Chapter 19: Conclusion

September 12, 1847

We began building rafts today for the wagons. I'm glad some of these people know what to do because I don't have a clue about what I'm doing. We cut the logs that have been used as drags for Laurel Hill into 20 to 25 foot pieces and are dragging them back to our campsite, There people who I hope know what they are doing are constructing rafts for the wagons. These are nothing fancy, just flat platforms of logs tied together with rope and a few wooden pegs. I hope we don't run into fast rapids, because I wouldn't trust them. I'm going to use a brace and bit to drill holes for a rail around mine before I get on it. I want to have something to hang on to.

This is mind-numbing work but a lot easier than we have been doing. It's easier to do since the trees have been cut down already so all we have to do is cut off the branches and then cut what we want to length. The oxen teams are able to haul three or four logs at one time so it is going fairly fast with the teams. We expect to be finished by today, and then we will start loading the wagons on the rafts tomorrow. Joseph went with the survey party so we need to pick someone to lead the boys as they drive the cattle down the Sandy River until we meet them at the Willamette Valley. Willy would have been our choice but I refused to have him go, "This man is hurt! He may lose his foot if he doesn't keep warm and dry. Pick someone else!" Finally after a long discussion it was decided that Johan would be the trail boss, as he was old enough to provide a real authority.

I bored four holes for rails and will be putting them on after we load the wagon. The river doesn't look too bad right now but I know nothing about how it looks further down and I don't trust the rafts. Elizabeth just laughs at me and tells me that they have used the same thing several times without problems. Louise is like me and regards the raft makers with skepticism. She's used to the big riverboats and the idea of going down a river on a raft of logs doesn't inspire confidence in her either.

We just got everything back in the wagons when we were told to unload everything again to balance the load on the rafts. We were also told that we would be removing the wheels from the wagons to make them less top heavy. Several of the men grumbled that it would be easier to just to drive the wagons there, until Willy spoke up, "You'd be here until Christmas if you do that. There's bogs and thick forest after you cross the Cascades. You won't have a clear area until you get to the Willamette Valley. With this rain the ground is going to be like a bog most of the way for wagons."

We pushed the rafts to the edge of the river and tied them there for the night. After eating dinner we went to bed. Elizabeth decided she was going to make love to Louise to reassure her of her place in the family. Assigning me the top half we began at each end stroking and kissing each inch of her body until we met at her belly. As I stuck my tongue in her belly button, Elizabeth began nibbling around her mons. I reversed my direction and started sucking her breasts as I used my hand to gently message them. Elizabeth by this time was licking Louise's slit with her long tongue. As Louise became more aroused, she began gasping when Elizabeth touched her G-spot and her clit. With a strangled moan, she stiffened and climaxed.

Pulling Elizabeth to me I kissed her, tasting Louise's fluids on her face. Louise then pulled both of us down by her and began kissing us both. With loving words and gentle touches we renewed our commitment to each other. The last week had been rough, but I think our marriage is the stronger for getting the doubts resolved.

September 13, 1847

We have begun pulling the wagons on to the rafts and launching them. The wagons have had the wheels removed and being placed on logs that are tied down to the rafts. I was wondering how we were going to get them on the rafts when a crew of men and the older boys showed up and literally lifted and carried the wagon. The raft is then pushed into the river and checked for balance. Things that won't be destroyed by water are then placed around the wagon to balance the load. I have found the rails I put on to be a great help in tying the items down and several people have placed posts on their rafts to do the same. We have found why another name for this river is the Quicksand River. If you try to walk on the bottom of the river with a load, you quickly sink to your hips in the loose bottom. Finally about noon we were ready to start. We ate lunch and began our last leg of the journey. It is about twenty miles to the valley and we expect to be there by dusk. Everybody is looking forward to our first real look at the place toward which we have been traveling for so long.

I was surprised at the ease with which the raft is going. The only thing we have had to do today is push away from the banks and the few rocks we are seeing in the river. I am amazed at how clear the river is too. I'm used to the rivers in California, that in my time were dark roiling masses of pollution and green algae. We have been watching the fish in the river swim under us and you could swear that they are only inches away, but as some of the boys have found when they attempted to spear them, they are several feet below at least. The water level has been good with only occasional shoals that require us to push to get over. Willy told us we are lucky to have gotten here so early because when it rains a lot in the mountains the river becomes much higher and faster, scouring the banks and the bottom of the river each year.

