January.
THE WEST SHORE.
5
who could go to labor on shore had to cut
wood to make steam for another day. Il
was obtained with hardship and of indiffer
ent quality, but anything that would burn
was the motto and quest, and at last, as the
day was nearly spent, enough had been cut
and brought and stowed awav. All day
the blinding snow storm continued, and it
required the incessant labor of the passcn
gers and crew to clear it from the steam
er's decks. Another start was made for
Cathlamet, however, and again the attempt
was ineffectual; and the same cheerless
landing place sought for a third time. The
situation now began to have its depressing
influence upon the very few who up to that
time had maintained their spirits unbroken
and stood faithfully by Cat. Hoyt without
the manifestation of either anxiety or
alarm. The condition of all was really
alarming. The deep snow and the remote
ness of the nearest habitation that could
possibly be reached from the landing, ren
dered the prospector hope of aid or succor
from that quarter almost impracticable and
futile; and upon the river they could
neither return nor push ahead to any habi-
laoie point, me weather was growing
colder rather than moderating; the ice
was freezing thicker and firmer; and the
chances were that the boat would be frozen
in the solid ice just where she was. With
these gloomy facts and these disheartening
and terrifying forebodings, it is not to be
wondered at that the little band so peril
ously ice and storm-bound began to show
tokens of grave alarm and despair. They
could brave all that must be borne; but
they could not control or overcome the
elements, and if they perished they would
have, added to the terrors of death, the
agonizing appreciation of the fact that they
must perish so near and yet so utterly cut
on irom rescue and from those who would
risk their own lives to save them. And
orrow, and with barely a ray of hope to
encourage or sustain them, on the night of
that memorable 8th of January those on
board the Multnomah early sought the
blessed unconsciousness to surrounding or
impending dangers which sound sleep
assures.
GLADNESS DISPELS GLOOM.
With a resolution inflexibly adhered to.
on the sixth day Capt. Hoyt steamed away
from the port of refuge and despair, and
again headed for Cathlamet. He would
either make that landing or seek some
other; but he declared he would not again
return to the inhospitable haven to which
he had three times been forced. He made
good his word. That afternoon Cathlamet
was reached; but the successful effort had
been made only by .the most prodigious
and exhausting labors of every man on
board and by the extraordinary energy and
masterly skill of Capt. Hoyt himself. No
other steamboat at that day in Oregon
waters could have withstood what the
staunch Multnomah on that short but most
difficult trip encountered; nor did she come
out of it without bruises and severe injuries.
Her wheels were nearly battered into use-
lessness, and not a paddle or bucket in
either was whole, while most of them were
entirely broken away; and her bow and
sides were cut into, torn and shivered.
At Cathlamet the passengers and crew
were welcomed to the hospitable home
and abundant store of the late James
Birnie, of the Hudson's Bay Company, one
of nature's noblemen and by all the old
pioneers of Oregon remembered with great
respect, and he entertained them in his
generous manner during their protracted
detention there a period of about three
weeks until the condition of the weather
and of the river warranted Capt. Hoyt in
resuming his remarkable trip, or voyage,
as it might be appropriately termed.
A FRESH START AS HOUR OF IMMINENT PKII.
At the earliest prospect of an opening in
the river to Astoria, Capt Hoyt again re
turned his onward way. But it wit not
until two or three unsuccessful efforts that,
at last (Feb. d), he made his departure
from Cathlamet. But just as he got well
out in the bay a little below that point, his
steamer was forced into an ice pack, and
in a short time was frozen in the centre of
a great floe and carried with it down the
river at the full speed of an unusually strong
and swift ebb tide. This was a gratifying
assistance in one respect; but in another,
it came laden with the fear of deadly
danger. Yet, viewed as it might or could
be, there was no help for them. The
steamer could not be extricated from the
icy grip, and thus her living freight must
submit to whatever destiny there was in
store for them, bright or dark, joyous or
fatal.
In order that readers may more clearly
comprehend the situation and appreciate
the peril the steamer was in, we will explain
that at that time there were two distinctive
currents, which branched off from Tongue
Point the one into the ship channel,
which leads to Astoria; the other diagonally
across to the Chinook shore, on the Wash
ington Territory side, and thence out over
the Columbia bar to the ocean. Were
the floe of ice in which the steamer was
tight and fast to go with the ship channel
current, there would be no fear of her
reaching Astoria safely; but if it took the
other, the danger was imminent, lot. either
the steamer might be wrecked upon the
bar or lost outside at sea, with little chance
or hope for the safety of any on board. It
can readily be conjectured, then, how anx
iously and with what painfully intense inter
est the whole party waited and watched
for that most critical moment of their very
tedious, wearisome and exhausting trip
from Portland. At length, the exact place
was reached. Nervous with the terrible
the thinness of a shaving, and jt was won
derful she had not gone to the bottom at
the lime she was extraicatcd from the floe
when in deep water ami so was it Provi
dential.
