the evening of the 3d the first ridge had been crossed; and beyond this was still the main chain of the Blue Mountains covered with heavy timber which it was imperative to remove. As the sappers and miners of a military legion precede the army, a force of the most active and energetic of the emigrant legion fell upon these barriers to progress, and although their axes were dulled by a summer's use, and their hands were sadly blistered, forty men in five days cleared a wagon-road over the dreaded Blue Mountains,[1] the wagons and herds following as the road was opened, boy's and women driving the teams whose owners were clearing the way.[2] On the 5th, and while the immigration was in the mountains, a severe snow-storm was experienced, which made the beautiful valley of the Umatilla River thrice beautiful by contrast, when the travellers arrived on the evening of the 6th at the western base. Here they found a Cayuse village, and obtained fresh vegetables. On the 10th the immigration was encamped within three miles of Whitman's station.
At Grand Rond, Whitman was met by a courier from Lapwai with intelligence of the alarming illness of Mr and Mrs Spalding,[3] and relinquishing his office of guide to Sticcas, a Cayuse chief in whom he reposed confidence, left the party and struck across the country to the station. Sticcas faithfully performed his duty, bringing the white men, to whom, as we
- ↑ Among these were the Fords, the Kaisers, Lennox, Zachery, Matheney, the Applegates, Burnett, and J. W. Nesmith. Kaiser, in his Emigrant Road, MS., says that Nesmith carried an axe on his shoulders all the way through the Blue Mountains, and was distinguished by a quiet reserve, for which in later years he has been less conspicuous, though the friends he made in his youthful days (he was then but 22) still cherish for him the most loyal regard. The same qualities which led him to usefulness then have never deserted him.
- ↑ An emigrant of 1846 refers to the fact that writers on Oregon have overlooked the women. 'They seem to have been ignored; yet they performed their toils with as much fidelity as the men, and have been as useful in their way. I could never have gotten through to this country without my wife.' Thornton's Or. Hist., MS., 33.
- ↑ Boston Miss. Herald, May 1844.
