Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/302

 294 WALTER BAILEY had to let our wagons down with ropes. My wife and I carried our children up muddy mountains in the Cascades, half a mile high and then carried the loading of our wagons up on our backs by piecemeal, as our cattle were so reduced that they were hardly able to haul up our empty wagon/' Of Laurel Hill an emigrant of 18533 complains : "The road on this hill is something terrible. It is worn down into the soil from five to seven feet, leaving steep banks on both sides, and so narrow that it is almost impossible to walk alongside of the cattle for any distance without leaning against the oxen. The emigrants cut down a small tree about ten inches in diameter and about forty feet long, and the more limbs it has on it the better. This tree they fasten to the rear axle with chains or ropes, top end foremost, making an excellent brake." On the other hand many make no mention of hardship but are enraptured and captivated by the charming blushes of the snowy peaks. From The Dalles at five in the morning one is* 1 "thrilled by the spectacle of Mount Hood's snowy pyramid standing out, clearly defined against the pale grey of dawn ; not white as at noonday, but pink, as the heart of a Sharon rose, from base to summit. A little later it has faded, and by the most lovely transitions of color and light, now looks golden, now pearly, and finally glistens whitely in the full glare of the risen sun." Even the prosaic Palmer finds room to exclaim among his practical observations : "I had never before beheld a sight so nobly grand."3 Curry, a newspaper editor,33 i n his new charge the Oregon Spectator, records at some length his impressions of the moun- tain road, " -The breath of the forest was laden with the scent of agreeable odors. What a feeling of freshness was dif- fused into our whole being as we enjoyed the pleasure of the pathless woods. In every glimpse we could catch of the open 30 Diary of E. W. Conyers, Transactions Oregon Pioneer Assn., 1905. 31 Overland Monthly, Vol. Ill, p. 304. 33 Palmer's Journal, p. 130. 33 Spectator, Oct. 20, 1846. The article is unsigned. It was written, howerer, by George L. Curry, the editor.