Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1877-01-13
Early Times in Oregon.

Early Times in Oregon.
What time we had in the early
days of Oregon Territory Mills,
there we're few; and as consequence
flour was not to be had in many sec
tions of the Willamette valley at all.
DR.. Mclaughlin had fine mill at
Oregon City, or as we often called it,
the Falls" or more often, "Tum
Water" 10. Gale had o "rattle trap
in Tualatin Plains. There was q
small mill at Chemeketa, now Salem,
known as the tsBoston'' Mission
Mills, in contradistinction to the
Observation-Disclosures Mills,
in French Prairie. There was also
a small mill, on q branch flowing
from small lake near the Viii
larnette river, below Chemawa or the
old Methodist Mission, above Ma
theny's ferry. This old mill was. as
we used to called it, "hias cultus;'
but anything that would "crush
wheat" was mill. To think of this
old mill, then, and of Kiuney's Mills
at Salem, now, makes me think of
Shakespeare's comparison,
LOOK at that picture,
And then at this!'
A large majority of the emigrants
had no flour. They lived Oh boiled
wheat, boiled peas, boiled potatoes,
and an occasional meal of beef,
sometimes deer, once in while, q
bar" Their cabins were small, of
fir logs, and puncheon floors, or
very often Gods own naked foot
stool; and, on the "naked dirt
floors we spread down our Al point
blankets, Hudson's Bay blankets,
which we had bought of Ermatinger,
at the Falls, or, not unfrequently, we
bought them at Cachutehut, or cold
Man Dr.'s"-Dr. McLaughiins, az
Fort Vancouver. We sold our wheat
universally, to the Company, foa one
dollar per bushel, while the Company
had an existence.
HOW WE MANAGED SOME THINGS.
We had few cows, American, but
mostly Spanish. These last we had to
tie. head and feet they kicked like ell!
and would hook, fight, and even bite,
still, We milked 'cm. We had to throw
a lssso over their horns and haul 'am
up to q post, tie and milk 'em. This
was fun for the boys. and merry lasses
then. The milk was rich, lis the cows
had all the bunch grass hey could eat.
We had a few American horses, but
most of the horses we used, were white,
eyed, sore-nosed, Cayuses. Some of
they were good horses, and some not
they would kick, bite, fight, and jump
stiff legged! 1t was fun to ride one
of these, especially for Il dyspeptic.
Sometimes it was necessary to look
out for soft place TO fall, just as you
one. The fashion, learned
from the Spaniards and Indians, was
a "lope." Some Cayuses would lope
40 or so miles in a day; and few
might lope oil day under tleshade of
a big oak.
After riding all day, one could eat
boiled wheat aud milk with an appe-
tite like sawmill.
We had butter. pretty good. too;
and -four and potatoes, and lots of
other garden truck, for nearly all of
us brought garden seeds "the plains
across" Feather beds were rare;
a rough bedstead, with some straw
on it, Al point blanket on that,
and another over us, made q mag
nificent sleeping apartment.
When we went courting-for
people, even in those early days,
did such things-we rode white
eyed, sore-nosed, "cultus cuitan,"
with rawhide saddle, bride and
lasso. The bit of the bride was
generally a Spanish bit, that would
kill the Old Scratch, if put into his
mouth; wooden stirrups, a horse
hair sinch; and over oil these, rider
and all, was q blanket with hole
in l., through which the head of
the rider protruded. The suit, if
you call it such, was Hudson Bay
pair of pants big enough for "ole
man Dr." or sometimes buckskin;
Hudson Bay shoes or moccasins,
with rawhide bottoms; a Hudson
Bay check shirt, and hat that a
Philadelphia lawyer couldn't de-
scribe, made up the suit that we
went wooing in; and, woed and
won, for we had then the finest girls
in creation! They looked at a
young mans heart, not his "rig."
Tue SMITH FAMILY.
There were, in those days some
great men, with great names, as:
Blubber-M Mouth, Two-Story. Noisy,
Red-Shirt, Skin Flint, Bottle -Nosed,
Three Fingered, God-Almighty-
well know in the Tualatin Plains
Blossom-End, Rot-Gut, Duck-Leg-
ged- Smith. These great men,
each great in his own department,
have written their names in Oregon's
history.
We WERE HONEST THEN.
In those days mans word for 40
many bushels of wheat, was good.
We were hospitable, whole-soulsd;
there was no aristocracy among us;
we were all aike-a brotherhood
/ mean, the most Of us. We attrib-