Expedition to John Day River 171 



" Jake " Wortman, the latter at that time an in- 

 telligent young man from Oregon, who had been in- 

 troduced to me the winter before by my brother, 

 Surgeon George M. Sternberg, at that time post 

 surgeon of Fort Walla Walla. During the past 

 six months Wortman had been my guest at my camp 

 on Pine Creek. Afterwards he became known to 

 science as Dr. J. L. Wortman. 



We skirted the Blue Mountains in a southwesterly 

 direction, traveling through the beautiful wheat- 

 fields of that fertile region; and striking south at 

 Cayuse Station on the Umatilla Reserve, we climbed 

 the long slopes of the mountains and plunged down 

 into the Grande Rounde, once the bed of an ancient 

 lake, but now a lovely valley nestling among the 

 hills. From this point we drove south to Baker 

 City, and leaving behind us the jagged peaks of the 

 Powder River Mountains, struck the John Day 

 River at Canyon City. 



On the second of May we camped on the other 

 side of the mountains in a large meadow. The boys 

 went hunting and got a deer. On the third, our 

 road led us again through rugged mountains, 

 covered in places with ice, and we had to cut foot- 

 holds for our horses, as they were smooth-shod. 

 We passed through a large mining gulch, where 

 men were at work placer-digging for gold. The 

 whole surface of the country had been dug over, 



