Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/42

 30 Joseph J. Hill be obtained before entering the wilderness. From Zuni the trappers proceeded over the mountains to the head- waters of Blackwater, and thence down that stream to where it enters into Salt River. Here, Dye says, they "found beaver plenty and caught a great number of them." While on Salt River a dispute arose between Cam- bridge Green and James Anderson, "each one claiming that the other had set his traps on pre-empted ground," the outcome of which was that Green shot and killed Anderson. From the upper waters of Salt River they seem to have crossed over to the Gila, as Dye speaks of them as descending the Gila to the San Carlos and through the Gila canon. While in this vicinity they were consider- ably worried by the Apaches with whom they had a number of skirmishes. Continuing down the river they passed the Pima villages where they obtained supplies of pemican, pinole and frijoles. They then pushed on down the Gila and Colorado until they reached tide-water. Here, Dye says, they crossed the Colorado and thir- teen out of the company concluded to cross the desert to the California settlements. The others turned back. Dye is somewhat vague in this part of his story. He says that it was about the first of January when they reached tide- water. But it was not until about the middle of March when they reached Los Angeles. He does not account for the intervening period. In 1849 he crossed from Sonora to California by what he said was the same route that he followed in 1832. But in the 1849 expedition he states that he crossed above the mouth of the Gila. On the later expedition he claims to have discovered New River which he says did not exist in 1832. This might lead one to conclude that although they reached tide-water on the 1832 trip, that perhaps they returned up the river to the mouth of the Gila where they crossed as in the