Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/276

 254 Leslie M. Scott the way through a woody country until we came within a short distance of the river when the road lay down a fine sloping hill & across a plain clear of woods & covered with fine verdure on a rich soil. The road then lay along the declivity of the hills which are mostly clear of woods. The soil in the mountains appears good. I observed tim- othy at different places along the road. No stones dur- ing the day's pourney, but the river here runs over a bed of loose stones and rocks. The wood in the mountains is chiefly pine and along the river & on the hillsides a mixture of pine, oak & other trees. June 8. Cloudy & light rain. Left camp in the morn- ing & proceeded with 3 men and an Indian down to the Vernon [?] (for some furs which Michell had traded in the winter) where we arrived after 9 hours about 40 miles, first S W then W. The road [202] through a very hilly country, several of the hills steep ; thickly wooded ; parts clear of wood. The road crosses the Elk river be- Comments June 8. "The Vernon" or Vervor appears to have been near the site of Scottsburg, on tidewater, and twenty miles west of Elkton and the later Fort Umpqua. The later fort was near the site of the later Elkton, on the south side of Umpqua River. Elkton is on the north side. The letter to "C. F. McLoughlin" was to Chief Factor John McLoughlin at Vancouver. "Michell" refers to Michel Laframboise. Fort Umpqua near Elkton, appar- ently did not exist in 1834. John Work camped near there on June 9 and passed there June 8 without mention- ing the fort. But he mentions "Umpqua old fort," which appears to have been established in 1832 on or near Cala- pooya Creek. See entry of June 11, following. See also Himes and Lang's History of the Willamette Valley, p. 201. The Umpqua country is described by Ross' Oregon Settlers, p. 257, as the "finest hunting ground on the Will- amette."