The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-10-18
Gaskill in Oregon.
DAYTON, WASH, Oct. 10.

mines on the Two Cannon River, one
of which, the Jackson mine, has been
tunneled over 300 feet into the noun
tain and the Bonanza mine 40 feet;
others not so far. They are to all
appearances finding gold in paying
lodges; fine quartz and plenty of it.
If some OF you old experienced min
ers were out here you might make a
fortune in mining. l am going to
invest some in the mines and take
my chance of winning or losing. The
chance looks favorable to me. The
mines are situated on the side of the
Blue Mountains on Two Cannon
River. The lodges are about so feet
above the river, They dump in the
river, which is swift, cold and clear,
and has plenty of trout and salmon
in it. They kill them with gigs or
shoot them on the rifles; it is fine
sport. You would think it rough
country to travel over out here, but
you soon get used to it. The fine
water land pure mountain air here
are so healthful and the mountains
people areIall 80 friendly to strang-
ers; they will do anything to accom-
modate one In this country every
man carries his blankets with him
and sleeps wherever he can,
Myself, j. N. Thompson and Cy
Matthews started out for a bear hunt
with Uncle Joe Ables and Harry
Johnson. Three of us went in a hack
as far as the team could go, then we
packed on 5 horses from there. AS
we assembled the Tusha River, the
fall of the river up to the first camp
averaged 900 feet to the mile for Is
miles. From there on it was more,
but here we commenced climbing
the steep mountains hunting deer
and bear. I'VE climbed higher and
higher. 1 would grab a brush or
bunch of grass to keep from falling
back. Some places all the rocks
we're loose and you could not get
more than ten steps until you would
have to stop for breath. We would
have to5zig gag like a worm fence to
get up. How the poor horses ever
climbed up or down without falling,
l can't tell. Once in a while a hun
ter loses his horse. If a horse falls,
away goes pack and all, killing the
horse and losing the pack. You have
to pack your bedding and provisions
on horseback and have extra horses
to ride-when you get where it is
safe to ride. & These m~ountaineers or
hunters will ride up or down a noun
tain where you would be afraid to
walk. We finally arrived on top of
the mountain, where We found plen-
ty of o There you go from glade
to glade and through brush aniZpver
logs, up midtown, and along sides
of steep mountains. We moved camp
about four miles on the second day,
but we must have travelled about 10
miles around to get there. Two more
hunters came to our camp, making 7
men, 7 hounds and 10 head of horses.
There was snow there but we camp
ed under the large fir trees, where
there is snow only when it blows
there. We made a big fire and got
pine bows and piled them on the
ground to make our beds on. Three
of us in n bed slept as warm as on
a good spring mattress. Two of our
horses left the others and started for
home. We had a long chase after
night to get them, but our men knew
the mountains and headed them off.
If we had not found the horses that
night l would have been left alone
there tor several days and nights.
We three got discouraged with the
hunt, 30 we separated and came back
to camp. The other hunters, after
going to Salmon river, came back to
camp. 1t was the toughest trip l
ever made. Coming down the steep
mountains afoot, l took across the
mountains. Oh, could you have seen
me zig-zag around the shell rock and
rim rock !! Sometimes l was holding
to the brush, sometimes sliding down
\AN PohtoJJ carr Ing d Tlu6 anu
two big revolvers. l finally came to
a deep place, slid down into it, got
one foot fast and could hardly get it
out. The brush was so thick l could
not see anywhere below me. l shout
ed for help and n on the men came
to me and showed me how to get out.
l don't care for any more such ex-
periences. While eating our dinners
we saw a big buck deer up the noun
tain side but before we could reach
our guns he was out of sight. That
was all the deer l saw. No bear. We
had a hunters haul, so we returned
home, 1t was fine weather the four
days that we were out, but the night
we got home it rained all night and
we could see the mountains covered
with snow. When it rains in the
valley it SHOWS on the mountains.
Hoping that you may have better
luck hunting than l did, l will. eat
some of the large apples for you, so
good bye.
o. r. GAsKILL.