Ashland weekly tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1919-1924, 1921-10-26
Southern 0regon's
First Road
By ALICE c. SARGENT

| am writing this article in tht
hope that the people of southern Ore
gon, and the Rogue River valley II
particular, may become interested In
learning something of the history Of
the firts road through this valley.
The only account of this hazard
Gus undertaking was written by
Lindsay Applegate, one OF the organ.
izers of the expedition, some years
after the completion of the work.
In order that all who read this
little sketch may understand the
motives which induced this little
body of men to undertake this dan.
gerOus work, shall quote from the
manuscript written by Lindsay Ap-
plegate:
6. Our immigration of 184S, be-
ing the largest that had ever crossed
the plains, our progress was neces-
sarlly slow, having to hunt out
passes for our wagons over rivers,
creeks, deep gullies, digging down
the banks where nothing but a pack
trail had been before, cutting our
way through the dense forests before
we could reach the valley of the Co.
lumbia, and then 1t appeared as
though our greatest troubles had
begun, for here we had to encounter
cataracts and falls Of the Columbia
and the broad and lofty Cascades,
with their heavy forests.
AT Fort Walla Walla, on the
banks of the Columbia river, with
our teams about exhausted, we were
advised to leave our wagons and ami
mails over winter at that place in the
care of the Hudson Bay company. A
portion of the immigrants, including
my two brothers families and my
own, accepted the proposition, pro-
ylding we could procure boats in
which to descend the river, as 1t was
supposed we might procure them
from the Hudson Bay company. Un-'
der these considerations we made
arrangements with the said company
for the care of the latter through
the winter. We failed in our efforts
to obtain boats. Having a whipsaw
and other tools with us, we hunted
logs from the masses of drift wood
lodged along the river banks, hewed
them out, sawed them into lumber
and built boats, and with our fami-
lies and the contents of our wagons,
commenced the descent of the river.
Dr. Whitman procured us the serv-
ices of two Indians to act as pilots
to The Dalles. From there we
thought We would have but little
trouble by making a portage at the
Cascades. We did well until we
reached The Dalles, a series of falls
and cataracts. Just above the Cas-
cade mountains one of our boats,
containing six persons, was caught
in one of those terrible whirlpools
and upset. My son Warren, 10 years
old; my brother -Jesse's son Edward,
same age, and man by the name
OF Mcclellan, who was a member of
my family, were lost. The other
three. who escaped, were left to
the best they could until
we made the land with the other
boats. Leaving the women and chill
cren on shore while we rushed to
the rescue, 1t was only with the
greatest effort that we were able to
keep our boats from sharing the
same fate. William Doake, a young
man who could not swim. held on to
a feather bed until overtaken and
W. Parker and my son
Elisha, then IL years old, after drift
Ing through whirlpools among crag-
ged rocks for more than a mile, res
cued themselves by catching hold of
4 large rock few feet above water
1t the head Of Rock island. At the
time Of the disaster it was utterly
impossible to render them any as
'istance. for it was only with the
greatest skill that we succeeded in
'aving the women and children from
sharing the same fate. II was a
Icene painful beyond description.
We dare not 90 TO their assistance
Without exposing the occupants of
he other boats to certain destrue-'