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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1877)
THE WEST SHORE. November. 40 crushed U detith; anr! proceeded to rotn ve the rubbish, and lift tho bed clotint. I w.ts lyinj BO Inn t, buried in thought) but tliu duttt caused me to b r 1007.0, and nUlfWt the upjirehtmsioiis of the good people. ''1 imraodintnly rose and dressed myself, and proceeded with tlietn atjout tliu Palaizo, to see the dating) it bod sustained. The nusniTe outside walls were all separated from each other, and trotn tiie partition walls, and left chasms between, through which the li((ht apptfiied. I'rov identic I iy, the room In Which I tlept hud the bed vnn i a jmrtition wall, and nothing fell on me but pieces of the ceiling and cornice; had it been on thu other hide, next the num wall, 1 could not hare escaped, for it was entirely cofered with masses of masonry which had urn "hod and buriod under them every thing on which they full. 1 had repined that I had uot baft) abie to MOtpt by tliu door when I ftttempted, hot to this circumstance also i now found 1 wm indebted, under Providence, for my preservation. A wing of the house had fallen into the court yiird, through which I had intended to imku my way; and no doubt, had I done so at the UOUMlt i lnud, would hae uuried iuu under It. "It was now past four in the morning, and we promdtd with intense anxiety to the government i n to sort if any of our friend, whom we had luft so wdl and cheerful a few hours before, had ' 1 1 ' 1 ' ' i The wtather had totally changed. The sky seemed to partake in the contusions of tho oatta, It blew a storm, driving the dark clouds 'in.' with vast rapidity. The street were full of puopl, hurrying in different directions, but all in profound silence as if under some awful impres sion, a-id crowding into the churches, which were everywhere lighted up, and full of people. The priests were in their vestments singing solemn dirges, and the congregations on their faces, pros trated in the profoundest reverence. We found our frieuds all assunibted, with Lord and Lady Htrangford in the diniugdiall of the palace. To t lis loom they had run In tlioir night drosses, as l a place of some security, being a ground Door d-ttachod from the e liflcr, and having no building over it. Here we sat till it was light, telling our w .-vara I escapes; and then I went out into thu town to Biio the state in which it was left. Nearly the whole of the 4,000 boQHI of which it consisted Win split open in ditl'erent places, and many fr ui the foundation to the not About forty were lying )roH(rite, and obstructing the passage of the fdruetH The front wal's of many were separated iioru the sides, and hanging over tho way, seeming md to fall every moment upon the passenger. Thb toitiUney ol the w.tlls to full out saved many live; but there win another circumstance to which thill salety was attributed by the autiotes thoiii hilres. Tlie tiight had been the vigil of their great patron saint, Dionysius, and almost the whole population were watching iu the streets or OlmnhM anil 0 out uf their houses when the hook tttt OH The churches were of ImoUUN itMngthi and UlOUgh "II shaken and shattered, none ol them full) winch the pious people uni versally attributed to the interference of the saint whom Vile they WOM cidehiatiug. Not more than I it ty dattl bodies were found in the ruins. It up Utilt, by the concurrent testimony of sevural, that the who In duration of the earth's motion wus not lotlffJI thiB IftytMOUdlOr I minute; yet the time was in irked by the passing sensations of different people, so that 'brief space appenrud to be hours." The earthquakes which in the present century dcnolated the principal cities of Peru, and the stiil later one thai laid Manilla in nuns, art too froth lu tho minds of all to need more than a passing mention. our expedition would probably have come to an end there. After crossing, we turned up the river, and the Indiana in large numbers came out of the thickets on the oppo site side and tried in every way to pro voke us. Our course was for .some dis tance southeast along the bank of the river, and the Indians, some mounted and some on foot, passed on rapidly on the other side. There appeared to be a great commotion among them. A party had left the French settlement in the Willamette some three or four weeks before us, consist Ink of French) half-breeds, Columbia Indians and a few Americans; probably about eighty in all. Passing one of their encamp ments we could see by the signs that they were onl) a short distance ahead of us, We