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diff --git a/35288.txt b/35288.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7b8a5c6 --- /dev/null +++ b/35288.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9936 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Two Years in Oregon, by Wallis Nash + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Two Years in Oregon + + +Author: Wallis Nash + + + +Release Date: February 15, 2011 [eBook #35288] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO YEARS IN OREGON*** + + +E-text prepared by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive/American Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/americana) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 35288-h.htm or 35288-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35288/35288-h/35288-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/35288/35288-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/American Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/twoyearsinoregon00nashrich + + + + + +[Illustration: Anchorage in Yaquina Bay.] + + + +TWO YEARS IN OREGON. + +by + +WALLIS NASH, + +Author of "Oregon, There and Back in 1877." + + + + Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, + While the landscape round it measures, + Russet lawns, and fallows gray, + Where the nibbling flocks do stray; + Mountains on whose barren breast + The lab'ring clouds do often rest; + Meadows trim with daisies pied; + Shallow brooks, and rivers wide. + + L'Allegro. + + Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel with smile or frown; + With that wild wheel we go not up or down; + Our hoard is little, but our hearts are great; + Smile and we smile, the lords of many lands; + Frown and we smile, the lords of our own hands; + For man is man and master of his fate. + + Tennyson. + + + + + + + +New York: +D. Appleton and Company +1, 3, and 5 Bond Street. +1882. + +Copyright by +D. Appleton and Company +1881. + + + + +I DEDICATE THIS BOOK + +TO + +MY FATHER, + +WHO, THOUGH SEVERED FROM US BY LAND AND OCEAN, +YET LIVES WITH US IN SPIRIT. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +It is my grateful task to recognize the marked kindness with which my +modest volume has been received by the public and the press. It is rare +that a second edition of a work of the kind should be called for within +three months of the first issue, and still more rare that, out of a +vast number of reviews by the leading journals all over the country, +but one newspaper, and that the one I deemed it my duty to the State of +Oregon to denounce (on page 216), has found aught but words of +commendation. + +I desire also to tender my apologies to the esteemed Roman Catholic +Archbishop, and to the Sisters of Charity of Portland, for the error on +my part in ascribing to Bishop Morris, of the Episcopal Church, the +credit of St. Vincent's Hospital. + +I ought not to have forgotten to notice the Good Samaritan Hospital and +Orphanage founded by Bishop Morris. + +A single remark should be added about the price or value given, on page +70, for seed-wheat as an element of the cost of the crop raised from +it. + +The wheat reserved by the farmer for this purpose, being exempt from +the charges and waste incident to hauling, storage, insurance, and +sacking, necessary in marketing, is fairly estimated at seventy cents, +though the marketed portion of the crop averages eighty-five to ninety +cents; the difference being composed, in part, of profit. + +W. N. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +I send forth this book, as sequel to the sketch published three years +ago, with many misgivings--rather as if one who, as a lover, had +written poems in praise of his mistress, should, as a two years' +husband, give to the world his experience of the fireside charms and +household excellences of his wife. Perhaps the latter might more +faithfully picture her than when she was seen through the glamour of a +first love. + +Be that as it may, it is true that the questions put from many lands, +as to how we fare in this Western country, demand fuller answers than +mere letter-writing can convey. I trust that those correspondents who +are yet unanswered personally will find herein the knowledge they are +seeking, and will accept the assurance that they are themselves to +blame for some of the more solid and tedious chapters; as, if I had not +known that such information were needed, I would not have ventured to +put in print again that which previous and better authors have given to +the world. + +While I have striven to write what is really a guide-book to Oregon +for the intending emigrant, others may be interested in the picture of +a young community shaping the details of their common life, and +claiming and taking possession of a heritage in the wilderness. + +No one can go farther West than we have done: it is fair, then, to +suppose that the purposes of the Western movement will be seen here in +their fullest operation. + +Since 1877 a vast change has taken place in this, that Oregon now +shares with older States the benefits of becoming the theatre for large +railroad operations. + +No apology to American readers is needed for the endeavor to show +things in a fairer light and different color from those chosen by +persons interested in causing all men to see with their eyes. +Transatlantic readers may not have the same concern; but even from them +I bespeak a hearing in matters which may indirectly, if not directly, +touch their interests. + +But I do not wish to suggest that I write as having only a general +feeling that certain things would be the better for a more open +discussion than they have hitherto received. My own affairs, and those +of many friends, both in Oregon and elsewhere, and, indeed, the +successful development of this great Willamette Valley, largely depend +on our convincing an unprejudiced public that Nature is on our side in +the effort we are making to secure a direct and near outlet to the +great world. + +I only claim in these particulars to be an advocate, but I add to this +a full and honest conviction of the justice of the views for which I +contend. + +To turn again to more general matters, I have the pleasant duty of +thanking several friends who have contributed to the information here +collected. + +To our shame be it said that there was not, among our English +immigrants, one naturalist who could rightly name the birds, beasts, +fishes, and insects in our Western home. But I was fortunate in finding +an American friend, Mr. O. B. Johnson, of Salem, whose complete and +accurate knowledge of these subjects only rendered more easy his kindly +endeavors to give me the benefit of all his stores. + +I wish to acknowledge also the care with which, ever since our visit in +1877, the professors at the Corvallis Agricultural College have kept +the records of climate and rainfall, the results of which are now +published. + +I trust that, if any sketches in these pages are recognized as +portraits, not one grain of offense will be taken by those who have +unwittingly served as models in the life-studio. + +Or that, if any effect is produced, it may be as good and lasting as +that which followed on a fancy picture in the former book, in which +many stray touches were collected. Whether the cap fitted, or was +pressed on his head by too officious neighbors, I know not; but this I +know, that cleared fields, neat fences, new barn, clean house, and +fitting furniture, rendered it impossible for me to recognize a +tumbledown place which then served to point a warning. These +improvements, I am told, the owner lays at my unconscious door. + +WALLIS NASH. + +CORVALLIS, OREGON, _April_ 14, 1881. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + +Personal reasons for coming to Oregon--Plans of colonizing--Who +came--Who have returned--Who remain--Bowie-knives and revolvers--A +sheriff in danger--No tragedy--Our landing at Corvallis--Frail +houses--Pleasant welcome--The barber's shop--Its customers--Given +names--New acquaintances--Bright dresses--Religious denominations. 17 + +CHAPTER II. + +Where we live--Snow-peaks and distant prospects--Forest-fires--The +Coast Mountains and Mary's Peak--Sunset in Oregon--Farmhouses: the +log-cabin, the box-house, the frame-house--Dinner at the farm--Slay +and eat--A rash chicken--Bread-making by amateurs--Thrift and +unthrift--Butter and cheese--Products of the "range," farm, and +garden--Wheat-growing. 26 + +CHAPTER III. + +The land-office; its object and functionaries--How to find your +land--Section 33--The great conflagration--The survivors of the +fire--The burnt timber and the brush--The clearing-party--Chopping +by beginners--Cooking, amateur and professional--The wild-cat--Deer +and hunting--Piling brush--Dear and cheap clearing--The skillful +axeman--Clearing by Chinamen--Dragging out stumps--What profits the +farmer may expect on a valley farm--On a foot-hills farm. 36 + +CHAPTER IV. + +A spring ride in Oregon--The start--The equipment--Horses and +saddlery--Packs--The roadside--Bird fellow-travelers--Snakes--The +nearest farm--Bees--The great pasture--The poisonous larkspur-- +Market-gardening--The Cardwell Hill--The hill-top--The water-shed +--Mary River--Crain's--The Yaquina Valley--Brush, grass, and fern +--The young Englishmen's new home--A rustic bridge--"Chuck-holes"-- +The road supervisor--Trapp's--The mill-dam--Salmon-pass law--Minnows +and crawfish--The Pacific at rest--Yaquina--Newport. 48 + +CHAPTER V. + +Hay-harvest--Timothy-grass--Permanent pasture--Hay-making by +express--The mower and reaper--Hay-stacks as novelties-- +Wheat-harvest--Thrashing--The "thrashing crowd"--"Headers" +and "self-binders"--Twine-binders and home-grown flax--Green food +for cows--Indian corn, vetches--Wild-oats in wheat--Tar-weed the +new enemy--Cost of harvesting--By hired machines--By purchased +machines--Cost of wheat-growing in the Willamette Valley. 62 + +CHAPTER VI. + +The farmer's sports and pastimes--Deer-hunting tales--A roadside +yarn--Still-hunting--Hunting with hounds--An early morning's +sport--Elk--The pursuit--The kill--Camp on Beaver Creek-- +Flounder-spearing by torchlight--Flounder-fishing by day--In the +bay--Rock oysters--The evening view--The general store--Skins-- +Sea-otters--Their habits--The sea-otter hunters--Common otter--The +mink and his prey. 72 + +CHAPTER VII. + +Birds in Oregon--Lark--Quail--Grouse--Ruffed grouse--Wild-geese-- +Manoeuvres in the air--Wild-ducks--Mallard--Teal--Pintail-- +Wheat-duck--Black-duck--Wood-duck--Snipe--Flight-shooting-- +Stewart's Slough--Bitterns--Eagles--Hawks--Horned owls--Woodpeckers +--Blue-jays--Canaries--The canary that had seen the world--Blue-birds +--Bullfinches--Snow-bunting--Humming-birds at home. 91 + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Up to the Cascades--Farming by happy-go-lucky--The foot-hills--Sweet +Home Valley--Its name, and how deserved and proved--The road by the +Santiam--Eastward and upward--Timber--Lower Soda Springs--Different +vegetation--Upper Soda Springs--Mr. Keith--Our reception--His home and +surroundings--Emigrants on the road--The emigrant's dog--Off to the +Spokane--Whence they came--Where they were bound--Still eastward-- +Fish Lake--Clear Lake--Fly-fishing in still water--The down slope +east--Lava-beds--Bunch-grass--The valleys in Eastern Oregon--Their +products--Wheat-growing there--Cattle-ranchers--Their home--Their +life--In the saddle and away--Branding-time--Hay for the winter--The +Malheur reservation--The Indians' outbreak--The building of the +road--When, how, and by whom built--The opening of the pass--The +history of the road--Squatters--The special agent from Washington--A +sham survey. 100 + +CHAPTER IX. + +Indian fair at Brownsville--Ponies--The lasso--Breaking-in--The +purchase--"Bucking" extraordinary--Sheep-farming in Eastern Oregon-- +Merinos--The sheep-herder--Muttons for company--A good offer +refused--Exports of wool from Oregon-Price and value of Oregon +wool--Grading wool--Price of sheep--Their food--Coyotes--The +wolf-hunt--Shearing--Increase of flocks--"Corraling" the sheep-- +Sheep as brush-clearers. 118 + +CHAPTER X. + +The trail to the Siletz Reserve--Rock Creek--Isolation--Getting a +road--The surveying-party--Entrance at last--Road-making--Hut-building +in the wilds--What will he do with it?--Choice of homestead--Fencing +wild land--Its method and cost--Splitting cedar boards and shingles-- +House-building--The China boy and the mules--Picnicking in +earnest--Log-burning--Berrying-parties--Salting cattle--An active +cow--A year's work--Mesquit-grass on the hills. 127 + +CHAPTER XI. + +The Indians at home--The reservation--The Upper Farm--Log-cabins-- +Women must work while men will play--The agency--The boarding-house +--Sunday on the reservation--Indian Sun day-school--Galeese Creek +Jem--The store-Indian farmers--As to the settlement of the Indians +--Suggestions--A crime--Its origin--Its history--The criminals-- +What became of them--Indian teamsters--Numbers on the reservation +--The powers and duties of the agent--Special application. 136 + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Legislative Assembly--The Governor--His duties--Payment of the +members--Aspect of the city; the Legislature in session--The +lobbyist--How bills pass--How bills do not pass--Questions of the +day--Common carriers--Woman's suffrage--Some of the acts of +1878--Judicial system of the State--Taxes--Assessments--County +officers--The justice of the peace--Quick work. 145 + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Land laws--Homesteads and preemption--How to choose and obtain +Government land--University land--School land--Swamp land--Railroad +and wagon-road grants--Lieu lands--Acreages owned by the various +companies. 157 + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The "Web-foot State"--Average rainfall in various parts--The rainy +days in 1879 and 1880--Temperature--Seasons--Accounts and figures +from three points--Afternoon sea-breezes--A "cold snap"--Winter-- +Floods--Damage to the river-side country--Rare thunder--Rarer +wind-storms--The storm of January, 1880. 164 + +CHAPTER XV. + +The State Fair of 1880--Salem--The ladies' pavilion--Knock-em-downs +_a l'Americaine_--Self-binders--Thrashing-machines--Rates of +speed--Cost--Workmanship--Prize sheep--Fleeces--Pure _versus_ +graded sheep--California short-horns--Horses--American breed or +Percheron--Comparative measurements--The races--Runners--Trotters-- +Cricket in public--Unruly spectators. 174 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +History of Oregon--First discoverers--Changes of government-- +Recognition as a Territory--Entrance as a State--Individual +histories--"Jottings"--"Sitting around"--A pioneer in Benton +County--How to serve Indian thieves--The white squaw and the +chief--Immigration in company--Rafting on the Columbia--The first +winter--Early settlement--Indian friends--Indian houses and +customs--The Presbyterian colony--The start--Across the plains-- +Arrival in Oregon--The "whaler" settler--A rough journey--"Ho for +the Umpqua!"--A backwoodsman--Compliments--School-teacher provided +for--Uncle Lazarus--Rogue River Canyon--Valley of Death--Pleasant +homes--Changed circumstances. 183 + +CHAPTER XVII. + +State and county elections--The Chinese question--Chinese +house-servants--Washermen--Laborers--A large camp--Supper--Chinese +trading--The scissors--Cost of Chinese labor--Its results--Chinese +treaties--Household servants--Chee and his mistress--"Heap debble-y +in there"--The photo album--Temptation--A sin and its reward--Good +advice on whipping--Chung and the crockery--Chinese New Year--Gifts-- +"Hoodlums"--Town police--Opium. 201 + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Life in the town--Sociables--Religious sects--Sabbath-schools-- +Christmas festivities--Education, how far compulsory--Colleges-- +Student-life and education--Common schools--Teachers' institutes-- +Newspapers--Patent outsides-"The Oregonian"--Other journals--Charities +--Paupers--Secret societies. 209 + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Industries other than farming--Iron-ores--Coal--Coos Bay mines-- +Seattle mines--Other deposits--Lead and copper--Limestone--Marbles-- +Gold, where found and worked--Silver, where found and worked--Gold +in sea-sand--Timber--Its area and distribution--Spars--Lumber--Size +of trees--Hard woods--Cost of production and sale of lumber--Tanneries +--Woolen-mills--Flax-works--Invitation to Irish--Salmon--Statistics +of the trade--Methods--Varieties of salmon--When and where caught-- +Salmon-poisoning of dogs--Indians fishing--Traps--Salmon-smoking. 219 + +CHAPTER XX. + +Eastern Oregon--Going "east of the mountains"--Its attractions-- +Encroaching sheep--First experiments in agriculture and planting-- +General description of Eastern Oregon--Boundaries--Alkaline plains-- +Their productions--The valleys--Powder River Valley--Description-- +The Snake River and its tributaries--The Malheur Valley--Harney Lake +Valley--Its size--Productions--Wild grasses--Hay-making--The winters +in Eastern Oregon--Wagon-roads--Prineville--Silver Creek--Grindstone +Creek Valley--Crooked River--Settlers' descriptions and experiences-- +Ascent of the Cascades going west--Eastern Oregon towns--Baker +City--Prineville--Warnings to settlers--Growing wheat for the +railroads to carry. 231 + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Southern Oregon--Its boundaries--The western counties--Population-- +Ports--Rogue River--Coos Bay--Coal--Lumber--Practicable railroad +routes--The harbor--Shifting and blowing sands--A quoted description +--Cost of transportation--Harbor improvements--Their progress and +results--The Umpqua--Douglas County--Jackson County--The lake-country +--Linkville--Water-powers--Indian reservations--The great mountains-- +Southeastern Oregon--General description--Industries. 243 + +CHAPTER XXII. + +The towns--Approach to Oregon--The steamers--The Columbia entrance-- +Astoria--Its situation, industries, development--Salmon--Shipping-- +Loading and discharging cargo--Up the Columbia and Willamette to +Portland--Portland, West and East--Population--Public buildings-- +United States District Court--The judge--Public Library--The Bishop +schools--Hospital--Churches--Stores--Chinese quarter--Banks--Industries +--The city's prosperity--Its causes--Its probable future--The Oregon +Railway and Navigation Company--Shipping abuses and exactions-- +Railroad termini--Up the Columbia--The Dalles--Up the Willamette-- +Oregon City, its history--The falls--Salem--Its position and +development--Capitol buildings--Flour-mills--Oil-mills--Buena Vista +potteries--Albany--Its water-power--Flour-mills--Values of land-- +Corvallis--The line of the Oregon Pacific Railroad--Eugene, its +university and professors--Roseburg--The West-side Railroad to +Portland--Development of the country--Prosperity--Counties of Oregon +--Their population--Taxable property--Average possessions--In the +Willamette Valley--In Eastern Oregon--In Eastern Oregon tributary +to Columbia and Snake Rivers. 