Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/202

172 The Spalding party, which had been left in Powder River Valley to travel more slowly with the livestock, arrived safely, by what trail across the Blue Mountains we do not now know. The northeast bastion of the fort was assigned to the Spaldings for sleeping quarters; bunks for beds and blankets for bedding. Access to these bastions was by stairs from inside the stockade. The fort stood in a desolate place, exposed to frequent and strong winds blowing from the southwest through the scenic gorge, now called Wallula Gap; winds still dreaded by every housewife in the city of Walla Walla, thirty miles away. The site had been selected as it was a strategic point for the trade with the Indians, and as it was above high water mark. No flood yet known in the river has ever reached it, not even that of 1894.

The earlier travelers referred to by Mrs. Whitman as having much less favorable travel conditions were Jason Lee and his associates in 1834. But let Mrs. Whitman tell the story.

"Sept 2 Have busied myself today in unpacking my trunk & arrangeing my things for a visit to Vancouver. Mother will wonder at this & think me a strange child, for wishing to add three hundred miles to this journey not from necessity but because my Husband is going & I may go, as well as to stay here alone If we were obliged to go on horseback I think I should not wish to undertake it, but we are going in a boat, & it will not take us more time than six days to go there. A very agreable change & I think I shall enjoy it better than to stay here alone. I feel remarkably well & rested, do not need to lounge at all & so it is with us all. I can scarcely believe it possible of myself but it is true. I feel as vigourous & as well able to engage in any domestic employment as I ever did in my life. Covered a stock yesterday for my first work here for Husband I have not yet introduced you to the Lady of the House. She is a native From a tribe east of the mountains. She appears well does not speak English but her native language & French The