Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/182

164 the stream. Here we found good camping and a butcher located here, with a bountiful supply of good beef, which he sold very cheap, and which we hungry emigrants ate with a good relish.

August 28.—This day we traveled twelve miles. Four miles down the valley brought us to the Umatilla Agency. Here the road forks, the right-hand one leading to the Columbia, at the mouth of the Umatilla, and the left-hand one leading to the Wells springs. Our company took the Wells springs road and crossed a dry, sandy desert, eight miles to Butter creek. Here we encamped on good grass and water.

August 29.—This day we traveled twenty-two miles. After traveling four miles up the creek, we left the bottom and turned over a ridge to the right and followed a dry, dusty plain for nine miles. Then the road became quite hilly for about six miles, at the end of which we followed down a long hollow for about two or three miles, then over a ridge to the right. Here find Well springs. We reached the springs at 10 o'clock at night, in a perfect gale of wind. Here we turned loose and all hands went to bed without supper, but not without some growling. We have some choice growlers in our train. The Well springs are at a sort of valley, or depression in the hills, and consist of several small mounds with water boiling up in the center and sinking to the base of the mounds.

August 30.—This morning we collected enough grease-wood to get breakfast with, and left Well springs as soon as we could get off. Our road led over hills and ridges for twelve miles, to Willow creek. Here we found water in pools, but were not very dry, for it had rained on us all day, but to our great relief, we found plenty of dry juniper for fire wood, and it quit raining, so that we could stand around large fires and get dry. This is a rich, grassy valley, about one-half mile wide.

August 31.—This day we traveled thirteen miles. First up a long, steep, winding hill to the top of a ridge, then over hills and hollows all the way to where we found a