USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 65
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A TEST OF COURAGE.
rugged hills with scarcely a pause. They brought some food with them. Williams could not eat, but Hedden devoured bread and bacon with the appetite of a iamished wolf. He had begun to believe the Diggers had given up the chase when he was undeceived by discovering them in a novel way .. He was toiling along on a little ridge which formed the main or dividing one between two small streams about a quarter of a mile ahead, when he saw three deer ahead. a little to the right of his course. At first he thought tc approach and kill one of them to get some venison as his bread and meat was nearly gone. For this purpose he de- scended into a ravine on his right and went cautiously forward until within rifle shot of the deer. As he laid his burden down and was in the act of rais- ing his rifle to his face, he saw the deer were not looking at him, but towards something in which they seemed deeply interested near the end of the little ridge. Cautiously squatting to the ground, he watched the deer. He soon became con- vinced that it was not one object which alarmed them, for they changed the di- rection of their gaze repeatedly and showed alarm which proved that it was not other deer they saw. Hedden was only a moment concluding the Diggers had seen him coming up the little ridge and secreted themselves where it joined the hill. He believed they were vet moving about hunting hiding places as the deer indicated the objects they were looking at were not stationery, but mov- ing. Williams was too unconscious to have a care what was going on, so, with- out explaning the predicament to him, Jake passed quietly up the ravine until he came to a large pine tree which had fallen from the hillside, the top reaching the ravine. Lying flat upon the ground he crawled along the side of this log, up the hill until he gained the excavation made by the tree at its root in falling. peeping through the spreading roots of the pine, he saw his surmise was correct. A number of Diggers were crawling about, trying to secrete themselves in the short grass and fern, to await Hed- den's coming up the ridge. Never were
savages more completely fooled. They expected Hedden to walk unawares into the ambush while he was lying com- pletely sheltered, within easy range of their exposed position. They awoke to a knowledge of their perilous situation at the crack of Hedden's rifle and the death of one of their number. A shower of arrows came in the direction of Hed- den's position. all of them falling short. Again the deadly rifle spoke and an- other Digger stopped worming himself through the grass. The rest sprang to their feet and ran for their lives. It was now necessary for Jake to change his course as the Indians ran in the direction he was going, and it would not do to risk another ambush. As long as the Diggers were behind him there was little danger. His policy was to show himself going in one direction until the Indians had gotten ahead then to take another course, leaving them to wait where he had no intention of going. This render- ed his journey very tedious, causing him to travel many miles out of his way. At dark he paused a few moments to eat a little bread and rest, and then continued his journey through the night. Soon after dark it commenced to rain. A storm came on, one of the terrific thund- er storms which sometimes visit the mountains in Southern Oregon. The rain descended in torrents. Still bearing his burden, Jake grouped his way. Na- ture was giving heroic treatment to the wounded man, but he seemed to revive under it. for when Jake, fearing he would chill to death in the storm, had paused, Williams was able to sit up and talk a little. His wound was badly swolen and so painful that Hedden, tak- ing his own coat and Williams' leather belt, constructed a kind of truss to sup- port Williams upon his back so that he could carry him without giving him so much pain.
"Jake, you look terrible, this is killing vou. Can't you leave me here until you get help to take me in?"
"No, we won't take no chances. The Injins might find you. I'm all right; I'm gettin' stronger every minit. Did I fall down with you arv time, old boy?"
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
"I don't know, said Williams, "I have been dreaming most of the time. I thought I was on an ocean voyage. go- ing around the horn. Sometimes the billows were terrible: then it would seem we were going down to the bottom of the ocean. I expect that was when you were climbing over some big logs.
"That's it," said Jake, "the Diggers chased me up and down the hills so much it is a wonder you didn't get sea sick. Our grub's all gone. but when it gits light I'll kill a deer, and maybe ye kin eat some breakfast with me. O, we're all right. We'll git thar, I tell ye. I'm stronger than I wus when we started."
With these cheerful words. Jake be- guiled the wounded man of his pain and made light of his own fatigue, but his haggard face showed the terrible exer- tions he had undergone. He had a will equal to his monstrous form and cour- age which nothing but death could con- quer.
