"Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer"~~Continued.
By Peter H. Burnett.
CHAPTER IV.
Rocky Mountain Trappers—Their Peculiar CHARACTER— Black Harris—Joseph L. Meek—O. Russell—Robert Newell
When we arrived in Oregon we found there a number of Rocky Mountain hunters and trappers. who were settled in the Willamette Valley, most of them in the Tuaiatin Plains. The invention of the silk hat had rendered the trapping of beaver less profitable. Besides. most of these men had married Indian women. and desired to settle down for life. They had been too long accustomed to frontier life to return to their old homes. Oregon offered them the best prospects for the. future. Here was plenty of land for nothing, and a fine climate.
These trappers and hunters constituted a very peculiar class of men. They were kind and genial, brave and hospitable. and, in regard to serious matters, truthful and honest. There was no malice in them. They never made mischief between neighbor and neighbor. But most of them were given to exaggeration, when relating their Rocky Mountain adventures. They seemed to claim the privilege of romance and tube when describing these scenes. As exceptions to this rule, I will mention Judge 0. Russell. now living in El Dorado County, California. and Robert Newell, now deceased. Their statements could be relied upon implicitly.
Having been so long accustomed to the idle life of the Rocky Mountains, they were not at first pleased with the hard work aml drudgery of farming. Meek told me that soon after their arrival in Oregon they applied to Dr. McLoughlin to purchase supplies on credit~ This application
