Expedition to John Day River 177 



in a pile of driftwood. I dug it out with my bare 

 hands, only to find that its seams had parted and that 

 its bottom was as full of holes as a sieve. Not dis- 

 mayed, I found a bed of sticky clay with which I 

 calked my ship, and venturing again into the flood, 

 managed to get to the other shore before the boat 

 sank. 



I found a place to camp lower down, at the mouth 

 of a canyon which opened out into the level country, 

 and on a little creek that ran in front of Uncle 

 Johnnie's cabin. I was very well pleased with my 

 explorations in the fossil beds also, for I found the 

 skull of an Oreodon, a hog-like creature which, 

 judging from the abundance of skulls and skeletons, 

 must have lived in droves during the time when this 

 rock was being deposited in the lakes of this region. 

 These animals were herbivorous in habit. Uncle 

 Johnnie always referred to them as bears. He often 

 brought a skull into camp with the remark, " Here's 

 another bar's head. I've killed hundreds of 'em in 

 ole Virginia." 



I returned to camp much elated, and was planning 

 to pack the outfit into the Basin the next day, when 

 to my disgust Joe Huff, who owned the horses, re- 

 fused to pack them, as he did not want to run the risk 

 of injuring them. It was useless to tell him that he 

 had been hired to do what I wanted, etc. ; he was not 

 to be moved. So I paid him off, and saw him start 



