Samuel Penter

“ John Ford and I got a boat and went down the Columbia River to Vancouver. Dave Weston met us with a boat and helped us to Oregon City. We all got together below the city. Nimrod Ford saw two deer as he came up with the cattle close to camp. We got our guns. I had an old fiintlock gun and put in new powder. I espied the deer, and shot one down in his tracks; nothing ever came in better play. I got a little work for a few days, then Joseph Hess and I got a large Indian canoe and with our families went up the Willamette to the mouth of Yamhill River and got claims in Chehalem Valley. ”

“ They made two large dugouts of which they made a ferryboat to cross wagons. My father-in-law had a fine horse he hired an Indian to swim across the river. He failed to get him in the water. I proposed to get a man on each side and one behind, but the Indian was afraid. "Take the Indian off and I will swim the horse over the river." ”

“ I got a pair of moccasins for a pint bottle from an Indian woman, a white man's wife.
We traveled up Sweet Water till we got to Independence Rock; the train stopped there. Hiram Straight, Bob Smith, and myself went hunting and were out all night. In the morning we killed a fine fat buffalo cow, and started to get ahead of the wagons. We got on top of the Black Hills where we could see the wagons; we then unpacked our horses and let them graze, while we roasted buffalo meat and ate without bread or salt, then went on to meet the train. ”