went down and camped on or near a small river. The morning came clear and quite cool and we found ourselves in a fine valley probably fifteen miles long and wide enough to be called round. Early in the morning, soon after sunrise, looking in a northerly direction several miles away we could see a column of steam arising from the ground like a white cloud. This they said was from a hot spring or small lake. I think I fancied this was quite a good country, though it was then inhabited by Indians only.
Some things of the crossing of the Blue Mountains I remember quite well. The timber had to be cut and removed to make a way for the wagons. The trees were cut just near enough to the ground to allow the wagons to pass over the stumps, and the road through the forest was only cleared out wide enough for a wagon to pass along. I think we made one camp in the mountains and probably it was at this camp that the men so admired the abundance of fine timber. The people of this emigration even talked about the possibility of a railroad being built across the plains, and yet there were few of the party that had actual knowledge of what a railroad was; but it seems that at this camp they were talking on this subject, when John East, the same man I have mentioned in connection with the Missouri line, pointed to a very fine grove of fir or pine timber and remarked that when they got to building the railroad he wanted the contract of making the rails, and said he, "I will split the rails right there in that grove."
In passing across these mountains, we were overtaken by a snow storm which made the prospect very dismal. I remember wading through mud and snow and suffering from the cold and wet. But the camp on the Umatilla was a very pleasant place; this we soon reached after passing the mountains. The Umatilla was a small stream with sandy banks and bottom. About the stream were quaking asp and black haws. I distinctly remember noticing the quaking asp trees here for the first time. A camp fire on the bank of the creek was burning near one of these trees and as the sparks and smoke went up, the great wriggling among the leaves attracted my attention as I lay on my back looking up into its foliage, and I asked some one the name of the tree. None of the trees were large.
