| Title: | Extract of a Letter From Oregon Territory. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3948 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1841-50/11(3) |
| Year | 1845 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | unknown |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Oregon, USA |
| Destination | unknown |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | re going west |
| Source | The Armagh Guardian, December 2, 1845. |
| Archive | The Central Library, Belfast. |
| Doc. No. | 9509093 |
| Date | 14/07/1845 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 15:09:95. |
| Word Count | 580 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | OREGON TERRITORY. - (Extract of a letter dated Oregon, July 14, 1845.) – "At the entrance of the pass of Sweet Water, 650 miles from Independence, 250 miles from Fort Laramie, 50 miles from the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and 319 miles from Fort Hall, we expect to meet a company of sixteen men and two ladies in the morning returning from Oregon to the States; and this is to let you know that we are among the land of the living - (yes, and living on buffalo meat.) - Our company, consisting of 135 waggons, divided into three divisions, on account of food, have been divided into small companies of from eight to twenty waggons. I am in company of Colonel Taylor, Rice, Risley, and families, from Ohio. We are all well. No doubt you have often heard of crossing the Rocky Mountains; but let me assure you the manner in which it is represented is a humbug. We are now within three days' drive from Oregon and the summit of the mountains, and since we struck the first spur of the mountains, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, we have not ascended a hill as bad as the one between Hennepin and Grandville - they are are [sic] very long. As to wood and water, we have always found them in abundance. This day, for the first time, we saw the snow-clad hills in the distance. We have had several frosty nights of late. It is very dry and dusty on the roads, all sand and soft clay. All the difficulty as to roads is as soon as you leave the state of Missouri; emigrants to Oregon need a pilot from Independence or Saint Joseph's. Emigrants should leave Independence by the 10th of April, or St. Joseph's by the 15th. St.Joseph's is the best starting point, as it is 80 miles nearer, and then you avoid the worst Indians east of the mountains - the Caws - and save ferrying Caw or Kansas river, a swift, and, when high, a very difficult stream. From the time you leave the Caw villages, there is no place that will admit of a white man settling, as there is but little or no timber; and none but on the streams, and that, with the exception of a little birch, is all cotton wood. We have seen no Indians since we left Fort Laramie. We are now on the battleground of the Sons, Crows, and Shians. In summer they come to Sweet Water, to look for scalps. They hunt no buffalo, and consequently they are plenty; we see them daily in gangs of from 100 to 700. There is not a day passes but our hunters kill two or three, take a little of the meat, and leave the balance for the wolves, which are very numerous. There are plenty of mountain sheep and grisly bears in the mountains. Mr. Thompson is with Ramage and Henry; this company consists of eight waggons, all from Putman and Marshall counties. The first company which went to Oregon this season consisted of three waggons and nine men. There is no danger to be apprehended from the Indians, that is, the Indians of the plains. There have been but few deaths amongst the emigrants this season, and those few have been children and aged people. Why, Sir, it is almost an impossibility for a man to get sick in this country; there are neither dews nor rains, occasionally showers, but not sufficient to lay the dust." - American Paper. |
