OCR Text |
Show • 106 JOURNEY TO FORT HALL. reptile eating savages, found at the present time upon some of its streams. Here we will leave, for a time, the Company from California; return to the Falls of the Willammette ; and follow, from that place, the Oregon Company, until the time when the two, having acci· dentally met in the mountains, united.* *For the sake of uniformity of expr{lssion, "we" has been used throughout t.he previous pages, although it will be perceived by a reference to the introduction, that only Mr. WINTER was in California. \ CHAPTER VI. RETURN TO THE STATES. J"OURNEY FROM OREGON CITY TO THE WESTERN PART OF THE STATE OF MTSSOURI, WITH SOME OF ITS JNCJDENTS. Retur!l from Or~gon C.ity to th~ United States-Difficulty with the Walawn.la .Indwns, and timely mterventwn of Capt. Grant-Meet with Wm. H. Winter, on h1s retur~ from California, near Fort Hnll-Difficulty with the Paw .. nees-Came to the Western settlements of the United States. On the 19th day of A prii, 1845, we left Oregon City, for the United States. Out· company, consisting of twelve persons, proceeded, a part by land, with the animals, and a part by water, with the baggage and provisions. And as the Cascade Mountains were yet impassable, on account of the snow, it was necessary for those who went by land, to follow the Columbia River: to do this, they were compelled to cro~s ovet· to the North side at Vancouver, and a part of them ·e-crossed above the Fulls of the Col umbiu. They had only u dim Indian trail to follow, which frequently wound along between rocky precipices and the river; it was sometime& covered with water, and a gt·eat portion of it was over loose frag· ments of rock, and along the sides of very steep hills and moun .. tains. The streams which empty into the Columbia, were full, and all conspired to make the way through the Cascade Mountains, by land, vel'y difficult. The passage by wnter was, likewise, sonwwhat impeded by high winds, strong cun·cnts, and the portage around the Falls. We arrived at the \Vascopin Mission on the 1st of May, wher~ we left our canoes, unci packed the bug gage upon our horses. We remained het·e one day, during which time Mr. Brewer and his lady, who are connected with the Mission, did every thincr in the it· nower to assist us, and make our stay agreea- o • ble. From the Mission, we followed the South bank of the Colum· bia to Fort Walawala. We found the De Chutes and John Da.v 's Rivers too deep to ford, and were compelled to employ the Indians to take us across them, i~ their canoes. When we came to John Day's River, it was late, t |