Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/398

 father said he believed he could guide them to where the gold had been found, in what was called the Blue Bucket mines. One of the immigrants, when asked about finding the gold there, said he could have picked up his blue bucket full of nuggets if he had known it was gold. Several parties were later organized to find the Blue Bucket mines, but they were unable to locate the place.

"While the immigrants were camped in "Stinky Hollow" many of the oxen lay down and refused to get up, for when an ox is all in he quits. An ox will stay with it as long as he can, but when he finally gives up it is almost impossible to persuade him to get to his feet again. For three days, while the men were out hunting for the lost oxen, the party camped there, suffering from thirst. My father rode three horses till they were beat out looking for water. Upon his return to the camp he found three wagons had been placed facing each other in the form of a triangle, their tongues raised and tied together at the top. The sullen and angry men of the party had put a rope around Steve Meek's neck and were about to hang him. My father, pointing his gun at the men, said, 'The first man that pulls on that rope will be a dead man. Steve Meek is the only man who has ever been in this part of the country before. If you hang him, we are all dead men. If you give him a little time he may be able to recognize some landmark here and find a way out.The men agreed to give Meek three days. Meek left during the night and made his way to The Dalles, where,he appealed to the Missionaries for help. The Missionaries there were either unwilling or unable to do anything, so Moses Harris, or the "Black Squire" as he was usually called, an old mountain man and a companion of Joe Meek, secured supplies from the Indians and started out to rescue the lost immigrants.

"The party did not reach The Dalles until the middle of October. More than twenty of the immigrants had died from mountain fever while wandering about the head-