Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/564

546 of October General Steele ordered a cavalry company to guard the roads and do picket duty in the Burnt River district.

But depredations were not confined to the Oregon side of Snake River. They were quite as frequent in Boisé and Owyhee districts, where there was no lack of military camps. So frequent were the raids upon the stock-ranges that the farmers declared they must give up their improvements and quit the country unless they were stopped. At length they organized a force in the lower Boisé Valley. Armed with guns furnished by Fort Boisé, and aided by a squad of soldiers from that post, they scouted the surrounding country thoroughly, retaking some stock and killing two Indians. But while they recovered some of their property, the stage station at the mouth of the Payette River was robbed of all its horses. And this was the oft-repeated experience of civil and military parties. Blood as well as spoils marked the course of the invaders. Stages, and even the Snake River