Chapter 16

August 30, 1847

We are getting tired of the dust and grime of travel on the road through this dry desolate area. There seems to be no trees except near the river and that is mostly out of reach due to the steep banks. The men herding the cattle and gathering the fuel for the fire need to go further and further away from the road each day to find anything. This country has been picked over until almost nothing is left. We are seeing more dead cattle and broken down wagons as we get nearer to The Dalles, as if the animals and people just gave up trying to get through. We have been lucky to have such a good wagon master to be able to avoid most of the problems.

We have been slowed by the need to climb the steep slopes as we get closer to The Dalles as well as by the narrow road. We are also meeting traffic going the other way, although most of that is horsemen. That is a good thing, as there are few places wide enough for two wagons to pass each other easily. We are beginning to run into more and more trading posts near the road set up to catch the emigrant trade. The prices remind me of the shop and robs of my time, extremely high with a very limited selection. They have provisions and some repair items for the wagons but they are extremely expensive.

We have reached the Deschutes River and it is an amazing sight. The water flows over the crossing at the mouth of the river like a pane of green glass into various gullies and canyons until it empties into the Columbia River in a myriad of waterfalls. We have to make a decision on where to ford the Deschutes. The mouth of the river where it meets the Columbia River is a quarter of a mile wide with a very strong current flowing over bare rock with many large rocks in the path is one ford, or we can go upriver to another ford where the distance is only 150 feet but the river is 10 to 12 feet deep with an equally strong current. If we go to the deeper current we have to pay the Indians to guide the wagons across and ferry the women and children across in canoes. Some of the people have very little money and want to save it for the Barlow Road and emergencies. After much argument it was decided to do some of both. The crossing at the mouth of the river while dangerous was doable and most grown men could do so safely, but anyone caught in the current and knocked off their feet would be swept downstream. There were two islands that they could reach if they knew how to swim. Children and women would have little chance if caught though, as the current would probably be too strong for them. The bare number of men needed to take the wagons over the crossing at the mouth of the river would do that, while the women and children would be taken to the upper crossing by the remaining men and pay the Indians for portage across the river.

Elizabeth wanted to drive the wagon across, but this time I put my foot down, as I was afraid she would be hurt if she fell in, "You're pregnant and are not going to be driving any wagon across this river! I forbid it!" I should have known better than start an argument like that. All I can blame it on is basic stupidity due to worry about my wives.

She lit into me with a vengeance, "Who's been driving this wagon across the other rivers we've crossed? It wasn't you! I'm a better driver than you'll ever be!" bristling in her rage. What was worse is that I knew it was true. She was a better driver and had a feel for the wagon and the abilities of the oxen that I'll never match.

I tried using concern, "Sweetheart, if anything happened to you or the baby, I'd never forgive myself."

She shot back, "And if anything happened to you what would happen to us?" Then Louise and Claire started in.

"Without you, we can't make a land claim and who would marry three pregnant women?" Louise chimed in.

"And how could we earn a living? You know that only men are hired to be schoolteachers unless their husbands give their permission. And what would Louise and Elizabeth do?" Claire said.

Let me tell you, a mere man has no chance when three women gang up on him about a subject. Finally after many repeated arguments about who was running the family I was outvoted. They determined that this was a family decision and voted that everyone would cross together. I did insist on leading the oxen over the crossing, but Elizabeth insisted that I wear a rope tied to the wagon while I did, since they almost lost me to a swift current on a previous crossing.

We began the crossing and I was soon glad that Elizabeth insisted on the rope. Several of the men fell and were carried away in the swift current until they managed to get to one of the two small islands in the middle of the river. Many of them were going to be sporting big bruises from hitting rocks, and I observed more than one man holding his arm awkwardly when he scrambled up. Several of the wagons behind us chose to tie ropes on the person leading the teams as well after seeing what had happened. Horsemen rode to the islands and rescued those who had washed up. Luckily no one was swept over the end of the river, as I don't think that they would have survived.

We were about to get out of the river on the other side when suddenly the front wagon wheel collapsed as it was going over a large rock and threw all three of my wives into the river. Elizabeth screamed, "Jump!" as the wagon toppled. I ran as fast as I could to reach the wagon, stumbling in the water in my haste. I saw that Elizabeth was holding on to the tongue of the wagon and appeared safe. Hurrying to the back I found Claire holding Louise by one hand and the wagon gate with the other. I breathed a sigh of relief until I saw Louise's head under the water and ran to help her. Louise was unconscious and I panicked. I quickly carried her to the bank while men on horseback managed to rescue Elizabeth and Claire.

