Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, W.T. [i.e. Wis.]) 1843-1844, 1844-03-30
From The Chilicoihe Advertiser.
THE OREGON COMPANY.

! News FROM OREGON. he iolloW-
ing letter has been received by r. c.
Galbraith, Esq, of Concord Township,
10 this country, from his nephew. Mr..
Overton Johnson, who left for Oregon
with the company from Iowa last
spring. Mr.. Johnson is son of MIR.
j. B. Johnson, formerly of Concord
township, in this county, WIN now
resides in Indiana.
We are sorry to hear that so many
| difficulties were encountered by our
informant; we cannot but think, how
ever, on comparing it with other ac-
counts, that this is an extreme case
FoRr HALL, Oregon Territory, !
September Is, 1914. )
Dear Sister,. 1t will no doubt be
long time before this will reach you.
The earliest opportunity of its being
conveyed to the States will probably
be the express bearing the dispatches
to our government from Major Ere
mont after he has planted the flag of the
United States at Fort Vancouver.
Where l shallthen be, God only knows,
but wherever it may be, l trust shall
be more pleasantly situated than |
am here. We are now lying at Fort
Hall, in the midst ola country which,
even to its streams, has been robbed
of the means of subsistence. Here we
are almost destitute of provisions, with
hundreds of miles of destitute country
before US. We must either procure
provisions from the Fort or starve for
the want of them. With a considera-
BILE surplus Of fat cattle running upon
the prairie, they demand Of US near two
hundred dollars for an OK; at such
prices we have not the means to pur-
chase. Such is the character of one at
least, Of the members of the Hudson
Bay Fur Company-such is their dis
position towards those who would set
lie in this Territory. After receiving
from the United States Government
the millions which they have from the
benefit Of fur trade, they would will
lingly see her citizens perish before
their doors for want Of the means of
subsistence. But we have right to
live as well as they-the world owes US
a subsistence, and we will certainly col
lect the debt, by fair means if we can,
by foul ones il we must.
Since we left the Fort upon the
Platte, distance, the way we had to
travel, about eight hundred miles, we
have been in the mountains. The road
through these mountains has been very
circuitons and uneven; at one time we
would be winding along the narrow
valley of some mountain stream and at
another time climbing up or defending
the steep and rocky sides of the noun
tain itself. In every direction as we
approached the grand summit where
the Eastern and Western rivers are
divided, the peak, of the mountains are
covered with ice and snow; here we
found the atmosphere much cooler than
upon the plains. Water froze in our
camp kettles the one-eighth ofan inch
thick, and quantities of snow fell fire.
quen,ly upon the mountains in the
middle of August-this kind of climate
continued until we reached Fort Hall.
The country through which we have
travelled since we left the Forts upon
Platte, until we came to Fort Vasques,
situated fifty mills West OF the summit
Of the mountains, is composed chiefly
of mountains of rock and valleys of
sand. From Fort Vasques to Fort
Hall, though no less mountainous. the
country is gradually improving; many
of the valleys, though narrow, are
quite fertile, and in time will proba-
bly, be settled. Fort Hall is situated
in en- extensive valley, and is built sim
liar to Fort Platte.
| We are about 10 roll; William and
| are packing. We are bound for the
Walla Walla valley, (the Mission five
hundred miles from Fort Hall; we will
make it in about twenty days. From
the Mission we will go to the mouth OF
the Columbia, to which place you will
write. Send your letters to some. one
/ in New Orleans, and have them for
warded 10 Mexico
Make not track towards Oregon
until return. 1t is likely that we will
not remain long on this side Of the
mountains. All hands stout and
hearty. Our respects TO every body
and will ,rrife rnr,re extensively when