388 WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 



Dr. Bailey also related to me an aiaecdote of Mr. Farnbam,* who 

 has written upon Oregon. A few days before the latter left the coun- 

 try, they were lost in the woods, and were obliged to pass a cold 

 and dark night up to their ankles in mire : this the Doctor thought 

 had cured his enthusiasm ; and the first news he received of him was 

 his violent attack upon the country on which, a few months before, 

 he had written so strong a panegyric. 



The next farm I stopped at was that of Mr. Walker, who came 

 from Missouri, with all his family, last year : he did not like the 

 country, and wished to go to California by the first opportunity. His 

 principal objection, he told me, was to the climate, which was too wet 

 for business. He said that the land was good, but only for crops of 

 small grain, which there is no market for, nor is there a probability 

 of one for some time. Indian corn cannot be raised.: it was, however, 

 a first-rate grazing country. He was a good specimen of a border- 

 man, and appeared to think nothing of a change of domicile, although 

 he is much past the middle age, with grown-up sons and daughters 

 around him. He intended to go to California, and if the country did 

 not please him, he would travel home by way of Mexico. His family 

 consisted of eight or ten persons. f 



George Gay now thought it proper to notify me that we ought not 

 to delay any longer, as we had to cross the Powder river, and he did 

 not know the state it was in. After a hard gallop, we reached that 

 stream at the usual fording-place. We, however, found that it was 

 entirely filled with drift-wood, and impassable at that place for our 

 horses. This difficulty was soon obviated, for while we were trans- 

 porting the saddles, &c., across the raft of timber, he had searched 

 out a place where the horses might cross, and dashed in on one of 

 them, while we drove the others into the river. We were soon 

 mounted again, and on our way. This stream is about four hun- 

 dred feet wide, and then about twenty feet deep. Quantities of large 

 and fine timber were locked together, until they entirely covered the 

 surface. 



The country now became exceedingly rough, overgrown with 



* Mr. Farnham had been staying with Dr. Baile}^, and had prepared during that time 

 the memorial of the settlers to Congress, speaking of it in the highest and most exalted 

 terms, and was one of the most enthusiastic in its praise. His account subsequently given 

 of Oregon, dilTers very materially from the memorial. 



f Mr. Walker subsequently joined the party I sent across to California, from the 

 Willamette, and then entered the service of Mr. Suter. 



