Chapter 3

September 20, 1847

I grabbed my medical kit and hurried after the girl as she led me toward town. Elizabeth was close behind me as we ran. I saw a crowd in the front of one of the stores. Pushing my way through, I found Claire on the street with Louise holding her head in her lap and her hand on Claire's arm above a bleeding wound. Kneeling next to her I pushed people away and asked her, "Claire! What happened? Any other injuries?" I was rambling to try and settle my nerves, because I had never treated any of my wives for an injury before. As I talked I took out my boiled cloth and began to apply it as a bandage to the wound. A thin man came up and began to assist me. "Raise her arm and if it begins bleeding badly press this directly on the wound", I told him.

Looking at Louise for the first time, I noticed she had a bruise on her head and a scrape on her face, "Louise, are you all right?" She burst into tears and grabbed on to my hand.

"It's all my fault"

"What happened?"

"We went into the store and were shopping when the storekeeper told me I had to leave, as niggers weren't welcome in his store. Claire told him I had as much right as anyone else to be in the store. They began to shout at each other and I told Claire I was going to go outside and wait. Claire insisted on coming with me telling him that slavery was a moral evil. When we got outside she stepped in the street and turned around to say something else to him... She wasn't paying attention and a wagon came around the corner. It tried to avoid her but an edge of the wagon caught her on her wrist and she started bleeding. When I pulled her out of the street I fell and hurt her and myself."

"Where are you hurt?"

"Just my head and face."

"What about Claire?"

"She got the cut on her wrist and hit her head when she fell with me."

I gave Louise a quick checkup to make sure the baby hadn't suffered any harm then helped her up. Returning my attention to Claire I saw her beginning to regain consciousness. Kneeling in front of her, I checked her eyes to make sure she didn't have a concussion and asked her to follow my finger. She seemed alright, so I thanked the man who had helped me and asked his name. "I'm Dr. Samuel Hood, always glad to meet a fellow practitioner."

"I'm Alex xxxxxx, but I'm not a doctor, I've just had some training."

"That's not what the people in your wagon train told me. If you're not a doctor, then you have had a lot of training. I don't think I could have applied that bandage better myself. The examinations were quick and covered all the necessary areas to check for an injury."

I thanked him again and picked up Claire to take her back to the wagon. As I turned with her in my arms the shopkeeper came out and began to shout, "You keep your nigger and your woman out of my store! I don't need your abolitionist bullshit!" He continued like this and I got really pissed at him for yelling at my wives when they were hurt.

I turned around and asked the doctor to hold Claire for a moment. I turned to face the storekeeper and hit him, letting out all the anger from the last few days, knocking him on his fat ass back into his store. I turned and thanked the doctor again for his help. Telling Elizabeth to help Louise, I took Claire in my arms again and walked back to the wagon train. Gently placing Claire in the wagon, I got a cloth dipped in water and put it on her forehead. Checking her wound again, I looked at the depth and the condition of the cut. I didn't see any sign of white tissue so I decided that stitches weren't needed. I cleaned it out with boiled water and re-bandaged it again.

Getting out of the wagon I greeted Corrie, who had come around to check on things. I told her and my other wives that Claire would be all right. Going over to Louise, I asked if she was in any pain.

"Some." she admitted.

Checking my bottle of willow bark tea I found that I was almost out. I gave her what I had and began to prepare some more. I pulled out some willow bark and picked up a small pot to fill with water. Putting the pot on the fire I placed the chopped willow bark in the water and let it simmer for 30 minutes. Letting it cool, I gave Louise a cup of the bitter fluid and poured the rest into my bottle for the next headache. After I filled the bottle, I turned to find the sheriff standing there watching me. I finished putting away the bottle and faced him again.

He continued looking at me and finally spoke, "I don't know what to make of you. According to the people on the wagon train you either are the best doctor they've ever seen or the fastest gun fighter and a merciless killer. Then at Fort Vancouver you get a reputation as a man who was held up by three men and managed to kill them with your bare hands when they were armed. According to Doctor Hood, you treated these women as well as or better than he would have. Then you hit the shopkeeper so hard he was out for half an hour and I don't see any damage to your hand afterward. All I do know is that I want you out of Oregon City in seven days."

I looked at him, "Sheriff, the man threw out my wives from his store into the street where they got hurt and then came out to yell at them after I just finished fixing them up. He's lucky I didn't really want to hurt the dumb bastard."

"That's what I told him. Still you're trouble and I want you far away from me."

"I still have six days before I have to leave, don't I?"

"I wouldn't force any man out before he had enough food to last until he gets his crops in. As soon as you get everything though, I want you gone."

This was the down side of my reputation. No one wanted someone identified as a dangerous man who kills easily in their town. Even if nothing happened, I would be unwelcome in most places. I nodded my thanks but said nothing. He remained standing as if waiting for a protest, then left. Turning around I spotted Corrie looking at me with a sympathetic eye. My wives just looked stricken as if they suddenly realized the downside of the reputation I had inadvertently received. I smiled a small grin and asked, "When is supper going to be ready?" Louise and Elizabeth started rushing about trying to see what they could save from tonight's abandoned cooking.

That night Claire and Louise cuddled together loving each other while Elizabeth rode me. It was becoming difficult for Louise to have normal sex as the baby was beginning to really grow. Soon Claire would be the same way and Elizabeth would soon follow. We felt Louise's baby kick as we tried to guess whether it was a boy or girl. Louise wanted a boy, while Claire and Elizabeth wanted a girl. I didn't care, though I had a hard time getting them to believe it. The men in this period didn't have a high regard for their daughters and preferred boys that could help them work the land.

