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diff --git a/44600-0.txt b/44600-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d9d4a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/44600-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3300 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44600 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal + signs=. + + + + + [Illustration: Map to illustrate the Story of Martha of California] + + + + + MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA + + A STORY OF THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL + + BY + JAMES OTIS + + [Illustration] + + NEW YORK -:- CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO + AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY + + + + +JAMES OTIS'S PIONEER SERIES + + + =ANTOINE OF OREGON=: A STORY OF THE OREGON TRAIL. + + =BENJAMIN OF OHIO=: A STORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF MARIETTA. + + =HANNAH OF KENTUCKY=: A STORY OF THE WILDERNESS ROAD. + + =MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA=: A STORY OF THE CALIFORNIA TRAIL. + + =PHILIP OF TEXAS=: A STORY OF SHEEP RAISING IN TEXAS. + + =SETH OF COLORADO=: A STORY OF THE SETTLEMENT OF DENVER. + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY +MRS. A. L. KALER. + +COPYRIGHT, 1913, IN GREAT BRITAIN. + + + + +MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA. + + + + +FOREWORD + + +The author of this series of stories for children has endeavored simply +to show why and how the descendants of the early colonists fought +their way through the wilderness in search of new homes. The several +narratives deal with the struggles of those adventurous people who +forced their way westward, ever westward, whether in hope of gain or +in answer to "the call of the wild," and who, in so doing, wrote their +names with their blood across this country of ours from the Ohio to the +Columbia. + +To excite in the hearts of the young people of this land a desire to +know more regarding the building up of this great nation, and at the +same time to entertain in such a manner as may stimulate to noble +deeds, is the real aim of these stories. In them there is nothing +of romance, but only a careful, truthful record of the part played +by children in the great battles with those forces, human as well as +natural, which, for so long a time, held a vast portion of this broad +land against the advance of home seekers. + +With the knowledge of what has been done by our own people in our own +land, surely there is no reason why one should resort to fiction in +order to depict scenes of heroism, daring, and sublime disregard of +suffering in nearly every form. + + JAMES OTIS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + A CHANGE OF HOMES 9 + "JOE BOWERS" 10 + THE REASONS FOR MOVING 12 + MOTHER'S ANXIETY 14 + HOW WE WERE TO TRAVEL 15 + OUR MOVABLE HOME 18 + LEAVING ASHLEY 19 + EBEN JORDAN 22 + ON THE ROAD 25 + EBEN'S PREDICTIONS 26 + WHAT WE HEARD ABOUT CALIFORNIA 27 + THE FIRST ENCAMPMENT 28 + NIGHT IN CAMP 31 + THE TOWN OF INDEPENDENCE 32 + KANSAS INDIANS 34 + LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE FOR TROUBLE 35 + A STORMY DAY 36 + A LACK OF FUEL 38 + MAKING CAMP IN A STORM 40 + A THUNDERSTORM 42 + ANOTHER COMPANY OF PIKERS 43 + THE STOCK STRAY AWAY 45 + AN INDIAN VILLAGE 47 + I WEARY WITH SO MUCH TRAVELING 48 + EBEN'S BOASTS 50 + SUFFERING WITH THIRST 51 + IN SEARCH OF WATER 53 + QUENCHING OUR THIRST 55 + MAKING BUTTER 57 + A KANSAS FERRY 58 + THE SURPRISE AT SOLDIER CREEK 60 + BREAD MAKING 62 + PRAIRIE PEAS 63 + EBEN AS A HUNTER 65 + A HERD OF BUFFALOES 66 + EXCITEMENT IN THE CAMP 67 + A FEAST OF BUFFALO MEAT 68 + CURING THE MEAT 69 + A WASH DAY 71 + UNCOMFORTABLE TRAVELING 72 + ELLEN'S ADVICE REGARDING THE STORY 74 + INDIANS AND MOSQUITOES 75 + PRAIRIE DOGS 77 + COLONEL RUSSELL'S MISHAP 79 + CHIMNEY ROCK 81 + AT FORT LARAMIE 82 + COOKING IN FRONT OF A FIREPLACE 84 + TRAPPERS, HUNTERS, AND INDIANS 85 + ON THE TRAIL ONCE MORE 87 + INDEPENDENCE ROCK 88 + ARRIVAL AT FORT BRIDGER 90 + WITH OUR FACES TOWARD CALIFORNIA 92 + AT BEAR RIVER 93 + THE COMING OF WINTER 94 + UTAH INDIANS 97 + A DANGEROUS TRAIL 98 + SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND ANTELOPE STEW 100 + A FOREST FIRE 102 + THE GREAT SALT LAKE 104 + EBEN AS A FISHERMAN 105 + GRASSHOPPER JAM 107 + A DESERTED VILLAGE 109 + THE GREAT SALT DESERT 111 + PREPARING FOR A DANGEROUS JOURNEY 112 + BREAD AND COFFEE MAKING 114 + BREAKING CAMP AT MIDNIGHT 115 + THE APPROACH TO THE SALT DESERT 117 + A PLAIN OF SALT 117 + LIKE A SEA OF FROZEN MILK 119 + SALT DUST 120 + A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT 122 + COFFEE INSTEAD OF WATER 122 + A SPRING OF SWEET WATER 123 + THE OASIS 125 + SEARCHING FOR WATER 126 + THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY 128 + SNAKE INDIANS 130 + A SCARCITY OF FOOD 132 + SPRINGS OF HOT WATER 133 + IN THE LAND OF PLENTY 135 + THE TRUCKEE RIVER 136 + A HOME IN THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY 138 + THE MISSION OF SAN JOSÉ 139 + OUR HOME IN CALIFORNIA 141 + + + + +MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA + + + + +A CHANGE OF HOMES + + +In case one should ask in the years to come how it happened that I, +Martha Early, who was born in Ashley, Pike County, in the state of +Missouri, and lived there until I was twelve years old, journeyed +across the prairies and deserts to California, the question can be +answered if I write down what I saw when so many people from our county +went to make new homes in that state where gold had been found in such +abundance. + + [Illustration] + +For my part, I used to wonder why people should be willing to leave +Missouri, enduring the many hardships they knew awaited them on the +journey of two thousand miles, in order to buy land in a country where +nearly all the inhabitants were Spaniards and Mexicans. + +I suppose the stories told about the wonderful quantity of gold which +had suddenly been found in California caused our people to think +particularly of that far-off land. When the excitement of getting rich +by digging in the earth a few weeks or a few months had in a measure +died away, there came tales regarding the fertile soil and the beauty +of the country, until nearly every one in Pike County, as well as in +the county of the same name just across the Mississippi River in the +state of Illinois, much the same as had a fever for moving. + +Perhaps that is why the people we met while journeying called all +the emigrants "Pikers." You see there were so many from both the Pike +counties who went into California in the year 1851, that it appeared to +strangers as if every person on the trail had come from Pike County. + + + + +"JOE BOWERS" + + +Then, too, fully half of all these emigrants were singing or whistling +that song of "Joe Bowers," which was supposed to have been written by +a Piker, and to represent a man from Missouri or Illinois. + +Surely every one remembers it. The first verse, and if I have heard it +once I certainly have a thousand times, goes like this:-- + + "My name it is Joe Bowers + And I've got a brother Ike. + I came from old Missouri, + Yes, all the way from Pike." + +The song was intended to show that this Joe Bowers came from our +county, and, perhaps, because so many of the emigrants were singing +it, all of us who went into California in the year 1851 were, as I have +said, called "Pikers." + +However the name came about, I was a Piker, and before we arrived in +this wondrously beautiful country, I wished again and again that I had +been almost any other than an emigrant, for the way was long, and oh! +so wearisome. + + [Illustration] + +I must always think of Missouri as being one of the best of all the +states in the Union, because it was there I was born and there I went +to school until father caught the California fever, which resulted in +our setting out on a journey which, for a time, seemed endless. + +My father had no idea of going so far simply to dig for gold. He had +seen many who went across the country in 1849 believing they would come +back rich as kings, yet who returned home poorer in pocket than when +they left; therefore he came to understand that only a few of all that +vast army of miners who hastened into California after the discovery +at Sutter's Mill, got enough of the precious metal to pay for the food +they ate. + +Father thought he could buy better land in California than was to be +found in Pike County, for to have heard the stories told by some of the +people who had come back disappointed from the land of gold, you might +have believed that one had only to put a few seeds at random in the +ground in order to gather marvelous crops. + + + + +THE REASONS FOR MOVING + + +Nor was my father the only man who put faith in at least some of +the fanciful tales told concerning the land of California which had +so lately been given up to the United States by the Spaniards. Our +neighbors for miles around were in a state of unrest and excitement, +until it was decided that nearly all would undertake the long journey, +and I could not prevent myself from wondering if Pike County would +not feel lonely to have the people abandon it, for it surely seemed as +if every man, woman, and child was making haste to leave Missouri in +search of the wondrous farming lands. + +Mother looked woefully solemn when, on a certain evening, father came +home and told us that he had sold the plantation for about half as much +as it had cost him, and was going to join the next company that set out +from Pike County. + + [Illustration] + +It was a long time before mother would have very much to say about +the journey, but as the days passed and the neighbors who were going +with us came to our home that they might talk over the preparations +for moving, she became interested in making plans, although again and +again, when we two were alone, she told me that this trailing over two +thousand miles of deserts and mountains was not to her liking. + + + + +MOTHER'S ANXIETY + + +It was only natural she should be worried about making such a great +change, for all father's worldly goods consisted of the Pike County +plantation and the live stock, and if, after selling the land and +spending very nearly all his money to provide for the journey, we found +that California farms were no better than the one we were leaving, it +would be the saddest kind of mistake. + + [Illustration] + +"Your father has set his mind on going; the homestead has been sold, +and we must make the best of it, Martha, hoping that half the stories +we have heard about California are true," she said to me so many times +that I came almost to believe it was a foolish venture upon which we +were about to embark. + +Then, when I began to wonder how we were to live during such a long +journey, and asked mother if it would be possible for us to cook and +churn and do the family washing while traveling in an ox wagon, she +would say with a sigh:-- + +"Don't, Martha, don't ask questions that I can't answer! It seems to me +almost certain that we shall starve to death before getting anywhere +near California, even if we are not killed by Indians or wild beasts, +without having had time to get very hungry or dirty." + +Yet we did travel the two thousand miles, walking the greater part of +the way, and although there were many times when all of us were hungry, +none actually starved to death; nor were we killed by wild beasts or +Indians, else I could not be here in this beautiful place writing this +story. + +Father spent days and days getting ready for the moving. After he +had finished the preparations, I thought the journey would not be so +terribly hard, because he had arranged everything so snug and cozy for +mother and me, that it really seemed as if we might take actual comfort +in case we could make shift to do housework in a wagon. + + + + +HOW WE WERE TO TRAVEL + + +We owned only four yoke of cattle, but with some of the money received +from the sale of the plantation, we bought as many more, which gave +us sixteen oxen. We were to take with us all five of the cows and both +the horses, on which father said mother and I might ride when we were +tired of sitting in the wagon; but I knew what kind of animals ours +were under the saddle, and said to myself that it would be many a long +day before I would trust myself on the back of either. + +It would have done you good to see our movable home after father had +made it ready, and by that I mean the wagon in which mother and I were +to ride. It was small compared with the other, in which were to be +carried enough furniture for a single room, farming tools, grain for +the cattle, and a host of things; but I did not give much heed to the +load because I was so deeply interested in what was to be a home for +mother and me during many a month. + +That wagon was enough to attract the attention of any girl, for, fitted +up as I first saw it, the inside looked really like a playhouse, and +when I said as much to father, he declared that I was indeed the right +kind of girl to go into a wild country, if I could find anything like +sport during the tramp from Pike County to California. + +I surely must tell you about that wagon before setting down anything +concerning the journey. It was what is known as a Conestoga, and one +may see many of the same kind on the Santa Fe or the Oregon trail. +Imagine a boxlike cart nearly as long as an ordinary bedroom and so +wide that I could stretch myself out at full length across the body. +The top and sides were covered with osnaburg sheeting, which is cloth +made of flax or tow. Some people really sleep between sheets made of +that coarse stuff, but it is so rough and irritating to the flesh that +I had far rather lie on the floor than in a bed where it is used. + + [Illustration] + +Osnaburg sheeting makes excellent wagon covers, however, for the rain +cannot soak through the cloth, and it is so cheap that one can well +afford to use it in double thickness, which serves to keep out the wind +as well as the water. + + + + +OUR MOVABLE HOME + + +The front of the wagon and a small window-like place at the end were +left open, but could be securely closed with curtains that buttoned at +the sides. + +Around the inside of the wagon were hung such things as we might need +to use often during the journey. There were pots and pans, towels, +clothing, baskets, and two rifles, for father believed weapons might be +required when we came upon disagreeable savages, or if game was to be +found within shooting distance. + +Our cookstove was set up at the rear end of the wagon, where it could +be pushed out on a small shelf fastened to the rear axle, when we +wanted to use it. A most ingenious contrivance we found that shelf to +be, for mother and I could remain inside the wagon and do our cooking +in stormy weather; but those women of the company whose husbands had +not been so thoughtful were forced to stay out of doors while preparing +a meal, no matter how hard it might be raining. + +Our beds were laid in the bottom of the wagon and covered with the +bedclothes to save them from being badly soiled, as would be likely if +we slept upon them at night, and cooked, ate, and did the housework on +them during the daytime. + +We did not try to carry many dishes, because there were so many chances +they would be broken, but nearly everything of the kind we used was of +metal, such as tin or iron. + +Underneath the cart were hung buckets, the churn, lanterns, and such a +collection of articles that I could not but fancy people might believe +we were peddlers carrying so large an assortment of goods that they had +overrun the wagon body. + +What puzzled me before we started on the journey was how we could +persuade the cows to travel as we would have them; but I soon came to +understand that it was a simple matter. + + + + +LEAVING ASHLEY + + +You must know that father was not the only man in Ashley that intended +to build up a new home in California. More than half of the people +were making preparations for the journey, and when we finally set off +the procession was very imposing, with more than fifty wagons, not one +of them drawn by less than three yoke of oxen or four pairs of mules; +there were cows almost without number and a flock of thirty or forty +sheep. + +I said to myself then, that we need have no fear the savages would try +to make trouble for us, because when they saw so many people, the poor, +ignorant things would believe everybody on the banks of the Mississippi +was heading for California, and it would be a very brave Indian who +dared be other than polite to such a large company. + + [Illustration] + +Even though you had never before heard of Pike County, it would have +been most interesting to see the people of Ashley on the morning we +set off. As Ellen