Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/297

 THE BARLOW ROAD 289 ing his followers, teams and cattle, like a general refreshing his troops for a new fight, notice was given that the company's captain, S. K. Barlow, was going to cross the Cascade moun- tains with his family, wagons and plunder. An invitation was extended to any and all who felt disposed to join his expedi- tion ; but he wished none to follow him who had ever learned the adaptability of the word 'can't.' "9 Old mountain men who had trapped through every valley in the mountains, the missionaries who had lived for years in their shadows, and Hudson's Bay men, trained trailers of the wilder- sess, all declared the attempt to be folly especially so as it was late in the season and the cattle were somewhat jaded by two thousand miles of prairie and mountain. Captain Barlow, however, "declared his belief in the goodness and wisdom of an allwise Being and said 'He never made a mountain without making a way for man to go over it, if the latter exercised a proper amount of energy and perseverance.' '' When the start was made, on or about September 24th, 10 the party consisted of seven wagons and about nineteen persons including besides the family of Mr. Barlow, Messrs. Gaines, Rector, Gessner, Caplinger, William G. Buffum 11 and families, together with John Bown, Reuben Gant and William Berry. For forty miles the way led over rolling mountain land, cross- ing a branch of the Des Chutes. 12 At the end of this distance a halt was called for rest and repairs. Camp was pitched on Five-Mile Creek, where water and grass were plentiful. During the delay in the march Captain Barlow left for a reconnoitering trip. 1 ^ From the Blue Mountains a small gap had been ob- served south of Mt. Hood. Through this opening the leader hoped to build the future roadway. 9 Evans* History of the Northwest Biography of S. K. Barlow. 10 Palmer's Journal, p. 120. it Quarterly Oreg. Hist. Soc., Vol. Ill, p. 72, supplemented by information furnished by Geo. H. Himes. 12 Palmer's Journal, pp. 125-6. 13 Quarterly Oreg. Hist. Soc., Vol. Ill, p. 73.