[50] BIRDS OF OREGON 



St. Louis. Nuttall, primarily a botanist, had induced Townsend to join 

 the party. The two men, traveling on foot, left St. Louis ahead of the 

 main party on March 2.9, 1834, and spent their time collecting until they 

 were overtaken by the rest of the adventurers. Townsend 's Narrative, 

 published in 1839, contains a vivid account of the trials and tribulations 

 as well as the good fortunes of the journey. It is well written and enter- 

 taining now after almost a hundred years have elapsed. The party first 

 arrived on what is now Oregon soil late in August (probably August 2.4), 

 since on that date Townsend stated: "We passed, this morning, over a 

 flat country, very similar to that along the Platte, abounding in worm- 

 wood bushes, the pulpy-leaved thorn, and others, and deep with sand, 

 and at noon stopped on a small stream called Malheur ' s creek." 



Contrary to a somewhat popular belief, these early explorers did not 

 find the enormous abundance of game that is supposed to have existed in 

 this country before the white man destroyed it. Townsend's party, as 

 well as many others, often went on scant rations for days at a time and 

 rejoiced when they could purchase by barter dried salmon and dried 

 chokecherries from the squalid Indian villagers. On August 2.8, on Pow- 

 der River, the hunters killed an antelope and a deer fawn, the first game 

 larger than a rabbit they had seen since leaving extreme eastern Idaho, 

 where they killed their last buffalo. 



In crossing the Blue Mountains from the Grande Ronde Valley toward 

 Walla Walla the party suffered from both hunger and thirst. Townsend 

 stated that at noon (September 2.) he wandered out along the stream and 

 made a meal of rosebuds. On his return to camp he 



was surprised to find Mr. N[uttall] and Captain T[hing] picking the last bones of a bird 

 which they had cooked. Upon inquiry, I ascertained that the subject was an unfortunate 

 owl which I had killed in the morning, and had intended to preserve as a specimen. The 

 temptation was too great to be resisted by the hungry Captain and naturalist, and the bird 

 of wisdom lost the immortality which he might otherwise have acquired. 



So much for the imaginary plenitude of game in the good old days and 

 also for the fate of the bird that furnishes the first Oregon ornithological 

 note in this interesting narrative. 



On December 8, 1834, the two naturalists reached Fort George at the 

 mouth of the Columbia, and one is interested to read Townsend's com- 

 ments: 



This is the spot where once stood the fort established by the direction of our honored 

 countryman John Jacob Astor. One of the chimneys of old Fort Astoria is still standing, 

 a melancholy monument of American enterprise and domestic misrule. The spot where once 

 this fine parterre overlooked the river, and the bold stoccade enclosed the neat and sub- 

 stantial fort, is now overgrown with weeds and bushes, and can scarce be distinguished from 

 the primeval forest which surrounds it on every side. 



Evidently there were troubles and disagreements in public policy even in 

 those golden days. Following this visit the two men sailed to the Ha- 

 waiian Islands and returned to the mouth of the Columbia and the Oregon 