Morgan, a particular friend of mine who was going to +California also, said to me just before we drove away, "It is much as +if all the folks in the world had come to see us leave town." + +The streets were actually thronged, as I have heard it said the streets +of a large city oftentimes are, and what with the shouts of the men, +the screams of the children, and the lowing of the cattle, it was quite +as much as I could do to make myself heard when I tried to tell Ellen +that at the last minute mother had given permission for her to ride in +our wagon. + +Of course the noise in the street could not have been as great as I +fancied, for Ellen had no trouble in hearing me, as was shown when she +came running back to our wagon with her Sunday frock and other valuable +things neatly done up in a corn sack. + +Then it seemed to me that no improvement could be made upon our manner +of traveling, for we two girls were to be together all the while, and +even when the weather was stormy, it would seem really cozy under our +double thickness of osnaburg cloth. + + [Illustration] + +It surprised me very much because mother acted as if it saddened her to +set off on what could not fail to be a delightful journey. I saw tears +in her eyes when she came out of our old home for the last time, and +wondered if she was sorry because she was leaving the house where we +had lived so long, or whether she believed we would never find another +such delightful town as Ashley. + + [Illustration] + +Of course I felt just a little tearful when those people who were to +remain at home gathered around the wagon to say "good-by"; but there +were so many of our neighbors in the company we would not have a chance +to be lonely, and I was certain that all the friends we were leaving +behind would soon join us, having come to realize, as had father, that +California was the only proper place in which to live. + + + + +EBEN JORDAN + + +If I could have had everything arranged exactly to please me, I would +have insisted that Eben Jordan be left in Ashley. He is a boy about six +months older than I, who always seems to take the greatest delight in +teasing us girls. I had no doubt but that he would be very disagreeable +at times, and felt, on that first day, as if there could be no cloud on +the California skies if Eben had remained in Pike County. + +It is no more than fair for me to say, however, that, much as I +disliked the boy, Eben Jordan was one who ever kept his ears open to +the conversation of his elders and was more than willing to repeat to +Ellen and me whatever he learned. + +Even before our company had left Ashley, he told us the journey was to +be begun by first going to Independence, a town on the Missouri River +where the Santa Fe traders and those who would journey by the Oregon +trail made ready for the long march. + + [Illustration] + +Up to this time I had had no idea of how we were to get to California, +save we drove directly across the prairies and over the mountains, +always in a westerly direction. + +But I must have understood that we could not strike off across the +country in any direction we fancied, because we must follow some trail +in order to find a plentiful supply of grass for the cattle and mules +and sheep, as well as water for ourselves. + +Eben said that the leaders of the company, among whom was my father, +had talked not a little regarding the country through which we should +pass. Thus he learned that we would journey over what is known as the +Oregon trail as far as Fort Bridger, after which, striking off to the +southward somewhat, we would go along the shores of the Great Salt +Lake, past Ogden's Hole, to the land of the Bannock Indians. Then the +course was to be as nearly westward as the foothills would permit. + +"It will be a rare time for us all," Eben said gleefully, after having +told us girls that we would journey nearly two thousand miles before +coming to that land for which we sought. "There will be game until +a fellow can't rest, and after we are once well on the way, we shall +come upon Indian tribe after Indian tribe, when you girls will be only +too glad to shelter yourselves under my wing, for there is no knowing +what the savages may take it into their heads to do, providing the +opportunity offers." + +Ellen was not a little displeased because Eben seemingly believed we +would be glad of his protection, and I really felt uneasy in mind when +the lad left us to go to his father's wagon, saying:-- + +"It isn't well for you girls to be so high and mighty, because before +this journey has come to an end you may be glad that I am willing to +lend a hand." + +Ellen laughed at the idea that the time would ever come when we +might accept a favor from Eben Jordan. She seemed so certain nothing +disagreeable could happen to us while our company was so large, that +I soon put away all forebodings and gave strict attention to what was +before us. + + + + +ON THE ROAD + + +It had taken our fathers considerable time to get the people and the +cattle in proper marching order; but once this was done, they gave the +word for the procession to move forward, and the people at Ashley whom +we were leaving behind cheered us wildly as we went slowly out from the +town. + + [Illustration] + +It seemed much like taking part in some wondrous celebration, to be +riding thus amid those who were cheering and, I dare say, envying us. + +Mother was content to sit inside the wagon, where father had placed a +short-legged chair for her convenience, but Ellen and I remained on the +front seat where we could see all that was going on, and until we were +well clear of the town it did seem to me that I was a very important +person. + +It was late in the forenoon before we started, therefore no halt was to +be made for dinner, but this gave me little uneasiness, for mother had +an ample supply of cooked provisions on hand. + +Our neighbors at Ashley had spoken again and again of the hardships +which we would encounter before arriving at the shores of the Pacific +Ocean, and I said to Ellen, when we were two or three miles from the +town, that I could not understand how any one could believe such a +journey might be either wearisome or dangerous. + + + + +EBEN'S PREDICTIONS + + +Surely we were as comfortable as two girls could be, with a covering +over our heads in case it rained, and enough food to satisfy our +desires. + +Therefore what difference did it make, as I said to Ellen, whether we +were five months or six on the march? Eben Jordan, who had come back +from his father's wagon along the line of procession as if to see that +everything was right, overhearing my words, replied with a laugh, which +sounded to me very disagreeable:-- + +"You may well say, Martha Early, that this portion of the journey is +easy. We are now traveling on a beaten road, with nothing to prevent +our going forward at the best pace of the oxen. Wait until we have +really started, after having come to Independence, and leave the +highway to take to the trail. You will find the wagon tumbling and +pitching over the rocks, or floundering across fords, where watch must +be kept sharply against the Indians, and every man needs to have his +eyes open lest he be attacked by wild beasts. Then you shall say to +me whether it makes no difference to you if this journey requires five +months or six." + +I refused to listen to the lad, who seemed to find the greatest +pleasure in making other people uncomfortable in mind, and I turned +toward Ellen, as if speaking to her very earnestly in whispers, thereby +causing Eben to believe I had not heard what he said, whereupon he went +off laughing. + + + + +WHAT WE HEARD ABOUT CALIFORNIA + + +We had heard people talking about the wonderful fortunes to be found +in California, until it seemed as if we might become rich simply by +digging in the ground a bit; but, as you shall hear, before our journey +had come to an end we understood that however much valuable metal there +might be in the earth, it was not to be gathered like pebbles. + +We met on our way hundreds of people who had gone into California with +great expectations and were coming back poorer than when they set out; +but on the first day we were ignorant of all this, and quite convinced +that it was a simple matter to become wealthy by a very little labor. + +Before night came there was to me less pleasure than during the +first hour or two. The wagon jolted over the roads roughly, making +it necessary to hold firmly to the seat, lest I be thrown off, and it +became wearisome to sit so long in one position. + +Mother, who stretched herself out upon a bed in the bottom of the wagon +when she was tired of sitting upright, did not weary so soon of this +kind of traveling; but nevertheless she was quite as well pleased as +Ellen and I, when, about four o'clock in the afternoon, word was given +that we should halt and make camp. + + + + +THE FIRST ENCAMPMENT + + +We were yet in a fairly thickly settled portion of the country; but +the leaders of our company determined to make the encampment exactly as +if we were on the prairie or among the mountains, where there might be +danger from wild beasts or wilder savages, and you may well fancy that +Ellen and I were on our feet as soon as the wagon came to a stop, for +we had heard so much of this camp making that both of us were eager to +see how it was done. + +All the wagons were drawn up in a large circle so that the tongue of +one came close to the tailboard of another, and just inside this ring +of vehicles were set up small tents, which many of the company were to +use at night because their families were so large that every one could +not be given room in the wagons. + +Inside this row of tents were picketed the horses, or, at least, they +were to be picketed as soon as night should come; but when we first +halted they were fastened out upon the plain where they might eat the +grass, while the oxen, cows, and sheep were turned loose with half a +dozen of the men and boys watching lest they should stray. + + [Illustration] + +Because the people were not accustomed to thus making an encampment, +no little time was spent in getting everything into what the leaders of +the company believed to be proper order, and then our mothers set about +cooking supper. + +In our wagon the stove was pushed back upon the shelf made expressly +for it, short lengths of pipe were run through the osnaburg cloth and +tied by wire to the topmost part of the rear wagon bow, so they might +be held straight, and then mother set about her work much as if she had +been at home. + +It was most pleasant camping in the open air, and before we had been +halted an hour the place was quite homelike. + +At nearly every wagon one or more women were making ready for supper; +a short distance away the men and the boys were herding the cattle, and +near by, inside or out of the inclosure, were scores and scores of idle +ones, who, their work being done, were now enjoying a time of rest. + + [Illustration] + +There was much talking and shouting, but above all one could hear that +song of the true Pikers:-- + + "My name it is Joe Bowers, + And I've got a brother Ike. + I came from old Missouri, + Yes, all the way from Pike." + + + + +NIGHT IN CAMP + + +How Ellen and I enjoyed the supper on this first night of the journey! +Mother made sour-milk biscuit; the stove worked to perfection, as if +delighted because it was being carried to California; and what with +cold meat and steaming hot tea it seemed as if I had never tasted +anything better than that meal. + +Although we had enjoyed ourselves hugely, especially during the first +part of the day's march, both Ellen and I were tired, and when mother +said we might make up our bed on the bottom of the wagon, we were not +only willing, but eager to do so, for after the hearty supper it seemed +as if sleep had become a necessity. + +Once we had crossed over into Dreamland, our eyes were not opened again +until the sun was near to rising; then the shouts of the men and the +lowing of the cattle caused us to spring up suddenly, almost fancying +that the camp had been attacked by savages, even though we were not yet +out of Pike County. + +If I had the time, it would please me to describe the journey from our +home in Ashley to a town known as Independence, on the Missouri River, +where the Oregon trail begins; but since, as father said again and +again, we did not really start until we had struck the Oregon trail, +it is best that I leave out all that happened while we were coming from +Pike County to the Missouri River. + + + + +THE TOWN OF INDEPENDENCE + + +We traveled slowly, because the cows were not easily herded, and, as +Eben Jordan said, none of our people were accustomed to such kind of +marching. + + [Illustration] + +We did, however, finally arrive at the real starting point after eight +days, during which time Ellen and I came to understand that, however +pleasant it was to sit in the wagon and look out upon the country +through which we passed, it might grow wearisome. + +Ellen and I had fancied we would see something very new and wonderful +at Independence, and yet, while everything was strange and there was +much to attract one's attention, it was not so very different from +other settlements through which we had passed. + +There was, however, a constant bustle and confusion such as one could +not see elsewhere. Enormous wagons, which Eben Jordan said belonged +to the traders who went over the Santa Fe trail, were coming into +town or going out, each drawn by eight or ten mules and accompanied by +Spaniards or Negroes, until one could but wonder where so many people +were going. + + [Illustration] + +There were trains, much like our own, belonging to settlers who were +going into Oregon, or, like ourselves, into California. Those were +halted just outside the town, until the entire settlement was literally +surrounded, while among them all, near the wagons of the traders as +well as those of the emigrants, lounged Indians, nothing like the +people I had imagined the savages to be. + + + + +KANSAS INDIANS + + + [Illustration] + +As Ellen said, if that was the kind of Indian we should meet with +during the journey, then we need have little or no fear, for the +savages we saw at Independence were nothing more nor less than beggars, +who would greedily pick up and devour anything eatable that was thrown +at them. Eben Jordan made himself ridiculous by marching around armed +with a rifle, and a huge knife thrust in his belt, as if expecting each +instant to be called upon to defend his life. + + [Illustration] + +We were tired of the settlement, even before we had fairly arrived, and +after Ellen and I walked through the town, wondering not a little at +seeing a number of the houses and stores built entirely of brick, we +were content to return to our own encampment, which was about half a +mile out on the prairie. + + + + +LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE FOR TROUBLE + + +Up to this time mother and I had but little trouble in preparing the +meals whenever we came to a halt; but I heard some of the men say that +within a few days after we were once on the trail, all this would be +changed. There would be many times when we might not find sufficient +fuel to keep a fire in the stove, when we would feel the pangs of +thirst because of not being able to get enough water, and when, the +stock of provisions which we had brought with us having been consumed, +we would know what it was to be hungry. + +When I repeated to mother what I had heard, she nodded her head +sadly, replying that she had thought of all these things when father +first determined to seek a new home in the California country, and +she doubted not that we would come to know much suffering, before we +arrived at our journey's end. + +As may be supposed, I was not in a cheerful mood when Ellen and I went +to bed that night. During the half hour or more while we lay there +wakeful, we spoke of all the possibilities of the future, and almost +regretted that our parents had decided to leave Pike County, for +surely they could find nowhere on the face of this earth a place more +agreeable in which to live. + + + + +A STORMY DAY + + +When another morning came, it surely seemed as if all my fears were +about to be realized, for the day dawned dark and forbidding, the rain +came down in torrents, while the wind sighed and moaned as it drove +floods of water from one end of the wagon to the other, wetting us +completely even before we were awake. + +I could not believe father would set off on the journey at such a time +as this, and was wondering how we should be able to cook breakfast, +when he called to mother that she make ready the morning meal, for in +half an hour the train would be in motion. + +No one had been sufficiently thoughtful to store beneath