#virtualoregontrail August 8-14, 1845, Salmon and the Walla Walla Indian threat

Continuing with the diary of James Field:

Fri., 8. - Went about eight miles to-day, camping at the Rocky Fork of Snake, which proves to be only a small stream.

Sat., 9. - This morning our camp was visited by a large band of Indians, who brought with them a mare belonging to a person in one of the forward companies and gave her up, receiving a few presents as a reward for their honesty. Contrast this with the conduct of the owner of the mare, who is reported to have robbed a Sioux grave a little this side of Larimie of several buffalo robes and other articles which it is their custom to deposit with their dead. But thanks be to goodness, the emigrant companies are not all composed of such shadows of men, for before our big company split, he was considered the meanest one in it or on the road. Went about 16 miles to-day, camping again upon the Rocky Fork, or not precisely upon it, for the bluffs are so steep as to oblige us to camp in the wormwood and drive our cattle down loose over the rocks. About 4 miles from our present encampment, crossed the Rocky Forks and the bluffs there were very difficult both of descent and ascent. In fact it has wound through a deep narrow glen with its sides a wall of perpendicular rocks, nearly all the way from our last encampment.

Sun., 10. - Went about 20 miles, camping late in the evening upon a small branch just at its entrance into Snake river. Had a very naked camp of it, there only being a patch of tall rushes and cane grass for our cattle to feed upon.

Mon., 11. - A part of our company consisting of 15 wagons, camped last evening where we first struck Snake River, and this morning they took out their cattle so that our company is again divided, - this time we divided even, as we had 20 wagons, five having left ours and joined Stewart's company on Sweetwater. A number of Indians are encamped on the opposite side of the river. Went about 6 miles to-day, camping again upon Snake River near where a large creek puts into it, near which we found an excellent piece of grass. A number of natives passed our encampment in the evening, one of them having a couple of salmon with him which he sold us.  These are the first salmon we have seen, but the Indians being so plenty along the river the last day or two, I think we must be getting in the neighborhood of salmon. There is little or no game at all on road this side. Fort Hall and the Indians are obliged to live on fish. There are no less than four companies piled up here, ours, Parker's, Leggets, and English's. Parker's is the one that broke from Stewart on Sweetwater about the time five wagons joined him from our crowd. Just below our present encampment on the opposite side of the river are a number of as fine springs as ever were seen. They are near the top of the river bluff, which is between 80 and 100 feet high and as the water bubbles down the nearly perpendicular rock it forms a line of beautiful cascades along the dark wall of rocks which here line the opposite shore of the river. If the hills around us were carpeted with grass instead of being covered with wormwood, this would be one of the prettiest spots on the globe for the study of a painter.

Landscape, Fall Creek Falls and Snake River Idaho

Tues., 12. - On passing those springs this morning I take back the last sentence written yesterday and say, leave all as it is, the brown appearance of the barren hillsides contrasting with the bright green fringe of willows and grass which here border the smooth surface of the river, spreading occasionally up the side around the springs, only to render the same more striking, and should I see it transferred to canvas 50 years hence, I would be sure to recognize it, no matter where I found it. About five miles from our late encampment we passed the Salmon falls, the river there falling over a wall of rock in a succession of tumbles, making a descent of about 25 feet. Here were a number of Indian camps with lots of salmon for sale. These fish cannot ascend the falls, and the Indians have a great fishery there. We could plainly see numbers of their traps in the river as we passed along. We traveled about 18 miles and then tied up in the wormwood, as there was no grass anywhere near us, and the river banks were so steep and high it was utterly impossible to descend them with wagons. My patience was this day tried to its utmost by the conduct of English's company, which hurried its wagons into the road this morning, taking the lead of all the companies. They have been racing and crowding other companies all the way since the start, and now their teams are cut up so that they can hardly travel, and we were obliged to wait for them to work their passages up the hills, occasionally an ox or old cow lying down to rest upon it.

Salmon from Flickr Public Domain 

Wed., 13. - Went about 11 miles this morning, which took us to the crossing of Snake river, and crossing to the first island, turned out our cattle. We found the McNearys, the Waymires, and a number of our old company, in all 13 wagons, on the opposite side of the river wishing to join us, they offering to pilot and assist us over. We crossed in the afternoon, they rendering us valuable assistance, as they were well acquainted with the ford, which is not easily followed, as it runs across to two islands and then crooks up stream. The water only ran into the wagons a few inches, and as everything that could wet was raised to the top of the wagon-beds, it did no damage. They told us it ran over the sides of some of the foremost wagons, and upset one. The Walla Walla Indians are reported to have assembled some 75 or 100 miles below here for the purpose of stopping the emigrants passing through their territory, and it is said they have killed two of the Frenchmen who were with us as pilots on Sweetwater. This is the reason of their wishing to join us.

