Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/382



342 FRED LOCKLEY

"The government paid me $150 a month in gold. At this time greenbacks were worth 37 cents on the dollar, so I was getting big wages for a boy. We surveyed that year as far as the Umatilla rapids. We did a job that I was proud of, too, for we made an accurate and thorough survey.

"We laid up that winter. Next spring I ran on the U. S. Grant between Astoria and Fort Stevens and Canby, for my brother, J. H. D. Gray, who had shot his ramrod through his hand. An army surgeon named Sternberg, who was stationed at Walla Walla at that time, amputated his hand. There was no necessity whatever for doing so, but it was the easiest way to do it. Sternberg stayed with the army, and under the seniority rule, finally reached the position of chief surgeon.

This accident to my brother incapacitated him for further service on the upper river in the opinion of the authorities of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. They considered that it required a perfect body as well as mind to guide steam- boats safely through the dangerous and intricate channels and rapids. J. H. D. Gray, however, was not the man to give up because of this physical handicap. He secured a contract in a short time to carry government supplies and mail between Astoria and Forts Stevens and Canby, oysters and mail from Shoalwater Bay, and purchased the steamer U. S. Grant for that purpose. Later he purchased the Varuna on Puget Sound and brought her around to Astoria.

"After running the Varuna for a while, I was asked to take charge of the sail boat again and complete the government survey. We spent that summer and finished the survey to the upper end of Hummely rapids near Wallula. When the survey was completed I again went to work for the Oregon Steam Navigation Company on the upper river. After about a year or so on the upper river I went to Astoria, where I ran the Varuna, whose work was to take the mail and supplies to the forts at the mouth of the river. During the time I was there with my brothers, we made private surveys of the bar and piloted ships across the bar. One incident of this time I re- member very distinctly. We picked up a brig whose captain