Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 5.djvu/187

 RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD PIONEKR. 177 Hut should he. after much inquiry and loss of time and labor, succeed in Mndinir sonic one who 1ms a pair of plow- hoj-ses to exchange for a pair of oxen, most likely there will he a diH'ereiice in value: and how shall this difference be ad- justed .' In the course of my practice as a lawyer, I had received orders upon an American merchant at Oregon City until the amount to my credit upon his hooks was $45). I called upon him to take up the amount in goods; and he said to me: ".Judge, my stock is now very low, and I would suggest to you to wait until my new goods shall arrive from Honolulu. I am going there to purchase a new supply, and will return as soon as I can." I readily assented to this suggestion. After waiting ahout three months I heard he had returned with his new stock; and Mrs. Burnett and myself set about making out a memorandum of what we wanted. But the L'rcat difficulty was to bring our wants within our means. After several trials we made up our memorandum, consisting mostly of dry goods,, and only six pounds of sugar. I went to Oregon City, and at once called upon the merchant. I asked him if he had any satinets? None. Any jeans! None. Any calico? None. Any brown cotton? None. I then asked what he had. He said tools of various kinds, such as carpenters' implements, and others. lie said he feared I would think the prices high, as he had to pay high prices, and must make a little profit upon his purchases. This statement was no doubt true. He had purchased in a market where the stoeks were limited and the prices high. I then made a selection of several implements that I had not on my memorandum, which amounted in all to about thirteen dollars, and found the prices more than double those at Van- couver. I hccame tired of paying such prices for articles I could do without for the time, and inquired if he had any brown suirar. and at what price. He said plenty, at 12 1-2 cents a pound. This was the usual price, and I replied at once that I would take the balance in sugar. I went home knowing that we had su-jar enough to last for a long time,