +was passed. Not so; the mayor was absent, and the acting mayor could not +sign an ordinance until after ten days had elapsed. The city attorney +came in and said the aldermen had exceeded their authority, as they +could not legally grant a special privilege. + +Then the acting mayor said he would not sign the ordinance; but if I +would wait until the next meeting of the aldermen, if they did not +rescind the ordinance, it would be certified, as he would not veto it. +Considering that no one was likely to test the legality of the +ordinance, he thought I would be safe in acting as though it were +legal. Just thirty days from the time I had the bother with the +policemen, and having incurred two hundred and fifty dollars of extra +expense, I drove down Broadway from 161st Street to the Battery, without +getting into any serious scrape, except with one automobilist who became +angered, but afterwards was "as good as pie." + +Thirty days satisfied me with New York. The crowds were so great that +congestion of traffic always followed my presence, and I would be +compelled to move. One day when I went to City Hall Park to have my team +photographed with the Greeley statue, I got away only by the help of the +police, and even then with great difficulty. + +[Illustration: In Wall Street, New York City.] + +A trip across Brooklyn Bridge to Brooklyn was also made, and then, two +days before leaving the city, I came near to meeting a heavy loss. +Somehow I got sandwiched in on the East Side of New York in the +congested district of the foreign quarter and at nightfall drove into a +stable, put the oxen in the stalls and, as usual, the dog Jim in the +wagon. The next morning Jim was gone. The stableman said he had left the +wagon a few moments after I had and had been stolen. The police accused +the stablemen of being parties to the theft, in which I think they were +right. + +Money could not buy that dog. He was an integral part of the expedition: +always on the alert; always watchful of the wagon during my absence, and +always willing to mind what I bade him do. He had had more adventures on +this trip than any other member of the outfit. First he was tossed over +a high brush by the ox Dave; then, shortly after, he was pitched +headlong over a barbed wire fence by an irate cow. Next came a fight +with a wolf; following this, came a narrow escape from a rattlesnake in +the road. Also, a trolley car ran on to him, rolling him over and over +again until he came out as dizzy as a drunken man. I thought he was a +"goner" that time for sure, but he soon straightened up. Finally, in the +streets of Kansas City, he was run over by a heavy truck while fighting +with another dog. The other dog was killed outright, while Jim came near +to having his neck broken. He lost one of his best fighting teeth and +had several others broken. I sent him to a veterinary surgeon, and +curiously enough he made no protest while having the broken teeth +repaired or extracted. + +There was no other way to find Jim than to offer a reward. I did this, +and feel sure I paid twenty dollars to one of the parties to the theft. +The fellow was brazen enough, also, to demand pay for keeping him. That +was the time when I got up and talked pointedly. + +But I had my faithful dog back, and I kept him more closely by me while +I was making the rest of my tour. Six years later it chanced that I lost +Jim. While we were waiting at a station, I let him out of the car for a +few minutes. The train started unexpectedly and Jim was left behind. A +good reward was offered for him, but nobody ever came to collect it. + + + + +[Illustration: Welcomed by President Roosevelt at the Capitol.] + + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE + +THE END OF THE LONG TRAIL + + +I WAS glad enough to get out of the crowds of New York. It had given me +some rich experiences, but that big city is no place for ox teams. It +was good to get away from the jam and the hurry out on to the country +roads. + +On the way to Philadelphia, between Newark and Elizabeth City, New +Jersey, at a point known as Lyon's Farm, the old Meeker homestead stood, +built in the year 1676. Here the Meeker Tribe, as we call ourselves, +came out to greet me, nearly forty strong. + +On the way through Maryland we saw a good many oxen, some of them driven +on the road. The funny part of it was to have the owners try to trade +their scrawny teams for Dave and Dandy, offering money to boot, or two +yoke for one. They had never before seen such large oxen as Dave and +Dandy, and for that matter I never had myself. Dandy was of unusual +size, and Dave was probably the largest trained ox in the United States +then; he was sixteen hands high and eight feet in girth. + +I reached Washington, the capital, just twenty-two months to the day +from the time I left home in Washington, the state. As soon as +arrangements could be made I went to see President