The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-01-12
From the Evening Telegram

From the Evening Telegram
1t was in the fall of 80. The immi.
grafton of that eventful year, foot-sore,
weary, impoverished and discouraged,
literally crept into the Willamette val
ley, their jaded teams of patient oxen be-
ing hardly able to bear their own weight
across the Cascade Mountains. Scarcely
train neared its destination with its
full quota of members, for along the
arid plains behind them were hundreds
of mounds covering mute faces looking
TRANQUILITY toward the East, that few
months before had been set, all wreathed
with smiles of expectation, toward the
glowing, glorious, mystic West. Oregon,
except in name that was scarcely more
than myth, was unknown to these adj
venturous, ambitious home-seekers. Oc-
tober had set all the lowlands ahame with
the holocaust that precedes the death of
the year, and mountains, foothills and
river margins, clsd in the everlasting
green of fir forests, we're sharply limned
against the autumn sky. What under
other circumstances had been beautiful
and greatly admired picture, was to these
new corners, in a strange land, dimmed
and blurred by gloomy appre
tensions; for the question, what
shall we eat, and wherewithal be
clothed, was one that demanded
immediate solution, and this solution,
without means or shelter, in strange
land, and with energies enervated by
grief, disappointment and slow, wearing
fatigue, was one that was appalling to a
degree little understood at the present
day.
Our company, consisting of four fami-
lies, had crossed the Missouri and set
their faces westward in the early days of
the preceding April. Seven wagons,
contained the food and clothing of the
adventures for the succeeding six
months. A gay company it was; viva
cious maidens, ambitious youths, men
and women making hopeful ascent of
the most active slope of life, joyous
children, to whom the daily recurring
change was a constant delight. The
bows Of the wagons were of toughest
hickory, we'll seasoned and stoutly adj
justed; the canvas stretched smoothly
across them was white as snow; the
bedding tucked neatly under the wagon
sheets was clean and substantial, and
the bacon, hard tack, -four and dried
apples in store was sufficient, it was
thought, for all emergencies; and as the
whips cracked and the train stretched
over the vast and then unknown terri
tory of Nebraska, the hearts of the
travellers outran their footsteps, and
Oregon-Oregon Territory, seemed Just
within hail.
Days formed themselves into weeks.
swiftly for q time, then more slowly;
weeks were counted and months was the
result, and the beautiful land, that in
early spring seemed just in sight, be-
came, as the summer wore on toward au.
tumn, and the seemingly interminable
expanse of desert and wooded hill, and
swiftly flowing river, and rugged noun.
tain chain still stretched away and away
TO the westward dim and unreal, scarcely
more than phantom which seemed &c
fly at the toilsome approach of the trav
elers.
The Dslles was at last sighted; vino
worn fishing village in those days, les
inviting to the sight of the immigran
even than tie wastes he had left for thes'
last though inhospitable, had made NJ
demand upon his slender purse, Will
the unsightly village on the outskirts o
doubtful civilization, offered to tn
half-famlshed wanderer, comforts 3
which he had long been q stranger
but placed them beyond his reach b.
the interposition OF fabulous prices
Clearly the haven was not yet reached
winter heralded by fitful gusts Of sno,
and nights of biting frosts was at hand
The cattle plague had decimated tn
ranks Of the patient oxen until NO
enough remained to haul the now nearl
empty wagons across the sleeps an
through the frowning defiles Of the Ca
cade mountains. The sturdy WACO
bows Of hickory still upheld with tolers
BILE erectness the dust-begrimed cover
although as If sharing the general deje'
tion Of the expedition, these cover
swsysd and baggsd in thriftlsss slacl
hsd been busy in our rsnks; pstiez
no1her had Withdrawn her longing ~