Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/376

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336 FRED LOCKLEY

took the pistol away. Some of the crew came ashore, tied him up and turned him over to the authorities at The Dalles.

"Father was always a peaceful man when it came to the law. He said he was able to settle his own troubles. When the trial came, father refused to appear against him, so he was turned loose.

"Kimmell bought a sailboat. It got loose from the bank at Celilo and went over the falls. Kimmell could have gotten ashore, but he had money in the cabin and while trying to re- cover the money the boat went over the falls and Kimmell was drowned.

"Father sold the Cascadilla in the summer of 1864.

"I went on the river as a cub pilot with Captain Charles Felton on the steamer Yakima. At that time, the steamer Yakima was the most palatial boat on the river. It plied be- tween Celilo and Lewiston. Umatilla Landing, which had been started by Z. F. Moody, was growing rapidly. There was an active demand for lumber which sold for $55 a thousand. Alonzo Leland, with a man named Atwood, owned a sawmill 10 miles from Asotin. He could find no market for his lum- ber. It was worth only $15 per thousand at Lewiston, while if he could deliver his lumber at Umatilla he could readily sell all he could deliver at $55 a thousand. This market was worth trying for. They tried repeatedly rafting the lumber down the Snake river, but each time the raft was broken up in the rapids, and the lumber was a total loss. As we were going up the river Atwood hailed me from what is now called Atwood's Island. He had landed there with a raft in the at- tempt to go down the river. We took Mr. Atwood and the crew aboard. We asked him how he had happened to come to grief. Atwood said, 'It is impossible to raft lumber down the Snake. We will have to give it up. We have never succeeded in taking a raft down yet.' He turned to me for confirmation of his statement. I said, 'You can take a raft through all right if you will get the right man.' He said, 'Can you take one down?' I told him that I could. He made no comment of any kind but turned on his heel and went below.