Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/138

94 was too much for even the optimistic Greeley. "For what" wrote Greeley in his great paper, the New York Tribune, July 22, 1843, "do they brave the desert, the wilderness, the savages, the snowy precipices of the Rocky mountains, the weary summer march, the storm-drenched bivouac, and the gnawings of famine? This emigration of more than one thousand persons in one body to Oregon wears an aspect of insanity."

And that is what it did look like to the great mass of people of the United States. And although no political sentiment moved the pioneers, yet the movement was big with political consequences; and vital to all the commercial and military interests of the nation at large; and should have had adequate support from the national congress, but did not get even the poor compliment of recognition by any department of the government.

This first caravan was followed by others in succeeding years. Fourteen hundred people in 1844 followed the trail made in 1843; ^"d three thousand men women and children came over in 1845. Probably the largest emigration in any one season came over the trail in 1852. Ezra Meeker, who has been instrumental in getting a congressional appropriation to put up suitable monuments on the old trail, was in the caravan of that year, and has given us a vivid description of it. He says: "The army of loose cattle and other animals that accompanied this caravan five hundred miles in length, added greatly to the discomfort of all. It will never be known the number of such, or of the emigrants themselves. A conservative estimate would be not less than six animals helping pull each wagon, and eighteen loose animals to each one laboring. There were an average of five persons to each wagon; and during four days that we stopped sixteen hundred wagons passed by; making eight thousand persons and nearly thirty thousand domestic animals passing in that four days. We knew from the dates inscribed on Independence rock, and elsewhere, that there were wagons three hundred miles ahead of us, and that the throng had continued to pass the river for more than a month after we had crossed, so that it does not require a stretch of imagination to say the column was covering five hundred miles of trail at one time."

Jesse Applegate came to Oregon with the train of 1843, ^^^ took a prominent part in its conduct and became one of the most useful and influential citizens of the state. In a contribution to the Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, ten years ago, he gives the following graphic picture of the daily routine of the emigrants on the trail:

"It is four o'clock A. M.; the sentinels on duty have discharged their rifles—the signals that the hours of sleep are over—and every wagon and tent is pouring forth its night tenants, and slow kindling smokes begin to rise and float away in the morning air. Sixty men start from the corral, spreading as they make through the vast herd of cattle and horses that make a semi-circle around the encampment, the most distant perhaps two miles away.

"The herders pass to the extreme verge and carefully examine for trails beyond, to see that none of the animals have strayed or been stolen during the night. By five o'clock the herders begin to contract the great moving circle, and the well trained animals move slowly towards camp. In about an hour five thousand animals are close up to the encampment, and the teamsters are busy selecting their teams and driving them inside to be yoked. The corral is a circular pen, three hundred feet in diameter, formed with wagons conected strongly with each other, the front end of one wagon being chained to the rear end of the wagon in front. It is a strong barrier that the most vicious ox could not break, and in case of an attack by Indians would be a strong intrenchment.

"From six to seven o'clock is a busy time; breakfast is to be eaten, the tents struck, the wagons loaded, and the teams hitched to their respective wagons. All know when at 7 o'clock, the signal of march sounds, that those not ready