Chapter 18

September 9, 1847

I would have never believed so much stuff could go into a wagon. I have seen everything I could possibly imagine coming out of them wagons and some things that I would have never brought on such a long difficult journey. Why would anyone take the trouble to bring a harpsichord all the way from Missouri to Oregon? This was in the Simeroth wagon. And why did Claire bring a small church bell? (This came from our wagon and I didn't even know it was there! Where do they put these things?) There were chairs, tables, chests, and other miscellaneous furniture as well as the more mundane farming and ranching equipment. One man had an anvil and most of a small blacksmith shop in his wagon. He was looking for someone to help him carry the anvil down the hill. I know it won't be me! It must weigh over a hundred and fifty pounds.

We have been carrying things down all morning and everyone is covered with mud from slipping on the way down. Even worse in my opinion is that the train before us didn't take the trees they used as drags out of the way so we have to clear those too, before we can start. Willy disappeared before breakfast to go hunting and look for a better path down the hill for the women and children. I suspect he just took off to avoid the job of carrying all this stuff. I wish I could.

I found Willy at the bottom of the hill without a drop of mud on him and two elk tied to his mule. He proceeded to laugh at everyone until we began to chase him. He ran but we managed to catch him and lifting him over our heads threw him into the biggest mud puddle we could find. He sat up with an indignant look on his face when we laughed at him, then he began laughing himself, "Guess I shouldn't laugh at people working, should I?" We all loudly agreed and helped him up. The first two people grabbed his arms and were quickly pulled into the puddle with him. Unfortunately I was one of them.

Totally muddy, I went to a pond near by that had been filled by the recent rains and jumped in. Brrr! Talk about cold! I stumbled up the hill in my wet clothes and went to our wagon for a change. There I found Willy getting clean with warm water Louise had heated for him. I gave him and Louise a dirty look and changed into clean clothes. Willy called to me, "Alex, I'm too old to take your woman. Women just like me as a friend. Besides I'm too set in my ways to settle down."

"You're always welcome to stay with us when you're in the area. As long as you leave by yourself, that is."

He gave me a considering look, "You've got a deal. By the way I found a path for the stock and the women. It's a ways out but doable for them but not the wagons. It may add a day to your trip though."

"You need to let the wagon captain know about it. I've got to get back to work."

He wished me good luck and went back to getting clean with the warm water, while I went back to trying to figure out how to get the church bell down the hill. Finally I tied the bell to my back and carried it that way to the bottom. Finally about dusk we finished. Everything except what we needed for tonight was at the bottom of the hill and under guard to keep the Indians out of the goods.

The wagon captain called me over, "How much do you trust Willy?"

"Enough to leave him alone with one of my wives."

"Do you trust him enough to let him lead all the women and children on a two day trip?"

"Yes!"

He thanked me and called for the wagon train members to assemble for a meeting. He explained what Willy had found, a path through the woods that a man or a cow could go through but not a wagon. The slope was easier but the trail didn't begin for about 10 miles further, off the ZigZag Canyon. It would take a day to travel there and get back to the Sandy River. He was going to send the cattle and would like the women and children to go that way too. He asked for volunteers. At first no one volunteered to go, then Elizabeth and Louise came forward and soon only the older boys and the men remained. The wagon captain chose several of the older men to act as guards and assigned them to go with the women. He also pulled three of the older women to remain behind to cook for the men working.

We went to dinner and I asked Elizabeth if she was going to drive the wagon down Laurel Hill. She just looked at me and said, "That isn't driving, That's just a controlled fall down that hill" Then she got up and came over to where I was eating and gave me a big kiss, "You be careful! We won't be here to save you this time."

I looked at Louise, "Are you going to be all right?"

"I think so. I can still travel, even though I do have to stop and piss every half hour."

I turned and looked at Elizabeth, "You take care of each other and make sure you have enough blankets."

Soon afterwards we went to bed where I made love to Elizabeth and we cuddled around Louise. Soon worn out by today's labor, we went to sleep.

September 10, 1847

We began lowering the wagon captain's wagon first. We tied a forty-foot pine on the back of the wagon and attached ropes to each corner. For extra braking we put a branch between both back wheels to keep them from moving. Still, we almost lost the wagon. One of the oxen just died when we lowered him to the bottom of the hill. We continued lowering the wagons and oxen for the entire day and finished around 3 in the afternoon. We lost 4 oxen during the day from fear or being hit by wagons when they got away from us. Other oxen are in bad shape but should survive. Several of the wagons were damaged and one wagon had a damaged wheel that had to be replaced. I gave them the extra wheel I got when I replaced mine. It was almost the same size and everyone thought it would last until we got to a blacksmith. We started loading the wagons after repairs were made and everyone was down. Being men, we loaded the wagons in no particular order and were told by the women who remained with us that we knew nothing about how to pack a wagon. We agreed and continued to put the items in the wagons. By dusk we were finished and everyone was starving.

