Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/180

 170 PETER H. BURNETT. an incident which I had from good authority. An old ac- quaintance of mine, whom I had known in Missouri, came to Oregon in 1844, and selected a claim on the outskirts of the settlements. He was a man of fair means and had a large family. His place was upon the mainly traveled route which led to the valleys above and beyond him. The consequence was that he was overwhelmed with company. He had to travel many miles to secure his supplies, and had to trans- port them, especially in winter, upon pack-animals. He was a man of very hospitable disposition, but the burden was so great that he concluded he could not bear it. The travelers would eat him out of house and home. He determined, un- der the severe pressure of these circumstances, to put up a -ho- tel sign. He went into the woods, cut down a tree, split out a slab some two feet long and one wide, shaved it off smooth on both sides with his drawing-knife, and wrote upon it with charcoal, "Entertainment," and swung it upon a pole be- fore his door. The result was that travelers passed by with- out stopping, as they had naught wherewith to pay, and were too honest to pretend to be able. My friend said that for two months he had the greatest relief. His stock of provisions lasted much longer, and he was quite easy in his circum- stances. But at the end of the two months he began to be lonesome; and by the time the third month had passed he be- came so lonely that he took down the sign, and after that he had plenty of company. Our new immigrants not only grumbled much about the coun- try and climate in general, but had also much to say against those of us who had written back to our friends, giving them a description of the country. In the winter of 1843-44 I had, while at Linnton, written some hundred and twenty-five fools- cap pages of manuscript, giving a description of the journey and of the country along the route, as well as of Oregon. I had stated the exact truth, to the best of my knowledge, infor- mation, and belief; and my communications were published in the New York Herald, and were extensively read, es-