224 
SOUTHERN OREGON. 
clothed in deer-skins, with fox-skin caps, or cast-off clothing of the 
whites; their arms, except in the case of three or four, who had rifles, 
were bows and arrows, similar to those I have described as used at 
the north; their arrows were carried in a quiver made of seal-skin, 
which was suspended over the shoulders. 
On the 15th, they reached the base of the Elk Mountains, which 
divide the valley of the Willamette from that of the Umpqua. The 
ascent and descent of this ridge are both gradual, and the hills were 
covered with pines, spruces, and oaks, with a thick undergrowth of 
Hazel, Arbutus, Rubus, and Cornus. Through these thickets they 
were obliged to force their way along the back of one of the spurs, 
and were three hours in reaching the top, which was fifteen hundred 
feet above the level of the plain. A species of Castanea was met with, 
whose leaves were lanceolate and very rusty beneath; the cup of the 
nut was very prickly. 
The route over the Elk Mountains was very serpentine, owing to 
the obstruction caused by fallen timber, many of whose trunks were 
four and five feet in diameter. Previous to ascending the mountain, 
they had crossed several small streams over which the Hudson Bay 
Company had constructed bridges for the passage of their sheep. 
Much trouble was caused by the necessity of dragging a number of 
their pack-horses with lassos from a miry pool into which they had 
plunged. At the encampment, during the night, ice made on the pools 
to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and the thermometer had 
fallen to 26°. The soil on the Elk Mountains is hard and dry; on the 
ridge, rock is nowhere exposed to view, and only a few fragments of 
sandstone lie on the surface; where they made their descent, however, 
and in the banks of the streamlets, they saw the rock finely developed 
in horizontal layers. The soil also was more sandy and of indifferent 
quality, and the grass in consequence is thin and occasionally mixed 
with ferns. 
On the 16th, they encamped on the Elk river. The hunters were 
successful in killing a large elk, which was brought into camp and 
divided. Lieutenant Emmons, Mr. Agate, and Sergeant Stearns, 
with a Canadian as guide, left the encampment for Fort Umpqua, 
which was fourteen miles distant. The country for the first five 
miles was hilly, with scattered patches of pines, and it appears in 
places to be suitable for cultivation; the rest of the distance was over 
a country much broken. The trail carried them over a succession of 
steep hills and through deep ravines, which at times appeared almost 
impassable to their broken-down beasts; four of which Lieutenant 
Emmons was taking with him to exchange. They did not reach the 