I looked up at Laurel Hill and couldn't believe that we had managed to get down that thing. There were huge gouges in the dirt where we had dragged the trees behind us and the 1500-pound wagons had left deep ruts in the soft soil. Everyone was covered with mud and we were exhausted, but everyone was in a mood to celebrate the last major hurdle in our way. We gathered around the main fire and began to pass around the plates of stew and cornbread with the whiskey not far behind. As we were eating and drinking to celebrate getting down with so few problems and no injuries, it began to snow. Suddenly the mood went from celebratory to fear for our wives and children. They were out walking in the mountains above us without any shelter. We waited hoping it was just a small flurry, but it started coming down harder and soon it was a hard snowfall. Chaos broke out with some of the men wanting to go looking for our wives and others cautioning us that dusk was almost here. Finally the wagon master pulled his pistol and with a single shot from the .44 stopped all the talking. He looked at us; "It's too late to do anything tonight. All you'll succeed in doing is get lost yourself. Willy is a mountain man who's trapped around this area for the last twenty years. He knows how to read the weather and how to get ready for a storm. Your women are going to be fine as long as they listen to him. He's probably already got them covered up and warm by now."

One of the men spoke up, "You don't have a wife or children lost in the woods!"

"You're right, I don't. That means I can look at this more logically right now. I know Willy and I trust that he knows what he is doing or I would never have recommended that the captain propose his path."

I spoke up, "I have two wives with Willy. And while he might flirt with both of them I still trust him to do his best to keep them safe. The captain asked me if I trusted him before the meeting and I still do!"

After that there was scattered talking but almost everyone accepted that there was nothing we could do tonight. The ones who still wanted to go looking were pulled aside by their friends and persuaded to wait. No longer in a mood to celebrate we went to our wagons and went to bed.

September 11, 1847

We woke up to a half-foot of snow on the ground with scattered flurries continuing to come down. We gathered at the fire and waited for the wagon captain to come out and discuss our next move. He came out of his wagon and with him he had a shivering Willy. "Where's our wives?" rang out from the crowd.

Willy pulled himself up and told them in a loud voice answered, "In a cave in the valley by the Sandy, safe and warmer than I am."

The wagon captain spoke up, "Willy told me how to reach them and we can get there in two hours. Do you all want to go or just enough to bring them back here?"

The majority of the men couldn't wait to see their wives and children safe, so he ordered that the wagons be hitched up and the line be formed. I had been looking at Willy and he hadn't stopped shivering yet, going up to him I looked at his fingers and noticed that they were blue. I grabbed his hands and stuck them under my arms. "Can you feel your feet?"

"No!'

"How about anything else, besides your hands?"

"My ears feel like they're not there."

I turned to the wagon captain; "I need two of the women to get in my wagon to care for Willy. He has frostbite, and I want to check him out for anything else." Calling for two other men, I had them carry Willy to my wagon where I stripped him out of his buckskins and put him under all the covers I had. I saw a lot of scars he had picked up over the years from accidents and fights. He had been shot at least twice by a gun and had been shot by arrows several times. The rest of his torso was scarred by old cuts and healed wounds. I checked his feet and found they were blue and had no sensation when I stuck a pin in them. His ears were white and it looked like an earlobe was about to come off after being broken by something.

Finally the two women arrived at my wagon and I told them to cuddle up to Willy and keep him as warm as possible. They gave me a look like I was crazy until I ordered them in a firm voice to, "Get down there and keep him warm!" Reluctantly they got down next to Willy and turned their backs to him. I ordered them to turn around and hug him to give him as much warmth as possible. Willy smiled and told the women he had never had such visions of beauty hug him before. The women giggled like school girls and relaxed.

I got in the seat and waited for the order to move out. Soon it came and we began our journey to the Sandy River and our families. Except for steering the wagon the snow actually helped. It filled in the lower spaces between the boulders and made for a smoother ride. We almost had several accidents where the wagon tipped over but managed to avoid having this happen. Two hours and five miles later we arrived at the Sandy River, but didn't see our families. I turned to Willy, "Where are they?"

"Just fire three times and they'll come out. I used my coat to block the cave opening to keep it warmer. It was the only thing big enough to do it"