Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 26.djvu/275

Rh Dalles. Barlow refused to follow and reached The Dalles six weeks ahead of the Meek party without loss of life or time, both of which the Steve Meek party suffered.

Nothing of note happened till they reached the mouth of the Deschutes river, where they had to drive out into the Columbia river and circle around on the sand bar to reach the bank of the Columbia on the opposite side of the Deschutes.

When the Dalles was reached, preparations were made by many in the party to go down the Columbia in the usual way—in French bateaux and on rafts. There were only two boats at hand, so the delay would be long and tedious; the river trip was exceedingly dangerous; the many rapids and cascades did not appeal to Captain Barlow, so he began to prepare his party for the long coveted desire of making the entire trip by land. At Fort Hall, he had been told of the impossibility of going over the so-called insurmountable Cascade mountains. His answer was: "God never made a mountain that had no place to go over or around it and I'm going to hunt that place." Nineteen volunteered to follow him, but their captain, by word of final warning added: "I want no one to go with me, who will be guided by the word 'can't'."

Barlow, having heard of the Indian trail, thought he could easily widen it for wagons, but that was found to be impossible for wagon travel on account of the deep snow, although it was possible for loose cattle as they could walk over the frozen snow.

From a point in the Blue mountains, Captain Barlow had discovered a low sink in the Cascades, just south of Mt. Hood. He made a preliminary survey of this low place after he reached The Dalles, traveling sixty or seventy miles alone, and upon his return reported everything quite favorable for the advance. During his absence Joel Palmer and party arrived. He had induced about