Roosevelt. Senator +Piles and Representative Cushman, of the Washington Congressional +delegation, introduced me to the President in the cabinet room. + +Mr. Roosevelt manifested a lively interest in the work of marking the +trail. He did not need to be told that the trail was a battlefield, or +that the Oregon pioneers who moved out and occupied the Oregon Country +while it was yet in dispute between Great Britain and the United States +were heroes. When I suggested that they were "the winners of the Farther +West," he fairly snatched these words from my lips. He went even further +than I had dreamed of or hoped for, in invoking Government aid to carry +on the work. Addressing Senator Piles, the President said with emphasis: +"I am in favor of this work to mark this trail. If you will bring before +Congress a measure to accomplish it, I am with you and will give my +support to do it thoroughly." + +Mr. Roosevelt thought the suggestion of a memorial highway should first +come from the states through which the trail runs. However, it would be +possible to get Congressional aid to mark the trail. In any event, he +felt it ought to be done speedily. + +Unexpectedly the President asked, "Where is your team? I want to see +it." + +Upon being told that it was nearby, without ceremony, and without his +hat, he was soon alongside, asking questions faster than they could be +answered, not idle questions, but such as showed his intense desire to +get real information, bottom facts. + +President Roosevelt was a man who loved the pioneers and who understood +the true West. His warm welcome remains in my heart as one of the +richest rewards of the many that have come as compensation for my +struggle to carry out my dream. + +On the eighth of January, 1908, I left Washington, shipping my outfit +over the Allegheny Mountains to McKeesport, Pennsylvania. From +McKeesport I drove to Pittsburgh, and there put the team into winter +quarters to remain until the fifth of March. Thence I shipped by boat on +the Ohio River to Cincinnati, stopping in that city but one day, and +from there I shipped by rail to St. Louis, Missouri. + +My object now was to retrace the original trail from its beginnings to +where it joined the Oregon Trail, over which I had traveled. This trail +properly ran by water from St. Louis to Independence, thence westward +along the Platte to Fort Laramie. + +At Pittsburgh and adjacent cities I was received cordially and +encouraged to believe that the movement to make a great national highway +had taken a deep hold in the minds of the people. + +I was not so much encouraged in St. Louis. The city officers were +unwilling to do anything to further the movement, but before I left the +city, the Automobile Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution +did take formal action indorsing the work. St. Louis had really been the +head and center of the movement that finally established the original +Oregon Trail. It was from here that Lewis and Clark started on the +famous expedition of 1804-05 that opened up the Northwest. Here was +where Wyeth, Bonneville, and others of the early travelers on the trail +had outfitted. + +[Illustration: _Brown Bros._ + +The homeward trip took us through the great industrial cities of the +Middle states, among them Pittsburgh.] + +The drive from St. Louis to Jefferson City, the capital of the State of +Missouri, was tedious and without result other than that of reaching the +point where actual driving began in early days. Governor Folk signified +his approval of the work, and I was given a cordial hearing by the +citizens. + +On the fourth of April I arrived at Independence, Missouri, which is +generally understood to be the eastern terminus of the Santa Fe Trail. I +found, however, that many of the pioneers had shipped farther up the +Missouri, some driving from Atchison, some from Leavenworth, others from +St. Joseph. At a little later period, multitudes had set out from +Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), where Whitman and Parker made their +final break with civilization and boldly turned their faces westward +for the unknown land of Oregon. + +The Santa Fe and Oregon trails from Independence and Kansas City were +identical for forty miles or thereabouts, out to the town of Gardner, +Kansas. From there the Santa Fe Trail bore on to the west and finally to +the southwest, while the Oregon Trail bore steadily on to the northwest +and encountered the Platte valley below Grand Island in what is now +Nebraska. At the forks of the road, the historian Chittenden says, "a +simple signboard was seen which carried the words 'Road to Oregon,' thus +pointing the way for two thousand miles. No such signboard ever before +pointed the road for so long a distance, and probably another such never +will." + +I determined to make an effort to find the spot where this historic sign +once stood, and if possible to plant a