Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/174

 certain drives that can be made, and they are sometimes quite long ones.

July 28.—This morning we left camp before sunrise, for the purpose of finding better grass. Three miles down the valley brought us to Salmon Fall creek, where we found good water, a moderate supply of grass and willow brush. Here we rested, fished and passed the day as best we could on account of the wearied condition of our teams. This morning I was traveling in advance of the company, when I came to a beautiful spring issuing from the base of a high bluff, and being a little thirsty, I alighted and undertook to drink, but on reaching the water found it to be scalding hot. Here I, with two others, climbed a high mountain and viewed the landscape, which we found to be a vast barren sage plain, destitute of timber as far as the eye could reach.

July 29.—This morning, one mile down the creek brought us to the river. Then down the river one mile to where the water pours out of a thousand springs and foams and tumbles down to the river. Four miles farther brought us to the head of Salmon Falls. Here the river begins to break off into narrow chutes and run through narrow crevices in the solid rock bed of the stream. We traveled down the falls to where the road leaves the river. Here we found Indians, ready to trade salmon for anything we had to spare, but shirts were their greatest want, many of them having only what covering nature furnished. Two miles up a ridge brought us to a high sage plain, over which we traveled ten miles to Dry camp, where we arrived at dark. Here we had to drive down a very steep hill one mile to poor grass, and carry water up to camp. Here, one of our company who had traded his gun and a lot of ammunition for a very fine mare some days before, had her stolen. The Indian now owns both gun and mare.

July 30.—This day we traveled twelve miles. The first four or five miles were very hilly and sandy, then four miles of level sandy plain. Then down a ravine to a