Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 1.djvu/393

Rh dared the dangers of the gorge of the Columbia, the darkest, sternest trials were yet to be faced by the now weak and famished pioneers. They were, however, veterans now, and if succored with fresh supplies from settlers in the Willamette Valley and the strength of their cattle sufficed, no difficulties, however stupendous, could daunt them.

On the whole, those home-seeking pioneers, as they lay encamped on the banks of the Missouri, could congratulate themselves that no specially stupendous natural obstacles had been interposed in that immense stretch that lay between them and their destination. There was only the inter minableness of it, and the facts that it was to be entered upon while the fierce pelting spring storms of wind, rain and hail were liable to be of daily and nightly occurrence; that muddy sloughs would cause breakdowns, and freshet-swollen streams would be fraught with danger; that there would then be four months in which the fierce burning, blistering sun would have them at its mercy, and a dense, stifling dust would enhance their misery during the midday hours to the point of wretchedness, and no bathroom in the evening in which to find relief; that in the later and almost final days of the journey they would probably be exposed in approximate nakedness to the searching blasts of the oncoming winter, fortunate if they were not caught and held fast in mountain snows. Withal, they knew it would be a lumbering trudge with ox teams that would take them all summer and far into the autumn.

Each recurring spring season family or neighborhood groups who had determined to try their fortunes in Oregon would move out to one of the points of departure on the Missouri border. They would soon find themselves a part of a larger aggregation. Generally there was no more prearrangement for this meeting than there is