the wagon a +supply of dry fuel, and the consequence was that we had nothing with +which to build a fire, save a few armfuls of water-soaked wood which +father and Eben Jordan succeeded in gathering, for where so many +emigrants were encamped, fuel of any kind was indeed scarce. + + [Illustration] + +I almost forgave Eben for having appeared so ridiculous when he +strutted around fully armed, as I saw him striving to gather wood for +us when he might have remained under the cover of his father's wagon; +indeed, before many days passed both Ellen and I saw that there was +much good in the boy's heart, even though he was too often disposed to +make matters disagreeable for us girls. + + + + +A LACK OF FUEL + + +Mother and I made our first attempt at cooking while the stove was +beneath the wagon cover and the pipe thrust out through the hole in the +rear. + + [Illustration] + +If we had had plenty of dry wood, I have no doubt but that the work +could have been done with some degree of comfort; but as it was, we +were put to our wits' ends, even to get sufficient heat to boil the +water, and when word was given for the company to start, we had not +really begun to cook the breakfast. + +Of course it would have been dangerous for us to attempt to keep a fire +burning while the wagon was moving. Therefore we would have been forced +to set off without breakfast, had not Ellen's mother kindly sent us +some corn bread which she had baked the night before, and this, with +fresh milk, made up our meal. + +At the time I thought I was much injured because of not having more +food; but before we had come to the land of California I often looked +back upon that morning with longing, remembering the meal of corn bread +and milk as though it was a feast. + +During all the long day, except for half an hour at noon, the +patient oxen plodded wearily on amid the rain, oftentimes sinking +fetlock-deep in the marshy places. Everything was damp and every place +uncomfortable, and at times it seemed as if I could no longer bear up +under the suffering. + +In order to teach me that, instead of grumbling, I ought to be thankful +for the comforts I could enjoy, mother told me to look at those who +were exposed to the storm. I saw father and the other men walking +beside the oxen, the rain pelting down upon them pitilessly; I heard +the cry of a baby in pain; and I soon came to understand that my lot +was far less hard than that of many others. + +She read me a lesson on patience and contentment, whatever might +be my surroundings, until I grew ashamed of having shown myself so +disagreeable. + + + + +MAKING CAMP IN A STORM + + +Determined as I was to make the best of whatever might happen, I +could not but be disheartened when, nearly at nightfall, we halted to +make camp again. The rain was still descending like a cloud-burst; +everything around us, including the bedding, seemed saturated with +water. Yet I saw the men spread the thin cloth tents, after the wagons +had been drawn up in a circle, or made into a corral as the travelers +on the trail call it; I saw them wade ankle-deep in the mud, but with +never an impatient word or gesture. It appeared sufficient to them if +their women and children could enjoy some little degree of comfort. + + [Illustration] + +Again we strove to do our cooking under the wagon covers, and again we +were in need of fuel. Ellen and I, with the skirts of our gowns over +our heads for protection, scurried here and there, picking up twigs and +crying out with delight when we came upon a piece of wood as large as +one's fist. + +You can well imagine what kind of supper we had that night. The inside +of the wagon was filled with smoke, for the short length of stovepipe +did not afford a strong draft, and mother labored, with the tears +streaming down her cheeks, to fry as much bacon as would satisfy our +hunger. + +The smoke was so dense that we all wept, smiling even in the midst of +our seeming tears when father said, after he had milked the cows and +had brought in quite as much water as milk, that it was a question +with him whether he could stand better the smoke or the rain. He was +inclined to think he had rather be soaked with water than cured like a +ham. + +Again Eben Jordan showed his kindness of heart, for he insisted upon +helping this man and that, milk the cows and herd the oxen and sheep, +and he did whatever came to his hand, all the while humming "Joe +Bowers." + +When Eben came into our wagon later in the evening, Ellen and I treated +him very kindly, for we were coming to understand that this boy, who +found so much pleasure in vexing us girls, was ever ready to do a good +turn to another, even when it cost him much labor and discomfort. + + + + +A THUNDERSTORM + + +During all that night it rained; but shortly after midnight there came +up such a terrific storm of thunder and lightning that it seemed as if +the very heavens were bursting. + +Then all our men and boys were forced to go and quiet the cattle, for +the beasts were even as frightened as we girls were, and, so father +said, would have stampeded, leaving us to spend the next day searching +for them on the prairies, had it not been for the precautions of our +people. + +When I complained to mother, just after father had gone out into the +tempest, that this journey to California was nothing like what I had +pictured it, she said mildly that if I was growing disheartened now, it +would have been better had I never set out from Pike County, for thus +far matters had gone much to our convenience and that shortly we would +find real trials and real troubles. + +Next morning, however, my spirits rose, for the sun was shining +brightly when I awoke; but word was passed around the camp that +instead of setting off at once, we might spend two hours drying the bed +clothing and such of our belongings as had been saturated during the +storm. + +Then there was presented such a scene as would have interested any one +who had never witnessed the like before. On every wagon tongue were +hung blankets and garments of all kinds, and over the wheels of each +cart lay feather beds or bolsters, until it must have looked as if +every member of our company had spent a day in washing, and was now +about to do the ironing. + + [Illustration] + +Eben Jordan went here and there, aiding this one or that when he had +done what he might for his mother, all the while singing "My name it +is Joe Bowers," until, even before our breakfast had been cooked, fully +half the company were joining in that foolish song. Mother said almost +fretfully, when Ellen and I took up the refrain, that she wished the +senseless words had never been written, or that we had never heard +them. + + + + +ANOTHER COMPANY OF PIKERS + + +Although we started off late that morning, owing to the drying out, we +halted early in the afternoon, for we had come upon a company of men +and women who, like ourselves, were bound for the land of California. +The leader of the company was Colonel Russell. + + [Illustration] + +To my surprise and delight these people also proved to be Pikers, +having come from a settlement about twenty miles south of our old home. +You may readily fancy how enjoyable was that evening, when we visited +from wagon to wagon, listening to the stories of what had thus far +happened to the company, and repeating our own adventures, if such they +could be called. + +While we women and girls were thus engaged, the men of both companies +decided to travel together, believing that by increasing the number +there might be less danger from the Indians, for Eben Jordan said that +the savages we saw at Independence were but imitations of the fiercer +ones whom we were most likely to meet before our journey's end. + + + + +THE STOCK STRAY AWAY + + +I suppose it was the excitement occasioned by the meeting with Colonel +Russell's company, which caused our men in charge of the cattle to be +careless during the evening and later in the night, for when morning +came we found that nearly all the oxen and a goodly number of the cows +had strayed from the camp and disappeared completely. + +When Eben Jordan first told us of this, I believed a great disaster +had come upon us; but straightway father and half a dozen of the other +men mounted the horses and set off across the prairie in search of the +missing cattle, as if this was trouble to be expected. + +In fact, before many days passed, I came to look upon the straying or +the stampeding of the live stock as of little consequence. + +We had plenty of time to cook breakfast that morning while the men were +searching over the prairie for the cattle, and, much to my surprise, +within three hours all the stock had been brought into the encampment +and we were making ready once more for the day's journey. + + [Illustration] + +Before noon we arrived at Blue Creek, where we had, as it seemed to me, +much trouble because the trail leading to the stream was deep with mud, +and the bottom of the creek so soft that our people were forced to wade +waist-deep on either side of the wagons, lest the wheels sink so far +down that the oxen would not be able to pull the heavy loads across. + +Again and again the men laid hold of the wheels, straining every muscle +as the drivers of the cattle urged the patient beasts to their utmost +exertions, and before all our company had crossed that small creek +the day was so nearly at an end that there was nothing left for us to +do save camp once more, although we had traveled only six miles since +setting out. + +Then came Sunday morning, when I believed we would remain idle, for +it did not seem right that we should travel on the Lord's day; but, as +father said, while we were making such a long journey it was necessary +to push ahead during every hour of fair weather, and to take our day of +rest only when it was absolutely necessary. + +And so, instead of worshiping God as we would have done had we +remained in Pike County, we went forward, fording two small creeks and +journeying over a dull, level plain, whereon, save flowers, nothing was +to be seen to delight the eye. + + + + +AN INDIAN VILLAGE + + +Within an hour of sunset we came to a veritable Indian village, +although there were not many of the savages living in it, and Ellen and +I took advantage of this first opportunity to see the redskins in their +homes. + +There were but four men, with perhaps a dozen women and children, all +living in lodges made of smoke-dried skins, and looking exceedingly +dirty and disagreeable. + +We girls were not inclined to linger there long, although the Indians +were willing we should, and when our short visit had been brought to +a close, they followed us, clustering around our wagons and waiting +patiently for food to be thrown to them. + + [Illustration] + +From this time on during a full week we continued to push steadily +forward, moving so slowly that even we girls could understand the +journey would be exceedingly long and wearisome. + + + + +I WEARY WITH SO MUCH TRAVELING + + +More than once did I reproach myself with having been so eager to leave +Pike County, and many times I said to myself that a girl who has a +happy home is indeed foolish to wish for a change, lest, like Ellen and +me, they find, as mother often says, that they have jumped out of the +frying pan into the fire. + +One day was much like another. Now the trail would be hard underfoot +and the traveling easy, and again we would cross a stream, the bottom +lands of which were so marshy that the oxen lugged and strained at +their yokes, until oftentimes it was necessary to double up the teams +in order that the heavy wagons could be pulled over the soft footing. + + [Illustration] + +The only thing I remember which came to break the monotony of the slow +march was when, on a certain evening, father returned with his pockets +and hands full of wild onions which he had found on the prairie. +Because our meals had consisted chiefly of corn bread and salted meat, +I said to myself that now we would have a feast. + +But alas! those wild onions were like my dreams about traveling to the +land of California. While they looked fair on the outside before being +cooked, they were so strong to the taste that one nearly choked in +trying to eat them. + + + + +EBEN'S BOASTS + + +Eben Jordan, hearing of my disappointment, said with a laugh that when +we came to the country where game was to be found he intended to bring +into camp all the fresh meat the company could eat, and one might have +thought from the way the boy talked that he believed himself capable of +feeding all our company unaided. + +It would have been well if Eben had contented himself with predicting +the marvels which he counted on performing; but, instead, he reminded +me that before we had come into the Land of Promise I might be +more than willing to eat wild onions and "smack my lips over the +disagreeable food." + +It seems that he heard, while in Independence, of the sufferings of +some people who had journeyed over that same trail, when they found +no game and their provisions were consumed before the march came to an +end. + +It would have been better, so I said to him, if he had not repeated +such things, for surely we were getting all the discomfort that was +needed to show how foolish we had been in leaving Pike County, where no +one suffered from hunger or thirst, if he had a tongue in his head to +make known his desires. + +It seemed almost as if the boy was a real prophet, for within a few +hours Ellen and I did come to know what thirst--bitter, parching +thirst--was like. + +We had started out one morning when the rays of the sun beat down upon +us so fervently that the wagon covering seemed to be no protection, and +the only relief we had was from the gentle breeze which was blowing, +not with sufficient force to relieve our suffering, but enough to +prevent us from being literally baked. + + +SUFFERING WITH THIRST + +We drank, as did all our company, of the water which we carried in kegs +stowed in the wagons, and gave no heed to the fact that the supply was +scanty, for until this time there had never been any lack of water. + +At noon even the breeze died away; there was not a cloud in the sky, +the trail was smooth and hard, running over what father called the +tableland of the prairie, and the heat so intense that there were times +when it surely seemed as if I could not longer continue to breathe. + +Then, when our sufferings were seemingly as great as they could +possibly be, mother discovered that our store of water had been +exhausted, and called to father, asking that he get a supply from one +of the other wagons. + +It seemed strange to me then, and does even now, that at almost the +same time all our company had run short of water, and from one end +of the long train to the other we could not beg enough to moisten our +tongues. + + [Illustration] + +Perhaps it was the knowledge that I could not quench my thirst which +caused me to suffer more severely, and when father said we must travel +no less than twelve miles before coming to any stream, my heart sank +within me. + +Ellen was suffering quite as much as I, except that she had the good +sense to hold her peace, and mother, patient with me as ever, said all +she could to prevent me from dwelling too much upon my condition. + +Nor was I the only one in that company to suffer severely. Whenever the +train came to a halt that the cattle might have a breathing spell, I +could hear the smaller children crying for something to drink, and once +during the afternoon Eben Jordan came alongside our wagon, asking if +our water kegs were empty. + +Then I saw upon his face that look of eagerness and desire such as I +had read on Ellen's, and when I told him we were suffering from thirst +even more than any other members of the company, he shook his head and +replied:-- + +"It is the younger ones who suffer the most, Martha Early, for they +cannot be made to understand that it is necessary to wait; while you +and I, who are older, know it is only a case of grinning and bearing it +as best we may." + + + + +IN SEARCH OF WATER + + +I was irritated because Eben should read me a lesson, for indeed his +words sounded like a reproof. I turned away from him, saying to myself +that if it was not possible to make the oxen move more rapidly, there +was danger of my dying, all of which was foolishness, even wickedness, +as you will agree. + + [Illustration] + +To force the beasts to a more rapid pace was absolutely impossible. +Already the sheep as well as the oxen were showing signs of exhaustion +and panting for water. Their tongues were hanging out, and they moved +slowly as if unable to go farther, while five of the cows had dropped +down on the trail as if dying. + +We were forced to leave them behind, fearing lest if time was spent in +trying to get the beasts on their