14 LINDSAY APPLEGATE
reloaded and proceeded on our way to Vancouver, ascended the Willamette river to the falls, there made another portage around the falls, reloaded again, ascended the river twenty- five miles, coming to a place called Champoeg, where we fi- nally left our boats and made our way across the valley to Lee's Old Mission, ten miles below where Salem now stands, and on the first day of December entered one of the old build- ings to remain for the winter.
Previous to this, we had been in the rain most of the time for twenty days. Oh, how we could have enjoyed our hos- pitable shelter if we could have looked around the family circle and beheld the bright faces that accompanied us on our toil- some journey almost to the end! Alas, they were not there! That long and dreary winter, with its pelting rains and howl- ing winds, brought sadness to us. Under these sad reflec- tions, we resolved if we remained in the country to find a bet- ter way for others who might wish to emigrate, as soon as we could possibly afford the time. From what information we could gather from old pioneers and the Hudson's Bay Co., the Cascade mountains to the south became very low, or terminated where the Klamath cut that chain ; and knowing that the Blue mountains lay east and west, we came to the conclusion there must be a belt of country extending east towards the South Pass of the Rocky mountains, where there might be no very lofty ranges of mountains to cross. So in 1846, after making arrangements for subsistence of our families during our ab- sence, we organized a company to undertake the enterprise, composed as follows :
Levi Scott, John Scott, Henry Boygus, Lindsay Applegate, Jesse Applegate, Benjamin Burch, John Owens, John Jones, Robert Smith, Samuel Goodhue, Moses Harris, David Goff, Benit Osborn > William Sportsman, William Parker. Each man had his pack-horse and saddle-horse, making thirty ani- mals to guard and take care of.
A portion of the country we proposed to traverse was at
