January 19, 1882.] ' 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



485 



minutes I caught as many salmon, each of which would 

 weigh about ten pounds. 



The next morning at three o'clock the steamer started 

 down the river and by ten we were at New Westminster. 

 Here we had to part with our friends Mr. and Mrs. IT., whose 

 kindness to us, strangers, I can never sufficiently acknowl- 

 edge. Then we passed on down the river and across the 

 island dotted waters of the gulf; through the narrow pass- 

 ages, where the Indians were still catching their herrings; 

 out again into the straits, whence were to be seen white, 

 majestic Rainier, and the snow-capped peaks of the Olympian 

 Range, and then around Clover Point and into the snug little 

 harbor and Victoria was reached. 



A day of hard work enabled us to pack up our traps and 

 take the steamer next morning for Tacoma. All our friends 

 in Victoria had been so kind to us that it was a real pain to 

 me to leave the town. Never have I met more charming or 

 more cultivated people than in this far-away place, and cer- 

 tainly never were strangers more hospitably and genially re- 

 ceived than the three whose wanderings I am detailing. 

 But good-byes have to be said, although I think that they are 

 repeated more regretfully each time that the word has to be 

 used, and the traveler who feels a lively sense of gratitude 

 for kindnesses conferred upon him, by those on whom he 

 has no possible claim, uses ihe word with a deep appreciation 

 of its meaning which most people would never understand. 

 He has perhaps been received into the home and, although 

 never seen before, been treated as an old acquaintance or as 

 a family friend, and he must, if his spirit bo at all sensitive, 

 be deeply touched by treatment such as this. Money can 

 procure ease and comforts wherever he goes, but it can 

 ik'Vlt furnish that friendly solicitude for comfort and well- 

 being whieh i3 so grateful to the heart of the stranger in a 

 strange land. 



The sail over the blue waters of Puget Sound is delightful, 

 but loo short, and the evening finds ua at Tacoma. A day 

 was spent here, part of which we devoted to an excursion to 

 a rich coal mine at Carbonado, thirty miles distant, since 

 purchased by Colonel Crocker for the Central Pacific Kail- 

 road. The branch of the Northern Pacific U.K. which we 

 took passes through a country of great beauty aud fertility. 

 Near Puyallup the principal agricultural industry is hop 

 growing, aud it is sa : d that 2,000 Siwashes come in every 

 year to help harvest the crop. In 1879 the growers received, 

 we were told, 40 cents per pound for their crop; in 18S0 the 

 price had fallen to 19 cents, and iu 1881 it was estimate d 

 that they would get 16 cents, but even at this price there is a 

 fait margin of profit. The houses for drying the hops are fl 

 feature of the laud- cape. There is a large stave factory at 

 Puyeoup. Much of the land along the track is cultivated, 

 but as the mountains are approached we pass through valu. 

 able tracts of timber land. At Carbonado is a sawmill where 

 splendid timber is put out. On our return to New Tacoma 

 we met a number of gentlemen, enthusiastic fishermen and 

 hunters, who gave us valuable hints ia regard to our pro- 

 posed trip over the lines of the N. P. R. R., hints which when 

 adopted, as they afterward were, added greatly to the inter- 

 est of our journey eastward. 



From here we proceeded by rail to Kalama and thence by 

 steamer to Portland, the sail between these two points being 

 rum v'iilousiy lovely. At one time we could see from the 

 steamer's deck no less than six enormous snow-clad peaks 

 from nine to over fourteen thousand feet in height. These 

 were Mts. Rainier, St. Helens, Adams. Hood, Jefferson and 

 the Three Sisters. 



