Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-05-15

iol IuI4" va tlit CNttt W dltl,
Wyoming, We caught a great man
nice fish.
From Fort Hall We Travelled 10 For
8ridgers, which was two hundre
miles north of Salt Lake. 1t was rcall
no fort at all. A man by the name u
I}ridsers was located here and carrie
on trade with the Indians and wit
the emigrants. From here We Wen
to Salmon Falls, on the Snake river
and here we met few Indians bu
they We're friendly Until we crossed
the Rockies. through the Devils Gate
We travelled up hill and up stream bu
after We crossed the Snake river tn,
waters flowed westward and we coult
almost see where the divide came.
From Salmon Falls We Travelled two
or three days down the river before
we crossed. We found a place where
there was an island in the river. We
crossed to the island first. and then
went diagonally across the rest of the
| river which was about three-fourths
of a mile wide. We always took
horses and rode across the rivers we
had to ford and found out exactly
where the wagons ought to go. The
fords were always thoroughly pros
pected before the teams were driven
| into the water We found at this
| crossing the deepest part was eight
or ten feet wide. and deep enough to
swim tie cattle, the rest of it aver
| aged about two feet. We blocked up
the wagon beds as high as the stand
ards would allow, to keep our goods dry
and hitched on ten or twelve yoke of
cattle to the first wagon The other
wagons were fastened together. one
behind the other. There was a chain
attached to the tongue of the wagon
following and that in turn to the hind
axletree of the forward wagon. The
drivers went to the lower side of their
teams to keep the cattle braced up
against the current and to keep the
direction slantinsly up stream. They
had to hold on to the bows of the
too. BY the time all the teams were
in the water. the lead teams were in
shallow water and we were safely
over without wetting any of our goods.
Shortly after this our oxen began to
give out. We became uneasy for fear
we could not travel across the noun
| tains which We're before US. on ac-
count of snow. To be caught on the
east side of the mountains meant al
most certain death. We began to
break in the cows. We started across
| the plains with about twenty milch
'oSs. BY the time We reached the
Dalles in Oregon we had almost all
he cows broken in They were lighter
| On their feet and travelled much better
| than the oxen. We didn't know at
that time that we would have saved
our cattle's feet by providing our
selves with shoes and nails before
leaving the States.
Three or four days before we came
to Fort Boise we were camped on a
creek and when supper was ready and
aDch hnI 1;
the table on the ground, an Indian
standing there knelt down at the place
| intended for man named Smith
AS soon as Smith finished washing
himself he knocked the Indian over
with stick and took the place him
self. Sticks which the Indian had
used for digging roots or some other
purpose were lying around plentiiully.
The Indians looked very sullen after
this and next morning one of the
horses was gone, stolen. We travelled
on as though nothing had happened
for two days and came to place
where we thought it advisable to rest
the cattle day. there being good
gras and water there. James Cham
bers. Smith and myself concluded that
evening to ride back to the place
where We had lost the horse and il
might be we would find an Indian
camp and do something terrible.
Smith wanted to kill an Indian. We
rode all night and when we reached
the place another party of emigrants
was camping there and We found an
Indian at the camp on the stolen ami
NAL. Smith had felt all the time that
his act. had been the cause of our
losing the horse aad he was very anx-
ious to straighten things out by kill
ing an Indian. Brother James went
around the camp one way and | an
other. ! came upon the Indian and
| caught the horse. Immediately Smith
insisted on shooting the Indian but
some of the campers interfered They
contended that We were out of the
'AF ohu thdt IL We hIlItu
his friends would come and take re-
venge on them. They also argued that
maybe this was not the Indian that
stole the horse and they urged us to
make the women in camp feel easy
by releasing the Indian. After con.
sulting for some time. we agreed to
let the Indian go and to give him
something for soaring him nearly to
death. He was so badly frightened
great drops of sweat came out on his
face. The next thing We had to con-
slider was what to give the Indian.
AS 1t was coming on the fall of the
year. mother had supplied us well with
shirts. | had enough to last ME two
years and | had on two at this time.
They agreed that I must pull off one
OF my shirts and give it to the Indian.