afterwards learned that the Rogue Rivet s had stolen some of their horses, and that an effort to recover them had caused the delay. At about 3 o'clock we left the river and bore southward up a little stream for four or five miles and encamped. From our that of the other comr.any, they fol lowing the old California trail across the SUkiyOU, while our route was east ward through an unexplored region ' several hundred miles in extent. On the morning of June 30th, we ! moved along the north bank of the I creek, and soon began the ascent of the I mountains to the eastward; which we found gradual. Spending most of the 1 day in examining the hills about the j stream we called Keene creek, near i the summit of Siskiyou ridge, we mov . cd on down through the heavy forests 1 nf nine, fir and cedar, ami encamped ! I early in the evening in a little valley, now known as Round prairie, about ten or twelve miles, as nearly as we I could judge, from the camp of the pre : vloua night. We found no evidence of j Indians being about, but we did not I relax our vigilance on that account, j We encamped in a clump of pines in ' the valley and kept out our guard. On the morning of July 1, being , anxious to know what we were to find ahead, we made an early start. This NOTKS AND, REMINISCENCES, LAYING lUT AND ESTABLISHING THE OLD IMMIGRANT ROAD INTO SOUTHERN OREGON, IN THE VEAR 1846. BY MNPSAV At't'l.KtiAli:, In selecting our camp on Rogue riv er, wc observed the greatest caulion. Cutting stakes from the limbs of an old oak that itood in the open ground, we picketed our horsci w ith double takes as linuly Bi possible The horses wete picketed in the form of a hollow gqitrtrc, outside of which we took up our positions, knowing that in case of an attack there Would lie a chance of losing horses and that would he a com plete defeat. We kept vigilant guard duftng the night, and, the next morn--ng, could see the Indians occupying the same position as .it dark. After an early breakfast w ebcan to make prep nftLiani to move forward. There had been a heuvy dew, and fearing the ef fects ot the dampness upon our tire tuns, w hich were imizle-loaders, of coui.se, and some of them with flint 1 cks, we fired them off and reloaded, la moving forward) we formed two division, With 'he pack horses behind, On teaching the river bank the front division fell behind the pack horse and drove them over, while the rear divis ion faced the brush, with gun in hand, until the ftont division was salcly over. Then they turned about, and the rear dtvUiort passed over under protection Ot their rifles The Indians watched the performance from their places of concealment, but there was no chance fo tnejri to make an attack without ex. posing thenltelvei to put fire. The liver wan drep and inpid, and for n short distance ome of the smaller aiti tpntl hnd to swim. Had wc rushed jR-Il-nwll into the stream, as purtics sometimes do nutlet tUvluiivumslanct's, HBfPWMsvOJfe MwBK-t "vj'tm. L sfc''. '?jpP 'v' l.U.i.lAY.UT FALLS, Wi T. Photo ty Chs J. Huntington, OlytnpU. See Pgs 4S. camp we could see numerous signal fires on the mountains to the eastward. Wc saw no Indians in the vicinity of our camp, and no evidence of their having been there lately. They had evidently given us up, and had followed the other company which the same night encamped in the main valley above. Under the circumstances, we enjoyed a good night's rest, only keep ing out two guards at a time. On the morning of June 20th, we passed OVOI a low range of hills, from the summit or which we had a splen did view of Rogue River valley. It Mined like n great meadow, Inter spersed w ith groves of oaks which ap Hared like vast orchards. All day long we traveled over rich black soil cover ed with rank grass, clover and pea vine, and at night encamped near the other party on the stream now known as Kmigrant creek, near the foot of Sis kiyou mountains. This night, the In dians having gone into the mountains to ambush the French company as WC afterwards learned, we wen not dis turned. Here our course diverged from morning we observed the track of a lone horse leading eastward. Think ing it hail been made bv some Indian horse rider on his way from Rogue river to the Klamath country, wc un dertook to follow it. This we had no trouble iu doing, as it hail been made in the spring while the ground was damp and was very distinct, until we came to a very rough rocky ridge where we lost it. This ridge was directly in out way. Exploring north ward along the divide for considerable distance without finding a practicable route across it we encamped