The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-02-18

1 nS1oNiatlOHs ubs WrllttO 10
the Glacier an account of his trip b,
wagon seross the plains. The first O.
a series Of articles by Mr.. Rand il
given below.
] was born in Steubenyille, Jefferso,
county, Ohio. August %, 1885. Mher
was two years of age my parents re
moved to Jackson county. West Virgin
Ia. where ] spent my boyhood days, go
ing TO school in a little log scboolhouse
Not a nail was used in the construction
OF the building, the logs being put to
gether with wooden pins. The fiool
and our seats were made Of split logs,
called puncheons. Ii was awfulIy tire.
some to sit all day on these rough
benches without any backs.
In 1850 my parents started on Jour-
ney. to Madison, Wis. The trip was
made by water. on the 0hiu river, by
way OF Cincinnati and St Louis, and
thence up the Missouri river TO Galena.
At ST. Louis my mother was fatally
stricken with cholera. TWENTY-FIVE
others on our boat died from the choI-
era and all were buried at st. Louis.
We spent two yeats at Dane county,
Wis, and then moved to La Crosse,
where my father died, leaving five boys
and two girls. was the Oldest and
the two girls were the youngest.
We remained at La Crosse for two
years, and those were days of hard
times. Before leaving Virginia my
father had been forced to pay note,
which he had signed as security, and il
had taken nearly all of his fortune to
pay the claim. The trip to Wisconsin,
since there we're no railroads then, was
very costly. ! got employment in the
lumber camps of James Mckinley,
father of Horace G. Mckinley, who
later figured in land fraud cases.
In September, 1857, was married.
In 1859. in company with two uncles,
we crossed Wisconsin on our way to
California. Our journey across Wis
consin was terrible one. for we were
beaten on by terrible snow and sleet
storms. We had covered wagon and
three pair of oxen.
On May we arrived at Council
Bluffs, where we waited for more than
a week for enough gold seekers to
make up company. Ii was dangerous
for small parties to attempt to cross
the plains. A party of 100 bad left for
the west few days before we had
reached Council Bluffs.
While we were waiting my uncles be-
gan to get blue. They finally decided
to return, and attempted to persuade
me TO go back with them. But told
them that | had started to California,
and was going there. They sold the
wagon and their pair of oxen and then
took a steamboat bound down the
river. After ! had hidden them good
bye, retraced my steps to my camp
and sat down to think. NY chin was
hanging down almost to my waist line,
| was so blue.
Two men drove up with two pair of
oxen and covered wagon. They asked
me where ! was gong and told them
that | was on the way to California.
We struck up partnership. In few
days we made up party of IL wagons.
We had 30 men, five married women
and two girls in our company. Among
US was man named Knapp, about 65
years old, who had crossed the plains in
1850 and settled at Knapp Valley, Calf.
The two girls were his daughters. We
elected him captain.
We crossed the river and'in four DAYS
had reached Cottonwood creek. On
that day we camped rather early on ac-
count of an approaching storm We
made everything fast and appointed
man to guard the stock to prevent
them from stampeding The lightning
was flashing and the wind roared. The
wind soon reached such gale that it
was almost impossible to keep on our
feet. The rain and tornado lasted for
an hour. When it was over every tent
had been blown down, two wagons were
on their sides and one was bottom side
up. There was no sleeping that night.
We were two days drying out our things
and repairing our wagons.
The morning after the storm four
men came to our camp and asked for
to eat. They stated that
they were on their way back to the
states. They had camped on the
edge of lake little further west.
They had had two pair of oxen, a COW
cred wagon and provisions, all of which
had been swept into the water and lost.
1t was only by almost superhuman
efforts that they had saved themselves
from death. A grip containing their
money had been blown away. They
had lost everything they had except the
clothes on their backs.
Although we we're not in the best of
spirits, OIL the morning of the third day
after the storm, we set off on our Jour
ney. We had no more storms, and day
after day we continued our same plod- |
ling way. 1t seemed as though the
,attle stirred up all the dust possible,
and soon we got so we did not mind |
eating it. Our average days journey
was % miles.
On July 8 we camped near Fort Lar
lmie, near the west end of the Platte
valley. Just about sunset the Over
and stage came up the road. There
we're eight mules and an additional man
IN mule back to help whip the team
llong. The stage was OF. the old fash
oned Concord style. Among the four
aboard was Horace Greeley,
Who. we were notified, was going to
peak that night at Fort Laramie.
OF course, all of US, except the guard.
leard that speech. | remember very
title of it except that he told US that
hey were going to build railroad.
That Oak Ames was going to do the
work: for he had the shovels. We all /
,njoyed the meeting and cheered Gree
ey's speech Justify.