Page:Recollections of My Boyhood.djvu/71

Rh called Salt Creek, at the eastern base of the Coast range. In December Uncle Jesse Applegate established himself there in a shanty or hut. Here he, with one or two young men, resided during the winter, making improvements and preparing a home for his family. The settlement in Salt Creek Valley was about three miles north of where the city of Dallas, Polk County, now is. The three Applegate brothers located on three adjoining sections, since known on the township map as the donation claims of James Frederick, A. H. Whitley and George Brown.

When our families started west again, we crossed the river in the ferry boat which father built during the winter. Taking a southerly course between the hills and the river to Salt Creek Valley, then west through a low gap in the range of hills six miles north of The Mill, now the city of Salem, we traveled west about nine miles and kindled our last camp fire on the bank of a branch of Salt Creek under the brow of the Coast Mountain range. In order to make this move, a team had been hired or borrowed. There may have been more than one team, although I can recall but one. This was the beginning of the first road in Polk County. The road was laid out before there was a county. It was difficult to break a road through the prairie on account of the luxuriant grass. Wild game was not scarce, for that afternoon some of the young men killed a deer and a bear and the two carcasses hung on a tree in our camp that night. No other camp scene of pioneer days is so deeply impressed upon my mind as that of that evening, our first night in our new home.

Our camp was in a grove of large oak trees. The three camp fires were close together and lighted the avenues between the trees up to a dark canopy of leaves overhead. We children playd games in the grove early in the evening. One game I remember was "Miley-Bright." We chose sides and then one party called out, "How many miles to Miley-Bright?" The answer came from the other side, "Three score and ten." Then the question, "Can I get there by candle light?" and the answer, "Yes, if your legs are long and your body light, but look out for the witches on the way." Then away we would all go as fast as we could run, on our way to "MileyBright." We were all around the camp fires when bed time