THE RKTVRX TRIP COXCI.I'SIOX
There remains little more to relate of
the narrative as we have received it. It
was not until twenty days had elapsed that
the ice in the river had sufficiently dis
appeared to permit the resumption of nav
igation. Meantime, there had been three
or four arrivals of steamships from San
rrancisco, with about 100 passengers in all,
who were detained at Astoria, and anxious
to get to Portland. The last week of Feb
ruary, taking advantage of the first favor
able indication that he could proceed on up
the river, Capt. Hoyt started from Astoria
on the return trip, with about forty passen
gers. After he got above Tongue Point he
encountered a good deal of floating ice,
and it was difficult to make headway
through the narrow openings. He could
get no farther than Cathlamet the first day,
and remained there that night. The night
of the second day he got to St. Helen's,
and was then full of hope that he would
find the river clear all the way to Portland,
by way of the Willamette Slough, which
rarely freezes over. But he was doomed
to-disappointment. On the way up, the
morning of the third day from Astoria,
when about throe miles up the Slough, an
impassable barrier of thick solid ice was
encountered. Either the boat had to
return to St. Helen's and stop there until
the river should be open, or to be run
ashore where she was and the passengers
to proceed to Portland in the deep snow.
A consultation was held and the latter
I.
in a moment he acted as if he wanted to
shout for a boat, and was afraid he was
miner tn 111 hnnirrv T t.ni lt.tU
o D i .ti, a unit: llltil.lSM'S
1 ...:..l. t tt.. .
lsl- Auy came uunrusoc wasnt
hungry for flies just then. He was home
sick for his web in the comer of the wnnd-
exuicment, tremulous with unutterable course agreed upon. Accordingly the
emotion, and with gaze intently fixed upon steamer was safely shored on Sauvie's
the action of the diverging currents which
then held as in a balance their very lives,
they watched and waited. The floe
swerved to the right; It deflected toward
Island, a guide was engaged to pilot the
passengers, and on the evening of the second
day the fifth from Astoria Capt. Hoyt
and his passengers reached Portland. He
u.c urcaueu vmnoon snore; ii rogvau ojl flltT been gone nearly two months, and he
into ih rhannpl tumrli liwl i li: v. . .1 . .. . ..
.. , . Drougiu to mis ciiy me nrst and only news
the sea, to their peril, to almost certain
death I
There seemed little chance for rescue
small ground for hope; and yet hope sur
vived, and it inspired the undaunted com
mander and all on board to the perform
ance of the most dcsierate and almost
superhuman exertions to extricate the
steamer. Her rudder was next to useless,
her wheels were wanting in arms and pad
dles both, and the stock of fuel was barely
sufficient for the exigency and it might
be required for another momentous crisis
upon the bar or out at sea. But the
moment was critical, and the chance,
though rail, must be instantly taken for
the rescue. With all the steam that could
be carried ready at the captain's command,
the attempt was made. The ice was cut
away astern to give her room to back, and
then, with all her power and force, under
full head of steam, she was driven to
break her way through the floe. By the
tremendous exertions of the whole nartv,
and more by Divine interposition, this last
and saving effort resulted successfully, and
in an hour or two more the Multnomah
REACHED ASTORIA,
And, with scarcely the use of her wheels
and without her rudder on, the steamer
hauled into her wharf, and there landed
her precious freight, all full of praise to
God and thankful and grateful to Ca.
Hoyt for his untiring sen-ices and indomit
able pluck in their behalf. They had been
nearly one month on the way from Portland.
MlRACt'LOl'SLT SAVED.
And now we have to add an incident
which causes the rescue of the steamboat
from the ice floe to appear actually mirac
ulous. While she was lying in her slip at
Astoria in perfectly smooth water a few
days after her arrival there, she suddenly
sunk. Fortunately the water was quite
shoal, and she grounded with her upper
works all clear. An examination showed
that the ice had cut away her planking to
from California and the outside world
which had been received for that length of
time, and after the most eventful and extra
ordinary round trip between Portland and
Astoria that has ever been made a trip few
could have withstood. Nor did the gallant
old Captain withstand it. It was the last he
ever made. The trials and hardships and
exposure he had so willingly, fearlessly and
bravely met and surmounted, without com
plaint and without immediate apiarcnt
affect upon his robust nature, had been too
severe, and had drawn enormously upon a
vitality which could not lie restored; and
in a short time the earthly tenement gave
up the immortal spirit which had shown to
the world a strong, good, honest man,
Cod-fearing and God-loving, to wing its
flight to the Great Giver, and the mortal
clay was followed to the grave, where earth
to earth and dust to dust returns, by dis
consolate relatives and mourning friends,
who revere his memory and with undimin
ished honor regard his name. It is these
who hold in firmest and tenderest recollec
tion "Captain Richard Hoyt'i last trip."
