Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/161

Rh of the march—thirty-four miles—to Camp Alvord was completed on the nineteenth, when all arrived, "the infantry very much fatigued."

Satisfied that a large body of Indians had been recently encamped in Alvord Valley, a place was chosen by Currey at the foot of Stein's Mountain for a depot of supplies, and a star-shaped fort erected of earthworks. Through it ran a stream of snow water from the mountains, and altogether, this spot was deemed a paradise in comparison with the camps left behind. Leaving Camp Alvord on the twenty-second with the greater portion of the cavalry, Currey started for Harney Lake, where he was ordered by the department commander to form a junction with Capt. John M. Drake, in command of an expedition starting from The Dalles.

Marching north by an old Indian trail, with grass and water abundant and excellent, Malheur Lake was reached on the evening of the twenty-fourth. Here, instead of dry alkali lakes Malheur was found to be a wet one, and not in the least amusing, as the approaches were crossed by alkali marshes, and the shallow water was unfit to drink. Harney Lake was found to lie to the west of, and to be connected with Malheur Lake. In order to reach it a stream from the south had to be crossed, requiring a half days travel to find a ford, a passage being affected by cutting and piling in willow brush, which was made compact by sods of grass. At the moment the front rank of cavalry reached the bank a loud clap of thunder burst overhead, from which incident the stream was named Thunder River, while one of its headwaters took the euphonious name of Blitzen River.

Not finding Captain Drake at Harney Lake, Currey proceeded to look for Indians, and was on a tributary of Silvie's River when at midnight of the thirtieth a cour-