The storm had passed away and the moon shone clear. Again they went forward. Before sunrise Jake killed a fine fat deer and, building a fire, soon prepared their breakfast. He did it am- ple justice, but Williams had relapsed into a semi-unconscious state from which he could not be aroused.
"Dead or alive, I'll carry him home," said Jake, as he again took his inani- mate comrade on his back and trudged on.
No Indians were seen during the day. When night came Jake was still making his way slowly towards the settlement. He was wasted and worn, his clothes torn into shreds, his feet were nearly bare: but still he toiled on, shaping his course only by the stare.
When morning dawned again. he was on top of a high mountain. in sight of the little valley which held his home. He frequently examined Williams who still breathed, but gave no other sign of life.
"Dead or alive. I'll carry him home," repeated Jake. But now Jake's strength began to fail. His step was unsteady and his knees trembled as he walked. Few men who had ever lived could have
endured what he had. But his courage never wavered. Once, after climbing : steep hill, he sunk to the ground ex- hausted. After a moment he rose, mut tering to himself, "We'll either both go home together, or both stay in the mountains." He left his rifle, trusting in his revolver, and staggered on. When within five moiles from home he sud- denly came upon an Indian camp. and was overjoyed to find, instead of being , hostile Diggers they were a friendly family with whom he was acquainted. and who belonged to another tribe whi had never taken up arms against the whites. Even these Indians, inured :1- they were to sights of suffering, thron up their hands in horror when they saw approaching their camp, this wasted mountain giant, with his apparently lift- less load upon his back. They soon rallied, however, and set about to restore Williams. Hedden was, for a time, ton much exhausted to assist, but lay on the ground watching their application medical skill. First they bathed the pa tient's face and poured into his mouth .: few drops of some kind of medicine then a very old Indian came out. of th lodge with a dried bladder which heh. some beans and small pebbles. This was the doctor, or medicine-man. He have. hurriedly made his toilet by divesting himself of all clothes except a breeci clout and putting some stripes of ver million paint on his face. He held the bladder in his right hand while his lei grasped a stick about two feet long. 0: namented with strips of bright-colore cloth. He danced around the wounder. man, rattling his beans in the bladde: and waving the tasseled stick while he muttered something in his own lan guage. After ten minutes William- opened his eyes and looked about ::: astonishment. Hedden was at his sie and explained their deliverance. Ti. doctor was highly pleased when his 1 ; tient recovered consciousness. Ile w .. probably not more at a loss to know. which of his efforts or medicines l .. proved successful than has been mans another doctor of more genteel appear- ance and elaborate apparel.
489
A TEST OF COURAGE.
The Indians knew the nature of the poison used by the Diggers on their ar- rows, and knew how to treat Williams' wound. By the next morning he was much revived and a litter was construct- ed and the Indians cheerfully aided Hed- den to take the wounded man to his house.
"We cum home together, Mary," said Jake, "but it was a tight squeeze my gal. We cum purty nigh leavin' our bones for the cayotes to pick."
Jake's boy crowed with delight when his father gave him the bright, yellow nuggets of gold taken from old "Scar- Face." Anyone could see Mary Hed- den had never been prouder of her big husband than she was at that time."
"Didn't I tell you Jake would stay with you if you got hurt? I knowed jist what he would do: but I reckon you've got to know him by this time."
"That I have," answered Williams from his cot where he was resting com- fortably, "he has more man in him than any one I ever saw before. If he hadn't been half a dozen men in one I would not be alive now. I can well believe he pulled old Brin out of the well from the way he ran over the mountains with me on his back when the Diggers were after us. I can never forget Jake. If I ever make anything I intend to share it with him and you.'
Williams' wound healed very rapidly, but Jake regained his strength slowly. His iron frame had been taxed to its utmost limit, and it was many days be- fore he recovered from that terrible tramp.
Now, so far as this adventure of our prospectors with the Indians is concern- ed, this story mnight end and properly does end here, but we imagine the reader has become interested in the principal characters and would like to know what time held in store for them. The whole course of prominent actors, in any de- partment of life, whether they be animals or human beings, must be interesting.
trace the foot-prints of time in the changes and developments which have taken place in the persons and scenes described. The opening of our sketch has given a glimpse of one phase of pioneer life in Oregon; its closing chap- ter can only sum up the effect of time on all mentioned.
