Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/19



THE ROGUE RIVER VALLEY 9

experience for a child. Every day the road was thronged, there were immense freight wagons drawn by six and eight yoke of oxen, towering Marietta wagons drawn by six span of horses ; these we called the "bell teams." The leading span had, fastened to the collars, bows of iron which were hung with little bells. These bells were worn to warn other teams, as there were only occasional places on the narrow mountain grade where these teams could pass one another. When the driver of a team came to one of these places he would stop and listen. I f he heard the faintest sound of bells there was nothing to do but wait until the other team passed. Then there were the long trains of fifty, sixty, and eighty pack mules all follow- ing the bell mare in single file.

Twice daily the great red and yellow stage coaches went swinging by, drawn by six splendid horses. Unless a horse weighed so many hundred pounds and was so many hands high, the Oregon and California Stage Company would not so much as look at him. They were all matched horses and I recall especially the sorrels and the grays. There were long trains of travel stained immigrants with their weary ox teams. Think what the feelings of these people must have been when they crossed the Siskiyou mountains and beheld far below them the promised land, the Rogue River Valley, lying like a beautiful garden between the mountain ranges.

FORESTS FULL OF GAME

I must not forget the wagons loaded with apples on their way to the mining towns in California. The wagon boxes were lined with straw and the apples piled into them. These apple peddlers advertised their fruit in an unique way by having a pointed stick fastened to a corner of the wagon bed on which was stuck an apple.

When winter came and the snow fell deep on the Siskiyous, as it sometimes docs, father used several yoke of oxen and a big bobsled to keep the road open to travel. Sometimes the snow would fall steadily, filling the road behind them and all day