Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/42



32 LINDSAY APPLEGATE

seemed to enter, and on examining the place closely we found a small hole in the top of the mound, in which a little puddle of water stood within a few inches of the surface. This was a happy discovery for we were already suffering considerably for want of water and our horses were well nigh exhausted. The day had been an exceedingly hot one and the heat reflected from the shining beds of alkali, had been very oppressive. The alkali water at Black Rock had only given us temporary relief our thirst was really more intense from having used it. Un- packing our horses, we staked them in the bunch grass about the granite ledge, and began digging down after the little vein of water which formed the puddle in the rabbit hole. The water seemed to be confined to a tough clay or muck which came near the surface in the center of the mound, thus pre- venting it from wasting away in the sand. Digging down in this clay we made a basin large enough to hold several gallons and by dark we had quite a supply of good pure water. We then began issuing it to our horses, a little at a time, and by morning men and horses were considerably refreshed. Great numbers of rabbits came around us and we killed all we wanted of them. This is the place always since known as the Rabbit Hole Springs.

Looking eastward, on the morning of July 15th, from the elevated table lands upon which we then were, we saw vast clouds of smoke, completely shutting out the distant landscape. The wind blowing almost constantly from the southwest, kept the smoke blown away so that we could get a tolerably good view towards the south. Our wish was to continue our course eastward, but the country, as far as we could see in that di- rection, being a barren plain, we concluded to follow the gran- ite ledge, which extended in a southeasterly direction from the spring, believing the chances of finding water would be better by following that route. The smoke, as we afterwards learned, was caused by the burning of peat beds along the Humboldt river, the stream we were now wishing to find, though we