feet again, more of the stock would +fall. + + [Illustration] + +I hardly knew how the remainder of that day passed, for I gave no heed +to anything save my own suffering, thereby showing myself wickedly +selfish, until a great shout went up from those who were in advance, +telling that at last, after what seemed like many, many long hours, we +had come within sight of a stream of water. + +Then the oxen, wild with thirst and smelling the dampness in the air, +plunged forward as if in a fury, for the drivers were unable to hold +them in check. + +In a mad race went every yoke of the cattle, drawing the heavy wagons +that lurched first on one side and then on the other as we went over +the uneven surface of the trail, until all the contents which had been +stowed so carefully were thrown violently about, while we girls and +mother had the greatest difficulty to save ourselves from being flung +out. + + + + +QUENCHING OUR THIRST + + +The oxen continued on until every yoke of them stood in the creek, and +there they halted, drinking eagerly until their sides swelled out as if +bursting. + +Regardless of the fact that our wagon was standing in not less than +twelve inches of water, Ellen and I leaped out and drank from the +stream like dogs, too thirsty to wait longer. + +I have been in need of water many times since that day, but never have +I suffered so keenly, and I now understand that the distress which +well-nigh overcame me was caused for the most part by my foolishly +dwelling upon the lack of water, whereas if I had forced myself to +think of other matters, much pain might have been avoided. + +It was impossible to force the oxen across the creek, and we were +obliged to make camp on the easterly side, for it seemed as if they +would never have done with drinking. + +When they were so full that it was impossible to swallow another +mouthful, they refused to cross, but struggled to get among the rich +grass which covered the bottom lands of the creek. + + [Illustration] + +After the horses, as well as the men and the cattle, had been thus +refreshed, half a dozen of our people, among whom was Eben Jordan, rode +back on the trail, hoping to drive in some of the cows that had fallen +by the wayside. It was not until a late hour in the evening that they +returned, bringing with them only two of the animals. + +Thus we suffered our first loss on the journey, and it seemed to me +a most serious matter; but even before we had come to the trail which +led to California, the loss of even twice as many cattle could not have +disturbed me, for I had come to believe that we should arrive at that +Land of Promise, if indeed we were so fortunate as to survive, almost +empty-handed, owing to the difficulties of the way which the beasts +could not overcome. + +The next day's march was ended early in the afternoon, because then we +had come to a stream, and those who were familiar with the trail knew +we could not arrive at another place where water would be found until +late in the night. + + + + +MAKING BUTTER + + +So we encamped early, and mother decided to set about churning, for +long ago our store of butter had been exhausted. We had but a small +quantity of cream, all of which had been saved since morning. + +No sooner had she begun her work than fully half the women of the +company followed her example, and at the side or in the rear of nearly +every wagon was a churn set out with either the girls or the boys +working the dasher. + +As Eben Jordan said when he offered to spell me at the churn, it looked +as if we people, who had set out from Ashley to find a new home in the +land of California, had decided to abandon the idea and turn all our +attention to making butter. + + [Illustration] + +Next morning we were forced to continue the journey before having +breakfast, for we were nearing the Kansas River, and would arrive there +about noon if the march was begun as soon as daylight. Even then there +would be hardly more than time before the sun set to get all our train +over, for the stream was so deep that it could not be forded, and we +must send the wagons across in boats. + + + + +A KANSAS FERRY + + +Although we were, as one might have supposed, in an uninhabited +country, father told me that at this crossing of the Kansas River +was a ferry owned by two half-breed Indians, who made a business of +freighting heavy wagons across for a fee of one dollar each; but all +the live stock would be forced to swim. + +Now since none of the boats could carry more than one wagon at a time, +you may readily understand how many hours would be needed in order to +get all our train from one side of the river to the other, even though +it was no more than two hundred yards from bank to bank. Therefore, as +I have said, it was necessary we arrive at the ferry at the earliest +possible moment, lest night overtake us while half the company yet +remained on the eastern shore. + + [Illustration] + +The ferryboats were nothing more than square, shallow boxes, which the +Indians pushed across by poles, after the cargo of wagons had been put +on board. + +Of course the women and the girls had nothing to do with this ferrying, +save to remain under the wagon coverings where they would be out of the +way. I envied Eben Jordan, who could move about at will, for verily my +heart was in my mouth, so to speak, during all the time we were working +our slow way across the stream, fearing lest our boat should sink +beneath us. + + + + +THE SURPRISE AT SOLDIER CREEK + + +Not until nearly six o'clock were all our company on the western side +of the river, and then I supposed that we would immediately make camp; +but to my surprise word was given for the train to move on, and we +journeyed three miles more, coming to the bank of Soldier Creek before +darkness. + +It was at this place that a most pleasant surprise awaited us. Colonel +Russell's wife, who had walked ahead while our train was being ferried +across the river, found quantities and quantities of wild strawberries +near the camping place. As soon as we women and girls arrived, we set +about gathering the berries, until each family had a good supply of +the luscious fruit. Milk was not a poor substitute for cream to us who +had been living upon corn bread and salt meat ever since we left the +settlement of Independence. + +During the next two days we traveled steadily onward, slowly, to be +sure, but yet each step, as Ellen said again and again, was taking us +nearer the end of the journey. In time I came to be impatient whenever +a halt was called, so eager was I to have done with riding, for however +comfortable a girl might make herself in one of the wagons, her limbs +were certain to become cramped before night. + + [Illustration] + +On the third day after crossing the Kansas River, the leaders of our +company decided that a halt was needed in order to give the animals a +rest. Their hoofs had become dry and cracked from traveling over the +matted grass of last year, which covered the prairie even beneath the +new crop, and it was necessary that something be done for them without +delay. + +I had been looking forward to a full day's halt, even though impatient +when we were not moving forward, for Ellen and I had planned to wander +as far from the encampment as we could, searching for flowers and wild +peas, which grew there in great abundance, so we had been told. + + + + +BREAD MAKING + + +Mother decided that now had come a time when she must bake a plentiful +supply of bread, for she was determined not to be put to such straits +as we were during the rain storm, when it was next to impossible to +build a fire in the stove, and, of course, I was glad to do whatever I +might to aid her. + + [Illustration] + +Before father had fairly got the stove out of the wagon and set up +where it could be most conveniently used, nearly every other woman in +the company had decided to follow mother's example, and then came such +a scene as was presented when each family did its churning. + +In the rear or at the side of nearly every wagon a stove was set up, +and one might see everywhere women rolling or kneading dough, girls +running about on errands, and boys doing their share by keeping the +fires going. + +I must say to Eben Jordan's credit that he was of great assistance to +mother and me that day. If he had been a saint upon earth, he could +not have done more or worked with greater patience than he did, running +from stove to stove when the other boys had neglected their duties. + +Mother told him laughingly that many times while we lived in Ashley she +had been vexed because of the boyish pranks he played; but from this +time onward she should remember what he had done in the way of aiding +the cooks, and would overlook almost anything which mischief might +prompt him to do. + + + + +PRAIRIE PEAS + + +The baking came to an end, so far as our family was concerned, +shortly after noon; then Ellen and I, taking Eben with us as guide and +protector, went out in search of peas and brought home enough to supply +several families, who had been neighbors of ours, with a generous mess. + + +Save for the fact that these prairie peas look somewhat like those we +have at home, I could find no likeness between the two varieties. The +wild peas have a tough rind, and there are several seeds in the middle +of each; but after they have been boiled and allowed to remain in +vinegar a few hours, they make a fairly pleasing dish. + + [Illustration] + +When we began the march once more, I hoped to see the cattle moving +more spiritedly than before the halt; but in this I was mistaken. It +seemed to me that they limped painfully, and worse than ever; that I +was not mistaken was proved, to my satisfaction at least, when I heard +father and another man saying to each other that before many days we +should be forced to kill two or three whose feet were in the worst +condition. + +However, the days went on and our cattle continued to work fairly +well, although I noticed that when we came to rough places, such as the +crossing of a stream, where it was necessary to climb a high bank on +the opposite side, the drivers were forced to double up the teams more +often than before, because the poor creatures could not haul so heavy +a load as when we first started out. + + + + +EBEN AS A HUNTER + + +Within a week from the time of leaving Soldier Creek, Eben Jordan +was indeed puffed up with pride. He came into camp late one afternoon +dragging behind him an antelope which he had shot within two miles of +where we halted an hour previous. This proof that he had shown himself +a skillful hunter, caused the boy literally to swell with joy as he +strutted around the body of the beautiful animal while our people were +looking at it. + + [Illustration] + +It seemed too bad to kill such an innocent creature as that antelope, +and yet I forgot all the cruelty of it when Eben brought to our +wagon enough steaks to provide all of us with a slice of fresh meat. +Afterward it seemed to me much as if we had been cannibals when we so +eagerly devoured the handsome animal. + +From that day on, whenever we made camp before dark, Eben went out +with his rifle, and more than once he brought in a deer of some kind, +dividing the meat generously and fairly among us all. + + + + +A HERD OF BUFFALOES + + +Then came the time when we had our first glimpse of buffaloes, and +never shall I forget the scene. We had been traveling in the bottom +lands where we found multitudes of paths deeply cut into the ground, +which some of our people said had been made by buffaloes; but we girls +never so much as dreamed we might be near the beasts, until one morning +father called me hurriedly to look out of the wagon. + +Then I screamed, for we were literally surrounded by thousands upon +thousands of those fierce-looking, yet stupid, beasts, who gave no more +heed to our encampment than if they had been accustomed to such things +all their lives. + +They circled around within a quarter of a mile of where our cattle +were feeding, and father said afterward that unless our men had been +exceedingly watchful and active, the oxen and cows would have been +stampeded beyond a doubt. + + + + +EXCITEMENT IN THE CAMP + + +Our animals were in a high state of excitement, striving to get +through the lines of men who guarded them, and of course there was no +possibility of our breaking camp until the buffaloes had departed, for, +so father said, there was not a driver in the company who could handle +half a dozen yoke of oxen while the buffaloes were so near. + + [Illustration] + +Not all our people stood gazing stupidly at this sea of animals as did +Ellen and I. You may be certain Eben Jordan was among the first to go +out dangerously near the huge beasts, and he was followed by all the +men of the company, save those who were guiding our live stock. + +I had supposed that the buffaloes would take to their heels when a +rifle was discharged; but much to my surprise they paid little or no +attention at first to the reports of the firearms. + +I dare not venture to say how many of the animals were killed; but +certainly it seemed to me, when about noon the entire herd rushed off, +the rumbling of their hoofs on the hard earth sounding like thunder, +that there were no less than fifty carcasses spread out on the plain +within a mile of where our wagons had been drawn up to form a corral. + + + + +A FEAST OF BUFFALO MEAT + + +There was so much game for us to bring in, that during the remainder +of the day every man and boy that could be spared was kept busy at work +skinning the dead buffaloes or cutting up the flesh. + +What a feast we had that evening! We had buffalo tongues baked in the +ovens, or in front of small fires which had been built here and there. +Then there were what father called hump ribs, steaks, and meat of every +kind that could be taken from a buffalo. Each member of the company was +eager to learn how every eatable portion of the animal tasted, and, +therefore, cooked two or three times as much as could be used at one +meal. + +Our people had no more than time to skin and cut up the carcasses +before dark; on the following morning word was passed around that each +family must dry, or smoke-cure, as much of the flesh as possible within +the next four and twenty hours. + + [Illustration] + +Straightway every man, woman, and child set about either slicing the +meat as thin as it could be cut with sharp knives, or putting together +racks made of sticks, on which the strips of flesh were to be hung and +exposed to the rays of the sun, as well as to the smoke of the fires +that were to be built directly beneath them. + + + + +CURING THE MEAT + + +It was disagreeable work, and yet we were all, even to the smallest +girl, content to do our part, knowing that we were thus laying up food +for the future when it might not be possible to procure game, and when +all the stores we had brought with us from Pike County had been eaten. + +The arms of the men who acted as carvers were stained with blood to the +elbows, while the hands and even the faces of the women and children +who carried the sliced meat to hang it on the framework of sticks, were +colored in the same way. + +In addition to curing the meat in the sun and smoking it, some of the +men made what is called pemmican, a most disagreeable looking mixture +of flesh and fat which I afterward came to eat greedily, when we had +nothing else with which to satisfy our hunger. + +Pemmican is made by first drying the very thinnest of thin slices of +meat in the sun, until they are so hard that it is possible to rub or +pound them to a powder. + +A bag is then formed of the buffalo skin, and into it is packed +powdered meat sufficient to fill it considerably more than half full, +after which tallow is melted and poured into the bag until it can hold +no more. Then the entire mass is allowed to cool and harden. It is then +fit for eating, so father said; but mother, when the time came that +we were glad to have our portion of the stuff, always boiled it so it +might be served hot. + +It is not appetizing to me, and because I have seen the mixture +prepared I can eat it only when I am very hungry. + + + + +A WASH DAY + + +Two full days were spent in curing the meat and making pemmican, and +even then we did not continue the journey immediately, for the work +had brought our clothing to such a condition that a day for washing +was absolutely necessary. Therefore we remained for another twenty-four +hours. + + [Illustration] + +We were encamped near a small stream where could be had plenty of water +for the animals, and on either side of this tiny creek, shortly after +sunrise, could be seen many fires, kettles, and washtubs. + +What a tired girl I was when I stretched myself out on mother's feather +bed in the wagon that night! It seemed to me that I had no