The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1907-11-14
EXPERIENCE OF
A PIONEER
UP COLUMBIA RIVER TRAIL IN 1860
A Pioneer Resident of the Valley De.
scribes the Hardships Of
the Trip.

claim near TT Yambill, in Polk coun-
ty, Oregon, ltsrted with his family
aud all his earthly belongings, for
Bitter Root valley. We left Portland
at about s o'Clock ia the morning on
board the steamer Independence,
Captain 4. / AukeIN. maste-. 1t was
dusk when g., cached the lever land
ing at the Cascades Our wagon, my
mother and two sisters, made the
portage on the Washington side of the
river, and continued on to The Dale |,
on boar,l the steamer Wasco, Captain
L. S. Mcfarland, master.
Our party for the trip over the trail
consisted of gentleman whose name
was Samuel Best, my fat her, an older
brother Ut mine and myself. Mr.. Best
was veteran of the Cayuse war and
had been over the trail in 1856. but he
said it had been so long since that he
did not remember much about it. 1t
took US until late morning to get our
stock collected together, the next
morning after reaching the landing.
My mount was an animal of that spe-
Gle which Dan De guile called eye
Washoe Canary" sometimes called Ye
Jaekass be in haste at no time to
proclaim a victory over him. His
name was Jake.
It must have been near noon when
we passed the middle blockhouse and
near three clock when we reached
the foot of Shell Rock mountain. The
trail al ing the side of this mountain
was hotrid. 1t zig Zaged about in Or
der to avoid the largest boulders ard
the horses and cattle we we're driving
all but refused to advance over it.
We had to each get a few head In
front of us and work them slowly and
laboriously toward the top, then 60
back and get another small bunch I;
perseverance finally conquered and We
moved on up the mountain. Darkness
overlook us in high gap or saddle OF
the mountain and we had to camp,
but had no water and could find none.
We had eaten some salt beef at noon
and we're very thirsty. Father went
to his saddle bags and got out some
raw potatoes These we peeled and
ate az substitute for water. With
the dawn OF the next MOI ming we were
on the move. 1t was here that first
made the acquaintance OF the Wasco
Zephyr, a pressure OF air from the
west that to this day sometimes visits
this country. Ii chilled me to the
center and l thought would surely
perish with the cold.
We soon began 90 descend toward
the river again; the trail wound
around the side OF the mountain
where it was so steep that 1t required
an eight foot cut to make two and q
half feet OF trail. The decent was ex-
ceedingly steep. The place looked
wild TO me. It made my head swim
and | Rugged the bank as closely as
could for fear of going over the bluff.
One of our horses came hear crowd
ing another one overheard, but we
reached the river bottom In safety
and sOon came to a patch OF green
grass about six inches high and the
thickest that | had yet seen. Here we
stopped and prepared breakfast. 1t
was about nine o'clock and We had
eaten nothing save raw potatoes since
noon the day before. We camped that
night neer where Viento now stands.
The next day we came to place
where the trail ran up through steep
sharp notch in the tluft. Water was
trickling down from the rocks on the
right of the trail and made the rocks
in the trail very slippery, and num-
bers of the stock lost their footing in
making the ascent. My fathers sad
die slipped back over his horses rump
and landed in the trail behind him.
Father threw himself from the horse
and landed on his feet unhurt. Jake
and | we're bringing up the rear aud l
decided to walk up this place. l
reined Jake up to get off, but just as
| started to dismount Jake took a
running jump at the slippery trail
and carried me up clinging to bis
side, afraid to let go and unable to
climb back into the saddle. | would
give a small fortune for picture Of
Jake and myself as we would have ap-
peared to others at that time.
We reached Dog (Hood) river at
about noon We were on the bottom
at the foot OF the hill just north of
where the railroad now is and did not
see any sign of the Coe farm. The
river at that time had an island In its
mouth, the west channel being deeper
and wider than the eastern one, but
not SO swift. Ne thought that about
the same amount of water ran In each
channel. We stopped as soon as we
reached Buttons point and prepared
dinner. We built our fire on the
water washed ground near the water
and the heat caused some Of the rocks
to explode and came near scattering
our dinner to the four winds of the
esrth. While we we're here a man on
horseback came down the point who
said he lived about a mile up the Go
lumbia. Father asked him IL he could
sell US some bread and he said he
could. b, other went home with him
to get it, have since learned that
his name was Stanley and that he
lived on the place MIR. Koberg now
has. We attacked the bread with good
arpetites, but before dinner was ovel
.IT. Best asked, "What is it about
this bread that gives it such a pecu
liar taste?" No one had noticed 1t a'
first but now all Eegan to notice II
and after smaoking our lips over II
awhile father said that it was wbis
key. The more we ate OF 1t tn,
stronger it tasted OF whiskey until II
became offensive.
We did not know at that time why
Dog river was so called, but learned
later that sixteen years before ou
visit, John Mimic. Daniel Clark enc
S. B. CIcckett, IL may speak thei
names, had camped here and killed
and eaten old Touser, and that from
this circumstance the stream had beel
named Dog river.
After dinner we resumed our jour
ney and oamped that night just owe
the turn ot the hill toward Mosie
ci aek The trail, a. remember 1t
kept to the north OF where The Dale
| .anI or.....a.. lii, liuida