Walla Walla Native Indians
Image from
https://www.warpaths2peacepipes.com/indian-tribes/walla-walla-tribe.htm

Thurs., 14. - Traveled about ten miles, camping upon a small branch. We had a squally time ascending the bluffs, which are several hundred feet high. We passed from a hill to the side of a bluff, upon a high, narrow ridge of just sufficient width upon the top for the wagon road, the sides descending very steep each way. Just as the wagons were upon this a gale of wind in advance of a thunder shower struck us, and blew with such violence directly across the track that it seemed as if wagons, teams and all would be blown away.

From “The Diary of James Field” Willamette Farmer (Portland, OR, Fridays: April 18 – August 1, 1879). 

4 Jul 1879 (August 4-11) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-07-04/ed-1/seq-6/ 

 11 Jul 1879 (August 11-22) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-07-11/ed-1/seq-6/ 

#virtualoregontrail August 1-7, 1845 - American Falls and the Snake River

Continuing with the Diary of James Field:

Fri., Aug. 1. - Went only eight miles to-day, as many of us had some trading to do at the fort before starting. A wagon was repaired which had a tire bursted on a forewheel 100 miles from the fort, and we took raw buffalo hide cut in strips and wound about half the circumference of the wheel with it, and although we had a stony road some of the way, it lasted to the fort, holding the wheel firm and solid. One thing about Fort Hall is noticeable, their cattle look as fine as I ever saw grass-fed cattle in old Connecticut. Old, broken-down oxen purchased of last year's emigration were just rolling with fat. This is owing to the excellent grass about the fort, the land affording as fine natural pasturage as I ever saw, but is rather poorly adapted for cultivation, being too moist.

Sat., 2. - As one of our company had lost three of his working oxen in the neighborhood of the fort, we lay by to-day to help him hunt them, and they were brought in before night. Companies should never camp close to a fort when it can be avoided, as their cattle and horses are liable to be run off by the Indians who are always found in greater or less numbers in such localities. They are constantly riding about the camps of the whites, always on a full run, and scatter the stock terribly.

American Falls as it looks today.
Photo from http://smilingglobe.com/where-to.aspx?Visit=Idaho&Go=Central_Idaho&Re=America.

Sun., 3. - Took a fair start to-day for the Columbia Valley, glad to leave Fort Hall and all its appendages behind. Traveled about 10 miles, upset a wagon, and camped in the barrens without water or grass. Wood we never miss now, as we can make a fire and cook with wormwood, which grows everywhere upon the barrens. About 12 miles from our last camp we passed the American Falls, where the river passes over a bed of rocks, having a sloping descent of about 30 feet. Here the level river bottom terminates, and here we should have camped. But Capt. Tethro was close ahead of us, and some of our men had determined on passing him this night, so we kept on after he had camped upon a narrow strip of grass. In crossing a ravine the upsetting of one of Capt. Riggs' wagons brought us all to a standstill. I omitted to mention that a short distance from the last camp we crossed the Portnuef River, which was the worst crossing we have had yet, owing to the steep and miry condition of the banks, and the water being the deepest we have yet forded, requiring thick blocks to be put under the beds of most of the wagons.

Mon., 4. - Went about 16 miles to-day, camping upon the Cajeux river, where we found excellent grass. We turned out our cattle about midway between camps, near the crossing of a creek called the Creek of Rocks, as they had no water or grass last night, and many of our company went on there before they took breakfast. This creek runs through a deep ravine, as indeed nearly all the small streams do, and is rather a difficult crossing. Legget's company upset a wagon in it. The road along here would be tolerably fair were it not for the numerous ravines, some of them being very deep.

Tues., 5. - Went about 16 miles to-day, crossing fewer ravines than either of the two previous days, the road being very stony, however, which jostled the wagons terribly. Ever since passing the American Falls the rocks have presented a dark, rusty appearance, as though they contained iron ore.

Wed., 6. - Went about 14 miles over a tolerably fair road, camping on Goose Creek. We nooned alongside a very pretty little lake which is formed by the outlet of a spring. Just at evening a child fell from one of the wagons and was run over, but happening to fall in a miry hole in the road, it sustained little or no injury. This is the third run-over in our company.

The Snake River
By Colleen Taugher - originally posted to Flickr as Pete at Chief Tim, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6315474

Thurs., 7. - Traveled about 18 miles to-day, camping upon the dry fork of Snake river, the water of which stands along in pondholes. That pretty little lake mentioned yester-day I think must have been Snake river, which again came up this noon. The reason of my mistaking it for a lake was that we happened to strike it where its banks were low, its channel broad and deep, giving it a very moderate current, which caused it to present the appearance of a still lake. Since passing the American falls the river has ran most of the way between perpendicular bluffs of rocks, so that we often approach within a short distance of it without seeing it.

From “The Diary of James Field” Willamette Farmer (Portland, OR, Fridays: April 18 – August 1, 1879). 

