I felt the cold quite severely on the first night out from Salem. On the second evening I had, as I believe, as severe a cold as I ever experienced in my whole life. After the other men had turned in for the night I inquired if any one of them had anything that would cure a cold. One of them replied that he had some cayenne pepper in his valise and told me where I could find it, and he told me that a teaspoonful in hot water was a proper dose. After heating some water I put in a tablespoonful of the cayenne, stirred it thoroughly, and drank dregs and all. I am now convinced it was the warmest dose I ever drank, but I immediately laid down for the night, and when I arose the next morning, my cold had nearly disappeared. It troubled me very little afterward. This, I believe, was the only serious cold I experienced while in Oregon.
We were about three days in making the trip from Salem and we began work December 17, in township No. 14 south, range 3, west. The Willamette River ran through township 14, range 4 and 5, west. The Callapooza, a small river, also passed through some of the townships.
There was much rainy weather through the last part of December, and also during January, 1853, all the streams and swales being full of water.
I don’t recollect the names of the men who made up my party, with the exception of one, whose name was McDonald. Whenever we got into a hard place, he was always complaining, and would say that he should quit work. He was not the sort of a man I desired, but I did not wish to have him leave, as he had a sympathizer in the party who would be pretty sure to leave if he did, and that would break up my gang. It would probably trouble me to supply their places at that time.
We finished one township on January 3, and commenced upon the one next west in range 4. The Willamette River intersected the western boundary of this township, which it crossed four times, and also crossed its south boundary. We had completed about two-thirds of the easterly part of this township when one day it became necessary to cross the Willamette River and bring out a line before we could make any farther progress.
I made some inquiries of some of the settlers in relation to a boat, and learned of a man nearby who owned a “dugout,” but upon seeing him he declared it would be impossible to cross the river in its swollen condition. We went to the river where the boat was located and the situation for crossing did really look to be somewhat dangerous to be undertaken at that time with such a craft. I had many times used similar boats to cross streams.
A “dugout” is a boat made from a log, being dug out, as its name implies, and many of them are not very steady on the water, overturning very easily. This was one of the unsteady kind, and the river at the point where the boat lay at that time was very rapid. A short distance below was the upper end of an island, against which a large quantity of drift timber had lodged and against which the current was lashing itself with great force. After considering the situation for a few moments I concluded that I could make the crossing, as I was obliged to do, or await the fall of the river. The boat was so small and frail that it was not safe for us all to undertake to cross at one time. I said to the men of the party that I could take them safely over, as I believed, provided they would do just as I should command them, and not become frightened. I said also that we must cross the river or lie still until the freshet should subside, which might be several days; that I would leave it to them to decide whether to go or not, as it was, as I knew, attended with some danger to make the attempt to cross.
Possibly we might meet with some accident, and if so, we probably would fare hard. They concluded to make the attempt. I took two men into the boat with me, together with the instruments. The men sat on the bottom of the boat to steady it, and after giving them their instructions, I pulled the boat into the current. Though the passage was difficult we went safely across to the other side of the river. But our troubles had only begun. The lowlands along the river were overflowed to a depth of several feet; in places it was so deep that it was impossible to wade it, so that it was necessary to make triangulations. The country was timbered, and brushy, and the lines crossed the island.
We were wading in the water nearly all day. I believe now, considering the water, brush and all the conditions there present, it was the most difficult line of equal length that I encountered on all the surveys I made while in Oregon.
It crossed the river at a little more than one-half mile from the corner at which we began, and we worked in the water nearly the entire day, but got the line across before night.