Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/181

JOURNAL OF A TRIP ACROSS THE PLAINS, 1851 163 mountains and find it very rough country. Much more so than the Rocky mountains, and our worn-out teams seem to appreciate the difference equal to ourselves. August 23. —This morning our cattle were so badly scattered that we got a late start. Our road was very sidling, rough and stony. The roughest for about five or six miles that we had found on the whole route. At the end of eleven miles we came to a small creek, but there not being sufficient grass here for our teams, we kept on two miles farther, to where we found water and grass plenty. Here we halted for the night. Here we found thick groves of pine and fir timber, interspersed with small prairie. No underbrush, but tall grass under the timber all over the ridges. August 24.—This day we traveled fifteen miles, nine along a dry ridge brought us to where we turn down the mountain toward the Umatilla river. For the last few miles the land is very rich and is covered with groves of scattering pines, to the brow of the hill. The hill is four miles long and tolerably easy to descend. At the foot of the mountain we found a spring, where we halted and nooned. Then crossed the valley to the river, one mile. Then down the river one mile and encamped. Here we found a large number of Cayuse Indians, who had potatoes to trade or sell, which we found to be quite a luxury to us. August 25.— We lay in camp this day. We got ready to start and found that five of our horses were gone, which delayed us till late in the evening, when they were brought back by some Indians, who had agreed to find them for one dollar per head. This we understood. August 26. —This day we traveled twelve miles down stream. Found thickets of timber all of the way. This day it rained all day, which made it very disagreeable to all of us. August 27.—This day we traveled sixteen miles. We first ascended a long hill on the northeast side of the stream, to a high plain, over which we traveled for fifteen miles ,then down a long hill to the valley, then one mile to