236 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



oxen pull hard, and only about ten steps more would have 

 brought us out of the snowdrift, when there came a sud- 

 den jerk. Stop! On shoveling the snow aside we found 

 that the fore wheels had struck the trunk of a fallen tree, 

 about 2 feet in diameter, which had been completely hid- 

 den by the snow. Immediately two men, one on each 

 side of the wagon, begin to cut through, and others are 

 ready to relieve them when tired, it does not take long 

 to open a passage. We start again. The snow begins to 

 get solid enough for the team to pass over it, frozen solid, 

 yes, it is! For the next hundred yards we are all right, 

 when all of a sudden the treacherous snow field gives 

 way, and oxen and wagon disappear together in a hole 5 

 feet deep. We unload, dig wagon and oxen out and load 

 up again. 



Thus it went on constantly, and, of course, we made lit- 

 tle progress. The sun had gone down and it became dark, 

 and we had not made a mile yet. Here we came to a 

 place where standing up to our knees in mud and snow 

 we had to cut our way with axes through brushwood 

 covered with snow. The small branches would fly back 

 at every stroke like steel springs, covering us all over 

 with mud and show. Immediately beyond this place we 

 stood before an exceedingly steep grade, almost a prec- 

 ipice; how steep we could not tell in the darkness; but 

 down there we had to go to reach Grass Valley, and down 

 we went like an avalanche, though we had three wheels 

 locked and two young pine trees fastened on behind. In 

 spite of the darkness and our rapid descent, we reached 

 the bottom without accident and stood now before a nar- 

 row but rather deep creek. It was too dark to look for a 

 crossing, and so we waded straight into it and right up 

 to the hips — the water being cold as ice. Just think how 

 pleasant! the upper part of the body dripping with per- 

 spiration and pantaloons and boots full of ice water! We 

 took just enough time to wring out our nether garments; 

 took off our boots and poured out the water; into them 

 with bare feet— and off we started again. 



The ground here was still boggy, but covered with 