Over forty years have passed since the heroic defense of and masterly re- treat from that little fort on the Sixes river. Its granite walls have endured the storms and are standing still. When last visited white fleeced sheep were grazing about among the fern where the Digger Indian lay secreted with his poi- soned arrows, and a harmless army of frolicsome lambs had sought the walls for shelter from the noon-day sun. The little flat, just above the river, where Williams received the poisoned arrow, was converted into a picket-walled gar- den where beans, peas and potatoes flourished, the latter reminding one of. "I'm a careless potato and care not a pin
How into existence I came;
Whether they planted me lengthwise or dib bled me in,
To me 'tis exactly the same. .
The bean and the pea may more loftily tower I care not a button for them;
Defiance I nod with my beautiful flower
When the earth is hoed up to my stem."
A worn and battered house stands where Hedden and Williams sunk their first prospect hole and part of one of the trees they fell to construct the dam, is still lying on the bank of the river. A neat cottage stands at the upper end of Bear flat, which is converted into a well- kept farm, and bright-eyed and rosy- cheeked children were playing with mimic boats in the creek where the fierce grizzly mother and her offspring fell.
But the Digger Indians, where are they? Finding themselves crowded on all sides, while their idle habits of life no longer furnished a substance. made their choice between labor and death. They chose to die. Relying on their forces, in 1855 they made a final effort against the encroachment of civilization by murdering, indiscriminately, men, women and children along the border.
We cannot follow the characters in- troduced here through the whole of their not uneventful lives, nor particularly . The midnight torch blazed throughout
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
Oregon; but few of the little settlements but were stained with the blood of inno- cent women and children. But the pio- neers were not to be driven back. They were urged by an impulse stronger even . than their own brave hearts. Such men as Williams and Hedden, armed with trusty rifles, sprang to every nook and corner. Southern Oregon's sister settlement, the Willamette valley, poured its copious floods of pioneer valor on the Rogue River hills. Beardless boys and gray-haired men mounted their ponies and rode to redress the murder of their neighbors. Mothers, daughters, wives and sweethearts bid them God speed. Blood flowed in many a hard fought bat- tle, but the Digger's doom was sealed. In less than twelve months, the remnant of the tribe was taken into captivity to a reservation to perform routine or men- ial duty about a government post.
Here the lover of the Indian might eulogise him in a mild poem. There is a good opportunity at this point to abuse the pioneer. It must be dreadfully sad for a man who has lived all his life in Boston, and earned his living by lectur- ing on psychology and mesmerism, to contemplate the injustice done to this poor Digger. The settlers must have been to blame. The Indian would have always been good if the white man had not spoilt him. We can only say the Digger perished because he stood against the great law of nature and of nature's God: "Thou shalt earn thy bread by the sweat of thy brow." He went against the hosts of the Lord and was smitten. Labor offered to take him by the hand: he refused to be her hand- inaiden: she made him a slave.
In 1853 a young man then called "Bill" Irwin drove an ox team, cut saw logs and performed other work at a saw mill located on the Needle river. Clatsop county. He afterwards was known as Hon. William Irwin. governor of the state of California, making the second chief executive which Oregon furnished
The fate of the Grizzly is no less p .. ·thetic than that of the Indian. He, too is gone. He fell, like the Indian, fight ing for the home of his fathers.
The little . Sixes river still rushes its unused waters down to the sea though its banks, in many places have- been cleared to make room for thriving home- and the mountain peaks about its rugged source now echoes the shrill whistle of the locomotive. The hunters them selves are nearly gone, though the mild- eyed deer still offers a mark for his rifle near the mountain tops.
Through all these changes, time has been kind to Hedden and Williams. As the years went by, Jake's little clearing widened into an ample farm, his cabin gave place to a comfortable house, large enough for his family which grew from three to ten rugged boys and rosy- cheeked girls, though Jake declares none of his boys are as strong as he was when he carried his load on Sixes river, or the girls as handsome as was their mother when she tended their one little boy while he went to find him some nuggets.