252 + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The transportation question--Its importance--Present legal position +--Oregon Railway and Navigation Committee's general report--That +company--Its ocean-going steamers--Their traffic and earnings--Its +river-boats--Their traffic and earnings--Its railroads in existence +--Their traffic and earnings--Its new railroads in construction +and in prospect--Their probable influence--The Northern Pacific-- +Terminus on Puget Sound--Its prospects--The East and West Side +Railroads--"Bearing" traffic and earnings--How to get "control"-- +Lands owned by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company--Monopoly +--How threatened--The narrow-gauge railroads--Their terminus and +working--Efforts to consolidate monopoly--The "blind pool"--Resistance +--The Oregon Pacific--Its causes, possessions, and prospects--Land +grant and its enemies--The traffic of the valley--Yaquina Bay--Its +improvement--The farmers take it in hand--Contrast and comparisons +--The two presidents--Probable effects of competition--Tactics in +opposition--The Yaquina improvements--Description of works--The +prospects for competition and the farmers' gains. 271 + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Emigration to Oregon--Who should not come--Free advice and no +fees--English emigrants--Farmers--Haste to be rich--Quoted +experiences--Cost and ways of coming--Sea-routes--Railroads-- +Baggage--What not to bring--What not to forget--Heavy property-- +The Custom-house--San Francisco hotels--Conclusion. 293 + +Appendix. 305 + + + + +TWO YEARS IN OREGON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Personal reasons for coming to Oregon--Plans of colonizing--Who +came--Who have returned--Who remain--Bowie-knives and revolvers--A +sheriff in danger--No tragedy--Our landing at Corvallis--Frail +houses--Pleasant welcome--The barber's shop--Its customers--Given +names--New acquaintances--Bright dresses--Religious denominations. + + +After visiting Oregon in the year 1877, and traveling with three or +four companions through its length and breadth, I ventured to publish +in England on my return a short account of our seeings and doings. + +While the reception of this book by the reviews generally was only too +kind and flattering, one paper, the "Athenaeum," distinguished me by a +long notice, the whole point of which lay in the observation that it +would be interesting to know if I, who had been recommending Oregon to +others, were prepared to take my own prescription, and emigrate there +myself. + +Now, although it would not perhaps be fair to make all physicians +swallow their own medicines, regardless whether or not they were sick, +and although I certainly was not in any position rendering emigration +necessary, or in the opinion of any of my friends and acquaintances +even desirable, yet I did not like it to be possible to be accused +rightly of recommending a course so serious as a change of +dwelling-place and even of nationality, without being willing to prove +by my own acts the genuineness of the advice I had given. + +And this, among other motives and inducements, had a strong influence +in overcoming the crowd of hesitations and difficulties which spring up +when so great a change begins to be contemplated as possible. + +And it is no more than natural that now, having had two years' +experience in Oregon, I should desire to have it known if it be +necessary to recall the general advice given in the former book, +advocating, as undoubtedly I then did advocate, Oregon as a desirable +residence. + +But, as this involves my putting into some kind of literary shape our +experiences for the past two years in this far Western land, it is +better to begin by some general relation of our plans. + +When I undertook to come out with my wife and children and see to the +settlement and disposal of the tract of land we had purchased, as one +result of my visit in 1877, I was applied to by a good many fathers to +take some superintendence of their sons, who desired to emigrate to +Oregon. Next, one or two married couples expressed a wish to join us. +Then several acquaintances, who were practical mechanics, had heard a +good report of Oregon, and desired to accompany us. And I was busy in +answering letters about the place and people to the very moment of +sailing. + +I was not at all willing to have the company indefinitely numerous, not +having graduated in Mr. Cook's school for tourists, and knowing +something of the embarrassments likely to attend a crowd of travelers. +We found our party of twenty-six fully large enough for comfort. We +were kindly and liberally treated by the Allan Steamship Company, the +Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, and the Chicago and Northwestern +Railway; but our lines did not fall to us in pleasant places when we +experienced the tender mercies of the Union and Central Pacific. Our +party was broken up into different cars, and our strongest portmanteaus +were shattered by the most atrocious handling. + +[Sidenote: _PLANS OF COLONIZING._] + +It was a serious question if we should try to found an English colony +here, in the usual sense of the word. That would have involved a +separate life from the American residents; it would have fostered +jealousy here, and we should have committed numberless mistakes and +absurdities. We should have had to buy all our experience, amid the +covert ridicule of our neighbors. And I was confident that many members +of our party would have played at emigrating, and treated the whole +business as picnicking on a large scale. Moreover, I was not sure that, +even if we succeeded in transplanting English manners, customs, and +institutions, they would take hold in this new soil. The fact was +always before my eyes that the country was only thirty years old, in a +civilized sense, and I doubted the wisdom of trying to transport +thither a little piece of the old country. + +I believed the wiser course to be to plant ourselves quietly among the +Oregonians with as little parade and fuss as possible, and to let our +own experience dictate to others whether to join us or not. + +It has been our practice throughout to answer freely, and as fully as +possible, the many letters of inquiry as to place and people that we +have had, but to offer no advice; leaving those who were thinking of +coming out to take the responsibility on themselves of deciding to come +or to stay away. + +Under this system our numbers have grown to upward of a hundred, and +now rarely a month passes without additions. Of course, a process of +natural selection goes on all the time. Not every one who comes +remains; but we have every reason to be satisfied with the +representatives of the mother-country who are making Oregon their +permanent home, and the same feeling is shared, as I am confident, by +the original residents. + +Shall I try to describe what sort of people we live among here, a +hundred miles from Portland, the chief city in the State? + +[Illustration: Corvallis, 1880.] + +What the notions of some of our party were you will understand when I +mention that all I could say could not prevent the young men of the +party from arming themselves, as for a campaign in the hostile Indian +country, so that each man stepped ashore from the boat that brought us +up the Willamette with a revolver in each pocket, and the hugest and +most uncompromising knives that either London, New York, or San +Francisco could furnish. + +[Sidenote: _OUR LANDING AT CORVALLIS._] + +As ill luck would have it, just as we arrived, the sheriff had returned +to town with an escaped prisoner, and had been set upon by the brother, +and a pistol had been actually presented at him. I should say in a +whisper that the sheriff, worthy man, had proposed to return the +assault in kind, but had failed to get his six-shooter out in time from +the depths of a capacious pocket, where the deadly weapon lay in +harmless neighborhood, with a long piece of string, a handful or so of +seed-wheat, a large chunk of tobacco, a leather strap and buckle, and a +big red pocket-handkerchief. So I fancy he had not much idea of +shooting when he started out. + +But the incident was enough to give a blood-color to all our first +letters home, and I dare say caused a good many shiverings and shudders +at the thought of the wild men of the woods we had come to neighbor +with. + +The worst of it was, that it was the only approach to a tragedy, and +that we have had no adventures worth speaking of. "Story, God bless +you! I have none to tell, sir." Still we did know ourselves to be in a +new world when we stepped ashore from the large, white-painted, +three-storied structure on the water that they called a stern-wheel +river-boat, and in which we had spent two days coming up the great +river from Portland. It was the 17th of May, just a month from leaving +Liverpool, that we landed. The white houses of the little city of +Corvallis were nestled cozily in the bright spring green of the alders +and willows and oaks that fringed the river, and the morning sun +flashed on the metal cupola of the court-house, and lighted up the +deep-blue clear-cut mountains that rose on the right of us but a few +miles off. + +When we got into the main street the long, low, broken line of +booth-like, wooden, one-storied stores and houses, all looking as if +one strong man could push them down, and one strong team carry them +off, grated a little, I could see, on the feelings of some of the +party. The redeeming feature was the trees, lining the street at long +intervals, darkening the houses a little, but clothing the town, and +giving it an air of age and respectability that was lacking in many of +the bare rows of shanties, dignified with the title of town, that we +had passed in coming here across the continent. + +The New England Hotel invited us in. A pretty plane-tree in front +overshadowed the door; and a bright, cheery hostess stood in the +doorway to welcome us, shaking hands, and greeting our large party of +twenty-six in a fashion of freedom to which we had not been used, but +which sounded pleasantly in our travel-worn ears. The house was +tumble-down and shabby, and needed the new coat of paint it received +soon after--but in the corner of the sitting-room stood a good +parlor-organ. The dining-room adjoining had red cloths on the tables, +and gave a full view into the kitchen; but the "beefsteak, mutton-chop, +pork-chop, and hash" were good and well cooked, and contrasted with, +rather than reminded us of, the fare described by Charles Dickens as +offered him in the Eastern States when he visited America thirty-nine +years ago. + +The bedrooms, opening all on to the long passage upstairs, with meager +furniture and patchwork quilts, the whole wooden house shaking as we +trotted from room to room, were not so interesting, and tempted no long +delay in bed after the early breakfast-gong had been sounded soon after +six. Breakfast at half-past six, dinner at noon, and supper at +half-past five, only set the clock of our lives a couple of hours +faster than we had been used to; and bed at nine was soon no novelty to +us. + +The street in front was a wide sea of slushy mud when we arrived, with +an occasional planked crossing, needing a sober head and a good +conscience to navigate safely after dark; for, when evening had closed +in, the only street-lighting came from the open doors, and through the +filled and dressed windows of the stores. + +[Sidenote: _THE BARBER'S SHOP._] + +Saloons were forbidden by solemn agreement to all of us, but the +barber's shop was the very pleasant substitute. Two or three big +easy-chairs in a row, with a stool in front of each. Generally filled +they were by the grave and reverend seigniors of the city--each man +reposing calmly, draped in white, while he enjoyed the luxury, under +the skillful hands of the barber or his man, of a clean shave. At the +far end of the shop stood the round iron stove, with a circle of wooden +chairs and an old sofa. And here we enjoyed the parliament of free +talk. The circle was a frequently changing one, but the types were +constant. + +The door opened and in came a man from the country: such a hat on his +head! a brim wide enough for an umbrella, the color a dirty white; a +scarlet, collarless flannel shirt, the only bit of positive color about +him; a coat and trousers of well-worn brown, canvas overall (or, as +sometimes spelled, "overhaul"), the trousers tucked into knee-high +boots, worn six months and never blacked. His hands were always in his +pockets, except when used to feed his mouth with the constant +"chaw."--"Hello, Tom," he says slowly, as he makes his way to the back, +by the stove. "Hello, Jerry," is the instant response. "How's your +health?" "Well; and how do you make it?" "So-so." "Any news out with +you?" "Wall, no; things pretty quiet." And he finds a seat and sinks +into it as if he intended growing there till next harvest. + +We all know each other by our "given" names. I asked one of our +politicians how he prepared himself for a canvass in a county where I +knew he was a stranger this last summer. "Well, I just learned up all +the boys' given names, so I could call them when I met them," was the +answer. "I guess knowing 'em was as good as a hundred votes to me in +the end." It was a little startling at first to see a rough Oregonian +ride up to our house, dismount, hitch his horse to the paling, and +stroll casually in, with "Where's Herbert?" as his first and only +greeting. But we soon got used to it. + +But the barber's shop was, and is, useful to us, as well as amusing. +The values and productiveness of farms for sale, the worth and +characters of horses, the prices of cattle, the best and most likely +and accessible places for fishing, and deer-shooting, and +duck-hunting--all such matters, and a hundred other things useful for +us to know, we picked up here, or "sitting around" the stoves in one or +other of the stores in the town. + +Another good gained was, that thus our new neighbors and we got +acquainted: they found we were not all the "lords" they set us down for +at first, with the exclusiveness and pride they attributed to that +maligned race in advance; while we on our side found a vast amount of +self-respect, of native and acquired shrewdness, of legitimate pride in +country, State, and county, and a fund of kindly wishes to see us +prosper, among our roughly dressed but really courteous neighbors. + +There was a good deal of feminine curiosity displayed on either side, +by the natives and the new-comers. When we went to church the first +Sunday after our arrival, there were a good many curious worshipers, +more intent on the hats and bonnets of the strangers than on the +service in which we united. We heard afterward how disappointed they +were that the stranger ladies were so quietly and cheaply dressed. We +could not say the same when callers came, which they speedily did after +we were settled in our new home--such tight kid gloves, and bright +bonnets, and silk mantles! It was a constant wonder to our women-folk +how their friends managed to show as such gay butterflies, two thousand +miles on the western side of everywhere. + +[Sidenote: _RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS._] + +We found here, in a little town of eleven hundred inhabitants, all +kinds of religious denominations represented--Episcopalians, +Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Methodists North, and Methodists South, +Evangelicals, and Baptists--but very little rivalry and no rancor. I +shall have something more to say about the religious life later on, but +I think I will reserve the description of our home, and of those of +some of our neighbors, for a fresh chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Where we live--Snow-peaks and distant prospects--Forest-fires--The +Coast Mountains and Mary's Peak--Sunset in Oregon--Farmhouses: the +log-cabin, the box-house, the frame-house--Dinner at the farm--Slay +and eat--A rash chicken--Bread-making by amateurs--Thrift and +unthrift--Butter and cheese--Products of the "range," farm, and +garden--Wheat-growing. + + +You might look the world over for a prettier spot than that on which +this house stands. Just a mile from Corvallis, on a gently rounded +knoll, we look eastward across the town, and the river, and the broad +valley beyond, to the Cascade Mountains. + +Their lowest range is about thirty miles off, and the rich flat valley +between is hidden by the thick line of timber, generally fir, that +fringes the farther side of the Willamette. Against the dark line of +timber the spires of the churches and the cupola of the court-house +stand out clear, and the gray and red shingled roofs of the houses in +the town catch early rays of the rising sun. + +The first to be lighted up are the great snow-peaks, ninety, seventy, +and fifty miles off--a ghostly, pearly gray in the dim morning, while +the lower ranges lie in shadow; but, as the sun rises in the heavens, +these same lower ranges grow distinct in their broken outlines. The air +is so clear that you see plainly the colors of the bare red rocks, and +the heavy dark, fir-timber clothing their rugged sides. Ere the sun +mounts high the valley often lies covered with a low-lying thin white +mist, beyond and over which the mountains stand out clear. + +For some weeks in the late summer heavy smoke-clouds from the many +forest and clearing fires obscure all distant view. This last summer +fires burned for at least fifty miles in length at close intervals of +distance, and the dark gray pall overlay the mountains throughout. +Behind the house, and in easy view from the windows on either side, are +the Coast Mountains, or rather hills. + +Mary's Peak rises over four thousand feet, and is snow-crowned for nine +months in the year. The outlines of this range are far more gently +rounded than the Cascades, and timber-covered to the top. Save for the +solid line of the heavy timber, the outlines of the Coast Range +constantly remind us of our own Dartmoor; and the illusion is +strengthened by the dark-red soil where the plow has invaded the hills, +yearly stealing nearer to their crowns. Mary's Peak itself is bare at +the top for about a thousand acres, but the firs clothe its sides, and +the air is so clear that, in spite of the seventeen miles' distance, +their serrated shapes are plainly and individually visible as the sun +sinks to rest behind the mountain. + +[Sidenote: _SUNSET IN OREGON._] + +Such sunsets as we have! Last night I was a mile or two on the other +side of the river as night fell. Mount Hood was the first to blush, and +then Mount Jefferson and the Three Sisters in turn grew rosy red. From +the valley I could not see the lower Cascades, but these snowy pyramids +towered high into the sky. One little fleecy cloud here and there +overhead caught the tinge, but the whole air on the eastern side was +luminously pink. Turning westward, the pale-blue sky faded through the +rainbow-green into the rich orange surrounding the departing sun; and +the westward mountains stood solidly and clearly blue in massive lines. + +One great peculiarity of the Oregon landscape, as distinguished from an +English rather than a New England scene, is in the number of white +farmhouses that catch the eye. We see many from our windows. I suppose +it is that the roads are so bad in winter that the farmers must live on +the farms, instead of in the English-village fashion. So it is that you +may travel by railroad up and down this valley for two hundred miles +between farmhouses every quarter or half mile all the way. Nearly every +farmhouse has its orchard close by; but one big barn is all the +out-buildings they boast, and farm-yard, in the English sense, one +never sees. + +Our own house is not a fair specimen, because of our large family and +its corresponding habitation; but the regular farmhouse is by no means +an uncomfortable abode. + +There are three kinds: log-cabin, box-house, frame-house. + +[Sidenote: _FARMHOUSES._] + +The first, by far the most picturesque type, is fast becoming obsolete, +and on most of the good farms, if not pulled down, is degraded into +woodhouse or piggery. But to my eye there is something rarely +comfortable in the low, solid, rugged walls of gray logs, with +overhanging shingled roof; the open hearth, too, with its great +smoldering back-log and wide chimney, invites you to sit down before it +and rest. By the side of the fireplace, from two deers' horns fastened +to the wall, hangs the owner's rifle--generally an old brown +veteran--with bullet-pouch and powder-horn. Over the high mantel-shelf +stands the ticking clock, suggesting "Sam Slick, the clock-maker." +Curtained off from the main room, with its earthen or roughly-boarded +floor, are the low bedsteads of the family, each covered with its +patchwork quilt. A corner cupboard or two hold the family stock of cups +and plates, and the smell of apples, from the adjoining apple-chamber, +pervades the house. + +Round the house is the home-field, generally the orchard, sown with +timothy-grass, where range four or five young calves, and a sow or two, +with their hungry, rooting youngsters. The barn, log-built also, stands +near by, with two or three colts, or yearling cattle, grouped around. +The spring of cold, clear water runs freely through the orchard, but +ten yards from the house-door, hastening to the "creek," whose murmur +is never absent, save in the few driest weeks of summertime. + +Snake-fences, seven logs high, with top-rail and crossed binders to +keep all steady, divide the farm from the road, and a litter of chips +from the axe-hewed pile of firewood strew the ground between wood-pile +and house. Here and there, even in the home-field, and nearly always in +the more distant land, a big black stump disfigures the surface, and +betrays the poverty or possibly the carelessness of the owner, who has +carved his homestead from the brush. + +But as the farmer prospers, be it ever so little, he hastens to pull +down his log-cabin and to build his "box" or more expensive "frame" +house. In each case the material is "lumber." By this is signified, be +it known to the uninitiated, fir boards, one foot wide, sixteen feet +long, and one inch thick. + +The "box" house is built of boards set upright, and the cracks covered +with strips of similar board, three inches wide. + +The "frame" house is double throughout, the boards run lengthwise, and +there is a covering outside of an outer skin of planking. + +With the box or frame house comes the inevitable stove. The cooking and +eating of the family go on in a lean-to room, and the living-room is +furnished with some pretensions, always with a sewing-machine, and +often with a parlor-organ or piano. Muslin curtains drape the windows; +a bureau is generally present, and chromos, or very rough engravings, +hang on the walls. The political tendencies of the owner betray +themselves. General Grant, with tight-buttoned coat and close-cut +beard, or President Lincoln and his family, show the Republican. +Strangely enough, General Lee, with a genial smile on his attractive +face, is affected by the Democrats. The followers of the greenback +heresy delight in Brick Pomeroy, with clean-shaven, smug, and satisfied +look. + +[Sidenote: _DINNER AT THE FARM._] + +It is not the fashion to carry provisions with you on journeys in +Oregon. When meal-time draws near, and hotels are many miles away, you +ride boldly up to the nearest farm, dismount, throw your horse's rein +over the paling, and walk in. The lady of the house appears, from the +cooking department at the rear, and you say: "Good-morning, madam; can +I get dinner with you?" Unless there is grave reason to the contrary, +she considers a moment, and then answers, "I guess so," with a +hospitable smile. The next question is as to your horse, which one of +the children leads into the barn, and then fills out a goodly measure +of oats, and crams the rack with hay from the pile filling the middle +of the barn. While your hostess adds a little to the family meal, you +turn over the newspapers in the sitting-room, generally finding a +"Detroit Free Press," or a "Toledo Blade," or a New York "World" or +"Tribune," or a San Francisco "Bulletin" or "Chronicle," besides the +local weekly. If you want books, you must take to the "Pacific Coast +Reader," the last school-book, which you are sure to find on the shelf; +unless you chance on a "Universal History," or the "History of the +Civil War," or the "Life of General Jackson," or the "Life of General +Custer," or a collection of poetry in an expensive binding, all of +which signify that the book-peddler has been paying a recent visit. + +Then your hostess returns, saying, "Will you come and eat?" If you go +into the back room--where, generally, the master of the house and you, +the visitor, and perhaps a grown-up son, or a farming hand, sit down +and dine, while the mistress and her daughter serve--you will not +starve. + +In front of you is a smoking dish of meat, either pork or mutton, +salted, cut into square bits and fried; rarely beef, more often +venison, or deer-meat, as it is called here. By it is piled up a dish +of mashed potatoes, and a tureen of white, thick sauce. A glass dish of +stewed apples, or apple-sauce, and one of preserved pears or peaches, +and a smaller dish of blackberry or plum jam, complete the meal, with +the constant coffee, and generally a big jug of milk. The bread is +brought you in sets of hot, square rolls, fresh from the stove. It is +not always that you can get cold bread, and a look of surprise always +follows the request for it. + +Generally, a good supply of white beans, boiled soft, and with a slice +or two of bacon, is an important item. Apples, and the best of them, +too, you can have for the asking--too common to be offered to you. + +This _regime_ applies to breakfast, dinner, and supper, with but +slight variations. I forgot, though, the saucer of green, sharp, +vinegary gherkins, which the Oregonians seem not to know how to do +without, and also the honey, and trout, which are the frequent and +welcome additions to the meal among the hills. + +My wife and I dropped in once to a dinner of this kind. We were +sitting, cooling ourselves on the veranda, watching some pretty, black +Spanish chickens scratching among the scanty rose-bushes in front. The +farmer's wife came quickly out and addressed me: "Have you got your +revolver?" I stared for a moment, thinking of tramps, and bears, and I +know not what. "I never carry one on horseback," I answered. "Oh," said +she, "I would have had you shoot the head off one of them chickens, for +I've got no fresh meat." Inwardly I congratulated ourselves that our +dinner did not altogether depend on my skill with that common, but, to +my mind, very unsatisfactory weapon. + +One of my friends bought out an Oregonian farmer, and paid him for +stock and lot, including some fine fowls. Dropping in to dinner two +days afterward, he found a smoking chicken on the board. I suppose he +eyed it askance, for the farmer observed: "That's one of your chickens +I killed by accident. I saw some wild-geese feeding on the wheat, and +fetched the rifle, and that there foolish rooster got right in the way +of the bullet." + +[Sidenote: _BREAD-MAKING BY AMATEURS._] + +If any friends of yours think of coming out, send them to the school of +cookery, I implore you. It is the greatest possible quandary to be in, +to be set down with flour, water, and a tin of saleratus or +baking-powder, and to have to make the bread or go without. Then, to +convert chickens running about your house into food for man is not so +easy as it looks; nor is cooking beans or potatoes a matter of pure +instinct, I assure you. Shall I ever forget riding up at nearly three +in the afternoon, to one of our Englishmen's farms, to find the +proprietor standing, coat off and sleeves turned up, before a huge, +round tin of white slush? When he saw me come in, he lifted out his +hands and rubbed off the white dripping mess, saying: "I'll be hanged +if I'll try any longer; since eleven o'clock have I been after this +beastly bread! Can you make it? Is this stuff too thin or too thick, or +what?" It is true that he makes fine bread now; but if you could but +know the stages of slackness, heaviness, soddenness, flintiness, that +he and his friends passed through, you would see that I was giving a +useful hint, and one that applies to the feminine emigrant quite as +much as to the masculine. Another thing strikes us out here, namely, +the waste that pervades an average Oregon farmer's household. Does he +kill a deer? He leaves the fore half of the creature, and all the +internals, in the wood where he killed it, taking home only the +hind-quarters and the hide. If he kills a hog, the head is thrown out, +to be rolled round and gnawed at by the dogs; the same with a sheep or +a calf. + +Half of them will not even take the trouble to have butter, letting the +calves get all the milk, but just a little for the meals. You rarely +see eggs on the table, though there may be scores of hens about. + +You will hardly believe that large quantities of butter and cheese are +imported into this valley, both from California and from Washington +Territory, and cheese even from the East, though there can not be a +finer dairy country than this, if they would but look a little ahead +and provide some green food for the cows for the interval between the +hay-crop off the timothy-grass and the fresh growth of the same from +the autumn rains. + +It is still more inexcusable among the hills, where the grass keeps +green all the year round. The exclusive devotion to wheat is what will +very shortly and most surely impoverish the country; and therefore it +is that, in the interests of Oregon, I am so anxious that many farmers +should come here who are familiar with mixed farming, and will apply it +to our deep, rich, stoneless soil, and will thus avert the inevitable +consequences of wheat, wheat, wheat, continuously for fifteen, twenty, +ay, and thirty years. + +It is not that other crops and other pursuits do not answer here. +Sheep, cattle, and horses thrive and multiply. Oregon valley wool ranks +among the very best. The Angora goat takes to Western Oregon as if it +were his native home, and produces yearly from three to four pounds of +hair, worth from sixty to eighty cents a pound. Beans, peas, carrots, +parsnips grow as I have never seen them elsewhere. Swedish turnips have +succeeded well in this valley, and nearer the coast the white turnips I +have seen nearly as big as your head, and good all through. I saw a +large heap of potatoes the other day that averaged six inches long, and +perfectly clean and free from all taint. Carrots we grew ourselves that +weighed from one and a half to two pounds all round. Barley thrives +splendidly, with a full, round, clear-skinned berry. Oats I need hardly +mention, as the export of this cereal is very large, and the quality is +undeniable. + +The common red clover grows in a half-acre patch in my neighbor's field +waist-high, and he cut it three times last year. We have the humble-bee +(or, at any rate, a big fellow just like the English humble-bee--for I +never handled one to examine it closely) to fertilize the clover. The +white Dutch clover spreads wherever it gets a chance. + +[Sidenote: _WHEAT-GROWING._] + +But the temptation to grow wheat is very strong. It is the staple +product of the State, and hardly ever fails in quality. The farmers +understand it; their system of life is organized with a view to it. A +thousand bushels of wheat in the warehouse is as good as money in the +bank, and is in reality a substitute for it. There is a clear +understanding of what it costs to plant, harvest, and warehouse, and it +involves the lowest amount of trouble and anxiety. + +Therefore, Oregon grows wheat, and will grow it; and men will grow +nothing else until the consequences are brought home to them. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +The land-office; its object and functionaries--How to find your +land--Section 33--The great conflagration--The survivors of the +fire--The burnt timber and the brush--The clearing-party--Chopping by +beginners--Cooking, amateur and professional--The wild-cat--Deer +and hunting--Piling brush--Dear and cheap clearing--The skillful +axeman--Clearing by Chinamen--Dragging out stumps--What profits the +farmer may expect on a valley farm--On a foot-hills farm. + + +By the time we had been here about a month and had settled down a +little, we set about clearing a tract of wild land called section 33, +situated nearly twenty miles away. You will ask, What does section 33 +mean? Oregon is divided into several districts. For the Willamette +Valley the land-office is at Oregon City, one of the most ancient towns +in the State, having a history of forty years, dating from the rule of +the Hudson's Bay Company. The chief officer is called the "register." +He is supplied with maps of the surveys from the central office at +Washington. Each map is of one township, consisting of a square block +of thirty-six sections of a square mile or six hundred and forty acres +each. Each township is numbered with reference to a baseline and a +meridian, fixed by the original survey of the State, thus giving a +position of latitude and longitude. From the land-office duplicates of +the maps for each county are furnished to the county-seat and are +deposited in the county clerk's office for general inspection. Each +year a certain sum is set aside for new surveys, and contracts are +given by the Surveyor-General of the State to local surveyors for the +work. + +The corners of each square-mile section are denoted by posts or large +stones, and the neighboring trees are blazed or marked so as to direct +attention to the corner post or stone. + +Thus for years after the surveying-party have passed through wild land, +there is but little difficulty in finding the corner-posts, and thence +by compass ascertaining the boundary-lines of any section or fraction +of a section in question. Surveys being officially made, boundary +disputes are avoided, or easily solved and set at rest by reference to +the county surveyor, who for a few dollars' fee comes out and "runs the +lines" afresh of any particular plot. + +Section 33, then, is the section thus numbered in township 10, south of +range 7, west of the Willamette meridian. It lay just on the edge of +the burned woods country. + +[Sidenote: _THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION._] + +Although forest-fires in Oregon are still of yearly occurrence, since +settlement by the white men the range of the devastation has been by +degrees narrowed and confined. Formerly the Indians started fires every +year to burn the withered grass in the valleys and on the hillsides, +and thence fire spread into the woods and ravaged many miles of timber. +The "great fire" is said to have occurred about forty years ago, when +many Indians perished in the flames, and others had to take refuge in +the streams and rivers, till the destroying element had passed them in +its resistless fury. + +Standing on the top of one of these Coast Mountains, the eye ranges for +many miles over hill and dale, dotted everywhere with the huge black +trunks, the relics of the great conflagration. Many standing yet, some +towering high into the sky, testify of their former gracefulness by the +symmetrical tapering of the tall trunk, and the regular positions of +the broken limbs and branches. But Nature is busily at work repairing +damages; each winter's rains penetrate more deeply into the fabric of +the trunk; each winter's gales loosen yet more the roots in which the +living sap was long ago destroyed; each spring the wind brings down +additions to the graveyard of trees, rotting away into mold; while a +few young successors to the former race of firs are showing themselves +clothed in living green, and a dense growth of copse-wood, hazel, +cherry, vine-maple, arrow-wood, and crab-apple is crowding the hollows +of the canyons on the hill-sides. + +The brake-fern covers the hills, attaining a growth of five, six, or +eight feet, and sheltering an undergrowth of wild-pea and native grass. +Section 33 lies between the burned timber and the living forest, but +its chief value is in the valley of some three hundred acres of +alluvial land forming its center, through which winds here and there +the Mary River, at this distance from its mouth scarcely more than a +clear and rapid brook. + +Eight of us started on the clearing-party with two light wagons, and a +good supply of food, blankets, and axes and saws. A squatter had +settled on one corner and built himself a hut and a little barn, and +had got four or five acres of land cleared and plowed. But he had +abandoned his improvements and gone some ten miles off, to clear +another homestead among the thick woods. + +The first night we camped out in a grassy corner by the wood-side, +while the horses were tethered near. + +[Sidenote: _CHOPPING BY BEGINNERS._] + +The next day we began. Two or three of us had some little knowledge of +the virtue of an axe, but the rest were new to the art. It was amusing +to watch their eager efforts to hit straight and firm. One or two of +our Oregonian neighbors came and looked on with rather scoffing faces, +but advised us how to lay the brush we cut in windrows, with a view to +the future burning. + +We cut young firs, up to a foot thick, cherry poles from fifteen to +thirty feet high, vine-maple as thick as the cherry but only half as +tall, and here and there a tough piece of crab-apple. The brush was so +thick that what was cut could only fall one way, so that the patch each +man had cut by dinner-time was ridiculously small. Of course, the whole +valley was not brush-covered--very far from it; there were great open +spaces of clear grass, with here and there a tuft of blue lupin and +rose-bushes. The firs once cut off were done with, and the stump would +rot out of the ground in a year or two. The cherry-brush was no bad +enemy, either; the young shoots