Portland we left early next morning, and proceeded, on a 

 very comfortable steamer, up the Columbia. Thee river is 

 magnificent, and the lava country, through which it has cut 

 its way, is very beautiful. For the first few miles the bottom 

 is wide and the hills are distant, but after a while we enter 

 a stretch where there is no bottom land, and the river flows 

 between walls of rock. We lounge on the steamer's deck 

 and lazily watch the changing features of the scene. The 

 long grass, ewer which the maturing touch of summer has 

 passed, shines yellow on the gently undulating curves of the 

 hills which sweep upward from tbe river banks, but in the 

 shadow of the numberless walls and piles of lava it is brown 

 and dull, without the glimmer and sheen which it takes in the 

 sunlight. The country is open and park-like, the slopes, dot- 

 ted with dark spruces and pines, which grow most thickly in 

 the ravines and on the sleeper hillsides. Their dark foliage 

 ami the paler greens of the deciduous trees aud shrubs at the 

 water's edge are the only pronounced colors of the landscape. 

 Except these, there is only the dark gray of the rock piles 

 and the yellow of the ripened grass. Over all a dome 

 bluer than the screnest of Italian skies, a hot August sun and 

 a purple haze that veils the mure distant hills and, while not 

 hiding i hem, softens their sharper outlines aud gives to them 

 a vagueness and a dreamy indistinctness which add to their 

 loveliness by calling in the imagination to aid the eye. The 

 beds of 'ava between which the river hurries are the most 

 Striking characteristics of the laudscapc and are, indeed, the 

 real reason of its beauty. Without them it would be almost 

 commonplace. A sheet of lava of great thickness cavers the 

 whole face of the country and appears everywhere, taking 

 the peculiar forms whieh characterize eroded volcanic rocks. 

 The vertical bluffs which rise from the wate fa edge are com- 

 posed sometimes of a breccia which, weathering easily under 

 the influence of wind and water, has assumed a thousand 

 fantastic shapes, seeming sometimes like columns, or like 

 st.etues, or obelisks, or great ovals set on end, Or we see 



a precipice composed of small, basaltic columns, which easily 

 break up, and, falling out in small cubical fragments, form a 

 high talus at the base of the cliff. Sometimes the columns 

 are of large size, aud these offer a greater resistance to atmos- 

 pheric influences, so that there may be no visible wearing 

 away, and the bluff rises bold and bare from the water that 

 dashes against its base. Often bold headlands extend out 

 into the very river, crowned with a fringe of graceful ever- 

 greens, and from these rise rounded, smoothly-sloping hills 

 covered with the yellow grass, and above these are lofty, 

 frowning bloffs. Along ihe bank of the river the 0. R. & 

 N. Co. are building a railroad, and thousands of blue-bloused 

 and broad-hatted Chinamen are busily at work on it. At the 

 Cascades we took the train which carries us seven miles 

 around the rapids, and then, boarding another steamer, pro- 

 ceed until, just at dusk, we reach the Dalles, Here again we 

 change from steamer te> rail, reaching Walla Walla early next 

 morning. This is a charming town of 5,000 inhabitants, with 

 a delightful climate and a fertile soil— a veritable garden 

 spot. To. 



ALL HANDS ASLEEP. 



LEAVES fiielM A LOO-BOOK — VII. 



SEE was built — no matter where — by an old oysferman ; 

 and, as to her age, it isn't quite the polite thing to in- 

 quire a female's tiine of life, so the Captain forbore asking 

 this question. She was .hearty and strong, however, was 

 Peggy, and cheap as dirt ; and if bulk gives speed, as our 

 friend of the yachting page declares it does, she should have 

 been a clipper. But whether it was the model, or the 

 barnacles on iter bottom, or the undersize of her sails, or tbe 

 faulty handling of her skipper, certain it is that the Peggy's 

 pace was a very moderate one, and she was more famous for 

 a steady, sober plodding along in all weathers, than for any 





!T 



spasmodic bursts of speed in certain winds. After the old 

 oysterman had made such alterations in rig, cabin, etc., as 

 the Captain demanded, and cleaned, to the best of his ability, 

 tbe interior, which was reelolent with the odea- from many 

 years' hauls t.f fish and oysters, the Peggy was. withal, 

 quite a trim little ship, and, before completing bis first cruise 

 in her, the Captain conceived H lasting affection for theoasy- 

 steering, comfortable-handling, and safety-assuring old 

 smack. 



