ElvDOKADO 24s 



kill meat) to wait a few weeks until the snow melts, 

 so that 1 can go on. The Indians there also being 

 friendly, I consider it the most safe point for me to 

 remain until such time as I can cross the mountains 

 Aith my horses, liaving lost a great many in attempt- 

 ing to cross ten or fifteen days since. 1 am a long 

 ways from home, and am anxious to get there as soon 

 as the nature of the case will admit. Our situation is 

 quite unpleasant, being destitute of clothing, and most 

 of the necessities of life, wild meat being our principal 

 subsistence. I am. Reverend Father, your strange but 

 real friend and Christian brother. J. S. Smith, May 

 19th, 1827." 



With the opening of the summer, the snows melted, 

 and the trappers continued on their journey toward 

 the north. iVs they traveled, they were daily attacked 

 bv small bands of skulking Indians, and when they 

 reached the mouth of the Umphqua river in Oregon, 

 their troubles culminated. Here they were attacked in 

 the early dawn, while all of them were asleep, by 

 hundreds of savages, and of the whole number but 

 three escaped, amongst them Captain Smith. They 

 lost all of their packs of furs, worth thousands of dol- 

 lars, these being taken by the Indians to the posts of 

 the Hudson Bay Company, and there sold. Smith, 

 with Daniel Fryer and Richard Laughlin. continued 

 their journey to the north, after their almost miracu- 

 lous escape, and eventually succeeded in reaching 

 Fort Vancouver, on the west bank of the Columbia. 

 Here he remained, making various excursions in all 

 directions, until 1830, when he returned to St. Louis 

 and sold out his interest in the fur company. It is said 

 that during his expeditions in the mountains, lying 



