m THE IMMIGRATION OF 1843.

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, the wagons and herds following as the road was opened, boy's and women driving the teams whose owners were clearing the way. 20 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 1 Oth the immigration was encamped within three miles of Whitman's station.

At Grand Bond, Whitman was met by a courier from Lapwai with intelligence of the alarming illness of Mr and Mrs Spalding, 91 and relinquishing his office of guide to Sticcas, a Cayuse chief in whom he re- posed 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 **%*»**"■ S^i^hiS^

fte Hue Mountains, and was distinguished by a ^^henLTeinhi. later years he has ^."fSSot-S 2*WL "*** CS-*3lSta whlT^St 1 ££E« then have never deserted

^ fc, emigrant of 1846 refers to the fact that writers on Oregon .**»» overlooked" tL women. 'They seem to have been jp. ored; gtttjyjg,

111 ini^ii " "-J • — -iv/rCi no

wife.' Thorntons Or. Hist., MS., 66

• l Boston Miss. Herald, May 1844.