d they turned gratefully but apprehensively toward the sea,
which they happily reached again without serious mishap.

A little later this same year (1851) George A. Johnson came to the mouth
of the river on the schooner Sierra Nevada with further supplies for the
fort, including lumber for the construction of flatboats with which to
go up to the post. Johnson afterwards ran steamers on the river for a
number of years, but he was not the first to attempt steam-navigation
here, that honour resting with Turnbull who built the Uncle Sam.

Many of the emigrants, dreaming of ease and prosperity as they trudged
their long course across the desolation of the South-west, never lived
to touch the golden sands of wonderful California, but expired by the
way, often at the hands of the Apache or of some other cutthroat tribe.
One of the saddest cases was that of Royse Oatman, who, en route with
his large family, was massacred (1851) on the spot now known as Oatman's
Flat, not far below the great bend of the Gila. His son, left for dead,
revived and escaped. Two daughters were carried off and afterwards
sold to the Mohaves, among whom one died and the other was restored
by purchase to freedom (1856) by Henry Grinnell, and was sent to her
brother's home in Los Angeles.* Another characteristic example is
related by Hobbs, lit the desert beyond Yuma,

"we came upon the remains of an emigrant train, which a month previous
had attempted to cross this desert in going from the United States
to California. While passing over the desert they had been met by
a sand-storm and lost the road by the sand blowing over it, and had
wandered off into the hills. They had finally got back into the road;
but by that time they were worn out, and they perished of fatigue and
thirst."

* For the full story see Capture of the Oatman Girls, by R. B.
Stratton.

They had passed the watering-place, a small pool, and as they had
already been two or three days without water, the mistake was fatal.
They had lightened their loads by casting off goods, but it was useless.
A squad of soldiers was sent out from Fort Yuma to bury the bodies, of
which eight were women and children and nine were men. The desert has no
compassion on the human intruder, and he who ventures there must count
only on his own resources.

The crossing of Green River was also difficult, except at low water, on
account of the depth and force of the current. Sometimes the emigrants
u