"Oh, a man just cut his wagon in half and hitched what oxen he had left on to the front half, and left the hinder end there in the desert."
"Did you have trouble with the Indians?"
"None at all; all quiet and peaceable. We came into Oregon by way of Boisé City, Idaho, and Umatilla and the Dalles. The last sixty miles my wife and I walked nearly all the way, for the mules gave out crossing the Cascades, and we drove them before us into this valley. The first milk and butter was at Foster's, near Oregon City; but one old lady in the crowd would not eat the butter her son had bought for her: she said it tasted too strong of silver."
THE PRESBYTERIAN COLONY."Where did you settle down?"
"About three miles from Corvallis, or Marysville, as it was called then. Just twelve houses in the place, and two of them stores."
"What did you do for a house?"
"Just set to and built one. I built it round my wife as she camped in the middle. I cut me down a big fir-tree, and split it out into boards and shingles."
"What was this valley like then?"
"All open prairie. A man could drive seventy miles without stopping—from Salem to Eugene. All this oak-brush has grown up since."
"What became of your Presbyterians?"