The tide was ebb in Cob Creek as the Peggy dropped 

 down t nvard the sea, floating slowly, while ihe Captain 

 cooked his dinner on the spirit-stove near the cabin door, 

 occasionally peering over the house to see. that her nose was 

 right. The sails were loose, ready to hoist, ropes and rig- 

 uiug roiled r>r belayed in place, aeiel everything prepared as 

 carefully as if the Peggy were a man-of-war, or fitted ojlt to 

 find the Northwest Passage. And with good reason. The 

 Captain, crew, supercargo and all were one man — a so-called 

 consumptive at that — and where the sailing, cooking,— av, 

 and the scrubbing, of a twenty-two Ebot two-master depends 

 on so small a crew, there are many things to be carefully 

 pondered that would receive but slight attention were lucre 

 a man or so "before the mast." 



As we— the Peggy and Captain— drop elown through the 

 mouth of tbe creek and into the bay, a slight, wlii Q 

 felt as we clear the range of the forest of hackmatacks, aud 

 preparations aie maele for action. The little mizzen is first 

 In >isted and the halliards made- fas'. Then the jib runs up, 

 the Captain not leaving the cockpit, to hoist it. NOW the 

 Peggy begins to feel tbe breath of the light laud breeze and, 

 as the mainsail is hoisted, ripples the water from her bow 

 With a musical gurgle. With such a light zephyr we can 

 use all sail, and, as we are anxious to sec how our hitherto 

 untried topsail will work, that, too, is sent aloft, aud the 

 Peggy has donned her " racing r'tij" complete. 



The voyage is to ho made through waters entirely unknown 

 L-.tio, but the. chart shows a plenty of harbors along 

 the coast/ alll > tlle sea-going qualities of the little, smack are 

 SO well-known that, but little anxiety ia felt for th 

 dangers to be encountered. "She'll find her way all by her- 

 self"" said the old oysterman, when the Captain bade him 



good-bye at the dock, and, verily, his words were not with- 

 out reason. As the hooked end of Crab Point was passed 

 and the open ocean lay before us, the breeze freshened con- 

 siderably aud the topsail was lowered. The little eight-foot 

 life-boat that served as a dingey, which hitherto had lain to 

 the windward of the house, was shoved into tbe water, and 

 its painter made fast to the Peggy's stern. Then the Captain 

 leaned back against the dandy mast on the first long leg out 

 to sea and smoked his pipe, while he watched the porpoises 

 playing and the distant sails of a fleet of fishing vessels on 

 their voyage home. There is something soporific in thus 

 sitting silently steering under the rays of the summer sun, 

 with the light waves plashing around, and only enough wind 

 to rock one gently up and down as in a cradle, and soon the 

 Captain began to feel a drowsy sensation stealing over him. 

 An innate facility of sleeping anywhere and under any 

 circumstances, which was a very happy possession in most 

 cases, was here very unwelcome. For a while the somnolent 

 sensation was pleasant, and the Captain abandoned himself 

 to a dreamy reverie, but as his head nodded forward there 

 came a sudden "rat-tat" from the loosed jib-sheets, and, 

 awaking with a start, he found the Peggy rounding to ; so, 

 bringing her to her course again, he sat up straight, and 

 began to puff vigorously on the brier-root to keep awake. 

 It was uo use, however, aud again the head dropped forward 

 on the breast, the pipe fell from the lips, and the lone sailor 

 was iu another doze. This time the Peggy kept her course, 

 and worked her way gradually further and further out into 

 the open ocean. A party of young people, passing in art 

 open yacht, saw the sleeping steersman sitting at his post, 

 but took no more notice of the passing craft than to remark 

 the peculiar rig, so seldom seen iu those waters. A lumber 

 schooner passed so near as to endanger the safety of the little 

 smack, and the angry skipper hailed with a gruff , "You 

 blasted lubber, haul off! I'd ort. to run you down '." But 

 the Captain of the Peggy made no answer, and he of the 

 lumber vessel sailed away, still hurling maledictions back at 

 the solitary voyager. And on and on went the Peggy, and 

 further and further out to sea, and still the Captain slept. 