would sprout from the root next year, +but sheep would bite them off and kill the cherry out in a couple of +seasons. But by all accounts the vine-maple was as tough in life as in +texture, and that it was tough in texture our poor arms testified when +night came. + +For a few days we tried to be our own cooks, one of the party in turn +being detailed for the purpose; but much good victuals was spoiled. So +I sent into town for a Chinaman cook. That too much Chinaman is bad, I +am prepared to support my neighbors in believing; but enough Chinaman +to have one at call whenever you think fit to send for him is a comfort +indeed. So Jem, as he called himself, came out to us. He wore a smile +all day long on his broad face; and he was caught reading earnestly in +a poetry-book he must have found left out of one of our bags; so I +conclude he was a learned Chinaman. But he had strange fancies for his +own eating. He cooked a wild-cat that was shot, and we laughed; but he +proceeded next to skin and eat a skunk that had fallen a victim to its +curiosity to see how white men lived, and had trespassed inside the +hut; and that was too much. We tasted, or thought we tasted, skunk in +the bread for a day or two, so we sent Jem back. + +Turn out at five, breakfast over by soon after six, work till noon; +then from one till six; then supper, and camp-fire, and pipes and talk +till nine, and then to bed. Such was our regular life, certainly a +healthy and not an unpleasant one. + +[Sidenote: _DEER AND HUNTING._] + +We had an excitement one night. The hut stood at the corner of the +clearing, with a couple of good-sized firs in front of the door. A +wood-covered hill came close to it on the right and rear. We were going +to bed, when there was a howl outside, followed by a chorus from our +three hounds. Out rushed a couple of us into the starlight with rifles +in hand. The dogs had sent whatever creature it was up into one of the +fir-trees and bayed fiercely round. Nothing could be seen among the +thick branches. One of the party, an enthusiast, though a novice in +woodland sport, got right close to the tree-trunk and managed to make +out a form against the sky some twenty feet above his head. At once he +fired, and down came the creature almost on his head; fortunately for +him, the hounds attacked it at once, and a royal fight and scrimmage +went on in the dark. Presently the intruder fought its way through the +dogs to the rail-fence, but mounting it showed for an instant against +the sky, and a second rifle-shot brought it down. Dragged to the light, +some called it a catamount, but others more correctly a wild-cat +(_Lynx fasciatus_). A right handsome beast it was, with short tail, and +tufted ears, and spotted skin. It was and remains the only one that has +been seen. It was attracted, no doubt, by some mutton we had hung up in +the fir to be out of the way of the dogs. Fortunate, indeed, was our +friend to escape its claws and teeth, as it has the reputation of being +the fiercest and hardest to kill of all the cats found in Oregon. + +The woods in front of the hut across the valley were a sure find for +deer, and we could kill one almost any day by planting a gun or two at +points in the valley which the deer would make for, and then turning +the hounds into the woods above. It is a poor kind of hunting at the +best, this hiding behind a bush and watching, it may be for hours, for +the deer. You hear the cry of the hound far away, gradually growing +nearer, and presently the deer breaks cover, and either swims or runs +and wades down the river toward your stand; occupied solely with the +trailing hound, and ignorant of the ambushed danger in front, the shot +is generally a sure and easy one at a few paces' distance, often within +buck-shot range from an ordinary gun. + +[Sidenote: _THE SKILLFUL AXEMAN._] + +Before the summer had passed, enough brush had been cut to clear some +fifty acres of the valley, and we left the cut stuff piled in long rows +to dry till next summer, that the burning might be a complete one when +we did put fire to it. The fires would need tending for a day or two, +and feeding with the butt-ends of the long poles, to finish the work; +grass-seed sown on the ashes with the first autumn rains would speedily +make excellent pasture in that deep and fertile soil. The fencing of +the cleared acreage, and the plowing up and sowing with oats and wheat +of some eight or ten acres of land from which the roots and stumps had +been carefully grubbed out, would complete a "ranch," according to the +Oregon fashion, and section 33 would lose that name and assume that of +its first owner. The transformation from wild land to tame would be +complete, and my work in connection with it would be done. So much for +one way, and that the simplest, of making a home in Oregon. Longer +experience taught us cheaper methods. For the large clearing-party with +its attendant expense and need of oversight may be substituted clearing +by contract; when some one or two of the poorer and more industrious +homesteaders will contract to cut and clear at so much the acre or the +piece, boarding themselves, and taking their own time and methods of +doing the work. Some of the Indians are masters of the axe, and will +both make a clearing bargain and stick to it, provided you are careful +to keep always a good percentage of their pay in hand till the work is +finished: fail to do this, and some rainy day you will find no ringing +of the axe amid the trees, and their rough camp will be deserted, its +inhabitants gone for good. I like to watch a skillful axeman. Set him +to one of the big black trunks, six feet through. Watch how he strolls +round it, axe on shoulder, determining which way it shall fall. He +fetches or cuts out a plank, six or eight inches wide, and four feet +long, and you wonder what he will do with it. A few quick blows of his +keen weapon, and a deep notch is cut into the tree four feet from the +ground; the plank is driven into it, and he climbs lightly on it. +Standing there, another notch is cut four feet still higher from the +ground, and a second plank inserted. Then watch him. Standing there on +the elastic plank, which seems to give more life and vigor to his +blows, it springs to the swing of the axe and the chips fly fast. As +you look, he seems to be inspired with eager hurry, and the chips fly +in a constant shower. Soon a deep, wedge-like cut is seen eating its +way into the heart of the trunk. In an hour or so he has finished on +that side, and leaves it. Taking the opposite side of the tree, he is +at it again, and a big wound speedily appears. Long before the heart is +reached, a loud cracking and rending is heard. The axeman redoubles his +efforts. The tree shakes and quivers through all its mass, and then the +top moves, slowly at first, then faster, and down it comes, with a +crash that wakes the echoes in the hills for miles and shakes the +ground. Then send him into the thick brush, where the stems are so +crowded that they have shot high up into the sky. Two cuts on one side, +and one on the other, an inch or two from the earth, and he drops his +axe, and leans all his weight against the stem. It cracks and snaps; he +shakes it, and gently it sways, bending its elastic top till it touches +the ground before the stem has left its hold on Mother Earth. Before it +has had time to fall its neighbor is attacked, and a broad strip of +sunlight is soon let into the wood. Hard work? Of course it is: a day's +chopping will earn you sore wrists and aching arms, but a fine appetite +and the soundest of sleep. Unless a new-comer has had experience in the +art and practice of wood-cutting, he will find it too slow work to +undertake with his own hands the clearing of wild land to make his +homestead. Let him buy a place where some of the rough early work has +been already done, and there are plenty to be had, and by all means let +him by degrees, and as time serves, enlarge his clearing and extend his +fields. Or, let him contract for the clearing at so much the acre. Some +of the very best wheat-land in this valley is covered with oak-grubs +which have sprung up within the last twenty years to a height of from +ten to twenty feet. Chinamen are generally used to clear this land, +being engaged at the rate of from eighty to ninety cents a day; that +is, from three shillings fourpence to three shillings tenpence English. +They want looking after closely to get full value from their work. They +come in gangs of any size wanted, and have to be provided with a rough +hut to sleep in; they furnish their own food and cooking. The oak-wood +is not only cut, but the roots are grubbed out, and the land left ready +for the plow. The wood is cut into four-feet lengths and stacked ready +for carting away. It is worth almost anywhere in the valley not less +than three dollars a cord; that is, a pile eight feet long, four feet +wide, and four feet high. Thus the farmer who has a little capital and +so can afford the first outlay, need not hesitate to clear this +oak-grub land, as the value of the cord-wood and the first year's crop +should more than defray the expense of the grubbing. + +In England it is usual to bring into farming course gradually woodland +that has been cleared, sowing oats first. Here, on the contrary, the +farmer may expect a good wheat crop from his cleared woodland the first +year. + +Yet another method of clearing is very effective and economical, +especially at a distance from the haunts of Chinamen. A strong wooden +windlass is made and fitted with a long lever for one horse. The +windlass is anchored down near the oak-grub or cherry-brush to be got +rid of. A strong iron chain is caught round the bush and attached to +the windlass. The horse marches round and round, and winds up the +windlass-rope; the roots soon crack and tear. The farmer stands by, axe +in hand, and one or two strokes sever the toughest roots, and the bush +is torn up by main force, root and branch. One man and a horse can thus +do the work of six men, and do it effectually too. + +[Sidenote: _PROFITS ON A VALLEY FARM._] + +Before we turn to other subjects let me give some idea of what a newly +arrived farmer may expect to get, if he settles on a valley farm. + +Suppose the farm to consist of 400 acres, of which 150 acres are plowed +land, the remainder being rough pasture, and 30 acres brush. Of the 150 +acres, 90 acres would be in wheat and 60 in oats and timothy-grass. The +wheat-land would produce 26 bushels to the acre, or 2,340 bushels in +all. The value may be taken to be 90 cents the bushel, on an average of +years, or $2,106 in all. The farmer would have a flock of 250 sheep, +the produce from which in wool and lambs would not be less than $300 a +year. He would breed and sell two colts a year, yielding him certainly +$125, probably half as much more. He would have ten tons of timothy-hay +to sell, producing $75. He should fat not less than a dozen hogs, worth +$10 each, or $120. We will say nothing of milk, butter, eggs, fruit, +and garden produce; but, from the sources of profit we have enumerated, +you will find the return to be $2,726. + +The necessary expenses would be the wages of one hired hand, say $300 a +year; harvesting, $150, and other expenses, such as repairs to +implements, horse-shoeing, and wheat-bags for the grain, $276, leaving +a net return of $2,000. Supposing that the cost of the farm was $25 an +acre, or $10,000 in all, I think the return is a pretty good one on +such a figure, even if another $1,000 or $1,500 has to be added for +implements, farm-horses, and sheep, to start with. + +The figures I have given are from the actual working of a thoroughly +reliable man, but relate to a year slightly above the general average +of profit. You will see a large possibility of improvement in bringing +more of the unbroken land into cultivation, either in grain or in tame +grasses, and better sheep and cattle feed. So much for a valley farm at +present prices. Naturally, the figures will alter as time goes on, as I +do not imagine that the present prices of land will continue +stationary, in the face of new railroads, improved communications, and +growing population. + +Let us look at the opportunities of an emigrant with less capital and +greater willingness to dispense with some of the valley advantages. + +[Sidenote: _PROFITS ON A FOOT-HILLS FARM._] + +His 400 acres would probably give him only 50 acres of farming, cleared +land; but adjoining, or at any rate near by, he would find land +belonging still to the Government, or untilled and unfenced, for his +cattle to range over. He would have, say, 20 acres of wheat, giving him +500 bushels, and 30 acres of oats and timothy-hay, yielding 600 bushels +of oats, of which 200 would be for sale, and the rest for use and seed, +and 30 tons of hay. He would have, say, 40 cattle, of which 15 would +come into market each year. The average value of these would be $18, or +$270 in all. Add 20 hogs at $10, or $200 in all. He must also raise and +sell three colts a year, giving him $150. Looking to smaller items of +profit, the farmer's wife should have ten pounds of butter a week to +sell, at any rate, through the summer months, which at 20 cents a pound +would give her $2 a week for 25 weeks, or $50 in all. Eggs should yield +also not less than $40 in the year. This all totals to $1,240, against +an original outlay of $10 an acre, or $4,000 in all for the farm, and +$1,500 for implements and stock. + +If the farmer is a sportsman, he may add a good many deer in the course +of the year to the family larder, and also pheasants and partridges and +quail, from August to November. I use the local names, the ruffed +grouse and the common grouse being in question. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A spring ride in Oregon--The start--The equipment--Horses and +saddlery--Packs--The roadside--Bird fellow-travelers--Snakes--The +nearest farm--Bees--The great pasture--The poisonous larkspur-- +Market-gardening--The Cardwell Hill--The hill-top--The water-shed--Mary +River--Crain's--The Yaquina Valley--Brush, grass, and fern--The young +Englishmen's new home--A rustic bridge--"Chuck-holes"--The road +supervisor--Trapp's--The mill-dam--Salmon-pass law--Minnows and +crawfish--The Pacific at rest--Yaquina--Newport. + + +Some months ago I noticed an observation in the "Spectator," in a +critique of a book of the Duke of Argyll's on Canadian homes, to the +effect that what was wanted was such a description of roadside, farm, +and woodland as should cause far-away readers to see them in their +ordinary, every-day guise. + +I have often felt the same need in books of travels, when I little +thought it would ever fall to my lot to try to bring a land thousands +of miles away before untraveled eyes. + +So, take a ride with me, in May, from our town to Yaquina Bay, just +sixty-six miles off. + +I have already said enough of the valley lying here, in the early +morning, calm and quiet, with the light mist tracing out the course of +the great river for miles into the soft distance, and the Cascade Range +standing out clear above. But we turn our backs on the town and face +toward the west. + +[Sidenote: _HORSES AND SADDLERY._] + +One word on mount and equipment. The horse is a light chestnut--sorrel +we call it here--about fifteen hands high, compact and active, with +flowing mane and tail. He cost a hundred dollars six months back; in +England, for a park hack, he would be worth three fourths as many +pounds. He has four paces--a walk of about four miles an hour, a +jog-trot of five, a lope or canter of six or seven, and a regular +gallop. He passes from one pace to another by a mere pressure of the +leg against his sides, and the gentlest movement of the reins. To turn +him, be it ever so short, carry the bridle-hand toward the side you +want to go, but put away all notion of pulling one rein or the other. +He will walk unconcernedly through the deepest mud or the quickest +flowing brook, and climb a steep hill with hardly quickened breath; if +he meets a big log in the trail, he will just lift his fore-legs over +it and follow with his hind-legs without touching it, and hardly moving +you in the saddle. And he will carry a twelve-stone man, with a saddle +weighing nearly twenty pounds, and a pack of fifteen pounds behind the +saddle, from eight in the morning till six in the evening, with an +hour's rest in the middle of the day, and be ready to do it again +to-morrow, and the next day, and the day after that. + +The saddle is in the Mexican shape, with a high pommel in front, handy +for a rope or gun-sling, and a high cantle behind; it has a deep, +smooth seat, and a leather flap behind and attached to the cantle on +which the pack rests; huge wooden stirrups, broad enough to give full +support to the foot, and wide enough for the foot to slip easily in and +out. A horse-hair belt, six inches wide, with an iron ring at each end, +through which runs a buckskin strap to attach it to the saddle, and by +which it is drawn tight, forms a "sinch," the substitute for girths. +The word "sinch" is a good one, and has passed into slang. If your +enemy has injured you and you propose to return the compliment in the +reverse of Christian fashion, "I'll sinch him," say you. If a poor +player has won the first trick by accident, "I guess he'll get sinched +soon," says the looker-on. + +I advise no Englishman to bring saddlery to Oregon. He will save no +money by doing so, and will not be fitted out so well for the +hours-long rides he will have. I have only heard one Englishman out of +fifty say that he prefers the English saddle, after getting used to the +Mexican, and he had brought one out with him and used it out of pride. + +Behind the saddle is the pack. Just a clean flannel shirt and a pair of +socks, a hair-brush, a comb and tooth-brush, fit us out for a week or +two; baggage becomes truly "impedimenta" when you have to carry it on +your horse. You need not carry blankets now, for there are good +stopping-houses at fit distances apart. But you may, if you wish, bring +your Martini carbine, or Winchester rifle, for we may meet a deer by +the way. So we start. + +The first mile or two is along the open road. A brown, rather dusty +track in the center, beaten hard by the travel; on either side a broad +band of short grass; and snake-fences, built of logs ten feet long, +piled seven high, and interlaced at the ends. In the angles of nearly +every panel of the fence grows a rose-bush, now covered with young +buds, just showing crimson tips. As we canter by, a meadow-lark gives +us a stave of half-finished song from the top of the fence, and flits +off to pitch some fifty yards away, in the young green wheat, and try +again at his song. The bird is nearly as large as an English thrush, +with speckled breast, and a bright-yellow patch under the tail. Just in +front of us, on the fence, sits a little hawk, so tame that he moves +not till we pass him, and then by turns follows and precedes us along +the road, settling again and again upon the tallest rails. He