From the fact that this company was the one to try his projected route to the heart of the Willamette Valley, it appears that White was responsible for the disasters that followed, though the guide, Stephen H. L. Meek, who probably followed White's advice, and was ambitious to distinguish himself also, incurred all the blame. However that may be, about two hundred families were persuaded to try a cut-off, with the assurance that they would save two hundred miles of travel by following the Malheur River and traversing the country to a pass in the mountains at the head of the Willamette Valley.
The route undertaken was an abandoned trail of the fur-trappers, which for several days they followed without experiencing unusual trouble. But in crossing the Malheur Mountains the country became so stony that wagons-tracks could scarcely be discerned on the disintegrated rock.[1] The feet of the oxen became so sore that the poor creatures would lie down and could with great difficulty be forced to move forward. Not finding grass, the loose cattle constantly turned back, and thus gave unceasing trouble. Forced by the nature of the country out of his proper course, the pilot bore far to the south, where was found good grass, but only nauseous alkaline water. By day the temperature was high, and at night ice formed in the
- ↑ The first gold discovery in Oregon made by any American, if not by any person, was near the head of the Malheur River, on a small creek divided from the Malheur by a ridge. This stream ran south-west, and was supposed to be a branch of the Malheur, an error that caused much trouble and disappointment to prospectors eight or ten years later. Daniel Herron, a cousin of W. J. Herron of Salem, was looking for lost cattle while the company were in camp here, and picked up a piece of shining metal on the rocky bed of the creek, and carried it to camp as a curiosity. No one could tell what the metal was, and no one thought of its being gold. Another nugget was found and brought to Mr Martin's wagon, who tested it by hammering it out on his wagon-tire; but not being able to tell its nature, it was thrown into the toolchest and forgotten, and ultimately lost. After the gold discovery in California these incidents were remembered, and many parties went in search of the spot where the emigrants said this gold was found, but were misled by being told it was on a tributary of the Malheur. S. A. Clarke, in Portland Daily Bee, Feb. 6, 1869; Overland Monthly, iv. 201-2.
Boisé; and the third the St Joseph's company, near the Salmon Falls of Snake River. White's Ten Years in Or., 282; Buck's Enterprises, MS., 1, 2; Palmer's Journal, 50.