 27 Jun 1879 (July 29-August 3) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-06-27/ed-1/seq-6/ 

 4 Jul 1879 (August 4-11) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-07-04/ed-1/seq-6/ 

#virtualoregontrail July 25-31, 1845 - Soda Springs and Fort Hall

Continuing with the diary of James Field, teamster for the Riggs family, from the Willamette Farmer.

Fri., 25. - Went bout 16 miles to-day, crossing the river again and climbing over a mountain which shuts in to the river's edge.

Sat., 26. -  Owing to an injudicious selection of our camp last night we did not get away from it until 11 o'clock, so that we only went seven miles to-day. There was an almost impenetrable thicket of brush near our camp, from which it seemed impossible to get the cattle.

Sun., 27. -  Went about 22 miles to-day, camping near the soda springs. These springs are in the river valley on its northern side, and are one of the greatest curiosities on the road. Some of them are warm, others cold, and all boiling, and most of them impregnated more or less with copperas. Where some of them boil up they have formed a lime rock, which on walking over sounds as if it were hollow. There are several elevations on the rock two and three feet high shaped like a sugar-loaf, and their whole insides are filled with warm water constantly boiling and bubbling. Some of the water in these springs is supposed to be poisonous, from the fact of cattle dying when people have camped near them. They extend along for two miles between the mountain and the river on its northern side, and the poisonous ones are supposed to be located near a small cedar grove. The water has not a lively soda taste, but is rather like soda water left to open air until it dies, leaving only a sour, acid taste, and on the whole it is rather mean water.

Soda Springs
photo from:
https://www.pemcarbon.com/gallery/soda-springs-id/

Mon., 28. -  Went about ten miles to-day, leaving Bear River on our left and camping near a spring slightly impregnated with soda. About a mile from camp we passed a spring, the water of which tasted more like soda water than any I have tasted of. The trail from the States to California parts from the Oregon road at Bear River, down which it follows, while the Oregon road strikes over on the Snake River near Fort Hall. A word for the Bear River Valley before leaving it: it comes nearer to being fit for white folks to live in than any section of the country we have traveled through since leaving the branches of Kansas River, and it only lacks a little of being a good farming country. The principal drawbacks are a scarcity of timber, there being only a strip of willow bushes along the river, with once in a long while a small grove of cottonwoods, and a little more rain in summer would be desirable. The soil is excellent, the climate rather cold of nights, and there is once in awhile a snow-drift to be seen on the mountains along the river. There is timber on the mountains nearly sufficient for the use of the valley.

Tues., 29. - One natural production of the country ought to be noticed, as it constitutes an important item of the food of the natives, game being rather scarce here. This is the crickets, which in some parts of the valley are larger and more plentiful than I ever saw them anywhere else, being from an inch and a half to two inches in length, with corporations like aldermen, and the Indians make fine, rich pots of soup of them (see a recipe here), as some of our company saw at a camp near the soda springs. We traveled about 14 miles to-day, camping on a small creek which is probably a branch of Bear River. I omitted mentioning yester-day that we had left the regular road again not far from the soda springs to take another near cut under the pilotage of a Frenchman. Our company found and employed him at the springs, but we had not proceeded far before we found the Greenwoods were conducting Tethero's company by the same route, and as they made a plain road for us to follow, our pilot returned. We have not yet got into the old road, but we have thus far had an easy, level way, and from the relative bearings of the two roads we must cut off at least nine or ten miles. We had an excellent camp, with plenty of grass and water. These Greenwoods are an old man and three sons whom he has raised in the Indian country. They are well posted on the route.

Wed., 30. - Went about 16 miles to-day, crossing the dividing mountain between Bear and Snake Rivers, and camping upon a small creek which runs into the latter stream, so that we are now upon the waters of Oregon. About four miles from our camp we struck and crossed the old road, crossing the mountain by a route which wagons had never taken before. Tethro passed over it, although it was the regular pack-trail. We struck the old road again about two miles from our present camp. An excellent road could be made across here with but little labor, and in its present condition it is not a hard road, and saves eight miles' travel.

Fort Hall, 1849
sketch from:
http://www.historyglobe.com/ot/fthall.htm

Thurs., 31. - Eighteen miles to-day took us to Fort Hall, which stands upon the broad, level bottom of Snake River, with fine pasturage and some timber around it, and surrounded by a few wigwams of the Eutaw and other tribes of Indians. It is a good-sized fort, built like Fort Larimie of unburnt bricks, and is one of the posts of the Hudson's Bay Co. The superintendent of the fort is a very gentlemanly man, a Scotchman, I believe, and showed a good deal of kindness to the immigrants, but like most others in the Indian country, well disposed to make a good bargain off them when it can be done. They told us the first companies who arrived a few days before took them by surprise, being a month earlier than companies had ever reached the fort before.

From “The Diary of James Field” Willamette Farmer (Portland, OR, Fridays: April 18 – August 1, 1879). 
20 Jun 1879 (July 22-29) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-06-20/ed-1/seq-6/ 

27 Jun 1879 (July 29-August 3) 

https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042522/1879-06-27/ed-1/seq-6/