Upon the 5th of March, 1846, I set out on my return to the States. About one week previous, a party of seven persons had also set out on their return, and we expected to overtake them at Dr. Whitman's station. A few head of lame cattle had been left the preceding fall with a man named Craig, who resided near Spalding's mission;[196] and as the Indians in that vicinity had large bands of horses, which they wished to trade for cattle, I purchased several head of cattle to trade for horses, as also did others of the party. I, however, had purchased two horses and one mule; which, with several horses and mules belonging to the party, had been taken ahead on the 2d of the month, with the view of crossing the Columbia river at fort Vancouver, going up the valley of the Columbia, and recrossing below the Dalles. By this route we would avoid the deep snow on the Cascade mountains.
We loaded our effects on board a boat which we had bought for that purpose, and at two o'clock P.M. shoved off; and although anxious to be on the way back, yet I left the place with considerable reluctance. I had found the people of Oregon kind and hospitable, and my acquaintance with them had been of the most friendly character. Many of the persons who had traveled through to Oregon with me, resided at Oregon {121} city. Attachments had been formed upon the road, which when about to leave, seemed like parting with our own families. We were about to retrace the long and dreary journey which the year before had been performed, and again to brave the privations and dangers incident to such a journey. Traveling as we expected to do on horseback, we could not take those conveniences so necessary for comfort, as when accompanied with wagons; but we bade adieu to the good people of Oregon, and rapidly floated down the Willamette to the town of Portland, twelve miles below the falls. It commenced raining quite fast, and we hove to, and procured quarters with Mr. Bell, one of the emigrants who had recently settled at this place. This will probably be a town of some consequence, as it occupies a handsome site, and is at the head of ship navigation. Mr. Petigrew[197] of New York is the proprietor. It continued raining nearly all night.
In the morning the rain abated; we again took the oars, and in two hours and a half reached the town of Linnton. Here are a few log huts, erected among the heavy timber; but it will not, probably, ever be much of a town.[198] A great portion of the emigrants traveling down the Columbia land at this place, and take the road to Quality plains, which are about twenty-five miles distant; but the road is a bad one.
At 3 o'clock P. M. we arrived at fort Vancouver, where we made a few purchases to complete our outfit, and then rowed up the river two miles and a half, and encamped. Here we found the party with our horses. The Indians had stolen two horses, several trail ropes, &c. The day was showery.
On the 7th we ascended about eighteen miles, to the mouth of a stream coming in upon the north side of the river, about one hundred yards in width, having its source in Mount St. Helen. Here a commencement of a settlement had been made by Simmons, Parker, and others, and about a dozen buildings erected, but were now abandoned on account of its being subject to be overflowed by the annual high freshets of the Columbia river.[199] The soil is good, with several patches of prairie.
On our way we passed the grist and saw mills of the Hudson's Bay Company. They stand immediately upon the bank of the Columbia. The water power is obtained from small mountain streams. The mills are six and eight miles above the fort. Several islands in the river might be leveed and successfully cultivated. The day was cloudy, with occasional showers of rain, and some hail.
{122} On the 8th we advanced sixteen or eighteen miles. For the greater part of the way, the river is hemmed in by high, craggy, rocky cliffs. At a point, called Cape Horn, the rocks project over the stream, presenting a huge mass of black looking rocks of several hundred feet in height.[200] Some of them seem to have broken and slid from their former position, and now stand in detached columns erect in the deep stream, presenting a grand and terrific appearance. At several points, streams of water were tumbling more than a thousand feet from crag to crag, and falling into the river in broken sheets. Upon one of these columns stands a solitary pine tree, and upon the topmost branch sat a large bald-headed eagle. We rowed nearly under it, when one of our men took his rifle and fired, and down came the eagle, striking the water not more than ten feet from the boat. A wing had been broken, and we dispatched him with our oars; he measured over seven feet from tip to tip of the wings. Round this point the water is sometimes very rough. Boats have been compelled to lay to, for two weeks, on account of the roughness of the water. The day was clear.