I'm glad we took his advice about not trying to take the wagons through the woods. Mount Hood had erupted twice earlier this year and many of the trees were knocked down. Other trees have been uncovered in the eruption that must have been killed by earlier ones requiring wagons to weave their way through a maze of fallen trees and bogs that would trap any unwary wagon driver. Many of the uncovered trees are monsters, bigger than two men could put their arms around. The boys and cattle should be all right since most cattle have more sense than to enter a bog willingly. We are beginning to catch glimpses of the Willamette Valley as we pass openings in the surrounding hills. The valley is open and inviting to see. Willy said that the reason for this is that it was the custom of the Indians in the area to burn the valley floor every year. Everyone is excited to be finally finishing our trip.

We have finally arrived at the Willamette Valley! We pulled ashore at the first wide opening allowing us a clear view of the valley. There is a sandy island where the river splits into two channels where we have stopped and we have decided to wait here for the cattle herd. Some of the men have checked out the soil and pronounced it as excellent for farming. We have begun to take the contents from the rafts and place them on the shore. We will have to wait for the oxen to get here to go any further anyway. We have begun to put the wheels on the wagons as we get the rafts ashore and we should be ready to leave tomorrow morning. Everyone is in a hurry to get to Oregon City to see what the survey party has found. Only two more days of travel and we'll be there.

Elizabeth is beginning to get really eager to see her sister and Louise and I are getting anxious too. Everyone is concerned that they have not found any good land available in a large enough parcel for the wagon train. Discussions have begun on what to do if that occurs but the arguments are weak and disjointed as no one wants to think about this.

We lay in bed talking about the future and what it would mean. Louise was worried about running into prejudiced people who would treat her as someone not quite human again. We held her in our arms and petted her until she went to sleep. Soon afterwards Elizabeth and I followed.

September 14, 1847

The cattle herd arrived but we were shocked at how many we had lost to the bogs. We lost 10% of the herd in 20 miles. Johan told us that the trail was more treacherous than he had thought. Many of the bogs were hidden under green plants and looked safe to cross until one started across them. None of the boys were hurt although more than one showed signs of having been caught in the bogs themselves.

We hitched up the wagons and two of them were reduced to four oxen teams. Luckily the terrain seemed fairly flat and we had no trouble getting moving. We have begun seeing signs of civilization as we are traveling. Farms are showing up and we see more people moving as we get further into the valley. We reached the Clackamas River and saw a ferry that would take us across the river for one dollar per wagon and 5 cents per animal. This took us until about 4 in the afternoon and we decided to break for the day. Several of us headed toward the ferry keepers house to get a tankard of ale and check on the gossip of the area. While there we heard about the divorce of Margaret Jewett Bailey from her drunken husband and how some woman had been thrown in jail after assaulting some emigrants and calling them thieves. They had claimed she was an impostor, as the woman she claimed to be died in Wyoming. We heard about the cost of goods (high) and the availability of jobs (many) available in Oregon City right now. He recommended that we check with George Abernathy as he had a meadow that he let to wagon trains as a stopping place next to his store. He also showed us something we hadn't seen in a long time a fresh newspaper published in Oregon City. This was the first paper we had seen that wasn't weeks old. It was eagerly read by the men there, where we learned that the United States had issued it's first postage stamp in July and US troops of general Windfield Scott were advancing along the aqueduct around Chalco and Xochimilco lakes in Mexico on August 12th.

We returned to the wagons and began our last sleep before we reached Oregon City. Everyone was excited and we washed and prepared our best clothes for the entry into the city. We were looking forward to meeting with our survey party and drawing for our claim descriptions. We sat up and talked about what was going on until late in the night.

September 15, 1847

We arrived at Oregon City at last! Many of us hadn't seen so many houses in a long time. There must have been 94 houses here and two to three hundred residents. We asked questions and finally found Abernathy's store and made arrangements to stay at his meadow for a few days at least. We began looking for our survey party. We must have looked like country bumpkins as we marveled at seeing two hotels, two gristmills, three saw mills, four stores, two watchmakers and one gunsmith in the downtown area. We checked one hotel and didn't find them. The second hotel was checked and there they were, everyone but Claire. When I asked where Claire was a silence fell across the group. After quite a few hem and haws trying to avoid answering, Joseph answered me, "We did our best to get her released, you know."