Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/283

Rh, that carried the ballast which was fresh water. A home was made on land taken some forty miles up the Saint John River, where tracts of fifty acres were open to public entry, such a tract, and ten acres by purchase constituted, the farm. This was a region of young timber, in a country swept some time previously by a great fire, such as is periodical in all timbered countries.

After several years of farming poor soil it was decided to return to Saint John, and here work in the ship yards was undertaken. The father was a master mechanic, and the older boys, John and James, were able to give valuable assistance in running the whipsaw—getting out necessary birch, white pine, and spruce timbers for shipsknees and other particular work. It was learned here, however, that land was better and more abundant, and conditions were generally better in Upper Canada. It was decided therefore to use the earnings of the family to remove thither. Passage was taken to New York, with the intention of going thence by the Erie canal to their destination; but once on the soil of the United States this industrious family was not to be let off. At New York they were made acquainted with an old gentleman from Missouri, who described his state as in every way better country than Canada. It happened also that the boat on which they were to start to Upper Canada was delayed, and it was decided to go to Missouri instead. The route chosen was by water; going first to New Orleans by a sailing vessel, and from New Orleans to Saint Louis by steamboat—a side wheeler, named the George Collier. Saint Louis was still a frontier town, but the leading point in the West.

It was just before Christmas that the Jorys arrived, and they found work for the winter on the large farm, or plantation, of a leading citizen, Col. John O'Fallon. The father was employed in repairs on the buildings