is gayly +dressed indeed, with a russet-brown back and head, and a yellow and +brown barred and speckled chest, and all the keenness of eye one looks +for in his tribe. + +[Sidenote: _SNAKES._] + +Early as it is, here and there in the road is one of the little brown +snakes that abound in the valley; seduced from his hole by the warm +sun, he is enjoying himself in the dust, and only just has time to +glide hastily away as the horse-hoofs threaten his life. Their +harmlessness and use in waging war on beetles, worms, and frogs, ought +to save their lives; but they are snakes, and that suffices to cause +every passer-by to strike at them with his staff. + +The face of the country is vivid green, the autumn-sown wheat nearly +knee-high, and the oats running the wheat a race in height and +thickness. The orchard-trees close to the farmhouse we are approaching +stand clothed from head to foot in flower; the pear-trees, whose +branches are not now curved and bent with fruit, tower as white +pyramids above the heads of the blushing apples. + +Close by the orchard-fence the ewes and lambs feed, the little ones +leaping high and throwing themselves away with the mere joy of warm sun +and young life. + +The farmer sees us coming, and scolds back the rough sheep-dog noisily +barking at the strangers as he comes to his gate to shake hands. "Won't +you hitch your horse and come in?" he says; "I want you to look at +these bees--I have got six swarms already." And under the garden-fence +stands a long, low-boarded roof, and under it a whole row of boxes and +barrels, of all ages and sizes, with a noisy multitude coming and +going. Straw hives are unknown, and any old tea-chest is used. Not much +refinement about bee-keeping in Oregon; but honey fetches from thirty +to fifty cents a pound. + +We mount again, and, passing through a couple of loosely made and +carelessly hung gates, we enter the big pasture. Not very much grass in +it; it is wet, low-lying, undrained land. The wild-rose bushes are +scattered here, there, and everywhere in clumps, and the face of the +field is strewed with the dull, light-green, thick and hairy leaves of +a wild sunflower, whose bright-yellow flowers with a brown center, all +hanging as if too heavy for the stalk, have not yet matured. The cattle +are very fond of this plant, and do well on it. An enemy of theirs is +the lupin, here called the larkspur, one of the earliest of spring +plants. Its handsome, dark-blue flowers do not redeem it, for the +cattle are deceived by it, eat, and are seized with staggers, and will +sink down and die if not seen to and treated. One of our friends tells +us that he cures his larkspur-poisoned cattle with fat pork, lumps of +which he stuffs down their throats. This information we submit to an +unprejudiced public, but we do not guarantee that this remedy will +cure. It is generally two-year-old cattle which partake and +sicken--perhaps the calves have not enterprise enough, and the older +cattle too much sense. + +The plant is not so very common, but it has to be watched for and +extirpated when found. Between the pasture and the wheat-fields stands +another snake-fence and a gate. Alas! by the gate, and to be crossed +before we reach it, is the Slough of Despond--a big, deep, +uncompromising pool of black, sticky mud. The horses eye it doubtfully, +and put down their noses to try if it smells better than it looks, and +then step gravely in, girth-high almost, till we open and force back +the heavy gate. + +Skirting the wheat-field, between it and the creek, hardly seen for the +undergrowth of rose-bushes and hazel, with here and there a big +oak-tree, the road brings us out into a patch of garden-ground, filled +with vegetables for the town housekeepers. Just now there is little to +be seen but some rows of early peas and spring cabbage. Later on, the +long beds of onions, French beans, cauliflowers, and all the rest, with +the melons, squashes, or vegetable marrows, pumpkins, cucumbers, and +tomatoes (which were the glory of the gardener), showed the full +advantages of the irrigating ditches, fed by the higher spring, which +are led here, there, and everywhere through the patch. For, remember, +we had almost continuous fine weather, with hot sun and few showers, +from the middle of May till the middle of October. + +[Sidenote: _THE CARDWELL HILL._] + +But here is the main road again, which we left to turn across the +fields, and we are at the foot of the Cardwell Hill. The wood lies on +both sides of us, and we mount rapidly upward. The wild-strawberry +creeps everywhere along the ground, its white flower and yellow eye +hiding modestly under the leaves. The catkins on the hazel-bushes +dangle from each little bough. The purple iris grows thickly in the +frequent mossy spots, and the scarlet columbine peers over the heads of +the bunches of white flowers we knew not whether to call +lilies-of-the-valley or Solomon's seal, for they bear the features of +both. The purple crocuses have not yet all gone out of bloom, though +their April glory has departed, and the tall spear-grass gives elegance +all round to Dame Nature's bouquets. + +We have ample time to take in all these homely beauties, for the road +is too thickly shaded by the wood for the sun to dry the mud, and our +horses painfully plod upward, with a noisy "suck, suck," as each foot +in turn is dragged from the sticky mass. + +But the undergrowth is thinner as we mount; first oak-scrub and then +oak-trees growing here and there, with grass all round, take the place +of the copse, and the mountain air blows fresh in our faces as we near +the summit. Halting for a moment to let the horses regain their breath, +we turn and see the whole broad valley lying bright in sunshine far +below. So clear is the air that the firs on the Cascades, forty miles +away, are hardly blended into a mass of dark, greenish gray; and the +glorious snow-peaks shining away there twenty miles behind those firs, +look to be on speaking terms with the Coast Range on which we stand. + +But we pursue our westward course along a narrow track following the +hill-side near the top, leaving the road to take its way down below, to +round the base of the hill which we strike across. This hill is bare of +trees, and is covered now with bright, young, green grass, soon to be +dried and shriveled into a dusty brown by the summer sun. We wind round +the heads of rocky clefts or canyons, down each of which hastens a +murmuring stream. There the oaks and alders grow tall, but we look over +their heads, so rapid is the descent to the vale below. + +The mountains on the distant left of us are Mary's Peak and the Alsea +Mountain; the former with smooth white crown of snow above the dark fir +timber; and away to the right, among lower, wooded hills, we catch one +glimpse of the burned timber, the thick black stems standing out clear +on the horizon-line. + +Passing down the hill and by the farmhouse at the foot, with its great +barn and blooming orchard, we strike the road once more, passing for a +mile or two between wheat-fields, with the Mary River on the left +closed from our sight by the screen of firs that follow it all the way +along; then by a bridge and by other farms, and between fir-woods of +thickly standing trees, and up and down hill, with here and there a +level valley in between, we strike the Mary River again for the last +time, and climb the Summit Hill. + +We are twenty-two miles from our starting-point, and claim a meal and +rest. We are among old friends as we ride up to Crain's to dine, and +the noonday sun is hot enough for us to enjoy the cool breeze among the +young firs behind the house, as we stand to wash hands and face by the +bench on the side of the dairy built over the stream close by. The +horses know their way to the barn, to stand with slackened sinches, and +nuzzle into the sweet timothy-hay with which the racks are filled. + +[Sidenote: _THE YAQUINA VALLEY._] + +On our way once more, in half an hour we stand on the edge of the +water-shed, and look down far into the Yaquina Valley, lying deep +between rugged and broken hills below. As we dip below the crest, the +character of the vegetation changes at once. + +We have left the thick woods behind. The last of the tall green firs +clothes the crest we have passed, and the black burned timber is dotted +along the hill-sides. + +Last year's brake-fern clothes the hills in dull yellow and brown, +except where patches of thimble-berry and salmon-berry bushes have +usurped its place. The wild-strawberry has been almost entirely left +behind, and instead there is the blackberry-vine trailing everywhere +along the rough ground, and casting its purple-tinged tracery over the +fallen logs. There is plenty of grass among the fern, and the wild-pea +grows erect as yet, not having length enough to bend and creep. The +river Yaquina comes down from a wild, rough valley to the right, to be +crossed by a wooden bridge close to a farmhouse on rising ground. Two +of our recently arrived Englishmen have bought this place, and are well +satisfied with their position. About eight hundred acres of their own +land, of which quite three hundred are cultivable in grain, though not +nearly all now in crop, and really unlimited free range on the hills +all round for stock; some valley-land which produces everything it is +asked; a garden-patch where potatoes grew this year, one of which was +six pounds in weight; a comfortable house and substantial barn; a +trout-stream by their doors; a railroad in near prospect to bring them +within two hours of a market at either end; and, meanwhile, a demand at +home for all the oats and hay they can raise for sale--it would be +strange, indeed, I think, if they who had supposed they were coming +into a wilderness with everything to make, were not well pleased. + +The only things they complain of are the scarcity of neighbors and bad +roads--both, we hope, in a fair way to be overcome. They look contented +enough, as they stand by their house-door to bid us good-day as we ride +by. The valley widens out and narrows again in turn. In each open space +stands a farmhouse, or else the site demands one. + +As we get nearer to the coast, the river forces its way through quite a +narrow gorge, following round the point of a projecting fern-covered +slope, and under the shadow of the high hill on the northern side. The +great blechnum ferns, with fronds three or four feet long, are +interspersed with the thimble-berry bushes, and border the road. +Syringa and deutzia plants and two varieties of elder, which bear black +and red berries, but are now bright with abundant flowers, clothe the +steep bank overhanging the river, which here widens out into calm +pools, divided by ripples, and runs over rocks. And see, here is a +natural bridge; a huge fir has fallen right across, and the farmer has +leveled the ground up to the top of the trunk, some six feet high, and +has set up a slender rail on each side of his bridge, and over it he +drives his sheep into the less matted and tangled ground on the far +side. + +[Sidenote: "_CHUCK-HOLES._"] + +The road, cut into the steep hill-side, never gets the sunshine; the +mud clogs the horse's feet and fills the "chuck-holes"--traps for the +unwary driver. Be it known that oftentimes a great log comes shooting +down the hill in winter, and brings up in its downward course on the +ledge formed by the road. Notice is sent to the road supervisor by the +first passer-by, and this functionary, generally one of the better +class of farmers, who has charge of the road district, calls out his +neighbors to assist in the clearing of the road. He has legal power to +enforce his summons, but it is never disregarded, and the "crowd" fall +on with saws, axes, and levers. They soon cut a big "chunk" out of the +log, some ten feet long, wide enough to clear the center of the road, +and roll it unceremoniously away down the hill, or lodge it lengthwise +by the roadside. There they leave matters, deeming spade-and-shovel +work beneath them. Next winter's rain lodges and stands in the dint +made by the trunk when it fell, and in the depression left by the men +who rolled the middle of the log away. Never filled up, or any channel +cut to run the water off, a "chuck-hole" is formed, which each wagon +enlarges as it is driven round the edge to escape the center. Woe +betide the stranger who does not altogether avoid, or boldly +"straddle," the "chuck-hole" with his wheels! The side of the wagon +whose fore and hind wheels have sunk into the hole dips rapidly down, +and he is fortunate who escapes without an upset, and with only showers +of liquid mud covering horses, driver, and load, as the team struggles +to drag the wagon through. But, pressing through the gorge, we emerge +into a more open stretch. On the right of us rises a smooth, round +hill, fern-covered to the top; and on the opposite side, next the +river, planted on a pretty knoll just where the valley turns sharply to +the north, thereby getting a double view, is Mr. Trapp's farmhouse, our +resting-place for the night. We have made our forty-four miles in spite +of the muddy road and steep grades, and there is yet time before supper +to borrow our host's rod and slip down to the river for a salmon-trout. +Excellent fare and comfortable beds prepare us for the eighteen miles +we have yet before us on the morrow, and we get an early start. Two +miles below Trapp's is Eddy's grist-mill, with its rough mill-dam, made +on the model of a beaver-dam, and of the same sticks and stones, but +not so neatly; the ends of the sticks project over the mill-pool below, +and prove the death of numberless salmon, which strike madly against +them in their upward leaps, and fall back bruised and beaten into the +pool again. + +An effort was made to pass a law, this last session of the Legislature, +compelling the construction of fish-passes through the mill-dams; but +it was too useful and simple a measure to provoke a party fight, and +therefore was quietly shelved. Better luck next time. + +[Sidenote: _MINNOWS AND CRAWFISH._] + +Presently we leave the Yaquina River, which, for over twenty miles, we +have followed down its course; for never a mile without taking in some +little brook, where the minnows are playing in busy schools over the +clean gravel, and the crawfish are edging along, and staggering back, +as if walking were an unknown art practiced for the first time. The +river has grown from the burn we first crossed to a tidal watercourse, +with a channel fifteen feet in depth, and, having left its youthful +vivacity behind, flows gravely on, bearing now a timber-raft, then a +wide-floored scow, and here the steam-launch carrying the mail. But we +climb the highest hill we have yet passed, where the aneroid shows us +eleven hundred feet above the sea-level, and from its narrow crest +catch our first sight of the bay, glittering between the fir-woods in +the morning sun. + +We leave the copse-woods behind, and canter for miles along a gently +sloping, sandy road; the hills are thick in fern and thimble-berry +bush, with the polished leaves and waxy-white flowers of the sallal +frequently pushing through. We have got used by this time to the black, +burned trunks, and somehow they seem appropriate to the view. But the +sound of the Pacific waves beating on the rocky coast has been growing +louder, and as we get to the top of a long ascent the whole scene lies +before us. + +That dim blue haze in the distance is the morning fog, which has +retreated from the coast and left its outlines clear. + +On the right is the rounded massive cape, on the lowest ledge of which +stands Foulweather Lighthouse. The bare slopes and steep sea-face tell +of its basaltic formation, which gives perpendicular outlines to the +jutting rocks against which, some six miles off, the waves are dashing +heavily. + +Between that distant cape and the Yaquina Lighthouse Point the +coast-line is invisible from the height on which we stand, but the +ceaseless roar tells of rocky headlands and pebble-strewed beach. + +Below us lies the bay, a calm haven, with its narrow entrance right +before us, and away off, a mile at sea, a protecting line of reef, with +its whole course and its north and south ends distinctly marked by the +white breakers spouting up with each long swell of the Pacific waves. + +Under the shelter of the lighthouse hill, on the northern side, stands +the little town of Newport, its twenty or thirty white houses and +boat-frequented beach giving the suggestion of human life and interest +to the scene. + +Away across the entrance, the broad streak of blue water marking the +deep channel is veined with white, betraying the reef below--soon, we +trust, to be got rid of in part by the engineers whose scows and barges +are strewed along the south beach there in the sun. + +[Illustration: Yaquina Bay, Newport, 1880.] + +[Sidenote: _NEWPORT._] + +On that south side a broad strip of cool, gray sand borders the harbor, +and there stand the ferry-house, and its flag-staff and boats. + +Looking to the left, the fir-crowned and fern-covered hills slope down +to Ford's Point, jutting out into deep water, which flows up for miles +till the turn above the mill shuts in the view. + +But we must not wait, if we mean to catch any flounders before the tide +turns, and so we hurry down to the beach and along the hard sand +bordering the bay under the broken cliffs, and are soon shaking hands +with the cheery landlord of the Sea-View Hotel, who has been watching +us from his veranda ever since we descended the hill from Diamond Point. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +Hay-harvest--Timothy-grass--Permanent pasture--Hay-making by express-- +The mower and reaper--Hay-stacks as novelties--Wheat-harvest--Thrashing +--The "thrashing crowd"--"Headers" and "self-binders"--Twine-binders +and home-grown flax--Green food for cows--Indian corn, vetches--Wild-oats +in wheat--Tar-weed the new enemy--Cost of harvesting--By hired machines +--By purchased machines--Cost of wheat-growing in the Willamette Valley. + + +Neither the first nor the second year did hay-harvest begin with us +till after the first week in July. We did not shut the cattle off the +hay-fields till the end of February, so that there was a great growth +of grass to be made in four months and a half. + +How different our hay-fields are from those in the old country! I +should dearly like to show to some of these farmers a good +old-fashioned Devonshire or Worcestershire field, with its thick, solid +undergrowth and waving heads. I should like them to see how much feed +there was after the crop was cut. + +Here timothy-grass is everything to the farmer. Certainly, the +old-country man would open his eyes to see a crop waist-high, the heavy +heads four to seven inches long, and giving two tons to the acre. And +he would revel in laying aside for good and all that anxiety as to +weather which has burdened his life ever since he took scythe and +pitchfork in hand. We expect nothing else but dewy nights and brilliant +sunshine, so that the habit is to cut one day, pile the grass into huge +cocks the same day, and carry it to the barn the next. Hay-stacks are +unknown; the whole crop is stored away in the barn; and you may see +sixty, eighty, or a hundred tons under the one great roof, and no fear +of heating or burning before the farmer's eyes. + +[Sidenote: _THE MOWER AND REAPER._] + +The glory of the scythe has departed. Every little farmer has his +mower, or mower and reaper combined; or else, if he can not afford to +pay two hundred dollars or thereabout for his machine, he hires one +from his more fortunate neighbor, and pays him "six bits"--that is, +seventy-five cents--per acre for cutting his crop. Wood's, McCormick's, +or the Buckeye, are the favorites here. + +Our own machine, with one pair of stout horses, cuts from nine to +twelve acres a day, according to the thickness of the crop and the +level or hilly nature of the ground. It looks easy--just riding up and +down the field all day--but try it, and you will find you have to give +close attention all the time, to be ready to lift your knives over a +lumpy bit of ground or round a stump, and to cut your turns and corners +clean; and there are no springs to your seat, and a mower is not the +easiest carriage in the world. + +Nor is it light work to follow the horse hay-rake all day, lifting the +teeth at every swath. Pitching hay is about the same work all the world +over, I think; but at home one does not expect to make acquaintance +with quite so many snakes, which come slipping down and twisting and +writhing about as the hay is pitched into the wagon. It is true they +are harmless, but I don't like them, all the same. + +We put up a big hay-stack each year, in spite of the most dismal +prophecies from our neighbors that the rain would mold the hay, that it +would not be fit to use, and that even a "town-cow" would despise it +(and they will eat anything from deal boards to sulphur-matches, I +declare). But the event justified us, and the whole stack of 1879 was +duly eaten to the last mouthful. + +Wheat and oats follow close on the heels of the hay. We finished our +stack on the 17th of July, and began cutting wheat on the 27th. + +There is one harvest, and only one, on record in Oregon, where rain +fell on the cut grain and injured it. The rule is to feel absolutely +secure of cutting your grain, thrashing it in the field as soon as cut, +and carrying it from the thrashing-machine straight to the warehouse. + +There is lively competition to get the thrasher as soon as the grain is +cut. The "thrashing crowd," of some seven or eight hands, which +accompany the thrasher, have a busy time. They get good wages--from the +$2.50 for the experienced "feeder" of the machine, to the $1.50 for the +man who drives and loads the wagon, or pitches the sheaves. They travel +from farm to farm, setting up the thrasher in a central spot, and +"hauling" the sheaves to it. The quantity passed through the machine in +one long day varies from one thousand to fifteen hundred bushels with +horse-power; driven by steam, the quantity will run up to upward of two +thousand bushels. These quantities seem very large by the side of those +yielded by English machines, but they are too well authenticated to be +open to doubt. + +[Sidenote: "_HEADERS" AND "SELF-BINDERS._"] + +A great wheat-field of a hundred acres, with headers and thrasher going +at once, is a lively scene. The "header" is a huge construction ten +feet wide. Revolving frames in front bend the wheat to the knives, +where it is cut and delivered in an endless stream into a great +header-wagon, driven alongside the cutting-machine. Six horses propel +the header in front of them, and move calmly along unterrified by the +revolving frames and vibrating knives. As soon as the header-wagon is +filled, it is driven off to the thrasher, whirring away in the center +of the field, and an empty one takes its place. + +Six horses to the header, two each to three header-wagons, eight to the +horse-power on the thrasher, and one to the straw-rake, are all going +at once. One man driving the header, one each to the three wagons, two +feeding and tending the thrasher, one fitting and tying up the +wheat-bags as the cleaned and finished grain comes pouring from the +machine, and one hand at the straw-rake, are all busily at work. Very +speedily the field is cleared, and the just now waving grain lies piled +in a stack of wheat-bags in the center, waiting the departure of the +"thrashing crowd," to be hauled by the farmer to the warehouse. + +A little of the straw is taken to the farmhouse, for use as litter in +stable and pig-sty; the rest is set fire to as soon as the wheat is +gone, and a great, unsightly, black patch is the last record in the +field of the year's crop. + +The worst features of the "header" are that the wheat has to be much +riper than for the reaper or self-binder, and consequently more is +strewed about the field and lost; the machine cuts the wheat higher up +also, and consequently leaves more weeds to ripen and leave their seed. +Its advantage is the greater breadth of its cut and more rapid rate of +work. In more general use is the reaper or self-binder. + +Several of our farmers' wives and daughters can take their turns on +these machines, and give no despicable help to the hardly-worked men. +This year it is expected that twine will be substituted for wire, thus +removing one great objection. A twine-binder was exhibited at the State +Fair at Salem, in full operation, and worked well. Besides getting rid +of the damage and danger of the wire getting into the thrashing-machines, +an additional advantage will be the fostering the growth of flax in the +State, and its working up into the harvest-twine. Be it known that +these counties of the Willamette Valley produce the finest and best of +flax, samples of which secured the highest premium at the Centennial +Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. + +The culture of flax and its manufacture afford, as far as I can judge, +one of the very best of the various openings at present attracting both +labor and capital to the State. As a mere experiment I had twenty-two +acres of flax sown on the 17th of June, on some land about three miles +from Corvallis which unexpectedly came under my control. In seven weeks +from that day I gathered a handful, indiscriminately, from an average +spot in the field; the fiber of this was seventeen inches long. + +The flax that was grown in Linn County, ten miles from here, and used +in the twine-factory there, produced fiber from two feet and a half to +three feet in length. In January last we saw it hackled, and the +workman, a northern Irishman of long experience, told us, as he gave +the hank he held in his hand a dexterous and affectionate twist, that +he had never handled better in ould Ireland. + +I should dearly like to see linen-works established here; not only are +linen goods unreasonably dear on the Pacific coast, but it goes against +the grain to see a splendid raw material produced and not turned to the +best account. Flax is not found here to be an exhausting crop. The +farmers who have grown it say, on the contrary, that their best +wheat-crop has followed flax; while to neither one crop nor the other +is any fertilizing agent used. + +[Sidenote: _GREEN FOOD FOR COWS._] + +One of the great difficulties the farmer finds here is to keep green +food going for his cows during the harvest months. One successful +expedient is to grow a patch of Indian corn or maize. Well cultivated, +and the ground kept stirred and free from weeds, the absence of rain +does not prevent its growth, and its succulent green leaves are eagerly +munched at milking-time by the sweet-breathed cows. + +Another crop just introduced here is the vetch, better known as tares, +for the same purpose. Two friends of mine in Marion County, forty miles +north of this place, have found the experiment a very successful one; +the appearance of the two or three acres I put in this last winter goes +far to justify them. Sown in December, about two bushels to the acre, +the growth is very vigorous and the produce heavy. + +Continuous cropping in wheat for many years has fostered the growth of +the wild-oats, now a great disfigurement and drawback to the wheat-crop +in this valley. Traveling north to Portland by train, this last +harvest, it was sometimes even hard to say whether wheat or wild-oats +were intended to be grown. Nothing but summer fallowing, thoroughly +applied and regularly followed, can remedy this. I have known a farmer +to send his wheat to the mill, and get back half the quantity in +wild-oats. + +To the timothy-hay fields a noxious plant called "tar-weed" is the +great enemy on all damp or low-lying spots. The plant was new to us, +but, once seen, is never forgotten. Fortunately, it matures later than +the timothy, and so does not get its seeds transferred; but it is +almost disgusting to see the skins and noses of the horses and cattle +turned into the field when the hay is off, coated with a glutinous, +viscid gum, to which every speck of dust, every flying seed of weeds, +sticks all too tightly. Plowing up the field, and summer fallowing, are +the only remedies when the tar-weed gets too bad to endure. Tar-weed is +an annual which grows some eight or ten inches high, one stalk from +each seed; short, narrow, hairy leaves of a dingy green and a tiny +colorless flower offer no compensation in beauty for the annoyance it +occasions as you pass through the field, and find boots and trousers +coated with the sticky gum. It is a relief to know that it affects the +valley only, and does not mount even the lower hills of the Cascade and +Coast Ranges. + +Before leaving the subject of harvesting I ought to give the cost. + +It is not now the question of the capitalist who can afford to pay from +$750 to $1,200 for his thrashing-machine in addition to $320 for his +self-binding harvester to cut his grain; but of the struggling farmer, +who has to make both ends meet by economy and fore-thought. + +We will suppose that he has seventy acres of wheat to harvest, and that +it will produce twenty bushels to the acre, a moderate suggestion. + +[Sidenote: _COST OF HARVESTING._] + +The cutting and binding in sheaves of the crop by a neighbor's +self-binder will cost him $1.25 per acre, the contractor supplying the +wire. The machine will cut and bind nearly ten acres a day; the cost, +therefore, for the seventy acres will be $87.50, or say $90, to be +safe. + +The thrashing will cost him six cents a bushel for his wheat, or $84 +for his fourteen hundred bushels; and the farmer has to supply food for +the men and horses whose services he hires. This expense will naturally +vary according to the liberality and good management of the farmer and +his wife. It falls heavily on the hostess to provide for seven or eight +hungry men, in addition to her own family; but plentiful food, well +cooked, is no bad investment, for it reacts strongly on both the +quantity and the quality of the work done. + +A fair average cost is fifty cents a day for each man, and the same for +each horse. The expense of keep of the cutting and binding, man and +three-horse team for seven days, will, therefore, be $15. On a similar +basis the keep of the "thrashing crowd" and twelve horses, for a day +and a half and something over, will cost just $16. + +The total outlay, therefore, on harvesting a wheat-crop of twenty +bushels per acre on seventy acres, _when all services and all machines +have to be hired_, will be $205. Or an average of just fourteen and +two-thirds cents per bushel. + +A glance will show what a good investment the self-binding harvester +is, if only well cared for when harvest is over. The farmer who has a +machine of his own saves more than six cents a bushel, and, on a crop +of fourteen hundred bushels only, would pay for the machine in less +than four years. + +Let us see, then, what wheat-growing in the Willamette Valley costs--a +matter of deep interest to the intending emigrant, and to farmers in +other parts of the world who have to compete with Oregon-grown wheat. + +We will take the same seventy acres, as a reasonable extent for a small +valley farm. Once plowing, at the rate of two acres a day with a +three-horse team, or one and a half acre for a two-horse team--that is +thirty-five days' labor for man and three horses. Twice harrowing, at +the rate of fourteen acres a day--that is ten days' labor for a man and +two horses. Sowing, at the rate of twenty-one acres a day, or three and +a third days' labor for a man and four horses. The seed will cost $98, +at the rate of two bushels per acre and seventy cents a bushel. + +The cost, therefore, of growing the crop will be $98 in money, and the +labor of one man for forty-eight days and a third, and of a pair of +horses for sixty-nine and a quarter days. + +Putting the farmer's labor into money at the rate of a dollar a day, +and that of his team also at the rate of half a dollar a day for each +horse (and these are here the regular rates of wages), the result will +be $117.50; add the $98 for the seed, and you arrive at a total of +$215.50; or, on seventy acres, an average of three dollars and eight +cents an acre; or, on fourteen hundred bushels, of fifteen and +four-tenths cents per bushel. To this add the fourteen cents and +two-thirds for harvesting and thrashing, and add twelve days' labor for +man and one team of horses hauling the grain to the warehouse: this +represents an additional cost of one cent and seven tenths per bushel, +and the _total cost then is thirty-one cents and seven tenths per +bushel_. + +[Sidenote: _COST OF WHEAT-GROWING._] + +Remember that this wheat is grown on the farmer's own freehold, which +may have cost him twenty or twenty-five dollars per acre. Do not forget +also a taxation of about fifteen thousandths a year on the total value +of the farmer's estate, as arranged between him and the assessor--land, +stock, implements, and everything else he has beyond about three +hundred dollars' worth of excepted articles. But add no rent or tithe, +and recollect that in this calculation the farmer's own labor and that +of his team are charged at market price against the crop. + +The charge for warehousing the wheat till it is sold is four cents a +bushel; and the wheat-sacks, holding two bushels each, will cost from +ten to twelve cents each. + +Add, therefore, still nine and a half cents a bushel for subsequent +charges, and the farmer who kept accounts would find his wheat, in the +warehouse and ready for market, represented to him an outlay of +forty-one cents and a quarter a bushel. + +If he sells at eighty-five cents a bushel, that gives him a profit of +$8.75 per acre on the portion of his farm in wheat. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +The farmer's sports and pastimes--Deer-hunting tales--A roadside yarn-- +Still-hunting--Hunting with hounds--An early morning's sport--Elk--The +pursuit--The kill--Camp on Beaver Creek--Flounder-spearing by torchlight +--Flounder-fishing by day--In the bay--Rock oysters--The evening view +--The general store--Skins--Sea-otters--Their habits--The sea-otter +hunters--Common otter--The mink and his prey. + + +The Oregon farmer has one great advantage over his Eastern or European +brother. Starting from the first of January, he has until July comes a +good many days wherein he can amuse himself without the detestable +feeling that he is wasting his time and robbing his family. The ground +may be either too hard or too soft for plowing; or he may have sown a +large proportion in the autumn and early winter, and so have little +ground to prepare and sow in spring; and he has little, if any, +stock-feeding to do as yet. + +A good supply of hay is the only addition to the pasture-feed that he +need provide; so long, that is, as he is content to work his farm in +Oregon fashion. + +Many a one is within reach of the hills where range the deer, and +shares in the feeling strongly expressed to me the other day, "I would +rather work all day for one shot at a deer, than shoot fifty wild-ducks +in the swamps." + +As I was riding out to the hills not long since, I met an old friend of +mine returning from a week's hunt in the regions at the back of Mary's +Peak. + +[Sidenote: _A ROADSIDE YARN._] + +His long-bodied farm-wagon held some cooking-utensils, the remains of +his store of flour and bacon and coffee, his blankets, his rifle, and +the carcasses of his deer. With him were two noble hounds, Nero and +Queen--powerful, upstanding dogs; stag-hounds with a dash of bloodhound +in them; black and tan, with a fleck of white here and there. "Had a +good time, John?" we asked, as we stopped at the top of a long hill for +a chat. "Well, pretty good--ran four deer and killed three; got my +boots full of snow, and bring home a bad cold," he answered. "Where did +you camp?" "Away up above Stillson's, there"--pointing to the +mountain-side just where the heavy fir-timber grew scattering and thin, +and the clean sweep of the sloping crest came down to meet the wood. +"We was there inside of a week, hunting all the time." "See any bear?" +"Just lots of sign, but I guess my dogs haven't lost any bear; the old +dog got too close to one a bit ago, and came home with a bloody head +and a cut on his shoulder a foot long." "Find many deer?" "Had two on +foot at once one day: killed one, and hit the other, but he jumped a +log just as I shot, and I guess I only barked him; I ran after him to +try for another shot before he got clear off down the canyon, but I +tumbled over a log myself in the snow, and just got wet through, and my +boots all filled with it." "Pretty rough up there, isn't it?" "Well, it +wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fallen timber; but you can't +get through them woods fast when you have to run round the end of one +big log one minute and then duck under another, and then scramble on to +the next for dear life, and half the time get only just in time to see +the last of the deer as he gets into the thick brush." "Better come out +with us after the ducks, John." "Blamed if I do!" came out with an +unction and energy that startled us. "Can't understand what you fellers +can see in that duck-hunting." And, with a cheery good-by, the old boy +spoke to his horses, and off they went down the hill, the brake hard +held, and the wagon pushing the team before it on the rough corduroy +road. + +Still-hunting is the more sportsmanlike way; but the deadlier fashion +is this hunting with two or three hounds: the slower they run, the more +chance for the guns. + +One day last summer, returning from the bay, we stopped for the night +at a farm by the roadside, among the burned timber. The fern had not +grown up yet, but the hillsides were green and thick with salmon-berry +and thimble-berry growth. + +Two or three hounds--not of the very purest breed, but still +hounds--were lounging about the door, and greeted us with a noisy +welcome as we dismounted. + +The sons of the house were telling, round the fire before we went to +bed, of