On This Ridge...

Emigrants crossing this ridge in the Blue Mountains faced a rough and laborious passage through fallen timber, cutting their way with dull axes that had not been ground since leaving Missouri and suffering tender, skinned hands from the dry sticks. In 1851, travelers found members of their company repairing a broken wagon, camped on the ridge, and went down into a deep hollow for water and grass, then carried water half a mile up a very steep hill to camp. Those who traveled here considered the Blue Mountains very rough country, even more so than the Rocky Mountains, and their worn-out teams seemed to feel the difference as much as they did.

Oregon · United States