The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-03-25
WHEN THE MOON
LIGHT SCARED ME
(Bv C C. Masikerl

tue DdllCs NA my uEsl iFlp 10 NdUlNt
City. | had lived on the lower, OF
Miller, road TO Canyon City at a place
five miles east of Deschutes river
The place is now known as Poplar
Grove. and is seven miles west of Was,
/ co, in what is now Sherman county.
/ therefore knew most of the packers
| teamsters and drOyers, as well as stage
drivers on the road. was driving g
( freight team of four horses for Col
| Fulton, who lived on Ten Mile creek,
east of The Dalles, and as ! had been
driving a four-horse team past the
colonel's place for some years the
| colonel knew what manner of teamsteI
was, which accounts for his selecting
so young lad for his service.
| | was only IL years of age at the
time. We made our real start from the
cOlOnel's place on Ten Mile creek and
camped that night at my home place.
Next day we reached Niger Hollow,
where in the fall of 1861 | had spent
three weeks keeping lonely watch on
some haystacks, rather long vigil for
lad of 10 years. But ! had already
become Injured to pioneer conditions,
having crossed the Rockies ten years
| before.
Next night we camped at the FinnI-
gan place at THE Haystacks. Next
DAY we drove to Corvallis at Buck
creek, and on the next day passed
Cross HOllows, now known as Shaniko.
stopping a moment to greet Uncle
| Johnnie Ward and his estimable wife,
who were especial friends of ours, and
camped that night at the head of Ante
| lope canyon.
Next morning just after we started
we met Howard Maupin, who lived at
Antelope, and of course we stopped to
talk moment with him. He told US
about Old Paulina, the great Indian
Chief whom he and Jim Clark had killed
short time before. and put us on our
guard concerning the Indians. Small
need for such caution, as we we're fully
acquainted with the ways of the Red
Men. That night we camped at the
Galligan camp, where John Galligan
had been murdered in 1864, and the
next day reached the Toll Gate on
Currant creek.
Next day as we were on the divide
between Muddy and Cherry creeks. jim
Clark, who was driving stage, passed
US and told US what he knew. Said he
did not apprehend any danger from the
| Indians, and seemed as unconcerned
as a chess player. Shortly after this
we passed Burnt ranch, where Old
Paulina and his band of braves had
burned Clark's house and other i'm
provements year before.
We drove on up Bridge creek to Dan
Rowland s dugout which we found in a
fairly good state of preservation, and
camped.
Seeing Jim Clark and his burnt
ranch that day, and kno wing how the
Indians had chased Clark and his
brother-in.l law, Geo. Masterson, up this
creek and how they had hunted the
brush patch for Masterson, while he
lay in the icy waters of the creek un-
der the roots of bunch of willows
which the creek had partially under
mined; and how Dan had been shot and
stripped by these Indians and then
allowed to go to his camp, naturally
set a train of thoughts working in my
youthful mind and caused me to be
strictly on the alert. After supper
we took the horses down to the creek to
water them. There was small bottom
on the creek and it had hills or round
lunches of willows standing around
over it and between the punches of
willows was good grass, but it was no
place to stand guard on the horses for
the night, and we took them up on the
east side of the creek under high
rimrock that bent in half circle and
furnished an ideal place for the night
watch. Ii was my watch for the first
part of the night. Tom Hanna took
the second watch, and the colonel the
last, or morning, watch. There were
only three of US together. | put the
horses up under the rimrock and was
slowly pacing back ami forth across
the space in front of them on their
west side, next to the creek Knowing
that the rimrock would prevent them
from going east, | had only one place
to guard.
After | had been out there an hour
or two the moonshine struck the creek
bottom and was slowly creeping to-
ward me as | paced my beat on the
hillside in the shadow of the rimrock
bluff, when my attention was attracted
by sound from the direction of the
creek. stopped pacing, crouched
down low and took a long, earnest
look down on that bottom lying there
so TRANQUILITY in the moonlight. 1t was
a beautiful night; no cloud obscured
the sky; no wind was blowing; the
hills were picturesquely rugged and
brightly lit up to the west of our camp,
but was in no mood to enjoy the natur-
know just what brush patch it was
that Masterson had lain in, but did
know that it was not far off; probably
this was it | was looking at. ! had
read "The Captivity of the Oatman
Girls" had been in state of alarm
many times before, and had heard lndi-
an stories ever since | could remember.
Again heard a soundsfrom the brush
patch What should | do? If | went
and alarmed the camp and there proved
to be no cause for alarm the colonel
would laugh at me, reprimand me,
and | would not hear the last of it for
many days. Again that sound! The
moonlight was creeping up toward me
anu oNOh "Obid pOoltlOI W
any wstchful eye. | determined to in
vestigate. | slipped into a small ra-
vine that approached the brush patch
obliquely and made my way down to
the lower end of the bottom. Cautious
ly began working nv way up through
the brush patch, keeping in the shade
of the brush as much as possible and
stopping occasionally to listen. | had
reached the middle of the brush patch,
when suddenly as rounded bunch of
willows with light and cautious tired
Il felt about as light as feather) |
was confronted by three brightly gilt
tering white stripes about two inches
wide and about foot and a half long
and about six inches apart, with their
lower ends almost touching the earth.
My hair raised in bristles, it picked my
hat straight up. reached my hand up
and pressed the hat down on my head
again, but it'would not stay there; my
hair continued to bristle and lift my
hat until | had pressed it down the
third time. But just as ! made this
discovery ! also was discovered and the
l. -. L 7 4