for the night among the pines. The next morning, July 2, we explored the ridge southward as far as the great canyon of the Klamath but, having no better suc cess than the day before, we encamped at a little spring on the mountain side. The next day, Inly 3, wc again traveled northward farther than before, making a more complete examination of the country than we had previously done, and at last found what seemed a practi cable pass. Near this was a rich grassy valley through which ran a little stream and here wc encamped for the night. This valley is now known as Lone Prairie. On the morning of July 4, our route bore along a ridge tending considera bly towards the north. The route was very good, not rocky, and the ascent very gradual. After crossing the sum mit of the Cnscade ridge, the descent was, in places, very rapid. At noon wc came out into a glade where there was water and grass and from which we could sec the Klamath river. After noon we moved down through an im mense forest, principally of vellow pine, to the river, and then traveled up the north bank, still through yellow pine forests, for about six miles, when all at once we came out in full view of the Klamath country, extending east ward as far as the eye could reach. It was an exciting moment, after the many days' spent in dense forests and among the mountains, and the whole party broke forth in cheer after cheer. An Indian who had not observed us until the shouting began, broke away from the river bank near us and ran to the hills a quarter of a mile distant. An antelope could scarcely have made bet ter time, for wc continued shouting as he ran and his speed seemed lo increase until he was lost from our view among the pines, Wc were now entering a country where the natives had seen but few Wnlte people. Following the river up to near where it leaves Lower Klamath Lake, we came to a riffle where it seemed possible to cross. Wil liam Parker waded in and explored the ford. It was deep, rocky ami rapid, but we all passed over safely, and then proceeded along the river and lake shore for a mile or so when we came into the main valley of the Lower Klamath Lake. We could sec columns of smoke rising in every direction, for our presence was already known to the Modocs and the signal fire telegraph was in active operation. Moving south ward along the shore wc came to a little stream, coming in from the south ward, and there found pieces of news papers ami other unmistakable eviden ces of civilized people having camped there a short time before. We found a place where the turf had been cut away, also the w illows, near the bank of the creek and horses had been re peatedly driven over the place. As there were many places where animals could get water without tins trouble, some of the party were of the opinion that some persons had been burled there and that the horses had been driv en over the place to obliterate all marks and thus prevent the Indians from dis turbing the dead. The immense ex citement among the Indians on our arri val there strengthened this opinion. Col. Fremont, only a few days before, had reached this point on his way northward w hen he was overtaken by Lieut. Gillispic of the U. S. army with important dispatches and returned to Lower California. The Mexican war had just began and the "path-finder" was needed elsewhere. On the very night he was overtaken by Lt. Gillis pic, the Modocs surprised his camp, killed three of his Delaware Indians and it is said that had it not been for the vigilance and presence of m'nd of of Kit Carson, he would probably have suffered a complete route. At this place wc arranged our camp on open ground so that the Indians could not fossibly approach us without discovery, t is likely that the excitement among the .Mottoes was caused, more than any thing else, by the apprehension that ours was a party sent to chastise them for their attack on Fremont. Wc were but a handful of men surrounded by hundreds of Indians armed with their poisoned arrows, but by dint of great care and vigilance we were able to pass through their country safely. On every line of travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific there has been great loss of life from a failure to exercise a proper de gree of caution, and too often have reckless and foolhardy men who have through the want of proper care, be come embroiled in difficulties with the Indians, gained the reputation of being Indian fighters and heroes while the men w ho were able to conduct parties in safety through the country of war like savages, escaped the world's notice. ( To be continued!)