The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-03-04
A PIONEER TRIP
ACROSS THE PLAINS
By Robert Rand
Continued from last week.

Z
Three other men and | went up 10
the house to get the woman and her
two daughters, and whatever clothes
they were to carry with them. There
was no light in the house. Ihe woman
met Us at the door and said, "Can we
go with your" When we'told her that
we had decided she could, she took
each one OF US by the hand and said,
| God bless you" We then told her to
take as few things as possible and to
make haste.
We were joined at Ogden by a man
and bis wife who had left US when our
cattle had stampeded Just before we
reached Fort Bridges. He had a pair
of cattle and a light spring wagon.
| The vehicle was covered with an old
| patchwork quilt. The man said il had
been made by his great-great- grand
mother in 1892. 1t certainly looked il.
The women who joined US were put in
this wagon.
Early in the morning we were on the
road and soon had arrived at Bear
river. where a Mormon charged US $40
for ferrying US across. We learned
later that we could have forded the
stream without the slightest danger.
When we had travelled about five
miles from the river we looked back
and saw party of five horsemen fol-
lowing US rapidly. This looks like
trouble, men,, said Mr.. Knapp. Get
your guns and get ready to shoot when |
give the word" AS they approached
we stopped our train. They rode
around glancing into the wagons. But
the runaways were hidden beneath the
folds of the old calico quilt. "What do
you want?" Mr.. Knapp finally asked.
Their spokesman then asked if we had
seen a man and three women in light
wagon drawn by span of mules. 1--WE
have not, replied Mr.. Knapp. what
are the Tunaways, murderesses or
thieves?" That's our business, said
the man. well, you had better attend
to 1t, ;" said Mr.. Knapp, and they rode
away.
1--WE felt very much relieved after
they had gone, but we feared they
would return with reinforcements. The
woman, who was with US, whose name,
by the way, was Mrs. Martin, said she
recognized the voice of the spokesman
as the man who wanted to marry her
elder daughter.
A few miles further on we met a
company of U. S. troops, whom we
halted and asked for aid. The captain
detailed five men as an escort for US.
The dust began to fly again and we
all felt relieved until we made camp at
the headwaters of the Humbolt river.
Just as we were pitching our tents, the
fve menswho had molested us in the
morning appeared and wanted to stop
with US, but MIR. Knapp objected. See
ing the soldiers with us they rode
away.
The next morning the soldiers left.
Mrs. Martin thanked them and said
"Tell your mothers how you have
helped to savesa widow and her two
daughters from Mormonism. Nothing
of any note happened until we reached
the Carson river, after having crossed
the desert. We camped there three
days preparatory to crossing the noun.
tians to Hang Town, Calf. -:
Just before we started a man rode up
and asked if we would furnish him
with food while crossing the mountain.
lie said he had nothing but his horse,
but that he would be of assistance to |
US since he knew the goodf camping
places. Mr.. Knapp told him to Join US. |
he spent the evening with us telling
cur party that he. had been in Califor-
MIA for five years and that he was in
terested in quartz lode at Virginia |
City. Well, when we got on the road |
we saw nothing more of this man-not
even when we made camp that night. |
We considered ourselves outsof danger
and we failed to maintain a guard that
night. About midnight the flaps of |
our tents were quietly lifted and re-
v0ivers showed into our faces. The |
men made US stand up and took from
US all of our money. From our tent
they got about $50. .had 5000 in gold |
ina buckskln bag. In daytim | would |
place 1t In the wagon. At night | put |
it in my boots and'made a pillow out of |
the boots. Thus my Wad escaped. The |
robbers took about 81, $50 from MIR.
Knapp. They also took what little
provisions we had and left US rather
destitute. Of course. there was no
more sleep for US that night. The next
morning we met with another party of |
emlgrantS VINO gave US a meal and |
enough provisions until we could get
to Hang Town. We reached there on
September 26, when the company dis
banded.
But before we separated we had
farewell dinner. We found some
boards and improvised a table. We
made seats of boxes and kegs. When
we sat down to the meal Mrs. Martin
arose and said: Friends. have never
told you that | was a Methodist. |
want to express to you my gratitude
for having saved US. | haven't the
words, though. Let me now return
thanks to the good Lord" wish |
could repeat that prayer. When she
said amen" we were certainly a
tired, dust and sorrowful company.
The next morning we all shook hands
and separated, went Amador coun-
ty and engaged in mining and made
some money,