Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/370



330 FRED LOCKLEY

"I stayed at Fort Wallula, living in the adobe fort. I herded stock for J. M. Vansyckle until father returned from the Snake river. Father had gone to Deschutes in the Sarah F. Gray, the boat he had built on the Okanogan, with the idea of securing some machinery for her. He found, however, that he was unable to raise the money to purchase the machinery, so he rigged her with a mast and sail and secured a load for the nearest landing to the newly discovered mines at Oro Fino.

"The nearest point by boat to the new mines was the mouth of the Clearwater, now the site of the city of Lewiston, Idaho. On father's return on board the Sarah F. Gray, I joined him at Wallula and we went to Deschutes, a point which at that time seemed to have the making of a city but which is now merely a memory. I stayed in charge of the boat while father went to Portland to secure a cargo for Lewiston. It was now late in the summer and the rumor had gone about among the merchants that it was impossible to navigate the Snake river, even by small boats. Father was unable to secure a cargo. As you know, my father was a very determined man and if he once set out to do a thing he would not stop short of its ac- complishment. He had decided to take a cargo of goods to the mines and 1 if the merchants would not give him the freight, he determined to take a cargo of his own. He mortgaged his horses, his Astoria property and his boat and with the assist- ance of personal friends who advanced him money, he bought a stock of goods for the mines.

"The goods were shipped to the Cascades, hauled around the Cascades by the portage tramway on the Oregon side, reshipped to The Dalles and from The Dalles hauled to Des- chutes by wagon. We were loaded and ready to leave Des- chutes in the latter part of August. We arrived at Wallula on September 15. When we got to Wallula our entire crew deserted. They declared it was too dangerous to attempt to navigate the Snake river.

"Father finally secured a new crew of seven men and on September 20, 1861, we left Wallula. It took us three days to reach the mouth of the Snake river, a distance of only 11