the hundred and thirty deer they had already killed this +season. They urged us to have a hunt in the morning, promising to get +all done, so that we might be on the journey again by nine instead of +seven. + +Breakfast was over by a quarter to six, and we started. Four in the +party--two farmers' sons and two travelers--and three hounds. The +huntsman carried a Henry rifle of the old model; his younger brother a +rifle of the old school--long, brown, heavy-barreled, throwing a small, +round bullet. Round the huntsman's neck hung an uncouth cow's horn, to +recall the hounds if they strayed too far away. + +[Sidenote: _HUNTING WITH HOUNDS._] + +The sun was just driving off the early mist as we tramped along the +road by the side of the river, toward the spot where they intended +throwing off. But before we reached the place a quick little hound +threw up her head, and, with a short, sharp cry, dashed into the brush +between us and the river; the other hounds followed, and we heard the +plunge and splash as the deer, so suddenly roused from his lair, took +to his heels. + +The hounds took up in full cry along the opposite canyon, which led high +up the hill-side, and the huntsman followed, his jacket changing color +at once as he pushed through the dew-laden brush. + +Under the guidance of the younger brother, we crossed the river also, +and, following the farther bank, soon came to an open, grassy spot, +from the upper side of which a view was got of the course of the river +as it wound round the lower side in a graceful sweep. The trees, willow +and alder, were thick on the bank, but here and there we caught more +than a glimpse of the brown water as it hurried along. + +One of us being posted here, our guide took the other still higher up +the stream. + +Sitting down under the lee of a big old log, its blackness hidden under +the trailing brambles and bright ferns, we waited and watched. + +The cry of the hounds came faint on the air from the hill-side above +us, hounds and quarry alike invisible, and, as the sides of the canyon +caught the sounds, echo returned them to us from all points in +turn--fainter and still fainter, until we thought the chase had gone +clear over the mountain into the distant valley beyond; and we sat +watching the two little chipmunks, grown hardy by our stillness, which +were chasing each other in and out among the brambles, then stopping to +watch us with their bright-black, beady eyes. + +No sounds at all, and then a far-off music, just audible and no more. +But it comes nearer, and we see our guide creeping toward us, rifle in +hand, his face white with excitement and suspense. He can not resist +the temptation of passing us to get command of the lower reach of the +stream, and we have sympathy with his nineteen years, and take no +notice. Presently a distant splash in the river, and then a scrambling +and splashing along the water's edge, and we catch a glimpse of a +bright-yellow body flitting rapidly between the trees. The young +hunter's rifle cracks, but the deer only gains in speed and dashes by. +There is a clear space of ten or fifteen yards between the tree-trunks +on our right, and, as the deer rushes past, we get a quick sight, +almost like a rabbit crossing a ride in cover at home, and the +Winchester rings out. Whether by luck or wit we will not say, but the +splash ceases suddenly, and, running to the bank, there lies the deer, +shot through the neck close to the head, drawing his last long breath. +He was soon dragged out on to the grassy bank, and a feeling of pity +was uppermost as we admired his graceful limbs, neat hoofs, and shapely +head. In about ten minutes' time came the hounds, their eager cry +ceasing as they caught sight of their quarry, lying motionless before +them. The last hunters' rites were speedily paid, and we went a mile +higher up the stream, to where a brook joined it, flowing quickly down +from the southern hill. + +The hounds were again thrown into the brush, and before long were once +more in full cry. This time the shot fell to the young huntsman's +share, and we saw nothing of the chase till, hearing his rifle, and +noticing the ceasing of the voices of the hounds, we pushed our way to +the spot, to find the obsequies of a second deer already in progress. + +Leaving one deer on a log by the roadside, with a note attached to it, +asking the stage-driver to pick it up and bring it for us into +Corvallis, when he passed, in a couple of hours' time, we retraced our +steps, mounted our horses, and were on our road, according to promise, +by very soon after nine o'clock. + +[Sidenote: _STILL-HUNTING._] + +Still-hunting is a more arduous business. The hunter has the work to do +of finding the deer; his rifle must slay it; if he wounds it, he must +follow it on foot; the only help he can get is that of one steady old +dog, which must never stray from his side. + +Starting from his camp in the early dawn, he mounts the hill-side, +carefully examining each likely spot of brush as he passes it, taking +special note of each sheltered patch of fern. Very carefully he climbs +the logs, avoiding every dead branch that may crackle under his weight, +and parting the brush before he pushes through. When he reaches the +crest, he follows it along, scrutinizing every canyon closely, for his +prey lies very wisely hidden. At last, he sees a gentle movement in the +brush, and the deer rises from his lair, stretches his neck, arches his +back, and snuffs round at each point of the compass to try if there be +danger in the air. The hunter sees his chance, judges his distance as +cleverly as he can, remembering that in this clear mountain air he is +almost sure to underestimate the range; the shot rings out, and the +deer springs high into the air, to fall crashing down the steep +canyon-side. + +The common deer of Western Oregon is the black-tailed _Cervus +Columbianus_. In the early spring many of them leave the mountains +and traverse the valley-land to the closely timbered sloughs and brush +bordering the Willamette River. But, as the valley has been more +closely cultivated and the farms spread in a nearly unbroken line, the +deer have but a poor chance. Some settler is almost sure to get a +glimpse of the visitor as he tops the snake-fence into the oat-field +for his morning feed, and the rifle, or worse, the long muzzle-loading +shot-gun which carries five buckshot at a charge, hangs by or over the +wide fireplace. If not killed outright, the poor beast carries with him +a lingering and dangerous wound. But, away in the hills, I do not hear +that the number is appreciably diminished; many of the hunters get a +deer almost every time they go out. So wasteful are they that they +carry off only the hind quarters, which they call the hams, and the +hide, leaving the fore quarters and head to taint the air. + +The white-tailed deer (_Cervus leucurus_) is now very rare. He +frequents the more open spots; he chooses the bare slopes at the top of +Mary's Peak and the Bald Mountain; he is not so shy as his black-tailed +brother, and so falls an easier victim to the rifle. He abounds in the +Cascade Range on the eastern side of the Willamette Valley, where he is +found in the same haunts as the larger mule-deer. The noblest deer we +have in Oregon is the wapiti (_Cervus Canadensis_), invariably known in +this country as elk. + +A day or two ago I saw a pair of fresh horns standing in front of one +of the stores in the town, which were quite four feet six inches long, +spread three feet six inches at the tips, and weighed forty pounds by +scale. + +[Sidenote: _ELK._] + +As we handled them, a dry-looking, bearded, long-booted fellow joined +the group. "Those horns are nothing much," said he; "I killed an elk +some time back in the Alseya country, back of Table Mountain, that when +we set the horns on the ground, tips downward, a feller could walk +upright through them." "Oh, yes," said we; "did you walk through them, +stranger?" "Wal, no, I guess not," said he, "but a feller might, you +know." + +The elk go in bands of from seven to twenty in number, and their tracks +through the woods are trampled as though a drove of cows had passed +along. To kill an elk you can not go out before breakfast and return to +dine. You must secure a good guide, who knows the mountains well; you +must take a pack-horse, with food and blankets, as far into the wilds +as the last settlement reaches, and there leave him. Then slinging your +blankets round your shoulders, and packing some flour, bacon, and +coffee, a small frying-pan and coffee-pot, and tin cup, into the +smallest possible compass, and taking your rifle in your hand, not +forgetting the tobacco, you must strike into the woods. + +When night comes on, build your fire, fry your bacon, make some damper +in the ashes, smoke the pipe of peace, and lie down under the most +sheltering bush. No snakes will harm you, nor will wolf or cougar +molest you, and the softness of your bed will not tempt you to delay +long between the blankets after the first streak of dawn. + +Rise and breakfast, and then on again. All that day, perhaps, you will +have to tramp on and on, seeking one mountain-slope after another; here +skirting brush too thick to penetrate, there walking easily through the +low fern among the massive red and furrowed trunks of the gigantic +firs. + +Your guide finds "sign," and reports that it is not fresh enough to +follow; so pursues his course till, looking back on the devious miles +of weary wandering, you can hardly credit it that you have been but +eight-and-forty hours on the trail. But your camp is pitched once more, +and dawn has again roused you from your ferny bed. Listen! the branches +are crackling and rustling close by. You and your guide race for the +spot, rifle in hand, too eager almost to duly remember woodland rules +of caution. Crouching and crawling as you get closer to the sounds, +peering through the fern, you see--what? Six, eight, ten, twelve, +seventeen great beasts; one with enormous head, two others with smaller +but still imposing antlers; the rest the mothers of the herd. +Unconscious of danger, they browse round; both rifles speak together, +and the monarch and one of the smaller stags lie prostrate. You stay +hidden; the deer group together in a confused crowd, too foolish and +excited to think of flight. Again your comrade fires, and another +falls, and yet another, till, in disgust at the needless slaughter, you +step from your shelter, and the survivors rush madly away, crashing +through the wood as if a herd of cattle were in flight. + +I have known men, not usually cruel or excitable, get so maddened in a +scene like this, that seven great elk lay dead together before they +thought of stopping firing; and yet they knew that from the wilderness +they stood in it was impossible to carry off the meat of even one! + +Many hunters prefer elk-meat to any deer; others think the fawn of the +white-tailed deer the best eating in the world. + +[Sidenote: _CAMP ON BEAVER CREEK._] + +One night last summer we camped out on Beaver Creek, nine miles south +of the Yaquina, along the beach. We had been trout-fishing all day from +a canoe, and were glad to stretch out before the fire limbs that had +been somewhat cramped from the need of balancing the rocking craft with +every cast of the fly. Before the fire stood roasting a row of trout, +held in place over the hot embers by a split willow wand. We heard +voices approaching through the wood, and presently a half-breed hunter +and two friends of ours came in sight. They had been out two days after +elk, but failed to find. On the way back they came across a doe and +well-grown fawn; the latter they had killed, and brought it in. It was +speedily skinned and cut up, and a loin, shoulder, and leg were +skewered on sticks and roasting in the blaze. No bad addition to our +fish supper, deer-meat and trout; the coffee was the only contribution +of civilization to the meal, and a merry evening, extended far into the +night, followed, as the logs were piled on, and the ruddy glow and +showers of sparks lighted up the wild but comfortable scene, dancing in +the lights and shadows of the overhanging trees. + +Did you ever hear of flounder-spearing by torch-light? I have tried it, +and do not propose to try it again. Yaquina Bay abounds in flounders--a +flat fish resembling the turbot more than the flounder; red-spotted +like the plaice, and weighing from one pound up to five or six. After +nightfall, when the evening tide has just turned to come in, and the +sandy channels and banks are all but bare, away from the main +deep-water, channels of the bay, you may see tiny specks of distant +lights moving on the black water. These are the Indian canoes. Take a +skiff from the beach by the hotel at Newport, and row out to sea. Here +are two or three lights near together, under Heddon's Point, on the +south shore. Row on till the lights in the hotel are blended into one, +and the dark outlines against the sky of the overhanging cliffs are +lost to sight. No sound reaches you in the darkness, but the recurring +rattle of the sculls in the rowlocks, and the soft lapping of the tide. +The lights you are seeking grow brighter, and you distinguish the glare +of the fire and the moving, dim form of the fisherman. The canoe, some +sixteen feet long, is boarded roughly across amidships, and on a thin +layer of sand and wood-ashes burns a pine-knot fire. The Indian stands +in the bows, his back to the fire; as you look, he poles himself along +by driving the handle of his long spear into the sand underlying the +shallow channel. His fire burns dim for a moment, and he turns and with +the same spear-handle he trims it; then, stooping, throws on it a fresh +lump of the resinous pine. The fire dulls for an instant, then flares +with a bright light, and a thick puff of smoke rises into the air, on +which the glare falls strongly. The short, athletic form of the Indian, +and his swarthy, flattened features, glittering eyes, and bushy hair, +stand out for a moment in strong relief. He turns, and again looks +keenly into the black water. A moment, and he strikes, the spear making +the water flash as it dips swiftly in. Yes, he has it, and the frail +boat quivers as he balances it ere he lifts out his struggling prey, +and, with a deft, quick motion, throws the fish off, flapping and +bouncing on a heap of victims in the stern of the canoe. Without a +smile or word, or an instant's respite, he turns again and resumes his +keen watch, moving to the shallower waters as the tide makes. + +[Sidenote: _FLOUNDER-SPEARING BY TORCHLIGHT._] + +I had a friend who was an enthusiast in the sport, and he beguiled me +to join him. About eight we started, and about two in the morning we +returned. Warm as the weather was, I was chilled to the bone; and the +worst of it was, I had not succeeded in striking one single fish. My +friend armed me with a long spear and a lantern, and deposited me in +the stern of the boat; similarly provided, he knelt in the bow and +pushed the skiff along from bank to bank of sand and mud. My light did +not burn brightly enough to show more than the dimmest outlines of the +fish, just off the sandy bottom of the bay. Here scuttled an old crab, +scared by the novel light, and hurrying for shelter, crab-fashion, to +the nearest bunch of weeds. There was a school of tiny fish, their +silver sides glancing as the ray reached them; and there, again, a +quick, white flash betrayed the sea-perch, not waiting to be spoken to. +Every now and then my friend darted his long spear at what he said were +the flounders, but I could see nothing with my untrained eyes but a +gray cloud and a gentle stirring of the sand. He did get one fish at +last; and I, being too proud to say how bored and tired I was, waited +sleepily for the rising tide to drive us home. How glad was I when he +announced that the water was now too deep to see distinctly, and how +thankfully I stumbled up the slimy steps by the little wharf and in to +bed! + +[Sidenote: _FLOUNDER-FISHING BY DAY._] + +Flounder-fishing in the daytime is good sport. Find out the nearest +camp of Indians there on the beach, crowded under a shelter of sea-worn +planks, a few fir-boughs, and a tattered blanket; the smell of tainted +fish pollutes the air, and a heap of flounders, each with the +triangular spear-mark, attests the skill of last night's fishermen. +"Any fish, muck-a-muck?" say you, blandly. Without turning her head, or +raising herself from her crouching posture by the old black kettle, +stewing on a tiny fire of sticks in the center of the hut, the old +crone grunts out, "Halo" (none). "Want two bit?" you say, nowise +discouraged. Money has magic power nowadays, and she rises slowly and +shuffles past you to where a rag or two are drying in the sun on a +stranded log. From under the clothes she brings out a dirty basket of +home make, and in it is a heap of greenish, struggling prawns. She +turns out two or three handfuls into the meat-tin you have providently +brought, holds out her skinny hand for the little silver pieces, and +buries herself in her shanty without another word. + +Fit out your fishing-lines and come aboard; the tide has turned, and +the wind blows freshly across the bay. The surf keeps up its continuous +roar on the rocky reefs outside. On the sand-bank in front of you sits +a row of white and gray gulls preening themselves in the morning sun; a +couple of ospreys are sailing overhead in long, graceful, hardly-moving +sweeps, and away out by the north head hangs an eagle in the air, +watching the ospreys, that he may cheat them of the fish he looks to +see them catch. + +Set the sail and let her go free, and away rushes the little boat, +tired of bobbing at her moorings by the pier--away across the bay, to +where the south beach sinks in gentle, sandy slope. Take care of that +waving weed, or we shall be on the edge of the bank! Here we are, and +down goes the kedge in six feet of water, close to but just clear of +that same edge. + +Now for the bait; tie it on tightly with that white cotton, or the +flounders will suck it off so fast that you will have nothing else to +do but keep replacing it. Keep your sinkers just off the bottom, and a +light hand on the line. A gentle wriggle, a twitch, and you have him; +haul him in steadily. Up he comes, a four-pounder, tossing and flopping +in the bottom of the boat. Here comes a great crab, holding on to the +bait grimly, and suffering you to catch him by one of his lower legs +and toss him in. Now for a sea-perch; what a splendid color!