Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 15.djvu/133



JOURNAL OF DAVID THOMPSON 123

a Rill of water in the Spring, now dry, North 9^4 m. to a little water among some poplars and willows. It is a long" time since we saw any here ; we baited from J^ P. M. to 2 :20 P. M. We then went off North 1 m. N. 20 W. \y 2 m. to a kind of lead of wet ground. Hereabouts are Willow Bushes and see woods before us. Held on Co. N. 15 E. 6^2 m. For the last 2 m. we had a kind of Brook or Ravine on our left. Camped at a Pond at 6^/2 P. M. Killed a Duck, our provisions being fairly done and fasting all day. Not seeing the people who were to have met us with provisions and horses we were obliged to kill a mare for food, as our Guide told us we had yet 3 days journey to go. The Country till 10 A. M. like the past, very Rocky and barren, since which it has much mended, and only stoney when on wet low ground, the rest is tolerably well for grass, and the soil appears good, though parched for wanting rain, which rarely or never falls during the summer months. At the Campment the Firs are thinly scattered along the kind of Ravine, all the rest is all wide plain without a tree. A few Chevruil Tracks and dung.

August 12th, Monday. 96 A fine day. At 6:20 A. M. set off. Held on along a line of woods on our Co. about N. 1 m., to a pond of some size, then N. 50 E. 4 m., N. 30 E. 5 m. and stopped at 11^ A. M. to bait the horses, among a few ponds and good grassy lands with thin woods. At 1 P. M. set off and camped at a Rill at 6% P. M., say Co. N. 30 E. 1 m., N. 10 E. 7 m., across a large plain without water to the woods of a Brook. We descended the Banks, which are high, and crossed it about N. 10 W. 1 m., then along the Brook of 6 Yds, ) N. 10 W. 1 m. Here it sank 97 in the ground and we went North 1J4 m. and camped at a Rill to which we were guided by a Spokane we met, from whom we got a little dried salmon.

96 Passing through the Four Lakes country between Cheney and Medical Lake, in Spokane county, Washington, Mr. Thompson crosses Deep creek and camps on Coulee creek, only an hour's ride from his destination had he been aware of it.

97 Deep creek sinks on Sec. 3, Township 25 N., Range 41 E., W. M.