^ 



ward. This ranch is k)eally reported to be owned by 

 Swift & Co. under the name, Eastern Oregon Land 

 Company. We arrived there at seven-thirty P. M. and 

 put ui) for the night. Leaving early the next mM-ning, 

 we climbed over the rim rock Ijy the P Grade and into 

 Catlow Valley, stopping at the Catlow Post Office to 

 make inquiries in regard to the anteloj^e in the vicin- 

 ity. The Postmaster stated that there were from fifty 

 to^ one hundred antelope in the northern end of Catlow 

 Valley, ranging do\vn as far as Roaring Springs, and 

 that recently he had seen five in that vicinity. 



Our next stop was at Beckley, a few miles south 

 of Catlow. Here we learned from the Postmaster that 

 he also had seen five antelope near Roaring Springs, 

 which no doul^t were the same as previously men- 

 tioned. He also stated that antelope were usually 

 found in the vicinity of Beatty's Butte, some miles to 

 the southward, and "west of Steens Mountains. 



The agricultural prospects in CatloAV Valley are 

 not very promising, and the settlers are rather dis- 

 couraged, there having been no rainfall in over two 

 vears. The land will not produce without irrigation, 

 and there is no water available for this purpose. ' As a 

 last desperate measure, drilling for water is proposed. 

 A notice -was posted in the store at Beckley calling for 

 a meeting of the settlers in Catlow Valley for the pur- 

 pose of collecting a sum of money to be used in sinking 

 a test well, to determine the practicability of irrigation 

 bv that method. 



At Beckley we replenished our supi;)lv of gas and 

 filled up Xm- "canteens and radiator with Avater, l)e- 

 cause the country we were now approaching was devoid 

 of water free from alkali. 



Leaving Beckley we shaped our course in a 

 southerlv direction, " skirting the western slope of 

 Beattv's Butte. With a powerful field glass we 

 searched the country for miles ahead and on either 

 hand, for a glimpse "of the antelope said to be in this 

 section, but with no success. Not even tracks or signs 

 were seen. Nothing but an endless sea of sage brush 

 and innumerable rocks and stones of a lava formation 



61 