more than +closed my eyes before I was asleep, and not until father was bustling +around inside the wagon next morning trying to build a fire in the +cookstove, did I awake. + +Then the patter, patter of rain on the wagon covering told that we were +to be treated to another downpour of water, and eager though I was to +reach California, I hoped most fervently we would remain in camp yet +longer. + + + + +UNCOMFORTABLE TRAVELING + + +It was really difficult for me to open my eyes, so heavily did slumber +weigh upon them, when I asked father if he had any idea of setting +off in such a storm, at the same time reminding him how our beasts had +struggled through the mud during the last rain. + +He laughingly told me that we would continue on the trail, regardless +of the weather; that a rain storm was not to be compared in the way +of discomfort with snow. He said that unless we came to our journey's +end before the season of frost set in, we might never arrive, but +would be in danger of perishing, as others had who, striving to reach +California, had been overtaken by winter among the mountains. + +"So long as the cattle are in condition to push on, just so long shall +we continue to march, regardless of whether the rain falls or the sun +shines," he said, speaking very solemnly, and mother's face grew grave +as if she was already beginning to understand the better what might be +before us. + +"There will be all too many days when we must remain in camp; but now, +after such a long rest, it would be little less than wicked to remain +idle here simply because it might be more to our comfort." + + [Illustration] + +There is little need for me to explain how disagreeable it is to get up +in the morning and attempt to keep a fire going with wet fuel. + +Everything was damp and uncomfortable to the touch, and all the +surroundings looked much as Ellen and I felt when we helped mother +prepare breakfast. + +After that very unsatisfactory meal had been eaten, for we had nothing +save some half-fried bacon with cold corn bread, not being able to +make coffee because the fire would persist in going out, the train +was started. Ellen and I, crouching in the rear end of the wagon where +the rain could not drive in upon us, sat close to the stove, which now +seemed warmer than when we were trying to cook breakfast, and talked of +the future. + +Of course I cannot set down all we said, for much of it was foolish; +but some of the conversation I have remembered clearly even to this +day. + + +ELLEN'S ADVICE REGARDING THE STORY + + +Ellen, when I had told her it was my intent to write the story of our +coming from Pike County, said that it would not be proper for me to +write anything about what we saw or did while on the Oregon trail. We +were bound for California, and would not be upon the direct road to +that country until we had left Fort Bridger. + +It was her idea that I should begin the story with the time when we +turned from the trail leading to Oregon, and set our faces directly +toward California; but, as has been seen, I nearly forgot her advice, +and even now it seems impossible to do exactly as she proposed. + +I intend, however, in order to please her, to set down only such +matters as seem to me of the greatest importance, and thereby hurry +over a certain portion of the march, beginning in earnest with the time +when we finally came to Fort Bridger. + + + + +INDIANS AND MOSQUITOES + + +Now you must bear in mind, although I may not speak of them again, that +we were constantly meeting with Indians. Hardly a day passed that we +did not come upon a village, meet a party of hunters, or receive visits +from groups of two, three, or four who came to beg. + + [Illustration] + +Strange though it may seem, we became accustomed to the savages as one +does to seeing a dog or a cat around the house, and gave little or no +attention to them save when they made themselves disagreeable. + +One other thing I will speak about now. Mosquitoes and tiny flies, +which seemed as fierce as tigers, were with us all the time by day as +well as by night. + +When we first left Independence, it was difficult for me to sleep at +night because of these insects, and during the day I spent the greater +portion of my time striving to keep them off my hands or face. As the +journey progressed it seemed as if they became less poisonous; but I +suppose my body had become accustomed to the wounds, and I gave little +heed to them except when the weather was exceedingly warm. + + [Illustration] + +Until we came among the foothills, which is to say, after we left Fort +Bridger, we found game in abundance. What had been sport to Eben became +now a real labor, and he sought for fresh meat only when urged to do so +by his father or some of us girls. + +There were days when our men brought in no game because they were +unable to come across any; but we were in a country abounding with +deer, elks, buffaloes, and even bears, and so did not suffer for food. + + + + +PRAIRIE DOGS + + +Even though I say nothing more regarding the remainder of our journey +over the Oregon trail, I must speak of the little prairie dogs which we +came upon from time to time. + +They live in villages, sometimes, as father has said, several acres +in extent, and their houses are holes in the ground, with a top or +extension, made of earth which they have pushed up from beneath. + + [Illustration] + +Eben Jordan declares, and several men in the company who have talked +with the trappers or hunters say, that in every prairie dog's house may +be found a little gray owl, who has lodgings there, and oftentimes with +this owl is a rattlesnake. Now just fancy the prairie dog, the owl, +and the rattlesnake living together! All I ever saw of the family was +the dog, and he is about the size of a large rat, with hair which is a +mixture of light brown and black in color. + +It is impossible for me to tell you how entertaining these little +creatures are. When we passed by the villages you could see them +scampering around and barking. Again and again I have seen them playing +about or sitting on the top of their houses, giving no heed to us until +the wagon train was close upon them, when the entire colony would pop +into their holes with every evidence of fear. + +A moment later each little fellow would stick his head out, his black, +beadlike eyes glistening, while he looked around as if asking whether +or not you saw how quickly he could get under cover when it pleased him +to do so. + +I know of nothing more comical than these little animals, and yet they +look so much like rats that I would greatly prefer to see them at a +distance rather than make any attempt at taming them, as Eben Jordan +declares is his intention to do as soon as he can catch one alive. + +I have my doubts, however, about his being able to catch one, unless he +is cruel enough to wound it first with a rifle ball. + + + + +COLONEL RUSSELL'S MISHAP + + +Just before we arrived at the Platte River, we crossed a small creek, +the bottom of which was exceedingly soft; the men were forced to +double up the teams in order to draw the heavy loads along, and Colonel +Russell's wagon upset in midstream, where the water was two or three +feet deep. + + [Illustration] + +Now there was nothing comical in such a mishap, and yet Ellen and I, +who were standing on the bank of the creek where we could see all that +was going on, laughed until I felt actually ashamed of myself. It was +all so ridiculous that I could not have kept my face straight whatever +might have been the result. + +If the accident had happened quickly, there would not have been +anything so very funny about it; but, instead, the wagon toppled +slowly, the men striving meanwhile to prevent it from going entirely +over. In the heavy wagon were Mrs. Russell and four children. We saw +first the youngest child, as if some one had tossed him out, come +shooting from the wagon and strike the water. Then another child, and +so on, one after another, exactly like a lot of grasshoppers, until +Mrs. Russell herself appeared. Out they marched in the same order, +water streaming from their clothing, which was bedaubed with mud. + + [Illustration] + +Mother reproved Ellen and me severely for laughing when our neighbors +were suffering; but even as she spoke the Russell procession passed +along the edge of the bank, marking the way with mud and water, and I +noticed that it was all she could do to keep her face straight while +she scolded us. + + + + +CHIMNEY ROCK + + +When finally we crossed the Platte River, the men of the company +rejoiced, although I was unable to learn why, except that it marked, as +mother suggested, the first stage of the journey, the second of which +would come to an end at Fort Bridger, and the third in that land where +we hoped to settle. + +Not long after crossing this river we had a first glimpse of that +enormous mass which travelers speak of as Court House Rock, which, so +those who have seen both say, looks from the distance not unlike the +Capitol at Washington. A few miles farther on we saw another huge pile +called Chimney Rock. + +I doubt not but that both would have been well worth the seeing, yet +our desire to look at them more closely was not gratified. The trail +leads some distance off, and when mother proposed to father that we +might halt for a day in order to get a nearer view of the curiosities, +he shook his head decidedly, saying, almost gruffly, that we who were +bent on finding new homes had no time to fritter away in looking at +this odd thing or at that. + +Eben Jordan, however, borrowing one of his father's horses, rode off +to Chimney Rock by himself, and when he came back he told Ellen and me +that we need not shed many tears because of failing to see it close at +hand, because it was nothing more than a lot of big stones that looked +as if they might have been carelessly plastered together with mud. + + [Illustration] + +Of course this couldn't be the fact; but Eben has no eye for scenery +and, I dare say, might turn his nose up at what every one else would +believe wonderful or full of beauty. + + + + +AT FORT LARAMIE + + +Forty-eight days after leaving Independence we came to Fort Laramie, +which is more like a trading post than like a fortification. It stands +on the banks of the river Platte, is owned by the American Fur Company, +and is six hundred and seventy-two miles from Independence by the trail +we came over. + +Just fancy! We had traveled nearly seven hundred miles, the men of the +company walking all the way; yet during that time, with the exception +of the mishap to Colonel Russell's wagon and the loss of a few head of +cattle, we had come to no harm. + + [Illustration] + +At Fort Laramie we slept in a real house for the first time since +starting on the long journey. It was not such a building as we lived in +at Ashley, and yet it was to me almost beautiful, after I had remained +so long in the wagon. + +I fancied I would sleep on that night as never before since the +march began, and that we would have supper and breakfast properly and +conveniently served. + +I had supposed the mosquitoes and the midges were as thick in our +wagons as it would be possible to find them anywhere; but when we came +into that house the place was swarming with them, and they prevented us +from closing our eyes in rest during the entire night. Never was a girl +better pleased than I when the first light of day came in through the +windows. + + + + +COOKING IN FRONT OF A FIREPLACE + + +After striving to cook food in front of one of the two fireplaces in +that house, I was actually ashamed of having complained because our +stove in the wagon on a stormy morning had seemed to me like some +contrary animal. + + [Illustration] + +However much trouble we might have had with wet fuel and lack of draft +owing to the shortness of the stovepipe, it was as nothing compared +with those rude fireplaces, where our faces were burned almost to a +crisp, our eyes filled with smoke, and whatever was cooking came from +the heat thickly incrusted with ashes. + +I resolved not to grumble at anything we might find in California, +provided we had conveniences where we could cook with some degree of +comfort, and a place in which to lie down where we would be protected +from insects. + + + + +TRAPPERS, HUNTERS, AND INDIANS + + +I suppose Eben might describe Fort Laramie so that it would to a +stranger present the appearance of a stronghold; but for my part I saw +there only scores upon scores of savages, loitering around outside the +walls, gambling, racing horses, bartering furs, or gorging themselves +with half-cooked meat, while here and there could be seen the noisy +trappers, some dressed fancifully after the fashion of the Indians, and +others decked out in buckskin clothing. + +There were boasting hunters who swaggered around, peering curiously +under our wagon covers when we had taken refuge there; and all around, +corralled or feeding near at hand, were cattle and ponies almost +without number. + +Our company was not the only party of Pikers at Fort Laramie. It seemed +to me there must have been three or four hundred who had been traveling +as we had traveled, some hoping to go into that land of Oregon which +was represented as being wondrously beautiful, and others bound for +California. + + [Illustration] + +Ellen and I would have visited among the strange Pikers had it not +been for the throngs of trappers, hunters, and Indians, such as I have +already written about. Mother declared it would be well for us girls to +stay in our wagon, and this she came to believe firmly after two of the +trappers engaged in a downright battle wherein both used knives, and +both were sorely wounded. + +The people round about did not appear to think this fighting wicked +or strange, and instead of endeavoring to make peace among them, all, +even a few women, stood around watching the fray as if it was some +exhibition of an innocent nature. + +I was sick with the sights of Fort Laramie even before mother sent +Ellen and me to the wagon, and felt well content to remain there until +next morning, never grumbling when I struggled to keep a fire going in +the stove in order that we might cook supper. + + + + +ON THE TRAIL ONCE MORE + + +It seemed to me that every member of our company, with the possible +exception of Eben Jordan, was delighted when the word had been passed +around during the evening that we should pull out at early daybreak. + +We were getting near to that forking of the trail where we would bear +southward and then westward, passing around a great salt sea on our way +to California. + +We soon came among the foothills, and it was really a relief to be +climbing up one hill and sliding down another, instead of driving over +a level plain where was nothing to vary the monotony. Although Ellen +and I were pleased with this change in the appearance of the country, +our fathers found little in it to give them pleasure, for we had come +to where grass was scanty and the way difficult for the animals. + +As father said, from then on we might suffer such privations and +hardships as we had not experienced since leaving Independence; but +that I could hardly credit, for it did not seem to me possible we would +have more discomfort than when we were marching in the rain, with the +ground so soft that the cattle could only with difficulty drag the +wagon along. + +I suppose our people did have some trouble in finding grass for the +animals; but we girls knew little regarding such matters. Our work was +to aid in preparing the meals, and, as Ellen said, in keeping our minds +as cheerful as possible; these tasks we performed to the best of our +ability, without hearing very much of the perplexities of the men, save +when Eben Jordan came to us with tales of trouble. + + + + +INDEPENDENCE ROCK + + +After leaving Fort Laramie the first thing which particularly attracted +my attention was a perfect mountain of rock, fully a hundred feet in +height and more than a mile in circumference, father told me, which +stood near the Sweetwater River, between the ranges of mountains which +border the Sweetwater Valley. + +It was an "imposing work of nature," so Colonel Russell said; but to me +the most interesting thing about it was that the first celebration of +the Fourth of July by a company of people bound to Oregon was held at +the place. On the rocks, as high up as one can see, are a multitude of +names, many, many hundreds, some painted, and others cut into the soft +stone by those who had visited the place. + + [Illustration] + +Another thing about Independence Rock which causes me to remember it +even more than as "an imposing work of nature," was that near it one +could pick up all the saleratus he needed, for there are veritable +ponds of it, where, so father said, water filled with the salts had +evaporated, leaving the saleratus itself in pools which looked as if +made of milk. + +Next morning we came upon a great gap in the mountain wall which is +called the Devil's Gate; through it flows a beautiful stream, on the +banks of which we found wild currants and gooseberries in greatest +abundance. + + + + +ARRIVAL AT FORT BRIDGER + + +About the middle of July we arrived at Fort Bridger, where we were to +turn off upon the California trail, and where, if Ellen's advice had +been followed, this story of mine would have begun. + +Why it should be called _Fort_ Bridger I fail to understand, for there +are no signs of a fort about, but only three or four miserable log huts +in which live two fur traders with their trappers and hunters. + + [Illustration] + +One might have believed it quite an important place, however, because +when we arrived there were no less than five hundred Indians of the +Snake tribe encamped round about the log huts. Beyond them on every +hand could be seen wagon train after wagon train of people who had come +not only from Pike County, but from Ohio and Indiana, as well as from +Illinois and Missouri, the greater number intent on gaining the Oregon +country, with perhaps two hundred who were going to California. + +Of course there were also at this place hunters and trappers, traders +coming from or going into Oregon or California, Spaniards, Negroes, and +red men, the greater number of all this throng living in canvas tents, +in wagons or log huts, while the rest made shift as best they might in +the open air. + +It was, like Fort Laramie, a place where Ellen and I had best remain +in the wagons, for no one could tell what the savages might do if two +girls wandered among their lodges, and certainly we had no desire to +make their acquaintance. + + [Illustration] + +Here, as everywhere since leaving Independence, we heard that song +which by this time had grown threadbare,-- + + "My name it is Joe Bowers." + +The Negroes and the Spaniards, the trappers and the hunters, were all +singing it, and the wonder to Ellen and me was where so many people +could have heard it. + + [Illustration] + + + + +WITH OUR FACES TOWARD CALIFORNIA + + +After spending one day at Fort Bridger we set off early in the morning +with our faces turned toward California, and our hearts beating +furiously. For the first time since leaving home it seemed as if we +were really on the journey. + +The trail ran up hill or down, all the way, but there was very little +difference, so far as hardships were concerned, from that which we had +already experienced. + +During the first three or four days our fathers had no difficulty in +finding grass and water in plenty for the cattle, although there were +times, of course, when for mile after mile we passed through nothing +but sage grass, which even the oxen would not eat. Every night during +this time, we came upon a pleasant place in which to camp, and, best +of all, so Eben Jordan thought, the game was abundant everywhere. When +he had shot a small bear and brought it into camp, it seemed as if his +cup of happiness was full. One might have thought the lad had performed +some wondrous deed, from the way he strutted to and fro, repeating +marvelous accounts of his battle with the beast. + + + + +AT BEAR RIVER + + +It was when we came to Bear River that I began to understand how +different this trail was from the one which we had been traveling. + +Instead of finding a safe ford, we came upon a swiftly running river, +with a bed of rocks. So strong was the current that when father waded +in to drive the oxen it was necessary for him to hold firmly to the bow +of the foremost yoke lest he be thrown from his footing; the heavy cart +pitched about until I was certain it would be overturned even as had +Mrs. Russell's. + +Mother said that if such an accident should befall us, it would be no +more than a just punishment to Ellen and me because we had laughed so +rudely when the Russell family were in trouble. + + + + +THE COMING OF WINTER + + +Two days after leaving Fort Bridger we had the first indication that +winter was near at hand, even though it was then July. That night the +buckets of water were crusted with ice a full half inch thick, and +upon the tops of the mountains which towered so high above us snow had +fallen. + + [Illustration] + +You can well fancy how we shivered while making ready to cook +breakfast. When the train had started, Ellen and I crawled under the +bed clothing, for it seemed as if we were like to freeze, and no one +knows how long we might have remained had not mother insisted that we +should sit once more on the front seat, where we could see the wondrous +beauties everywhere around us. + +Just at that time we were traveling through what seemed to be a +mountain gorge; towering many hundred feet above our heads on either +side were crags which had been formed in the most comical figures. Some +of them really looked like animals, and I could see now and then the +head of an elephant or of a lion. + +Later in the day father told us that we had passed in the early +morning, while Ellen and I were asleep, a rock which looked so much +like a beast that the trappers had given it the name of the Elephant's +Statue. + +During nearly two days we continued along these rocky roads, with the +mountains overshadowing us, and in places the cliffs hanging so low +that it seemed as if the rumbling of our wagons must cause them to fall +upon our heads. + +The next night we kept a fire in the cookstove because of the heavy +frost in the air; then we came to a narrow pass between the mountains, +where was a gorge or chasm, so deep that we could readily believe Eben +Jordan when he said the people at Fort Bridger told him the sun never +penetrated to the bottom. + + [Illustration] + +It was what is known as Ogden's Hole, and got its name, according to +one story, through being the death place of a trapper by the name of +Ogden, who had hidden himself there from the Indians and was either +killed by them or starved to death, Eben was not certain which. + + + + +UTAH INDIANS + + +There among the mountains we met a party of Utah Indians armed only +with bows and arrows, and they journeyed with us until we camped for +the night, counting as a matter of course upon our feeding them. + +The Utahs looked to me more manly than any other Indians we had yet +met. Surely they behaved themselves in a seemly manner, for when supper +had been made ready, they seated themselves in a circle and waited +decently to be invited to partake of food. + +On the following morning, after we had traveled about two miles, we +came upon mountains which looked as if they were standing there to +bar our advance, and for the life of us neither Ellen nor I could +understand how it would be possible to continue the journey. + +Even the men of the company were perplexed, and during half an hour or +more the entire train was halted while our people went first this way +and then that, seeking some trail over which we could pass. + +Then Colonel Russell came back to where we were waiting anxiously and +said he saw a narrow trail winding directly up over those enormous +cliffs. When he pointed it out to the other men, we girls overheard +what he said, and I could not repress a cry of fear, for surely it did +not seem as if any member of our company could climb to such a height, +over so narrow a path, let alone trying to drive the oxen with the +heavy carts. + + + + +A DANGEROUS TRAIL + + +However, there was nothing to be done save attempt the dangerous +passage, unless, indeed, we were willing to turn our faces toward Fort +Bridger, admitting we had been beaten. + + [Illustration] + +My heart was literally in my mouth when we began that terrible climb +among loose rocks, over a path so narrow that it seemed, if the wheels +of the wagon slipped ever so little, we would be hurled to the bottom +of the cañon, which is another word for a deep valley or a rift in the +rocks. + +The ascent was so steep that when we started no less than twelve yoke +of oxen were needed to each wagon, and there was a steady, upward +scrambling climb of fully two miles; therefore you can well understand +how many hours we spent in making that short portion of the journey. + + [Illustration] + +Only one wagon was sent up the trail at a time, lest through some +accident it should run backward and crush whatever might be in its +path. + +Until we were upon the side of the mountain where the trail pitched +downward into the valley, I kept my eyes tightly closed, not daring +to look at that dreadful depth into which the slightest mishap might +plunge us. + +When the panting oxen were brought to a standstill, the fearful labor +having been performed, Ellen said that she had been so frightened she +was actually exhausted, and indeed the perspiration, caused no doubt +by fear, was streaming down her face when I ventured to open my eyes in +order to look around. + +I can conceive of nothing more horrifying than that journey, short +though it was in point of distance, yet so long while one was in a +state of terror as to seem almost endless. + +In going down on the other side, but one yoke of cattle was hitched to +each wagon, and kept there only in order to hold the tongue steady and +thus steer the huge cart, while the hind wheels were chained, so that, +not being able to turn, they might act as a drag to prevent us from +sliding swiftly to destruction. + +Father said we had traveled no more than seven miles when we had +crossed that terrible mountain. There we found ourselves in a valley +green with grass, where ran a small brook which was most pleasing to +look upon, since it told us that we would have water in abundance. +Coming upon such a spot after so much horror, caused it to appear all +the more beautiful. + + + + +SUNFLOWER SEEDS AND ANTELOPE STEW + + +Without knowing it at the moment of halting, we made camp near two +Indian lodges, where lived ten or twelve of the Utah tribe; having +gained so favorable an impression of those savages when some of the +members had visited our camp, Ellen and I, with Eben Jordan, went among +them, finding that they had set themselves up for traders, counting +upon the settlers bound for the land of California, as customers. The +women showed us a store of powder made from sunflower seeds, which had +been parched and then pulverized; this they offered in exchange for +food, or for ammunition. Ellen gave a loaf of corn bread for perhaps a +quart of the stuff, and found it most agreeable to the taste. + + [Illustration] + +That evening one of the men brought in a fat antelope, and mother made +our portion into as savory a stew as I had eaten since we left Pike +County. After that delicious meal and with the pleasing knowledge that +we had come in safety over so terrible a road, I slept that night as +soundly as I should have slept in my own bed at home. + +It was decided that we would remain in that place, which mother +called the Happy Valley, for a day, in order to give the cattle a long +rest before they did more mountain climbing, and the housewives took +advantage of the opportunity to wash clothing, bake bread, and do up +such small chores as were necessary. + +Consequently all the young people were busily engaged keeping the fires +going, churning, or performing such other tasks as were required, so +that we gave little heed to what was going on around us until, when +the forenoon was about half spent, Eben Jordan excitedly called our +attention to a huge column of smoke which was rising from the mountains +to the westward. + + + + +A FOREST FIRE + + +At first I gave little heed to the matter, thinking it might betoken +the location of some Indian village; but within another hour, so strong +was the wind, the fire had been driven up over the summit of the huge +mountain at the foot of which we were encamped, when straightway we +had over our heads, as it were, a canopy of flame and smoke which shut +out the light of day, causing it to appear as if night had come and the +clouds were ablaze. + +Half-burned leaves and ashes were scattered upon us until we were +literally powdered as if with dust, and the men found it necessary to +keep sharp watch over the coverings of the wagons, lest an ember should +drop upon them. + + [Illustration] + +During all the remainder of the day and until nearly morning, the +fire raged with greatest fury; but, fortunately, the flames did not +come down into the valley. When we set off next day, the cattle, much +refreshed, went on at a swift pace; but the air was yet so full of +smoke that my eyes ached, while the tears ran down my cheeks in tiny +streams. + +Our way now lay along the foot of the range of mountains which sloped +down to the marshy plains bordering that vast inland sea, which has +always seemed so mysterious to me because of being salt. + + + + +THE GREAT SALT LAKE + + +It was about noon when we had our first view of the Great Salt Lake, +and although I had never then seen an ocean, I could not believe the +existence of anything more wondrous than that huge body of salt water +among the mountains. + + [Illustration] + +Father says the lake is probably a full hundred miles long, and at its +widest part no less than sixty miles; but this he knows only from that +which he heard from the hunters or trappers, therefore I am not setting +it down as positive information. It seems to me I remember having read +in one of my schoolbooks that it is no more than seventy-five miles +long and thirty miles wide. + +However, this much which father says is true: that the lake has no +outlet, and four barrels of its water being evaporated, will produce +nearly a barrel of salt; therefore you can understand how much more +salty it is than a real ocean. + +No fish can live in it, and Eben Jordan declared that one of the +trappers at Fort Bridger told him a man could not sink beneath the +surface, so buoyant is the water. + +The shore of this great inland sea was white with a crust of soda or +salt, and the odor which came from the stagnant water in the marshes +was so unpleasant as to cause me to feel really ill. + + + + +EBEN AS A FISHERMAN + + +It was on this night, when we had our first view of the Great Salt +Lake, that Eben Jordan gave us a most pleasing surprise. We had +halted quite early in the afternoon, and even before camp was made he +disappeared; but I gave no heed to the matter when I heard his mother +inquiring after him, for I thought the boy had gone off to try his +skill as a hunter again. + + [Illustration] + +Two or three hours later, however, it appeared that, instead of chasing +deer or bears, he had turned fisherman for the time being, and when +he came into camp just before we began to get supper, he had with him +seventeen of the most beautiful trout you could imagine, which he had +caught in one of the mountain streams. + +They were so large that he literally staggered under the weight, and +the single fish which he gave mother made an ample meal for all our +family. It surely was delicious, and while eating it I made a mental +resolve never again to speak impatiently or angrily to Eben, whatever +he might do, for many times since our journey began he had been very +kind to us all. + +It really began to seem as if, after we had turned into the California +trail, we were to come across everything which was strange and +wonderful, for next day, after our train had rounded the base of one +of the mountains, we came upon six or seven springs of water which was +actually hot to the touch, as if on the point of boiling, and which +smelled so strongly of sulphur that one would have been in danger of +suffocation had the fumes been inhaled. + +Those odd springs seemingly came up out of the solid rock, and mother, +whose curiosity was so far aroused as to induce her to taste of the +water, said it was bitter and most disagreeable; but she had no doubt +it might be well for us all to take fairly strong doses by way of +medicine. + + + + +GRASSHOPPER JAM + + +We were yet within sight of the Great Salt Lake when, one evening, +three Indian men and two squaws, miserably clad and very ugly, came +into camp bringing for sale or barter something that looked much like +preserves. + +Even though these people were so wretchedly dirty, I was hoping mother +might be induced to buy some of their wares, so keenly did I hunger +for something sweet; but I speedily lost all desire for anything of +the kind, when one of the men in the company explained what it was the +Indians had for sale. + +It seems impossible human beings could eat such things, and yet this +man told me it was true that the Indians gathered a fruit called +service berries, crushed them into jam and mixed the pulp with +grasshoppers that had been dried over the fire and then pounded to a +powder. + + [Illustration] + +He called the stuff "Indian