224 SOUTHERN OREGON. 



clothed in deer-skins, with fox-skin caps, or cast-ofl' 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 



