Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/32



22 LINDSAY APPLEGATE

were of the opinion that some persons had been buried there and that horses had been driven over the place to obliterate all marks and thus prevent the Indians from, disturbing the dead. The immense excitement among the Indians on our ar- rival there strengthened this opinion. Col. Fremont, only a few days before, had reached this point on his way northward when he was overtaken by Lieut. Gillispie of the United States army with important dispatches and returned to Lower Cali- fornia. The Mexican war had just begun and the "path- finder" was needed elsewhere. On the very night he was over- taken by Lieut. Gillispie, the Modocs surprised his camp, killed three of his Delaware Indians and it is said that, had it not been for the vigilance and presence of mind of Kit Carson, he would probably have suffered a complete rout. At this place we arranged our camp on open ground so that the In- dians could not possibly approach us without discovery. It is likely that the excitement among the Modocs was caused, more than anything else, by the apprehension that ours was a party sent to chastise them for their attack on Fremont. We were but a handful of men surrounded by hundreds of Indians armed with their poisoned arrows, but by dint of great care and vigilance we were able to pass through their country safe- ly. On every line of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific, there has been great loss of life from a failure to exercise a proper degree of caution, and too often have reckless and fool- hardy men who have, through the want of proper care, become embroiled in difficulties with the Indians, gained the reputa- tion of being Indian fighters and heroes, while the men who were able to conduct parties in safety through the country of warlike savages, escaped the world's notice.

FROM TULE LAKE TO THE SPRING IN THE DESERT.

On the morning of July 5th we left our camp on the little creek (now called Hot creek), and continued our course along the shore of Lower Klamath Lake. This threw us off our course considerably, as the lake extended some miles to the