60 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



from one to five children, riding in the day time and sleeping 

 at night in a covered wagon, cooking by an open fire, with 

 the wind, dust or rain to contend with, to say nothing of the 

 hot sun by day, the music of the wolves by night, and the 

 more or less constant fear and dread of the Indians. If 

 any feel that way— well — they have got grit — that is all. 



At the same time that the oxen were shod, the tires were 

 set on many of the wagons, as the hot weather and dry 

 atmosphere was hard on the woodwork. This, however, 

 was quite an easy job — cottonwood bark was plentiful at 

 that camp and was used for heating the tires. 



As stated in a former chapter, our family, when we left 

 St. Joseph, Mo., consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Knapp and their 

 little girl, and my cousin, Wesley, and myself, but awav <^ver 

 the continental divide somewhere, I cannot now remember 

 just where, there was an addition to our family, Mrs. Knapp 

 presenting her husband with a little girl baby. It cannot be 

 said that there was rejoicing in camp because an addition 

 of that kind was really desired or welcomed, but there was 

 rejoicing that the baby lived and that Mrs. Knapp recovered 

 her strength rapidly, and only a delay of two or three days 

 was necessary before resuming the journey. 



And now comes the saddest part of my story. I shrink 

 from telling it, and have seldom mentioned it — but it is 

 proper and right that it should be told. We were camped 

 on Burnt river, in what is now Baker county, eastern Ore- 

 gon, somewhere between Huntington and Baker City — the 

 oxen had died off so that our team was not strong enough 

 to draw the wagon, and all the other teams were in a similar 

 condition — we were getting short of provisions, and we 

 supposed none could be had nearer than Walla Walla, pro- 

 bably 200 miles distant. It was decided to double teams, 

 abandon part of the wagons, and all the single men to leave 

 the train and go on foot, to shift for themselves as well as 



