charge of C. M. Walker. They arrived there September 1st, and remained three days, after which, with fresh horses and provisions, they proceeded, and in ten days reached Fort Boisé, where they were kindly entertained by Mr Payette of the Hudson's Bay Company.[1]
Proceeding thence, an Indian guided them down the west bank of Snake River fifteen miles, to some boiling springs; thence to the narrow valley of Burnt River, up which they passed through charming little nooks, to a branch of Powder River, whence, after resting under the Lone Tree,[2] they passed into Grand Rond Valley; and thence over steep hills to the foot of the Blue Mountains; then through a belt of forest, along grassy ridges, up and down hills made difficult by loose masses of broken rock, through tracts of tangled wood, and along the face of cliffs overhanging mountain torrents, coming at last to grassy swells, and finally to the long descent on the western declivities of the mountains, which brought them to the beautiful rolling plains at the head waters of the Umatilla and Walla Walla.[3] Here Farnham fell in with a Cayuse on his way to Whitman's mission, and deciding to accompany him, they arrived there the 23d day of September, while Smith and Blair proceeded to Fort Walla Walla. Blair spent the winter at Lapwai, and Smith obtained employment from Ewing Young in the Willamette Valley.
After a pleasant visit at Waiilatpu, and a call on
- ↑ Farnham here observed a cart, made out of a one-horse wagon, which Payette said had been brought there from Connecticut by the American missionaries; but which was in fact the cart made by Whitman out of his light wagon in 1836. 'It was left here,' says Farnham, 'under the belief that it could not be taken through the Blue Mountains. But fortunately for the next that shall attempt to cross the continent, a safe and easy passage has lately been discovered by which vehicles of the kind may be drawn through to Walla Walla.'
- ↑ 'L'arbre seul' of the French trappers. Burnett says with regret that the emigrants of 1843 cut down this noble pine. Recol., 124–5.
- ↑ By comparing Farnham's Travels, 142–5, with Burnett's Recol. of a Pioneer, 123–6, it will be seen that the routes travelled in 1839 and 1843 were identical, with the difference that for wagons it was necessary in some places to make a détour to avoid some narrow ledges, or too abrupt elevations.