I laid Louise down and checked her breathing. She was breathing but wouldn't regain consciousness when I shook her. I began an examination of her body and soon found a large bump on her head and a bruise on her abdomen. Grabbing a blanket offered by a concerned driver, I undressed Louise and wrapped her in the dry blanket. While I was doing this, the wagon master had hooked another team of oxen to the wagon and pulled it to the shore. A shivering Claire and Elizabeth joined me as we waited for Louise to regain consciousness. The remaining wagons came ashore and while we waited for Louise, volunteers began to jack up our wagon and remove the broken wheel.

The wagon master came up to me, "Is Louise going to be all right?"

I just looked at him with haunted eyes and said, "I don't know."

"You need to decide what you're going to do. You need a new wheel and the trading post over there says they have two wheels but they'll cost 30 dollars for both."

I began to lash out at him but stopped myself. He was responsible for the whole train not just us. Others has suffered losses and had to continue, we had to do the same. I exchanged glances with my wives and receiving a nod form both stood up. Squeezing the shoulders of Claire and Elizabeth, I told them to let me know if Louise woke up and went to bargain with the shopkeeper. He demanded on bargaining for both wheels, as he would not sell just the one. I didn't care at first, but as he began to raise the price to see how much he could squeeze from me I became pissed and took my anger about the accident and used it to get him down as low as he would go.

I managed to get the wagon wheels and also twenty pounds of bacon for $30. The wagon master called for two men to help me and we brought one wheel back to the wagon and replaced the broken one. I lucked out when I found the wheels were the same size as the originals, or at least so close I couldn't tell any difference. Calling my wives, we loaded Louise into the jumbled wagon and together with the rest of the train traveled to the trading post to await the rest of the women and children. I sent Elizabeth to pick up the bacon and carried Louise out of the wagon and set her gently on the ground. Claire began straightening up the wagon and checking to see what was missing and had to be replaced.

I sat numbly by Louise hoping she'd wake up. Elizabeth returned from the trading post and grasped my hand. Together we waited. An hour went by, then two, and finally I saw a movement. "Louise!" I cried.

With a fluttering of her eyelids and a rasping cough, Louise started moving looking for somewhere to throw up. I turned her head and she vomited up the water she had swallowed while her head was submerged... Claire, hearing the commotion, jumped out of the wagon and hurried over to check on Louise. Together, we held Louise, me with her head on my lap and the others on either side holding her hands. With a weak voice Louise asked, "What happened? I remember Elizabeth shouting, "Jump!" and Claire holding on to me, and then I was here."

"You fell and hit your head and belly and have the bruises and bumps to prove it. Now let me look at your eyes." I looked at her eyes and found them to be of the same size and able to track my finger so I didn't think she had a severe concussion, but I told her she was going to lie down and not move until we left tomorrow. She started to argue and rise up when she got a severe headache and became nauseous again. "Stay still or it'll hurt worse" I ordered... After that she was ready to follow my orders.

I looked at Claire, "What did we lose?"

"The flour in the flour sack and some other loose items but nothing important. We'll have to borrow dry blankets for tonight and re-stuff the mattress after the straw dries but nothing else worth mentioning. Everything else is wet but can be salvaged."

"If that's all, we were lucky. Now do you see why I wanted you to go with the other women?" I spoke loudly: angry about the accident.

Claire hung her head, but Elizabeth blazed out at me, "Stop it! No one could have guessed that the wheel would break at that moment! Don't blame us for it!" I hung my head then. She was right. I wouldn't have blamed anyone if it had happened any other time. We had been worrying about that wheel breaking for a long time before this.

"I'm sorry", I said as contritely as I could. Claire started and gave me an unbelieving look. I don't think that until then she really understood what I meant when I talked about equality. Apparently, apologizing to women just wasn't done in this period. I started to remember comments made when we were separated earlier on the trip.

I remember the single men told me the night I got drunk that the man is responsible for his wife's future, and it depends on him if her pathway is strewn with thorns or roses. Her chief function in life was to trap a man into matrimony and raise a large group of children. I forgot about the attitude difference between men in this time and me. I was raised to believe that women made their own choices about life. Marriage and children might or might not be one of them.

Elizabeth came over and gave me a kiss. Claire came over and hugged me as if to reassure herself that I really existed. I relaxed inside, relieved that I hadn't totally screwed up my relationship with my wives. I was feeling stressed again and it was leading to tensions in my relationship with them. I'll be glad when we finally get settled. I'm tired of traveling.

I don't know if someone told the women about the accident or if there is some sort of mental telepathy between women that carries information about things that need to be done, but as soon as the women returned, groups of them began to show up to help Claire and Elizabeth with the wagon. Soon food started to appear and a quiet party began among the women as they worked. I was politely but firmly ushered toward the men's group. Food and whiskey soon began to appear there as well and the men began to talk about the day and the fact that we had just crossed the last major river before we reached The Dalles. The men passed the food and whiskey around and we sat around the fire, relieved that the day was finished without any further trouble.