 At length he dreamed. He seemed to be near a rocky island, 

 searching for a harbor for his little smack. None appeared, 

 and every moment the waves 

 were growing fiercer. He 

 would certainly be lost. A 

 huge, jaaged rock was dead 

 ahead. He seized the helm to 

 change his course. The tiller 

 would not stir. He gave it a 

 sudden wrench. It broke in 

 two, and he fell over with the 

 force of the shock. The hiss- 

 ing waves engulfed him, and 

 as he struggled vainly to com- 

 bat them he awoke. The tide 

 had turned, the Peggy had 

 rounded to, and a wave had 

 come "splash" against the 

 Captain's face. Rubbing his 

 eyes and looking around Vi ith 

 amazement, he saw the faint 

 dark line offhe shore far away. 

 He looked at his watch. He 

 had been afloat four hours, 

 and during the greater part he 

 had slept. 



But now work must be quick, 

 for the hours of daylight are 

 passing quickly, and there are 

 low growliugs of thunder 

 away off in the West. The 

 Peggy is put about, and away 

 we speed for shoie. U we can 

 make Connerstown Harbor be- 

 fore dark we are all right. If 

 not. wo may be lost. Let us 

 examine the chart. Conners- 

 town lies in a bay midway be- 

 tween two points, Rodney's 

 and Henderson's. Tuese are 

 nine or ten miles apart. The 

 Peggy's nose is headed for one 

 of these, but the question is, 

 which one? If Rodney's, we 

 must bear off to the southward 

 to find the harbor. If Hen- 

 derson's, we must change our 

 course northward. The distance already sailed cannot be 

 accurately calculated, because the wind has doubled its 

 force since the start, and it is impossible to tell how 

 long its present strength has been kept up. From the 

 distance out at sea the captain is led to believe that 

 Rodney's Point has been passed and that Henderson's is the 

 one in view. There is no craft of any kind in sight, so infor- 

 mation from that quarter cannot be expected. A nearer peal 

 of thunder warns that hesitation is dangerous, and the prow of 

 the smack is turned immediately northward, though not 

 without many misgivings. Now, every effort is made to 

 discern the expected harbor aa the Peggy bowls along. The 

 wind has increased to half a ga'e, and with reefs turned in in 

 every sail the smack still heels feaifuliy. A sudden wave 

 dashing into the oe>ckpit wets the chart, and its Hues are ren- 

 elered almost illegible. The Point is left a mile behind, and 

 still no signs of the harbor. The Captain begins to feel thit 

 he has mistaken his bearings, but it is too late to turn back 

 now, and hoping that by some chance he may still find a safe 

 anchorage, he keeps blindly on. A great, black cloud is 



idly act ■■ .the sky, aud as its heavy folds obscure 



' .rkness seems almost like that of night. It is 

 ; list, tbe Captain has taken ihe wrong course, 



so, determining la prepare for tbe worst, the Peggy is laid 

 to, ship's lamps lighted, hatches all tightly closed, heavy eOat 

 donned Jkifl Some of ihe water in the cockpit pumped out. 

 By the time all this is done the gloom of night has fallen on 

 Hie water, aud, avoiding the perils of an unknown shore, the 

 . .in steers boldly for the open sea. 



e on- i if tbe dangers of a summer thunder shower is the 

 puspiexing way the wind has of blowing now this way aud 

 UOW ihat, ami' then seemingly from every point of the com- 

 pass at once. It was this waywardness that troubled the 

 C? plain, the sails being at oue moment distended to their 

 Utmost, and In another" moment flapping wildly as he tried 

 In "catch" Ihe new direction Of the wind. Tin- whalc- 

 .. 3 compass- used on the Peggy had to be scanned by a 

 ■iio" held between the Captain's knees aud after gazing 

 fur a moment at this bright light it wa' impossible to see a 

 ...■■.;ii in the darkness, and tha rain, which beat 

 j. vu o.:" the face at an angle, made looking out ahead a 



