Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/388

 358 T. C. Elliott bered that in a previous Journal (Or. Hist. Quar., Dec, 1909), under date of June 2nd, 1826, is recorded; "Proceeded but a short distance when we met a Snake; this Indian I saw last year on Bear's River." (In the foot-note to that entry the word probably might better have read possibly) ; and that Maj. Chittenden independently suggests Cache Valley through which the Bear river flows as the scene of Mr. Ogden's dis- aster in the spring of 1825. It would seem unusual for so enthusiastic and well equipped a trader as was Mr. Ogden that spring to neglect the inviting streams tributary to Bear river and the Salt Lake valley, when so near at hand. Yet it seems equally unexplainable that, although in the years 1826 and 1828 for months immediately to the north of Great Salt Lake on the Portneuf and other streams, he makes no mention at all in his Journals of Great Salt Lake itself. He refers often to Salt Lake, meaning the headquarters of the American traders on Utah lake, but never to Great Salt lake until this present year. The record of that first expedition, of 1824-5, must be available before the desired fact can be known with certainty ; and the strong probability is that after the expedi- tion of 1824-5 and until 1828-9, after the renewal of the treaty of joint convention between England and the United States, the operations of the Snake river party were studiously con- fined within the limits of the Old Oregon Country, that is to the streams draining into the Columbia river. Ogden's Hole took its name without doubt in the same manner as did Jackson's Hole and Pierre's Hole and other similarly named mountain valleys of limited area frequented as rendezvous by the trappers. This Journal unfortunately contains no entry between January 17th, and March 29th, 1829, but a rude pen and ink map accompanying the Journal purports to show "Ogden's Track 1829," and this indicates that he fol- lowed the valley of Bear river very closely, but to the south of it, and this would have taken him into Cache valley and Ogden valley further to the southward and the stream known as Ogden river when the first settlers arrived in that