50 THE MULE. 



In 1858, this same Anderson packed for the expedi- 

 tion sent after the Snake Indians. His train consisted 

 of some two hundred and fifty or three hundred mules. 

 They packed from Cordelaine Mission to Walla Walla, 

 in Oregon. The animals were of a very superior 

 kind, selected for the purpose of packing out of a very 

 large lot. Some of the very best of these mules were 

 packed with three hundred pounds, but at the end of 

 two weeks gave out completely. 



In 1859, this same Anderson packed for a gentleman 

 of the name of David Reese, living at the Dalles, in 

 Portland, Oregon. His train consisted of fifty mules, 

 in good average condition, many of them weighing nine 

 hundred and fifty pounds, and from thirteen to fourteen 

 hands high. His average packing was two hundred 

 and fifty pounds. The distance was three hundred 

 miles, and it occupied forty days in going and return- 

 ing. Such was the severity of the labor that nearly 

 two-thirds of the animals became poor, and their backs 

 so sore as to be unfit for work. This trip was made 

 from the Dalles, in Oregon, to Salmon Falls, on the 

 Columbia River. Anderson asserts it, as the result of 

 his experience, that, in packing fifty mules a distance 

 of three hundred miles with two hundred and fifty 

 pounds, the animals will be so reduced at the end of the 

 journey as to require at least four weeks to bring them 

 into condition again. This also conforms with my own 

 experience. 



In 1857, there was started from Fort Laramie, 

 Nebraska Territory, to go to Fort Bridger with salt, a 

 train of forty mules. It was in the winter ; each mule 