marker there. Friends in Kansas +City, one of whom I had not met for sixty years, took me by automobile +to Gardner, where, after a search of a couple of hours, two old +residents were found who were able to point out the spot. These men were +Mr. V. R. Ellis and Mr. William J. Ott, aged respectively seventy-seven +and eighty-two years, whose residence in the near vicinity dated back +nearly fifty years. The point is at the intersection of Washington +Street and Central Street in the town of Gardner. + +I planned to drive up the Missouri and investigate the remaining five +prongs of the trail--Leavenworth, Atchison, St. Joseph, Kanesville, and +Independence. I drove to Topeka, the capital city of Kansas, where I +arrived the eleventh of May (1908). There the trail crosses the Kansas +River under the very shadow of the State House, not three blocks away; +yet only a few knew of it. + +On the twenty-third of May the team arrived at St. Joseph, Missouri, a +point where many pioneers had outfitted in early days. While public +sentiment there was in hearty accord with the work of marking the trail, +yet plainly it would be a hard tug to get the people together on a plan +to erect a monument. "Times were very tight to undertake such a work," +came the response from so many that no organized effort was made. + +[Illustration: The ox-team pioneer of 1852 tries the airplane trail in +1921.] + +The committee of Congress in charge of the bill appropriating fifty +thousand dollars to mark the trail, by this time had taken action and +had made a favorable report. Such a report was held to be almost +equivalent to the passage of a bill. So, all things considered, the +conclusion was reached to suspend operations, ship the team home, and +for the time being take a rest from the work. I had been out from home +twenty-eight months, lacking but five days; hence it is small wonder +that I concluded to listen to the inner longings to get back to home and +home life. On the twenty-sixth of May I shipped the outfit by rail from +St. Joseph to Portland, Oregon, where I arrived on the sixth day of +June, 1908, and went into camp on the same grounds I had used in March, +1906, on my outward trip. + +As I returned home over the Oregon Short Line I crossed the old trail in +many places. This time, however, it was with Dave and Dandy quietly +chewing their cud in the car, while I enjoyed all the luxuries of an +overland train. + +I began vividly to realize the wide expanse of country covered, as we +passed first one and then another of the camping places. I was led to +wonder whether or not I should have undertaken the work if I could have +seen the trail stretched out, as I saw it like a panorama from the car +window. I sometimes think not. All of us at times undertake things that +look bigger after completion than they did in our vision of them. We go +into ventures without fully counting the cost. Perhaps that was the +case, to a certain extent, in this venture; the work did look larger +from the car window than from the camp. + +Nevertheless, I have no regrets to express or exultation to proclaim. +The trail has not yet been fully or properly marked. We have made a good +beginning, however, and let us hope the end will soon become an +accomplished fact. Monumenting the old Oregon Trail means more than the +mere preservation in memory of that great highway; it means the building +up of loyalty, of patriotism, as well as the teaching of our history in +a form never to be forgotten. + +Words can not express my deep feeling of gratitude for the royal welcome +given me by the citizens of Portland. I was privileged to attend the +reunion of the two thousand pioneers who had just assembled for their +annual meeting. + +The drive from Portland to Seattle is also one long to be remembered; my +friends and neighbors met me with kindliest welcome. On the eighteenth +day of July, 1908, I drove into the city of Seattle and the long journey +was ended. My dream of retracing the way over the Old Trail had come +true. + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE WHITE INDIAN BOY + +BY E. N. WILSON + +_In collaboration with Howard R. Driggs_ + +EVERYONE who knew "Uncle Nick" Wilson was always begging him to tell +about pioneer days in the Northwest. When "Uncle Nick" was eight years +old, the Wilson family crossed the plains by ox team. When he was only +twelve, he slipped away from home to travel north with a band of +Shoshones with whom he wandered about for two years, sharing all the +experiences of Indian life. Later, after he had returned home, he was a +pony express rider, he drove a stage on the Overland route, and he acted +as guide in an expedition against the Gosiute Indians. + +"Uncle Nick" knew pioneer life and he knew the heart of the Indian. So +Mr. Driggs persuaded him to write his recollections and helped him to +make his story into a book that is a true record of pioneering