A SPIDER S BRIDGE.
"One chilly day I was left at home alone,
and after I was tired of reading Robinson
Crusoe, I caught a spider and brought him
into the house to play with. Funny kind
of playmate, wasn't it Well I took a
wash-basin and fastened up a stick in it
like a liberty pole or a vessel's mast, and
then poured in water enough to turn
the mast into an island for my spider,
whom I named Crusoe and put on the
mast. As soon as he was fairly cast away
he anxiously commenced running round
to find road to the mainland. He'd
scamper down the mast to the water, stick
out one foot, get it wet, shake it, run round
the au'ck, and 17 the other side and then
run back up to the lop again. Pretty toon
it became a serious matter with Mr. Robin
ton, and he set down to think it over. At
1
I shed. He went slowly down the pole to
me water anu touched it all around, slak
ing his feet like pussy when she wets her
stockings in the grass, and suddenly a
thought appeared to strike him. Up he
went like a rockel to the top and coiiiiiicii.eU
playing circus. He held one foot in the
air, then another, and turned around two
or three times. I I e got excited and nearly
stood on his head before I found out what
he knew, and that was this, that the draft air
made by the fire would carry a line ashoro
on which he could escape from his desert
island. He pushed out a web that went
floating in the air until it caught on the
table. Then he hauled on the rope until it
was tight, struck it several limes to sec if it
was strong enough to hold him, and walked
ashore. I thought he had earned his lib
erty, so I put him kick in his wood-shed
again."
A frirn-d furnishes the followino-- M
sweet "sprig of geranium" has a fashion,
when speaking of her beaux durirar their
alsence, of styling them "my swains."
Her pa heard her speak thus. I went to
see Jennie one evening, and was met at tho
aoor Dy the "old man." After the custom
ary " How do vou do?" and comment n
the weather, he blurted out, "I suppose you
want to see Jennie r 1 nodded affirma
tively. He then called her ; and from up
stairs, over the balusters, sweetest accents
replied, "Wliat do you want, par" "Come
down at once, daughter, here's one of your
miiul" Imagine my sensations amidst
her ringing laughter after the old bov'i
exitl
A sick man was telling his svmntoms
which appeared to himself, of
dreadful to a medical friend, who, at
each new item of the disorder, exclaimed,
"Charming I delightful I Prav iro on I"
and when he had finished, the doctor said,
with the utmost pleasure. " Do vou Itnnur.
. ' J 1
my dear sir, you have got a complaint
wiucn has Decn or some time supposed
to be extinct f"
Young America will out. Mr. Panlie.
or some one of his nrofession. wan nil.
dressing a large assembly of Sunday-
school children: " Now, my little hoyt
ami girls," he said. " I want vou to be vorv
still so still that you can hear a pin drop."
1 ncy were all silent for a moment, when
one cried out at the top of her little
voice, ' Let her dropl"
A traveler, in relating his adventum
told his listeners that he and his servant
had made fifty Indians run. Observing
the looks of incredulity which erected this
astonishing narration, he added that there
was no great matter in il, " for," said ho,
" we ran, and they ran after us I"
A very intelligent ladr. ridiiur btelv in
the rear car of a long train, remarked 10
her companion that the train teemed to
move very slowly ; and a moment after
added, with a most Partingtonian uncon
sciousness : " But pcrhans it's because wa
arc in the hiltarf
A FRIEVD Who had Silent the ffrMilr tart
of the day in writing invitationt to a funeral
undertook, In his nrcoccunied mux of
mind, to ask a blessing at table, and com
menced" fritnJt, rtlalivit, and aiquainl
anatr A suppressed titter brought him
to hit tenses.
A man not a thousand miles from hero
once asked another whom he liked tho
best to hear preach. "Why," said he,
" I like Mr. Johnson best, because I don't
like any preaching, and his comet the
nearest to nothing of any tliat I ever head."
The bent bill or fare in a rood
nppetight.
Mice verr seldum cum out ov &
bole that iz cluwlr watcjied.