The Perilous Journey to the Salmon Mines
Recent reports from the Columbia River confirm a trail of tragedy, as miners traveling in makeshift bateaux fall victim to capsizing boats and drowning in the treacherous rapids.
Mr. A. S. Gould, editor of the Golden Age, Lewiston, arrived on the Julia last evening, having made the trip in batteaux with 128 other passengers. They camped out four nights—one without even anything to eat or nothing to drink. It blew a gale all the way down, and the large batteaux made a great many hair-breadth escapes. They saw a large number of small boats containing men on their way down, many of which must have perished, as the wrecks of some were seen. A small boat capsized at Pine Tree Rapids, Snake river, Sept. 4th, and three men drowned, one a Mr. Jacob Zimmer, of Portland, who leaves a wife and family; Mr. A. Bryant, and a Canadian known as 'John' were the others. The first of last week a boat upset in the Columbia river, opposite Fort Okanagan, and two men were drowned—one named McCheet and the other McColleck. The wreck of a small boat was seen in John Day Rapids on a rock last week. On Saturday last, two dead bodies were found floating in the river near the wood yard five miles above Deschutes, supposed to be from some of the wrecked boats.
“They saw a large number of small boats containing men on their way down, many of which must have perished, as the wrecks of some were seen.”
This account captures the sheer physical danger inherent in the early mining frontiers of the Pacific Northwest. Today, these same waterways are central to hydroelectric and recreational use, but the legacy of those who lost their lives in the pursuit of fortune in the 1860s remains embedded in the river history.
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