62 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Four Young Men Leave the Train and Go On Afoot — Ar- 

 rival at the Dalles — Trip Down the Columbia — Arrive 

 at Oregon City. 



Referring back to the narrative given in the last chap- 

 ter, it will be remembered that our train was reconstructed, 

 and that to economize in provisions, four young men of the 

 train who had no families, were to leave the company and 

 make the rest of the journey on foot. It had been known 

 for some time that provisions were getting scarce, and every 

 effort possible had been put forth to procure game and 

 fish to help out. Before we left the train and while en- 

 camped on one of the tributaries of Snake river called Goose 

 creek, a number of fish of the sucker variety, weighing from 

 one to two pounds apiece, were shot with a rifle in the shal- 

 low waters, and this gave us one good mess. A little far- 

 ther on we came to an Indian village at a place where there 

 were some low falls in the river, and these Indians were 

 engaged in drying salmon for their winter supply of pro- 

 visions. They were not willing to sell the dried fish but 

 oflfered fresh ones right out of the water for sale. I traded 

 for a large red salmon that would probably weigh thirty 

 pounds, a ten cent tin powder flask, containing about six 

 charges of powder. This was all we wanted for our wagon, 

 and it tasted so good that nearly all of us overate and were 

 sick from its effects. Near this place we crossed Snake 

 river, because it was known that the road for a hundred 

 miles or so was much better on the north than on the south 

 side. The river was too deep to ford, and a raft was con- 

 structed by taking two of the tightest and best wagon boxes, 

 lashing them together side by side, caulking the seams as 

 tightly as possible, thus forming a pretty safe and sub- 



