Expedition to John Day River 175 



I remember once, as I was standing with Uncle 

 Johnnie Kirk, the hermit of the Cove, in front of his 

 cabin, he pointed to the basaltic cliffs that towered 

 above us, and observed gravely, " All vegetable 

 matter. " He had found at the base remains of the 

 forests which the lava had engulfed, and had con- 

 cluded that the whole mass represented similar 

 remains. 



Before moving the outfit into the fossil beds I 

 took my pony and started off to spy out the land. 

 Following a horse trail that led up the gentle slope 

 west of the canyon represented in Dr. Merriam's 

 picture of the Mascall Beds I reached a tableland, 

 which proved to be the divide between Cottonwood 

 and Birch creeks. Here I found that the trail lead- 

 ing down to the mouth of Birch Creek was very 

 steep one could have greased one's boots and slid 

 the whole distance of several hundred feet. I was 

 afraid to ride down and led my pony, but I soon 

 learned that an Oregon pony has long, well-de- 

 veloped legs and can climb up and down better than 

 I could myself. 



When I reached the river at the mouth of the 

 Grande Coulee, I found to my dismay that all the 

 rich-looking green and brown fossil beds were on 

 the other side, where the amphitheater which I have 

 mentioned is cut out of the flank of the mountains. 

 r As a boy I had learned to swim dog-fashion, and as 