fruit cake," and, much to my disgust, not +only bought a generous portion, paying for it with needles, powder, and +bullets, but actually ate the mixture. I could not bring myself even to +look upon it, after knowing what it really was. + +Once more we came upon the mountains after leaving the shores of Great +Salt Lake, and again we climbed up the steep ascents, with all the oxen +toiling at a single wagon, and then slipped down on the opposite side, +until it seemed certain some terrible accident must befall. + + + + +A DESERTED VILLAGE + + +One night we came to another place much like the one we had called the +Happy Valley, and there we found an Indian village of fifteen or twenty +lodges, every one deserted, although we knew the people could not be +far away, for fires were burning brightly in front of the dwellings, +dogs were barking, and many willow baskets filled with service berries +were standing about. + + [Illustration] + +It was a beautiful spot for a home, and I could almost have wished +father would settle there, rather than continue on over a trail which +was as dangerous as the one spread out before us. + +There were in the valley poplar and pine trees with many willows, and +here and there a patch of sunflowers shining out from the surrounding +green with a golden glory. + +I had supposed our people would camp there; but instead of doing so +they continued on, planning to spend the night on the higher land. +When we were halfway up the ridge which led out from the valley, the +Indians, whom we had evidently frightened, came out from their hiding +places, whooping and shouting as if to scare us, although I saw no +token that they were bent on doing us mischief. + +We camped on a slope of the ridge, down which ran a small brook, and +those who had tents set them up in a grove of cedar trees where they +looked most inviting. When, however, Ellen and I strolled that way we +found the mosquitoes and midges so thick that it seemed as if we had a +veil in front of our faces. + +That night the men of our company gathered apart from the women and +children, seemingly to discuss some important matter; my curiosity +was so far aroused that when I saw Eben Jordan I called upon him for +an explanation, and he told me that we had come to the most dangerous +part of our journey, where we must encounter perils so great that those +which had already been overcome would seem as nothing. + + + + +THE GREAT SALT DESERT + + +We were near what is known as the Great Salt Desert; in fact, were +to cross it on the morrow, and when Eben Jordan led me some distance +farther up the ridge, I could see it at my feet. + +The desert is covered with salt like sand, and on it grows nothing +except wild sage, while from where we were then camped, until it would +be possible again to find water, is no less than sixty miles, as Eben +said. + + [Illustration] + +Sixty miles over a soft surface where the animals would oftentimes sink +fetlock-deep, and the wheels of the wagons plow into the salt sand +until the progress must be woefully slow. In addition, all the while +we would plod along knowing that no water was to be had, save what we +carried with us, until the train gained the opposite side. + +We were camped on the side of a mountain which seemed to be made up +almost wholly of rock; this place had been decided upon because there +could be found a small spring, yielding barely enough water to satisfy +the desires of ourselves and the animals. + +It was the last spring or stream of fresh water we should come upon +until we had traveled across that desert, which, from the distance, +looked like a great sea of milk. Once we had started upon the journey, +it would be necessary to continue on, heeding not those who might fall +by the way, so I heard father and Colonel Russell say, for the lives of +our people depended upon our going steadily forward. + + + + +PREPARING FOR A DANGEROUS JOURNEY + + +Orders were given by the leaders of the party that our mothers cook +no pemmican nor any salted food, lest it increase our thirst, and we +ate bread with as much milk as could be had from the cows; within a +few hours, for we were to set off again at midnight, another meal, +consisting wholly of bread made from corn meal, would be served. + +The water of the spring was so salty as to be almost undrinkable. +During the evening the women and girls were busily engaged making +coffee, for in such form the water was a trifle more palatable, and +we were advised to fill with the coffee every vessel that would hold +liquid. + +As for the cattle, they would be forced to make the march of sixty +miles with nothing to drink save what could be carried in two casks +which had been bought at Fort Bridger for that especial purpose. + + [Illustration] + +When I asked father how it would be possible for us to give the animals +drink even once, from no more than sixty gallons of water, he said +they were not intending to allow the poor creatures to have what they +wanted. The supply of water would be used simply to moisten the mouths +of those that were suffering most severely. There could be no question +whatsoever but that the live stock would be in great misery, and if it +so chanced that we people escaped dire distress, then indeed we should +hold ourselves fortunate. + + + + +BREAD AND COFFEE MAKING + + +Fortunately Ellen and I had little time in which to borrow trouble +concerning the future, for every woman and girl found plenty with +which to occupy her hands, as we prepared for the most dangerous and +disagreeable portion of all the journey. + +We made corn bread in abundance, cooking no less than three times +as much as we could eat, for Colonel Russell suggested that it was +possible we might abate the thirst of the animals by giving them bread +in small quantities during the march, and so we filled every available +place in the wagon with this food. + +Mother made coffee enough to provide us with a supply on that night, +as well as for breakfast, and, in addition, we had filled to the brim +every vessel which was water-tight, until I should think we must have +had no less than three gallons, while every other wagon was equally +well supplied. + +The men and boys were not idle while we baked the corn bread and made +coffee. They had enough and plenty with which to occupy their time, +for every piece of harness, every yoke bow, wheel, or other portion of +the outfit which might give way, was looked after carefully, lest there +be a delay, because a halt on the desert, so we had been told at Fort +Bridger, might mean death to us all. + +That night the animals were corralled inside our circle of wagons +in order that they might be ready when the hour came for us to set +off, and for the first time since I had known Eben Jordan I saw an +expression of anxiety upon the lad's face. + +Wherever one looked among our people he could see gloomy faces, and +there was no more singing of "Joe Bowers," no whistling and joking +among the lads, as was usually the case during an evening in camp. + + + + +BREAKING CAMP AT MIDNIGHT + + +When midnight came, I had a very good idea that there was more danger +to be met in crossing the desert than I had been willing to believe, +for we were awakened and told that the march would be begun in half an +hour. + +Father urged mother and us girls to eat and drink heartily while we +might. When I asked him why we were to set off at such an unusual hour, +he replied in a serious manner that from the moment we started until +the desert had been crossed, there would be no halt made unless some +of the oxen fell by the wayside and we were forced to delay in order to +unyoke them. + +When Ellen asked him how long a time the crossing would take, he said +he hoped no more than twenty or twenty-four hours. He also told us +it had been agreed that if one of the wagons should break down, or +any accident happen, the unfortunate ones were to be left behind, the +remainder of the company continuing on without making any effort to aid +them. + + [Illustration] + +Then, perhaps for the first time, I began to realize how much danger +lay before us. Surely if our fathers had agreed that during the coming +march they would make no halt for any reason, there must be grave cause +for fear. + +The men made ready for the march by the light of the moon, and there +were yet no signs of the coming day when we set off; and then we were +a mournful party indeed, the drivers urging their beasts to the utmost, +as if they realized that every moment was precious. + + + + +THE APPROACH TO THE SALT DESERT + + +There was nothing very dreadful to be seen on the first six miles of +the march, for then we were winding our way up the ridge, on the side +of which we had been encamped, and save for the fact that Ellen and I +were suffering from the cold, the journey was much the same as we had +already known. + +Then we rode down the other side of the ridge, among stunted cedar +trees which looked as if they were dying from lack of water, and Eben +Jordan came past our wagon to say we had come upon Captain Frémont's +trail. + +The fact that we were to follow in the footsteps of other human beings +gave me more courage and caused Ellen to appear almost cheerful. + +We crossed a valley where nothing was growing save wild sage, and then +over rocky ridges which looked much like masses of dark green glass, +through a narrow gap which might have been cut by the hand of man in +the solid ledge, after which we saw spread out before us that vast +desert plain, white as a sea of milk and most desolate and forbidding +in appearance. + + + + +A PLAIN OF SALT + + +Not a vestige of any green thing could be seen within our range of +vision. No bird was flying, and the silence was so like the silence +of the tomb that I did not dare to speak aloud while calling mother's +attention to this thing or that, when we halted for a short time. + +This was the last stop we would make, save in case of accident. Some of +the animals ate the bread, others refused it, and then I saw what would +have been, under other circumstances, a comical sight, for the men were +going about with wet cloths moistening the mouths of the oxen. + + [Illustration] + +After spending nearly an hour in making the final preparations, word +was given for the train to set off. Instead of being like milk, we +found that the desert was made up of a bluish clay, covered here and +there in blotches with what was much like salt, and these white spots +were so large and numerous as to give to the whole the appearance of +milky white when seen from the distance. + +The oxen sank fetlock-deep, and as we advanced there were times when +they broke through what was like a crust, even to their very knees; +therefore one can well fancy that the wheels plowed into this yielding +surface until it was quite as much as the cattle could do to pull the +wagons along. + + + + +LIKE A SEA OF FROZEN MILK + + +If all the way had been as difficult as the start, we might never have +gained the other side; but as we advanced the surface grew harder and +harder, until finally even the shoes of the horses failed to make any +impression upon it. Then I heard father say, as he came back from time +to time to speak with mother, that it appeared to him as if we were +traveling over a solid crust of salt. + +At the end of an hour, perhaps, we came upon what Ellen called another +"soft spot," and for a distance of two or three miles the oxen strained +and tugged at the yokes as they barely succeeded in drawing the wagons +at a snail's pace. + +Then we girls had most terrible forebodings, for it seemed certain we +could never hope to cross that place before all the company had died +from thirst. + +To our great relief as well as the relief of the cattle, we came upon +a hard surface once more, and the oxen were urged to their utmost speed +in order to make up for the time we had lost while toiling through the +salty dust. + +There was no halting for dinner. Now and then we ate the corn bread, +for with such terrible anxiety in our hearts none of us were conscious +of hunger; but again and again and again did we sip the cold coffee, +using it sparingly, however. + + + + +SALT DUST + + +It was nearly ten o'clock in the forenoon when a dark cloud began to +gather in the south, and I said to mother, with great joy, that we +would at least know the pleasure of being wet, even though we could not +get all we wanted to drink, for surely there was a shower close upon +us. + + [Illustration] + +Indeed, we did have wind, with thunder and lightning, but not a drop +of water fell. On the contrary, the breeze stirred up the dust from the +plain and filled the air with it, and our parched throats grew yet more +dry because of the salt which we were forced to inhale, even though we +covered our faces with cloths. + +How the poor beasts suffered! Their tongues were actually covered with +salt, and not a mouthful of water could they have as a relief from +their distress. + + [Illustration] + +Save for the absence of rain, it was a veritable tempest of thunder +and lightning, lasting about twenty minutes; then the sun came out +with more heat, as it seemed to me, than before, which but served to +increase our desire for water. + +When the sun was no more than three hours from setting, I strained my +eyes ahead, hoping to see the end of this horrible journey, although +mother had told me there was no possibility of our coming to water +until late in the night, and I saw the foremost of the wagons leaving +the white plain, and passing over what promised to be a good road, +toward a rocky range. + +Then I shouted aloud in my joy, that we would soon come to where it +would be possible to quench our thirst. + + + + +A BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT + + +For the moment mother believed I was right, but then Eben Jordan +dampened our joy by telling us that we must ride over the ridge five or +six miles, where were no signs of water, and then we would come upon +another plain of salt, which was not less than twelve miles in width. +Only after that had been crossed might we find ourselves in safety. + + [Illustration] + +Ellen threw herself face downward upon the bed in the bottom of the +wagon, and lay there as if in a fit of the sulks, while I crouched by +mother's side, wondering how long it would be before death came, for I +had grown so foolish in my sufferings that it was as if life was nearly +at an end. + + + + +COFFEE INSTEAD OF WATER + + +Mother left us to ourselves during half an hour or more, and then told +us plainly that we were showing ourselves to be very foolish girls. +She insisted that we eat the harder portions of the corn bread; that we +take frequent drinks of the coffee, and, above all, that we resolutely +calm our minds. + +It must have been that amid all my distress I fell asleep, for suddenly +I heard, as though coming from afar off, shouts of joy and the voices +of men calling one to another. + +Starting up, I asked mother what was happening, and gazed around +wildly, for night had come and the moon was not yet risen. + +"Thank God! the desert has been crossed, and we have come at last to +where water may be obtained!" my mother cried fervently. + +She leaped out of the wagon, we two girls following, and, running +hurriedly, we went to where the men, boys, and animals had gathered in +a group. + +I believed we had come to a stream of sweet water, but it was only a +narrow brook, where ran hardly more than a thread of water which had +already been trampled upon by the animals until it was like liquid mud. + + + + +A SPRING OF SWEET WATER + + +At this moment Eben Jordan, taking Ellen and me by the hands, said, +forcing us to run with him:-- + +"By following the stream to its head we shall surely come upon a +spring." + +And this we did, finding within two hundred yards a spring of the +sweetest water I have ever taken into my mouth. + +Ellen and I drank again and again, seemingly never to be satisfied, and +it was only after I had shown myself very selfish that I remembered +poor mother, who, most likely, was standing by that muddy stream +waiting until the water had grown clear so she might drink. + + [Illustration] + +Then Eben Jordan went back, and a few moments later returned, bringing +with him all the women and children, and many of the men. + +Having drunk our fill, Ellen and I went back to the wagon, where we +ate heartily of corn bread, and then laid ourselves down to sleep, +while the men and boys were bringing the teams into a circle to form a +corral. + + + + +THE OASIS + + +After this we remained idle thirty-six hours, being forced to do so, as +father said, because the animals were so nearly exhausted that a long +time of rest was absolutely necessary. + +It was during this time that Eben Jordan again displayed his skill as +a hunter, for toward nightfall