Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/177

 August 7.— This morning we started early; our course was down the valley. At the end of five miles we came to good grass on the river bank. Here we lay till 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when we gathered up and moved down four miles farther. Today our boys succeeded in killing a number of rabbits, prairie hens and quail, which abound here in great quantities, and to us are a great luxury at this time.

August 8.—This day, at the end of eight miles, we halted and nooned on the river bank. Here we found plenty of Indians, who were full both of trade and theft. They would trade anything they had, or steal anything we had, if they got the opportunity. This afternoon we traveled six miles and camped on the river bank. Here found good grass and wood, which is not lacking anywhere along this stream.

August 9.—This morning brought us to where we crossed the stream. We had a high ridge to cross before crossing the stream. After crossing, we traveled eight miles down the stream and encamped among the timber on the north side of the stream. Here we traded with Indians for salmon, which are very plentiful in the stream along here.

August 10.—Ten miles today brought us to Ft. Buyce. [Boise]. Here we found a trading post kept by a Mr. Craigge, a Scotchman. We found the river here too deep to ford and had to ferry in a large canoe belonging to the fort. The plan of crossing was to pile the load into the bottom of the canoe and balance the wagon on the top of the canoe. This required a good deal of care and skill to prevent capsizing. We had one wagon tumble into the river, but succeeded in getting it out alive. But it was well soaked. The Indians are fishing at this place. They catch and dry salmon. They are a very degraded, lazy, thieving set of beings.

August 11.—This day we spent in ferrying, as before described. The Indians were so bad that we had to keep