Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 12.djvu/123

 J. NEILSON BARRY 115 LETTER IDENTIFYING THE "FOUNTAIN" ON POWDER RIVER, AT WHICH MR. OGDEN CAMPED IN SETTING OUT ON EXPEDITION 1828-1829 Baker, Ore., June 15, 1911. F. G. Young, Esq., Eugene, Ore. Dear Mr. Young: In the Quarterly just received, p. 382, December number, is a note inquiring for the locality of "The Fountain" where Mr. Ogden camped September 30th, 1828. I think that this was the "Cold Spring" on the farm of Mr. D. H. Shaw, known as "The Cold Spring Ranch," on the Powder River, six miles due south of Baker City, at the junction of Beaver Creek. Mr. Ogden probably camped on the night of September 29th on the Powder River between Baker and Haines the fact that he only made about 12 miles the next day could be accounted for by the fact that there is a beautiful little valley at that point with abundant grass for horses, and evidently he was in a beaver country, as it is said that beavers were still within two milesj of that point a couple of years ago. The fact that one trap caught eleven beavers shows that they must have been in camp during the afternoon. At this point the old trail to Nevada turns off on Beaver Creek, a mile above its junction with Powder River. In the early seventies wagons would come along that trail with ten horses, and the troops brought Catling guns over it during the War of 1878. While the regular wagon road turned off from Burnt River and crossed by Virtue Flat, there was an old trail for pack horses that continued up Burnt River and crossed to Beaver Creek. It necessitated leaving Burnt River in places and climbing up on the hills to avoid obstructions as the canyon is narrow, which would account for the remark October 2, "a hilly country."