and of +Indian life with its hardships and adventures. + +_The White Indian Boy_ is an exciting, true story that has interested +many boys and girls and contributed to their understanding of the early +history of the West. + + _Cloth. xii + 222 pages. Illustrated. Price $1.20_ + + WORLD BOOK COMPANY + YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK + 2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO + + + + +[Illustration] + +THE BULLWHACKER + +_ADVENTURES OF A FRONTIER FREIGHTER_ + +BY WILLIAM FRANCIS HOOKER + +_Edited by Howard R. Driggs_ + + +BULLWHACKING is an occupation about which most persons know little in +these days, but one that demanded courage out in Wyoming territory fifty +years ago. The bullwhacker drove ox teams to outlying army posts and +Indian reservations far from railroads, when the pioneers were pushing +our frontier west of the Missouri. + +Mr. Hooker was one of these bullwhackers and his book is a true account +of his adventures while driving frontier freighters. He tells one of the +choice stories of America's making and in a way that makes the old West, +with the Indian, the cowboy, and the outlaw, live again. + +Pioneer adventures are here recounted in an entertaining way, and they +are convincing because the author is one of the few surviving men who +whacked bulls and he knows of what he is writing. Used as an historical +reader, this book will make vivid to pupils of the upper grades an +adventurous period of our history. + + _Cloth. xvi + 167 pages. Illustrated. Price $1.00_ + + WORLD BOOK COMPANY + YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK + 2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO + + + + +[Illustration] + +FRONTIER LAW + +_A STORY OF VIGILANTE DAYS_ + +BY WILLIAM J. MCCONNELL + +_In collaboration with Howard R. Driggs_ + + +THE restoring of law and order on our western frontier in the sixties +was the work of courageous men with firm hands. It was one of the +stirring periods in the evolution of our government. Mr. McConnell, who +was first a captain of a band of Vigilantes before he was senator and +then governor, gives in this book his own experiences in bringing the +control of territorial affairs into the hands of law-abiding citizens. + +In straight-forward fashion he tells of his journey from Michigan to the +coast, of mining in California, of homesteading in Oregon, of +prospecting in Idaho. Most unusual and interesting is his account of the +struggle against outlawry and the establishment of orderly government. + +Through this life story of a real American boy rings a clear note of +Americanism with love of liberty, respect for law, and a willingness to +face squarely the issues of life. It is one of the very few first-hand +accounts of the Vigilantes and it will bring the events of those days, +with the great lessons that they teach, nearer to the young student of +our history. + + _Cloth. xii + 233 pages. Illustrated. Price $1.20_ + + WORLD BOOK COMPANY + YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK + 2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO + + + + +[Illustration] + +DEADWOOD GOLD + +_A STORY OF THE BLACK HILLS_ + +BY GEORGE W. STOKES + +_In collaboration with Howard R. Driggs_ + + +THE life and work of the pioneer miners who opened up the golden +treasures of the Black Hills form a stirring chapter in the history of +the winning of the West. The story as told in this book is a vivid one, +made more valuable and interesting because Colonel Stokes writes of his +own experiences. He was one of the first to reach the new gold diggings +in the seventies, and he saw the whole development from the early +exciting days, on during the mad rush to Deadwood, to the discovery of +some of the greatest gold mines in the world. + +There is in this volume much historical and geographical information. +Especially does the book give a realistic picture of many aspects of the +gold mining process and of the activities associated with the great gold +rushes of all times. Serving as a supplementary reader in intermediate +grades, this true story of American adventure will hold the interest of +boys and girls. + + _Cloth. xii + 163 pages. Illustrated. Price $1.00_ + + WORLD BOOK COMPANY + YONKERS-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK + 2126 PRAIRIE AVENUE, CHICAGO + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Page vii, "189" changed to "185." + +Page 86, "eatablished" changed to "established" (established in 1851) + +Page 220, "Britian" changed to "Britain" (between Great Britain and the) + +Page 222, "Fe" changed to "Fe" (of the Santa Fe Trail) + +Page 223, "Sante Fe" changed to "Santa Fe" (The Santa Fe and Oregon +trails) + +Page 223, "Fe" changed to "Fe" (Santa Fe Trail bore) + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ox-Team Days on the Oregon Trail, by +Ezra Meeker and Howard R. 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