Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/614

Rh the rains began, and were subjected to a thousand discomforts before they came to the pass through the Canon Mountains, which in its best condition would have been bad, the road party not having a force sufficient to make a smooth road, but which was now, in its narrowest part, filled with water for a distance of three miles, the stream being cold and swift, and from one to four feet in depth.

While the miserable men, women, and children were making their way through this defile, their condition was pitiable in the extreme, a number having abandoned their wagons, and some, like Thornton and his wife, being compelled to wade the stream, not only through the three-mile gorge, but over and over again at its numerous crossings. A great loss of cattle and destruction of property followed, unattended, however, by any loss of life which could be traced directly to these causes. The famine which so far had attacked the rear of every immigration since the wagon-roads were opened assailed these unfortunate travellers in the Umpqua Valley, and although everything possible was done for their "relief by the men who explored the new route, and other citizens, who on learning of their situation hastened to send them horses, cattle, and flour, nothing availed to supply the utter destitution of some families who had thrown away or abandoned their property in the Umpqua cañon and