Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/30



20 LINDSAY APPLEGATE

On the morning of June 30th, we moved along the north bank of the creek, and soon began the ascent of the mountains to the eastward ; which we found gradual. Spending most of the day in examining the hills about the stream now called Keene creek, near the summit of the Siskiyou ridge, we moved on down through the heavy forests of pine, fir and cedar, and encamped early in the evening in a little valley, now known as Round prairie, about ten or twelve miles, as nearly as we could judge, from the camp of the previous night. We found no evidence of Indians being about, but we did not relax our vigilance on that account. We encamped in a clump of pines in the valley and kept out our guard.

On the morning of July 1st, being anxious to know what we were to find ahead, we made an early start. This morn- ing we observed the track of a lone horse leading eastward. Thinking it had been made by some Indian horseman on his way from Rogue river to the Klamath country, we undertook to follow it. This we had no trouble in doing, as it had been made in the spring while the ground was damp and was very distinct, until we came to a very rough rocky ridge where we lost it. This ridge was directly in our way. Exploring north- ward along the divide for considerable distance without find- ing a practicable route across it we encamped for the night among the pines. The next morning, July 2d ? we explored the ridge southward as far as the great canyon of the Klamath but, having no better success than the day before, we en- camped at a little spring on the mountain side. The next day, July 3d, we again traveled northward farther than before, making a more complete examination of the country than we had previously done, and at last found what seemed to be a practicable pass. Near this was a rich grassy valley through which ran a little stream, and here we encamped for the night. This valley is now known as long prairie.

On the morning of July 4th, our route bore along a ridge trending considerably towards the north. The route was good,