he brought in two small antelopes; but +the animals were so tiny that each family had no more than half enough +to satisfy their craving for fresh meat, and we were forced to complete +the meal with bacon. + + [Illustration] + +Our halting place was on what can be described only as an oasis, +stretching from that sea of white to the rocky cliffs beyond, and +father told us that while we would not be forced to march over a plain +of salt during the next day, the journey would be exceedingly wearisome +and our suffering considerable, for another entire day must be spent +without water. + +Again we made preparations for a time of distress, by boiling more +coffee and filling up the water casks with sweet water from the spring. + +This time the anticipation was worse than the reality. On resuming the +march, we traveled over the side of the barren ridge more than twelve +miles, until we came to a well-defined wagon trail which, so some of +our people said, had first been made by emigrants from Missouri. + +I gave little heed as to who might first have passed over the trail, +rejoicing with Ellen that at last we had come to some evidence of human +beings; it seemed as if our troubles were well-nigh at an end, for we +were told that this trail would lead us by the most direct course into +that land of California where we hoped to find rest and comfort. + + + + +SEARCHING FOR WATER + + +From this on, during four wearisome days, we were kept upon a short +allowance of water, and did not dare eat much food lest it should +unduly excite our thirst. + +Now and then we came upon a spring, when our water casks and every +vessel that could be used for the purpose were filled to the brim, and +yet again and again we suffered from thirst, but not so keenly as while +crossing the desert. + +Whenever I slept, it was to dream of the river we had left behind us on +the border of Pike County, wishing that it might be possible for me to +go to its banks once more, and, even though the water was muddy, drink +my fill. + +In due time we came to that point in the trail where we were forced to +march directly over the face of the mountains. Here our fathers found +the way so difficult that once more the teams were doubled up, twelve +or fifteen yoke of cattle being put on one wagon, and, after hauling +the heavy load to the summit of the range, driven back to get another. + + [Illustration] + +Of course our progress was slow, and we traversed mile after mile only +with severe labor on the part of the men and boys, for we girls and the +women did no more than walk in order to lessen the load. + +Then we came to a narrow passage amid the rocks, which was most +frightful to look upon, although there was nothing whatever about it to +cause alarm. + + [Illustration] + +It was a gorge or cañon much like a tunnel, where the light from +above was like a slender silver thread, and we went down into a narrow +defile, where was barely room for the wagons to pass, and where the +rocks, dark and fearsome, rose hundreds of feet above our heads. + + + + +THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY + + +When we had passed through that forbidding place we received our +reward, for we came into a most beautiful valley with water and grass +in abundance, and, although it was yet early in the afternoon, there +was no thought of anything save making camp, that we might enjoy the +blessings which were spread out before us. + +Before the sun had set Eben Jordan had killed another antelope; but he +did not dare go far from the encampment in search of other game, for no +sooner had twilight come than we could hear the howling of the wolves +around us, until one's very blood ran cold. It seemed certain, and +indeed was a fact, that we were literally surrounded by those ravenous +animals, which were kept at a respectful distance only by the glare of +our camp fires. + + [Illustration] + +Next day, when we took up the line of march again, it was the same old +story of climbing over rocky ridges and descending into valleys where +could be found no signs of vegetation, until we had come to a very +network of streams. + +At our next camp we were visited by a party of Snake Indians, who, like +the other savages we had seen, pressed around us, begging for bits of +bread. + + + + +SNAKE INDIANS + + +Those Indians were not at all like any we had seen before; their +clothing, what little there was of it, consisted mostly of rabbit +skins sewed together to form cloaks. To my mind they resembled more the +Negroes than the Indians; but father said, save for their inclination +to steal anything upon which they could lay their hands, that we need +have no fear whatever regarding them, because they were known to be +peaceable. The men were armed only with bows and arrows and seemed to +have great fear of a gun or a pistol. + +The visitors had with them a quantity of dried meat and roots which +they wanted to trade with us for bread or for blankets; but our store +of provisions was not so low that we would willingly eat what those +creatures had prepared. + +They lingered around the encampment, however, coming as closely to the +wagons as our people would permit, and we girls and boys were told to +keep careful watch lest they steal all our possessions. + +Just at sunset, one of the men who was standing guard over the cows +shouted that a wild beast was creeping up on us from a thicket a short +distance away, to the right of where father's wagon stood. + +Looking up quickly, I saw a huge panther crawling, as you might say, +much as a cat approaches a mouse, and it seemed to me that he was +making ready to spring directly upon us girls. + + [Illustration] + +Ellen and I clambered shrieking into the wagon, where we hid our heads +in a feather bed like the silly children we were, and straightway there +ensued the greatest tumult that can be imagined, as our hunters strove +to kill the ferocious animal. + +It is, perhaps, needless for me to say that the panther escaped, +although Eben Jordan claimed it would have been possible for him to +kill the beast, had he not been hampered by frightened girls and men. + + + + +A SCARCITY OF FOOD + + +When the march was taken up once more, we journeyed over a less +forbidding, although a not very pleasant, country, seeing antelopes at +a distance, but so wild that even Eben Jordan strove in vain to bring +one down. + +During four or five days we marched westward, seeing now and then great +numbers of animals which would have served to provide us with fresh +meat, but our men were unable to kill any; then we found our supply of +food growing so small that it was decided each person should have at a +single meal no more than one slice of bacon and a piece of corn bread +as big as a man's hand. + +There is no good reason why I should set down such mournful details. +While we were pressing steadily but painfully westward, so hungry +that it seemed to me I could have eaten anything resembling food, and +thirsty until my tongue was parched, the rays of the sun beat down upon +us with pitiless fury, until we were so worn that life seemed at times +like some frightful dream. + +I can remember distinctly, however, what happened on that day when +we heard those who were leading the train, shout that we had come +upon water in abundance. When Ellen and I, leaping out of the wagon, +ran forward, we saw before us several large springs from which the +water was bubbling generously. Our delight was even as great as the +disappointment was bitter, when the water was found to be almost +boiling hot. + + + + +SPRINGS OF HOT WATER + + +It seems hardly possible that any liquid could come out of the earth so +warm, and if I had never left Pike County I would have set down such a +tale as a fable; but we did find boiling water, so hot that when Eben +Jordan let down into one of those springs a slice of bacon tied to a +string, it was well boiled in less than fifteen minutes. + +However, we were not to be deprived of water even though it was hot, +for father proposed that we fill some of our cups, declaring it would +be sweet to the taste once it was cool. + +This we did not only once, but three or four times, during the +continuation of the march, for we came upon many of those hot springs +on the trail after we left the banks of Mary's River. + +Then came a day in August when, after an unusually wearisome march, we +suddenly overtook two emigrant wagons in which were fourteen people who +had come from Missouri. + +Verily it seemed as if old friends were meeting, for as our train +came in sight, some of the strangers began to sing, "My name it is Joe +Bowers," and however weary I had once been of hearing that tune, it now +sounded in my ears like music. + +That evening we spent visiting; those people, like ourselves, were +traveling toward the land of California, and only those who have been +journeying in the desert and through the wilderness, without meeting +any human beings save Indians, can understand how intent was the +pleasure we experienced in being with our own kind again. + +The emigrants decided to join our train, and we were right glad to have +them with us, although their store of provisions was no greater than +ours; but all were put on what father called "short allowance," which +was to each person two slices of bacon and two pieces of bread during +one entire day. All our men who had guns were continually searching for +game; but while we could see antelope and even wild fowl, both beasts +and birds were so shy that the best hunters among us could not get +within gunshot. + + + + +IN THE LAND OF PLENTY + + +And so we traveled on, hungry, thirsty, and weary, despairing now and +then of ever coming again into a land of plenty, until we arrived at +the Truckee River, which was more beautiful to my eyes than ever had +been the broad Mississippi. + +The waters of the river were clear as crystal and very cool, while +from it our people took within an hour a sufficient number of trout to +satisfy the hunger of all. It seemed necessary we should eat until it +was absolutely impossible to swallow more, in order to atone in some +way for the hunger that had pressed so sorely upon us during the ten +days previous. + +Eben Jordan said laughingly that we were much like the savages, who +were starved one day and in danger of bursting with food the next. + + + + +THE TRUCKEE RIVER + + +It pleased me right well when father said that we were to remain in +camp one full day by the side of this river, in order to give the +animals the opportunity of feeding upon the rich grass which grew in +abundance on every hand. + +At last we had come into California, and a beautiful country indeed +it appeared to me while we remained near the river,--all the more +beautiful, perhaps, because of the suffering which it had cost us to +get there. Both Ellen and I now came to believe our fathers had been +wise indeed to leave the banks of the muddy Mississippi for so glorious +a river as the Truckee. + +All around us were evidences of bountiful nature, for the land was +seemingly overcrowded with game, with food on every hand for the +cattle, beautiful flowers, and everything which goes to make one happy. + +How long the journey had been I did not really know until Eben Jordan +came to where Ellen and I were sitting on the grass with the skirts +of our gowns filled with flowers. He had in his hands a bit of paper +on which he had set down, from what had been told him by the leaders +of the company, the distance we people had traveled since leaving +Independence. This was no less than two thousand and ninety miles, +to which one must add, in order to learn how long was our march, the +distance from Pike County to Independence, which would, so Eben said, +make a total of about two thousand two hundred. + + [Illustration] + +Even then we were nearly two hundred miles from San Francisco; however +it was not the intention of our fathers to journey so far across +California, for we had not come expecting to find gold, but to make for +ourselves farms, where we could live comfortably by honest industry. + +Already I am writing as if we had come to an end of our journey, and so +it seemed to me while we remained in camp on the bank of the Truckee +River; but there were yet many days of toil before we arrived at the +place where our people had decided to buy land. + +It was yet necessary that we cross the Sierra Nevada, where we found a +seemingly impassable trail over the mountains, yet we knew that people +like ourselves, traveling in the same way, had gone before us, and all +the dangers and the difficulties seemed lessened because of the fact +that we had come so near to where we intended to make our new homes. + + + + +A HOME IN THE SACRAMENTO VALLEY + + +After much labor in descending the Sierras, we came upon the first +settler's house we had seen since starting out. It stood in the valley +of the Sacramento, on what is called Bear Creek, and was owned by Mr. +Johnson, who himself was a Piker. + +To me the house was odd looking, not because of being so small as to +have only two rooms, but because it was built half of logs and half +of adobes, or bricks of mud which have been dried in the sun. It was a +rough building, and yet how homelike it appeared! + +Unfortunately Mr. Johnson and his family were not at home. The building +was closed, and although the door was not really locked, it had been +fastened with strips of rawhide in such a manner as to show that the +owner wished to keep out stragglers. + + [Illustration] + +As we journeyed leisurely and comfortably down the valley of the +Sacramento, we saw now and then large droves of wild horses and elks +feeding peacefully on the plains, and there was never a night when Eben +Jordan, or some other of the hunters, did not bring in an abundance of +game. + + + + +THE MISSION OF SAN JOSÉ + + +Then came that day when we arrived at the little village which is +called the Mission of San José, and although everything about us was +strange, we said to ourselves that at last we had come to our new home, +for it was near that place our fathers intended to buy land. + +The village of San José must at one time have had many hundred +inhabitants; but when we arrived it was little better than a ruin. The +houses, built of sun-dried bricks, were without roofs and crumbling +slowly away, all of which appeared the more pitiful because of the +well-kept church and the fortlike two-story house where lived the +priests. Both buildings were in such good repair that they afforded a +striking contrast to the tumble-down dwellings which could be seen near +at hand. + + [Illustration] + +I would love to tell how father built for himself a house on land which +he bought from the priests of the Mission, and how mother and I set +about making a home which should be somewhat the same in appearance as +the one we had left in Pike County, but it is not for me to do so. + + + + +OUR HOME IN CALIFORNIA + + +It may be that at some time when our home here is fully made as we +would have it, I can tell you how we live, what odd Spanish dishes +we have on the table, how great a profusion of fruit is at our hand +for the gathering, and very many other things which to me are most +interesting. + +I have learned to love this land even more than I did Pike County, +which at one time I believed the most beautiful spot on earth, and +although it pleases me now and then, when settlers come over the long +trail, to hear the younger members of the company singing "My name it +is Joe Bowers," I have almost forgotten that Missouri was once my home. + +I have come to look upon myself as belonging to this beautiful valley +where Nature is so lavish with all her gifts, and therefore, instead of +calling myself a Piker, as in the days gone by, I dearly love to write +so all may see, that I am now, and ever shall be as long as the good +God allows me to remain in this world, Martha of California. + + + + +BOOKS CONSULTED IN WRITING MARTHA OF CALIFORNIA + + + BRYANT, EDWIN: What I Saw in California. D. Appleton & Co. + + CLAMPITT, JOHN W.: Echoes from the Rocky Mountains. Belford, + Clarke & Co. + + CONNELLY, WILLIAM ELSEY: Doniphan's Expedition. Pub. by the + Author. + + DEXTER, A. HERSEY: Early Days in California. Tribune-Republican + Press. + + DRAKE, SAMUEL ADAMS: The Making of the Great West. Charles + Scribner's Sons. + + FRÉMONT, J. C.: The Second Expedition. Washington. + + KNOWER, DANIEL: The Days of a Forty-Niner. Weed, Parsons Print. + Co. + + PAXSON, FREDERICK L.: The Last American Frontier. The Macmillan + Company. + + THORNTON, J. QUINN: Oregon and California. Harper & Brothers. + + WOODS, DANIEL B.: Sixteen Months at the Gold Diggings. Harper & + Brothers. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Martha of California, by James Otis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44600 *** |