48 WHERE ROLLS THE OREGON 



older East, the same blood there as here; but a 

 different spirit. Spirit is an elastic thing; and if 

 we had the spaciousness of that western country, 

 we should doubtless have the soul to fill it, as the 

 little town of Burns fills it for a hundred and 

 fifty miles of sage, whichever way you go. 



We were " going in " from Bend, over the High 

 Desert. We were to speak to the Rod and Gun 

 Club of Burns. We were to visit the great Mal- 

 heur Lake Reservation just south of Burns, and 

 the vast wild lands of the Steins Mountains on 

 farther south, which the State has since turned 

 into a wild animal reservation. We were also 

 bringing in with us a carload of young trout 

 to stock the Silvies River and the creeks about 

 Burns. 



Our telegram had gone around by Baker City, 

 Sumpter, and Canon City ; thence had been 

 relayed by telephone to Burns ; our carload of 

 fingerling trout was to follow us by auto-truck 

 from Bend over the desert; and we — the July 

 morning found us heading over an horizon of 

 gray sage into the sunrise, the purplish pine stems 

 of the Deschutes Forest Reservation far to south 

 and west of us, and over them, in the far north- 