Wiliams never married, but spent a useful and cheerful life. He was five times elected clerk of Douglas county. and was always popular and enjoyed the love and respect of all who knew him When he passed quietly over to the other shore a few years ago, he was mourned by a large circle of friends who had reas- on to remember him as one of the true gentlemen of the earth. Through life he had been Hedden's warmest and tru- est friend. By his will he bequeathed him his entire fortune of over thirty thousand dollars.
GEO. A. WAGGONER
that state, Judge Peter H. Burnett being another, its first governor.
The government Indian training school in Oregon is said to have been given the name of "Chem-a-wa" by Rev J. L. Parish, and so called it because a band of the Calapooia Indians of that name used to occupy the site of the old Methodist mission not far away
INDIAN WAR RECOLLECTIONS.
Related by A. H. Sale, an Indian War Veteran, to H. S. Lyman.
Crossing the Columbia river, we en- tered the Lower Yakima valley, which is a broad, extensive plain, almost as flat as a floor, with but few undula- tions. There is a slight covering of sage- brush, and at a distance along the west- ern horizon appears the long outline of the rattlesnake hills.
We advanced up this valley toward the Northwest, keeping within easy dis- tance of the Yakima river, and coming every day nearer to that redoubtable chief, Kamiakin, whom we knew would meet us at some chosen place to resist our progress with all the force that he could command.
On about the fourth day of the march we found indications of Indians in force. We were now nearing the central part of the valley, and a Frenchman on the scout reported great clouds of dust eas- ily seen in the bright. spring air, which he attributed to a large body of hostiles, moving towards us. In the evening we made camp on the south or southeast side of a stream called the Wenass: Across the creek the bank was bluffy and at some distance further there were heights, bare of timber, but seamed on the slope toward us by numerous gul- leys. Thinking that this place looked like one suitable for the Indians to occupy and resist our advance, Colonel Corne- lius gave the order to make camp, en- joined special precautions upon the horse guards and ordered Captain Hem- bree to be ready at 4 o'clock the next morning to cross the creek so as to set a picket line on the heights beyond.
The night passed quietly. I was up at 4 the next morning and saw Hem- bree with a squad of ten men start at daylight to set the picket line. In the still, clear. morning I could see the whole suroundings: the sagebrush plains to the east and south: the grassy valley of the Wenass creek to the west.
and northwest across the creek the heights rising clear against the sky. . Scanning the heights as the morning ad- vanced, I discovered at length what I took to be Indians. I went at once to Colonel Cornelius, who was in his tent preparing for breakfast. "Colonel," I said, "I think I see Indians upon the summit across the creek."
"No," he said, "what you see is Hem- bree's party, that went out at 4 o'clock to set a picket line."
"That cannot be," I answered, "for he did not start at 4 o'clock, but not until daylight, and has not had time to reach the summit."
Cornelius then came to the tent door and examined the summit with a glass and said: "It is loose Indian horses; I see no men upon them."
"That cannot be, either," I said, "for they do not act like loose horses, but as if under control. I have been watching them for some time and they move and stop and do not bunch together like loose horses."
Cornelius, however, was satisfied that he saw no men on the horses; and, as a matter of fact, he did not, because the Indians who were upon them rode con- cealed on the side of their horses. I continued watching, and all too soon the real nature of the horses on the hill was unmistakeably disclosed. They sud- denly appeared bursting over the crest, and we could watch them as they bore down upon Hembree's little party, who were also by this time in clear view part way up the heights.
Waiting for no orders, I cried out: "Hembree was attacked; let everyone come with me to his rescue." Running on foot up the creek to the camp of his company. I called out to Hibler and Wright. who, with about sixty men, re- sponded. But as we advanced and reached the creek which we must ford,
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
.
nearly half of them stopped and there were not much over thirty who reached the other side. Climbing up the bluff after crossing and reaching the top we found ourselves upon a low plateau and were here surprised by seeing that we were face to face with a party of In- dians on horseback. riding down at a furious gallop to cut off Hembree's re- treat. We 'met them with a volley from our rifles, which emptied some of their saddles and made them all halt, and a sharp little skirmish began.