After my wives were asleep, I lay awake wondering what I needed to do in the next six days. I listed them in my mind, first; I needed to hire someone to help around the land claim until the house was built and the first crop in; second; I needed to draw out my design for some plow parts and get a blacksmith to make them; third; I needed to... and I drifted off to sleep.

September 21- 27, 1847

I met with Dr. Hood to ask him about hiring a dependable man to help around the land claim and he couldn't help me. Apparently most of the men here were former city dwellers and not interested in leaving Oregon City. He was able to recommend a blacksmith and told me I could find medical supplies at the Hudson Bay Company store in Oregon City.

I went to the Hudson Bay Company store in town and asked about medical supplies and was surprised at how much many different drugs were available; opium, hashish, heroin, codeine and marijuana were available for purchase by anyone. No wonder so many people got hooked! Chemicals such as mercury and other things such as castor oil, peppermint essence, sulfur, calomel, quinine, laudanum, carbolic acid, carbolic salve, powdered alum, liniment, cholagogue, witch hazel, talcum powder, vinegar, dry mustard, copperas, bluestone, and baking soda were also offered as medicine. I was finally able to buy forceps and surgical blades that were properly made. I asked about equipment for difficult childbirths and the only thing they had were curved forceps. I asked Dr Hood about this and he showed me how they were used but warned me that a breech birth usually meant death to both the mother and child. When I asked about c-sections, he told me that although he had heard they were possible he didn't know anyone who had performed one where the mother had lived.

I went to the blacksmith and asked if he could make me several concave steel discs with serrated edges and a hole in the middle. These are the secrets of the disc plow. By making them concave and turning them in slightly they are forced into the soil by the weight of the soil pressing against the concave sides. From attending county fairs around my home I had seen antique farming equipment since I was 5 years old and had a good idea of how they were made. I asked him about making the parts for a horse drawn scythe and he promised me to have it ready to ship to me on the Mogul with the other items I ordered from the HBC. I left him 30 dollars for his labor and materials. He promised to have the discs ready in three days so that I could take them with me.

The remaining days went similar to the first as we ran around buying supplies sufficient to last five people until next spring. By the time we were ready to leave for our land claim we had filled the farm wagon completely and most of the covered wagon. We ended up buying 750 lbs. of flour, 100 lbs. of corn meal, 300 lbs. of bacon, 200 lbs. of sugar, 50 lbs. of coffee, 75 lbs. of dried fruit, 25 lbs. of salt, 3 pounds of baking soda, 10 lbs. of tea, 30 lbs. of rice, and 100 lbs. of beans and various spices and sundries. We also bought 50 hens and 2 roosters for eggs and 4 piglets for meat. We still had 15 of cattle and the young heifer for a milk cow, but I was unable to find a bull for the herd that I wanted. Corrie offered to let us use her bull to breed the cattle and we will use it until I can find a better one.

We also bought harness for the horses, 150 pounds of assorted size nails and 200 pounds of strap iron as well as several other items needed on a working farm. I was still unable to find a hired hand by the day we were to leave. The other people in the wagon train were equally busy getting ready. Finally everyone had done all they could to prepare and we were ready to go. I just wish I hadn't bought the pups as they were now regular visitors at night in the wagon. I told my wives, that they could stay in the wagon at night but when we got the house built, the dogs stayed outside. They all smiled and said, "Of course, Dear."

September 28, 1847

We left today in a light rain with many of the townspeople watching us leave. We made a brave sight, with our newly repaired wagons and our oxen hitched up to them, followed by our herd of cattle and horses. The sheriff was there and made a point of watching me as I left. I wondered how much more trouble my unwanted reputation would cause in the future.

We had a clearly marked road going up the Willamette River and made good progress at first. Our only stop was when we watched the falls in the Willamette. We quickly learned why so many of the settlements were on the river as we went further upriver and got out of Oregon City. The roads were nothing but mud and quickly covered man and beast with a thick layer of the stuff. After about 6 miles, the wagon captain decided to drive next to the road to see if the ground was any better. For the first few wagons it was, but soon the track became a mass of deepening ruts and slick hills.

By the time we stopped around 4 o'clock we had gone only 16 miles and everyone was ready to drop. We stopped at Deer Creek and set up camp. We had been warned that there was little game in the valley and had made sure to purchase enough meat to last for two days. While the women set up the camp, the men made sure the animals were taken care of and made needed repairs on the wagons. We had brought dry wood from Oregon City and used that to start the fire. I checked the water of the creek, and while it was cool, it was still warm enough to wash in. Calling my wives, we headed toward a shallow pool in the creek.

Claire had brought a tarp that she used to fashion a shelter to get undressed in, but I simply dropped my clothes and jumped in. Soon the others had joined me and we spent the next half hour playing in the creek and the rain getting clean. Elizabeth had managed; somehow, to find some bars of French milled soap and we used it to give each other shampoos. It was strangely sensuous as I washed my wives' hair and felt it soften as it became clean. I loved the long tresses of Claire and Elizabeth and the wavy curls of Louise. Wrinkled and finally clean, we got out of the water. Donning clean clothes, we returned to our wagon. Soon I saw other people headed toward the creek with the same idea of getting rid of at least some of the mud.