The groups began to break up as dusk fell and I returned to our wagon. Someone had given us a new mattress and clean blankets for the night while ours dried. Louise lay asleep in our wagon when I returned, while Claire and Elizabeth cuddled her between them. I crawled in next to Claire and quickly fell asleep.

August 31, 1847

We were pulling out the next day when the shopkeeper ran out, "You forgot your other wheel!" I could have cared less about the wheel but Elizabeth nudged me and began to pull over to the side of the trail.

I jumped out of the wagon and picking up the wheel, threw it inside the wagon. Elizabeth clicked to the oxen and the wagon started moving again. Louise was riding with Elizabeth today. She was having a hard time moving when she got up this morning and I was afraid that she would hurt herself more if she walked. I was still concerned about the bruise on her abdomen; afraid it might cause her to miscarry. Even though Corrie had told me the night before that women were tougher than that, I still worried. Claire walked with me next to the wagon and she gave me a wondering look as if afraid I would vanish before her eyes.

I teased her, "I'm not going to disappear."

"I knew you were different before, but I didn't entirely understand how different you really are until last night."

I thought I knew what this was about, "You mean when I apologized?"

"Yes. I've never heard a man apologize to a woman for yelling at her."

Thinking about it, I realized that she was right; I'd never heard a man apologize for yelling at his wife. When he made a social faux pas, yes, but never for yelling at her. "If I make a mistake, why shouldn't I apologize? I would to a man."

She leaned over and gave me a kiss, "And that is why we love you. You treat us like we are reasoning human beings and real people." She gave me a considering look, "In fact you treat everyone like that, no matter what they are. I like that.

As we were walking along I heard a horse coming toward us. We moved behind the wagon to let the horseman pass. Glancing to the side I saw the man who offered to buy Louise. Still angry about the accident and the way he treated Louise earlier, I spit and hit him as he went by. He turned and gave me a threatening look and I reached for my pistol. He spurred his horse and quickly moved away. Claire scolded me for spitting at him, but not too severely. I apologized for doing it in front of her but was secretly hoping the SOB would have given me a reason to shoot him. That was one stray I'd leave where he fell.

As we finally got to the top of the long steep rocky hill we looked down to see the Columbia River between two towering bluffs of rock. Ahead we could see more of the same barren rocky landscape. We began our descent and after about 5 miles of up and down roadway we came to a small creek where we met a trader named Nathan Olney. We spent the noon hour at his trading post and met his wife, an Indian woman named Annette. He told us we were almost to The Dalles and we should be there in about two hours. Eager to arrive at someplace where we could get re-supplied and rest up before beginning our trek over the Barlow Trail, we quickly ate and began to descend the trail toward The Dalles that followed the creek.

We arrived at The Dalles and were greatly disappointed with what we found. It consisted of a store, a barracks still under construction, a Catholic mission and a few houses. From the passing wagon trains we saw a collection of the most rag tag people we had seen in quite a while. Here was a woman in clean clothes but no shoes or stockings, here a man with a suit but no hat or shoes, there children running around everywhere with almost nothing on. Clothes patched so often that you couldn't tell what the original cloth they were made of was and all of us covered with the brown desert dust from our travel.

The wagon captain ordered us to camp outside of the town to avoid thieves. After we were laagered, Claire and I headed toward the store to replenish our flour and pick up any produce they had. We had finished our shopping and were headed out the door when I met the bastard who had tried to buy Louise with some companions. "Is this another one of your whores?" he sneered. Angry, I hit him with my hand and knocked him into his companions. "You bastard! You've hit me for the last time" he snarled as he grabbed for the pistol in his belt.

I slipped off the hammer thong of my holster and drew my pistol as he started to raise his. With the fast draw holster I wore it was easy to bring out my gun and I fired three times with my .22 before he brought his gun level. As he fell to the floor, one of his friends started to reach for his pistol and I turned my gun toward him. He moved his hand away from the gun and stood still. I was using dumdums so I didn't worry about the man I shot he wasn't going anywhere.

I spoke over my shoulder to the shopkeeper and the other men in the store, "You saw he drew first after he insulted my wife."

I heard them answer, "Yep." "Self-defense." "He started the fight."

I spoke to his companions, "Now if any of you want the same, just reach for a weapon." They stood still until I told them to move out of the doorway keeping my gun aimed toward them. The men standing in the doorway behind them moved as well and we walked out in a bubble of silence that quickly evaporated as we went past and people began to fill each other in on what had happened. I wasn't worried about a trial this time, as several people had already said it was self-defense. As we walked back to our wagon I began to worry that I might have brought trouble to the wagon train instead.