e to return to his
people, and he left us filled with gratitude. Three months after, he
brought us in his canoe, down Crooked River, three antelopes, which he
had shot in the region above us, for much of the best game had
abandoned the vicinity of our settlement.

The soldiers remained a week at the landing, waiting for a steamer to
convey them up to the fort. At the end of that time they departed. I
had several long talks with Lieutenant Jackson, who gave me much good
advice in regard to the future course he thought I ought to pursue; and
when he left I felt that I had parted with a true friend. To the
steamer which conveyed the soldiers up the river, I sold twenty cords
of wood, and added eighty dollars to the gold in the chest.

Mrs. Gracewood insisted that Kit and myself should take our meals at
the house, instead of keeping up a separate mess. Her husband had
purchased a supply of table ware of the steamer which had just left,
and we found ourselves quite civilized. The old hunter was rather
embarrassed and awkward, for he had always been in the habit of eating
his bacon out of the pan in which it had been cooked; but he soon
accustomed himself to the new order of things, though it was impossible
for him to be very graceful at the table, or anywhere else.

As the season advanced we ploughed and planted the field. With Mr.
Gracewood, who insisted upon doing his full share of the labor, and Kit
to help me, the task was not so hard as it had been. We planted a large
piece of ground with corn, potatoes, and vegetables, and by the middle
of June, everything was up, and looked finely. The rich soil and the
southern slope were favorable to our crops, and we had abundant
promises of a rich harvest.

During the preceding year there had been an immense emigration from the
eastern states. Kansas and Nebraska were in rapid progress of
settlement, and during the season which followed the events I have
described, the wave of civilization had almost touched the Castle. We
were not out of the reach nor out of the influence of this tide of
emigration. Twice as many steamboats went up the river, carrying
emigrants and goods on their way to Oregon. In July I had sold all my
wood, and after haying we went to work in the forest to obtain a new
supply. By September the hot sun of our southern slope had rendered it
fit for steamboat use. In the mean time, we managed to obtain a supply
of dry wood sufficient to meet the demand, by obt