Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1924-10-23

dashed it fast to keep it from float
ing off | took the tip horn of my
near leader and started in. The
water came up to my neck. The
rest Of the company begged me not
to go but I went ahead and got
through safe and all the rest fol-
lowed our example.
From this time forward / be-
came instinctively the leader until
| met a very sad and almost fatal
accident which / will speak of la
ter.
Doubtless you remember reading
an account of the travels Of Lewis,
Clark, and others in very early
days. From the Mississippi to the
mouth of the Columbia we went
pretty much the same route.
Oh Fort Hall is an ola abode
hut built by the Hudson Bay com
pany many years ago. 1t was a
trading post to trade with the In
dams. l saw many savages there,
just as naked as when they were
born, many having the marks of
hard fought battles. Some of the
arrow marks were not entirely
well. | saw many thousands of
buffalo, elk, antelope, Rocky Noun
tain sheep, and other animals. We
had buffalo beef, antelope, and
sheep but could not spare the time
to hunt much, besides it was not
very safe to go far from the road.
Misfortune Overtakes
We struck Snake river at Fort
Hall and travelled down that
stream. When we reached the
mouth of the Molhune river we left
the Snake and struck across to
Burnt river but before reaching
that stream | met with an accident
which came near proving fatal to
me. We camped about five miles
before reaching Burnt river and
laid by for a day. In the evening
| went out with my gun to kill some
Rocky mountain hare and when
came in | placed by rifle against
the wagon. 1t remained there un-
til we were ready to hitch our
cattle the next morning. My wife
was in the wagon fixing up the
things and | was waiting for the
rest of the men to get through yok-
ing. My wife saw the gun stand
ing against the wagon and said,
"There is your gun. You had bet
ter put it in" l took hold of the
gun and in bringing it up hit it
against the wheel and discharged
it. The bullet entered my jaw on
the right side, breaking the bone,
passing up through my mouth and
nose, and coming out of the. inside
corner of my left eye, destroying
the sight of that member entirely
but not hurting the ball. | had
several teeth extracted, sooner than
any dentist could ever have remov.
ed them. l was in a very bad con-
dition to pursue my journey.
We were about 500 miles from
the end of our trip and my oxen
had all died but three. had some
very kind friends along who assist
ed me along but it was thought by
all that l would not live very long.
| told them that | would go through
but | came near being a false pro-
phet for once.
The rought, rocky road and long
journey came near proving too
hard for me. When l got about
halfway from the scene of the &C.
cident to the Dalles / tried to per,
suade my wife to stop with me
among the Indians but thanks to
her resolution, we went on. Some
times l was able to sit up few
minutes while in camp. We strug-
gled on and finally reached the
Dalles of the Columbia river, where
there was a government post. There
we got some knick-knacks such as
pickle fork, vinegar, and bottle
of wine. | was not able to go over
the Cascade mountains so | took
passage on a fiat boat down the
Columbia. | sent my three oxen
over the mountains by those who
travelled with us and that was the
last | saw of the oxen and the peo-
pie in the company. | was out Of
money and out of food. My wife
sold the rifle at the Dalles for $20
That lasted us until we reached
Portland which is the metropolis of
Oregon, but we did not reach that
place without a great deal of hard
ship and trouble.
We had high wind and Indians
for our cruise down to the Cas-
cades. There we had to make a
portage of 16 miles by land. was
able to get on an Indian pony and
ride that distance by drinking
pretty freely of my wine and rest,
ing once or twice. My wife and