Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/179

 RECOI.LKCTIONS OK AX OLD PIONEER. 1(59 For the first two years after our arrival the great difficulty as to proeure provisions. The populat ion being so much increased hy each succeed ing fall's immigration, provisions were necessarily scarce. Those who had been there for two yeai-s had plenty to eat: hut after that the great trouble was to procure clothing, there heiiiL' no raw materials in the coun- try from which domestic manufacture could be made. We had no wool, cotton or flax. Hut. after we had grown wheat and raised pork for sale, we had new difficulties in our way. Our friends were ar- riving each fall, with jaded teams, just about the time the long rainy season set in. The community was divided into two classes, old settlers, and new, whose views and interests clashed very much. Many of the new immigrants were child- ish : most of them discouraged, and all of them more or less embarrassed. Upon their arrival they found that those of us who preceded them had taken up the choice locations, and they were compelled either to take those that were inferior in quality or <_ r o farther from ship navigation. There was necessarily, under the circumstances, a great hurry to select claims; and the newcomers had to travel over the country, in the rainy season, in search of homes. Their animals being pool-, they found it difficult to get along as fast as they desired. .Many causes combined to make them unhappy for the time heinu r. The long rainy seasons were new to them, and they preferred the snow and fro/en ground to the rain and mud. There were no hotels in the country, as there was nothing wherewith to pay the bills. The old settlers had necessarily to throw open their doors to the new immigrants, and entertain them free of charge. Our houses were small log cabins, and our bedding was scarce. The usual mode of travel was for each one to carry his blankets with him, an. I sleep upon the puncheon floor. Our families were often overworked in waiting upon others, and our pro- vis'u.ns vanished In-fore the keen appetites of our new guests. "They hied a famine wherever they went." As illustrative of the then condition of things. I will relate