Hembree's party, seeing the Indians, had run for cover into a ravine, and Hembree turned to rally them and called to them not to leave him: but in the face of the odds they were stampeded and continued running as fast as possible, while he, delaying, was shot dead. and being overtaken by the Indians. the body was scalped and left on the ground. His party seeing us coming to their re- lief, ran behind us to the creek and were saved.
Major Connover. who had came across the creek. seeing the large num- ber of Indians, shouted to me to ride back to camp with the request to Cor- nelius for help. Having no horse. I asked for one from one of Hembree's men, a Mr. Woolery. quite a young man. but he, thoroughly frightened from his narrow escape from Kamiakin's terrible Indians, refused to part with his steed. Consequently, I started back on foot and to this circumstance I probably owed my life.
This action across the creek was but a small part of the engagement. Just as I started back. Kamiakin had assem- bled his Indians, perhaps four hundred in number, farther up the creek, and was now directing them in a splendid charge down the creek valley upon the horse guard, with the intention of stampeding and capturing our animals. In the me- lee across the creek. I had worked my way farther up stream than I had ob- served, and was now turning to camp so as to just about come upon the charg- ing Indians of Kamiakin, and if I had been on horseback should have probably
run
into their ranks before discov - ering what was happening, and thu- have been seen and shot. As it was. : took time enough to see where I wa- going and, doubling back on my track. crossed the creek and reached camp safely.
This charge of Kamiakin's was the. most splendid that I ever saw made by Indians, and it was only by great effort and owing to the presence of a ravine. behind which the guard drove our horses where they were safe, until our camp was aroused and the men put in: defensive line, that we saved the ani- mals. When the Indians came upon our skirmish line and saw that the hors- were safe, they wheeled off and disap- peared up the valley, and both sides prt - pared for a day's fighting.
After the unsuccessful dash of the In :- dians upon the horse guard and the- disappearance among the hills to the West. preparations were made to follo :: them up, and at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon Connoyer with a battalion about four hundred picked men began an advance.
Crossing the Wenass at the same place that we had passed in the mor :- ing. to the relief of Hembree, we ai- vanced over the ground that he ba! crossed and the fatal spot where he ha .. fallen. His body had been recover earlier in the day by men of his ou" company.
We passed up the hill to the summ where I had seen the Indian horseme" early in the morning and had all the tin .: in front of us many hostiles who wer shouting and shooting. but retiring we advanced. and making no resistan Gaining the crest of the hill. we fo !! that it was only the end of a long rid :. which led westward to a bald. Fue peak. rising considerably higher. 1 ward this peak, which was their street hold. the Indians were retreating. a: we could now see them gathering the: in 'force. We now changed our cout .. so as to follow toward the West aion. the top of the ridge. We advanced in . somewhat disorderly line, riding, alo: -
1
8
493
INDIAN WAR RECOLLECTIONS.
as the ground would permit, until we reached the foot of the rocky peak, when a skirmish line was formed and we pre- pared to attack the stronghold. At the top of the hill we descried some sort of fortifications. and, standing upon a high. steep crag, commanding the whole scene was Kamiakin himself, having a flag that he waved to direct the battle, and his aids were riding swiftly back and forth, between him and the fighters, who in large numbers, were holding the breastworks.
Major Connoyer called for me and a detail of twenty-five men, in order to make a circuit to the north side of the Indian stronghold and attack Kamiakin in the rear. Prosecuting this order and working our way around the base of the peak, we came into very difficult coun- try, and at length were compelled to pause at the foot of an inaccessible cliff As none of us knew the region, we de- cided that it was useless to try to go further. and came back to the sides of the hill where Connoyer was forcing his way up to the Indians' breastworks, fir- ing and fighting as he advanced. As I came back to his rear I noticed a ridge or bench leading out to the north of Kamiakin's position, along which I thought I could make a way and fall upon his flank. Accordingly, I dis- mounted my command and, having sent back the horses. led my detail on foot along that ledge and was creeping to the flank to attack the hostiles from the northwest. As we were coming near to their position. we came upon an Indian whom we killed. though we found out afterwards that it was not necessary, as he was already wounded.
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