--bands of +bright scarlet scales, interlaced with silver. But what is this? A +stream of water flows from the fish's mouth, and in it come out five or +six little ones, the image of their parent. I wonder if it is true (and +I think it is) that the little ones take refuge inside their parent in +any time of need? The fishermen on this coast call this the +"squaw-fish," from this sheltering, maternal instinct. + +But we have been here long enough; the water is too deep, the fish have +gone off the feed, and we shall have to beat back, lucky if we do in +two hours the distance we ran in half an hour on our way. + +The tide has run nearly out this evening: a good chance for some +rock-oysters. Get your axe and come along. Where? Along the coast +toward Foulweather; we shall find those long reefs almost bare. We +climb over the big reef on the north head of the harbor, under the +lighthouse hill, and wind in and out on the hard sand among the rough +rocks, all crusted over their sides with tiny barnacles. There is +little kelp or seaweed here. The surf beats too powerfully in this +recess, away from the shelter of the great outer reef. + +See that group of Indian women and children away out there, barelegged, +digging with their axes in the rock. They are after the rock-oysters +too. + +Now is our chance. Jump on to that rock before the next wave comes in, +and climb on to the reef beyond it and get out to low-water mark. Here +we are. Do you see that crevice? Chip in and wrench the piece off; the +rock is soft enough sandstone to cut with that blunt old axe. Here is +the spoil--soft mollusks, are they not, and not pretty to look at? But +wait for the soup at dinner to-morrow before you pronounce on them. And +we dig, and then venture farther out and farther, till the turn of the +water warns us to get back. + +The evening is closing in; the sun has set, leaving a hot, red glow, +where his copper disk has just sunk beyond the Pacific horizon; and the +eye wanders out from the infant waves, at foot just tinged with red, +and reflecting the light as they move up in turn to catch it, to the +blue and still darker blue water beyond, out to the sharp indigo line +where sky and water meet. + +No land between us and the Eastern world; the mind can hardly grasp the +idea of the vast stretch of sea across which this new world reaches +forth to join hands with old China and Japan. + +[Sidenote: _SEA-OTTERS._] + +Before we go to bed, step for a moment into the quaint general store +all but adjoining the hotel. What a medley! Flour and axes; bacon and +needles and thread; fishing-lines and bullock-hides; writing-paper and +beaver-traps; milk-pails and castor-oil; tobacco in plenty, and skins; +and a smell compounded of all these and more, but chiefly the product +of that batch of skins hanging from that big nail in front of you, and +lying piled on the bench by your side. Take them down, and turn them +over; Bush won't mind. And we shake hands with the proprietor, coming +from the darkness at the back. He has borne an honorable limp ever +since the war, and has never yet quite recovered from illness and +wounds. He swears by Newport as the best, and healthiest, and most +promising place in the world. "Say," he whispers in our ear, "got a +sea-otter skin to-day!" "Where did you get it, Bush, and who from, and +how much did you have to pay for it?" "Got it from the Indians," he +says; "they shot it away up by Salmon River, beyond Foulweather, and +had to give more dollars for it than I care to say." "Where did they +get it?" "Where they always do, away out in the kelp among the surf." +"Don't they ever come to land?" "No," he answers, "they live, and +sleep, and breed out in the kelp. But if you want to know all about +them, why don't you ask Charlie here? He has been trading this summer, +and last winter and spring, up by Gray's Inlet in Washington Territory, +where they are plenty." So saying, he calls up the captain of the +steam-schooner lying at her moorings by the quay. + +From this man, and from hunters and Indians all along the coast, I have +gathered many a tale of the habits of the sea-otter, and of the fate of +those that have been killed; for the rarity of the beast, and the +beauty and value of its skin, interest these men, both from their +hunters' instinct and from the mere money business of it. I know also +that scientific naturalists desire all the facts they can get, that +such facts may be placed on record before this connecting link between +the seals and the otters perishes from the earth. I believe that the +sea-otter (_Enhydra marina_) is only met with on this north Pacific +coast, along which it is gradually being driven northward by constant +hunting. Thirty years ago they were common along the Oregon sea-line; +now the killing of a single specimen is noted in the newspapers; and +hardly more than one a year is generally met along the coast. They +inhabit the belt of tangle and kelp, which is found a few hundred yards +from the beach, beyond the shore-line of sand or rock. They are never +seen ashore, or even on isolated rocks; when the sea is warm and still, +they live much on the surface, playing in the weed; sometimes, +supporting their fore-feet on the thickest part of the wavy mass, they +raise their head and shoulders above the weed, and gaze around. Parents +and children live together in the weed; I have not heard of more than +two young ones being seen in the family group. The skeleton is about +four feet long: the fore-paws are short, strong, and webbed; almost in +the same proportions as a mole's; the hinder extremities are flappers, +like the seal's. The hide is twice the size of the common otter's; the +fur the most beautiful, soft, thick, and glossy in the world--dark-brown +outside, and almost yellow beneath, like the seal's. They are sometimes +shot from a steam-schooner, like my friend's, lying-to at a safe +distance, but much more commonly from the shore. Along the coast of +Gray's Inlet several hunters make a regular business of it. Quite high +watch-towers of timber are built just above high-water mark, and on +these the hunter climbs with his long-range rifle, and watches. He +provides a man on horseback to follow any otter he may be fortunate +enough to kill, up or down the coast, and take possession of it when +thrown up on the beach by the tide. These men seem to prefer the Sharp +rifle for accuracy of long-range fire. That they are no mean proficients +may be judged when I mention that one hunter killed upward of sixty last +year; the skins, or most of them, my friend the captain bought, at +prices, varying with size and condition, of from fifty to one hundred +dollars each. I am told that about August the young ones are seen in +company with their parents; but that the otters may be met with at +almost any time in the year when the sea is calm enough for them to be +marked among the tangle. + +[Sidenote: _COMMON OTTER. MINK._] + +The common otter (_Lutra Californica_) abounds in the tidal +portions of the rivers along this coast. Two Indians, whom I know, shot +six in an hour or two among the rocks bordering a little cove some +eight miles north of the Yaquina, into which a little river empties +itself. The skins are not quite so large as those of the English otter, +but the fur is valuable. The mink (_Putorius vison_) resembles the +polecat, but is nearly twice as large, with nearly black fur; it +frequents the borders of the streams, and takes to the water with the +greatest readiness. We have rabbits in Oregon (_Lepus Washingtonii_) +not much more than half the size of the common rabbit of Europe, but +similar in habits and place of residence. It is on these that the mink +chiefly preys. I was walking my horse along a quiet stretch of sandy +road, between thick bushes, returning from the Yaquina one day in +summer, when a rabbit darted out before my horse and down the road for +a hundred yards as hard as he could go; then into the bushes, then back +into the road, and up the other side, close to me, evidently in the +greatest fear. I stopped to see. Presently, a mink came out where poor +Bunny first appeared--nose to the ground, and hunting like a ferret. He +followed the rabbit's track step by step down the road, into the +bushes, back again close to me, then into the brush; and then out came +poor rabbit again, the heart gone out of him. Stopping an instant, then +going on a few steps, stopping again, and at last, trembling, he +bunched himself into his smallest compass in the middle of the road, +and there awaited his fate. Not losing one twist or turn, patient, +fierce, inexorable, the enemy followed, not raising his nose from the +trail till he was almost on his prey. Then a quick bound; the rabbit +was seized by the head, almost without a struggle, and dragged nearly +unresisting into the bushes down toward the river's edge, while I +passed on, musing on the points of resemblance between cousins on +opposite sides of the world. Fortunately, these rabbits are very +scarce. They are hardly seen in the valley; they live solely in the +woods, never in or about the cultivated ground. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Birds in Oregon--Lark--Quail--Grouse--Ruffed grouse--Wild-geese-- +Manoeuvres in the air--Wild-ducks--Mallard--Teal--Pintail--Wheat-duck +--Black duck--Wood-duck--Snipe--Flight-shooting--Stewart's Slough-- +Bitterns--Eagles--Hawks--Horned owls--Woodpeckers--Blue-jays--Canaries +--The canary that had seen the world--Blue-birds--Bullfinches-- +Snow-bunting--Humming-birds at home. + + +I have read comments on the scarcity of birds in America. This may be +true in some parts; here, in Oregon, we have abundance, except of +singing-birds. Of these last the meadow-lark is almost the sole +example; and his song, in its fragmentary notes and minor key, does not +even remind one distantly of his English cousin, who always seems to +express by his gush of complete and perfect melody the joy that fills +his being: + + "... In a half sleep we dream, + And dreaming hear thee still, O singing lark! + That singest like an angel in the clouds." + +The quail (_Oreortyx pictus_) has one long, sweet whistle, with the +peculiarity that it is almost impossible to follow up and find the bird +by his note; it sounds so close that you expect the bird is standing on +the nearest log, but you look in vain; then it calls you from a hundred +yards off, among the brush; again from the other side, and you try to +drive him out of the left-hand thicket; but all the while your dog is +working in the wood twenty yards ahead. You turn your head just in time +to see a dark-brown bird flit like a flash across the road and +disappear. + +In the shooting-season the quail is one of the hardest birds to kill. +They run in front of the dog in the brushwood with the greatest speed, +then rise and fly for fifty or a hundred yards like lightning, and then +take to their heels again. + +In harvest-time the grouse (_Tetrao obscurus_), here called the +partridge, come down from the fir-woods to the grain-fields and give +good sport. They frequent the corners of the fields, nearest to the +brush, and as the brood rise, ten or a dozen in number, and wing +quickly across to shelter in the wood, it reminds one of old times and +of partridge-shooting in Norfolk or Suffolk ten years ago. + +When the grain is cleared off, the grouse keep to the slips and corners +of brush nearest to the field for some weeks. As the season advances, +they take to the fir-woods again, and lose their interest to the +sportsmen by becoming in the first place almost impossible to find, and +next worthless for the table from their turpentine taste. After the +grouse have left the harvest-fields and got back into the woods, the +shot-gun sportsman must be quick indeed to shoot as the bird rises and +makes for the nearest tall fir. There he perches and defies you. The +rifle-shot waits till the bird has taken up its place on the bough and +peers over to look after the dog; then he shoots and often kills, +though the head and neck of a grouse thirty or forty yards off is not a +very big mark. + +The ruffed grouse (_Bonassa Sabinensis_), here called the pheasant, is +a fourth larger than the common grouse, with beautiful bright-brown +plumage, dashed with yellow, and a spreading tail. He frequents the +oak-grubs and scattering brush of the foot-hills, and is found all +through the less dense portions of the woods of the Coast Range. He +gives good sport, rising to the dog and giving a longer flight, and +offering the sportsman a fairer chance. + +[Sidenote: _WILD GEESE._] + +As soon as the first half of October has passed by, the cry of the +wild-geese is heard far away in the sky, and their V-shaped companies +are seen winging their southward course. These first advance-guards do +not stay, and scarcely ever descend low enough to tempt even the most +sanguine shot. But in a week or so the main army arrives. Following up +the general course of the Willamette River, they betake themselves to +the sand- and gravel-bars of the river to spend the night, leaving in +the early morning for the bare harvest-fields, where, after a vast +amount of debate and consideration, and many long, circling flights, +they descend to feed. Now every kind of firearms sees the light, and +the gun-maker of the town begins to reap his harvest. + +As you ride along the country roads in the valley, you see a lurking +form behind almost every fence. It is a kind of sport exactly suiting +the average Oregonian, who likes his game to come to him, and is great +at watching for it. + +Following with your eye the line of timber that betokens the river's +course, you see six or seven great flocks of geese (_Bernicla +Canadensis_) on the wing at once; some in the far distance, mere +specks in the air, others near enough for you to overhear their +conversation, which goes on continually. However confused the crowd +that rises from the river, it is but a few seconds until order is +taken. One flies to the head to guide the band, others take places on +either side behind him; regular distances are kept, leaving just enough +room for free motion, but no more. Inside the head of the V, and +generally on its left side, fly two or three geese in a little +independent group. I think it is from these that the officer appears in +turn to lead the van. + +How many times have I watched their evolutions with delight!--all the +keener that the band was coming my way; that the quick, regular beats +of the wings had nearly stopped, and the spread pinions showed they +were about alighting in the very field under the snake-fence of which I +crouched, double-barrel in hand. + +The voices grow louder; the conversation and debate is perfectly +confusing; they are near enough for you to note the outstretched necks +and quick eyes glancing from side to side; the blue-gray colors on the +wings, with the black bars, are plain. Waiting till they have passed +over, some thirty yards to the right--for it is of no avail to shoot at +them coming to you (the thick feathers turn the shot)--here go two +barrels at the nearest birds. What a commotion! There is a perfect +uproar of voices all declaiming at once, and away they scatter as hard +as they can, resuming regular order in a hundred yards, but leaving one +poor bird flapping on the ground. My dog runs to pick him up, but can't +make out the big bird, and comes inquiringly back to know what on earth +I mean by shooting at birds he surely has seen--"Yes, about the +home-pond, master--what _are_ you about?" + +The geese are sorely destructive to the autumn-sown wheat; the farmer +welcomes the sportsman from selfish motives, as well as from his usual +hospitality, when he sees him, gun in hand. + +The wild-geese are nearly all of one variety (_Bernicla Canadensis_); a +few white ones (_Anser hyperboreus_) appear now and then, prominent +among their gray brethren by their snowy plumage. Wild-ducks come next, +and by the end of the first week of November the sportsman's carnival +is in full swing. First come the mallard and his mate (_Anas boschus_), +in small bands; next follow the whistling and the common teal +(_Querquedula cyanoptera_ and _Nettion Carolinensis_); then the pintail +(_Dafila acuta_) in great bands; following these, the wheat-duck, or +gadwall (_Chaulelasmus streperus_), in multitudes; then, at a short +interval, the redhead (_Fuligula Athya Americana_) and the black duck +(_Fulix affinis_). These stay with us all the winter, as do also the +wood-duck (_Dix sponsor_), and until the crocuses cover the wild ground +once again. We have the snipe (_Gallinago Wilsonii_) in our +marsh-lands, but not in large numbers, and one specimen of the great +solitary snipe has been killed. + +The snipe have a curious instinct for knowing exactly how many one +piece of marsh will support. Near this house is a wet corner, fed by +springs and also by ditches. The extent is about an acre; it is covered +with rose-bushes and alder-shoots, and with rushes. In this are usually +three snipe, never more. Several times each winter we have cleared the +three out, but in a week or so successors fill their places. + +[Sidenote: _FLIGHT-SHOOTING._] + +Our favorite sport in winter is "flight-shooting"--killing the geese +and ducks as they fly round the swamps at evening, preparing to settle +for their night's feed. This comes in after the day's work is pretty +nearly done. Mounting our ponies about four o'clock, we canter off to a +big swamp about three miles off. Through this flows a little stream, +whose water swells with the winter rains into two little lakes. Long +grass and sedges cover the ground, and a good many patches of reeds +give shelter. + +Arriving just as the sun is setting behind the mountain south of Mary's +Peak, his departing rays strike in brilliant red and yellow light along +the surface of the pools, filling the valley with quivering, purple +haze. We post ourselves at long intervals along the marsh, crouching +while the light lasts, among the reeds. Just as the red light fades +away, a group of black specks is seen against the sky, rising from the +fir-timber that bounds the distant river. They grow quickly larger, and +presently the rapid beat of wings is heard, as they whistle through the +air overhead. The first flight round is high up in the sky, as they +take a general view. Circling at the far end of the swamp, back they +come, this time nearer to the ground. Just as you are debating if you +dare risk the shot, whish! whish! comes the big band of teal close +behind you, dashing by with a swoop worthy of the swiftest swallow, and +defying all but a chance shot into the thick of them. By this time the +big ducks are past, your chance at them is gone, and you hear in a +second or two the bang! bang! from lower down the swamp, telling of one +of your comrades' luck. Here come some more--right, left, overhead, +behind--till an unlucky cartridge sticks in your gun, and the scene +falls on an unhappy wretch cursing his luck, and devoting himself, his +gun, his powder, the ducks, the swamp, and all Oregon to the infernal +deities! + +Night has fallen; the pale gold-and-green light has faded from the sky; +the dark purple line of mountains has turned into a solid mass of the +darkest neutral tint; one star after another has shown out overhead, to +be reflected in the still, shallow water in which you stand. + +A low voice calls out of the darkness, "Time to go home, I suppose." +And a quick canter along the muddy road, possible only because the +horses know every step of the way, soon brings us home to a late meal, +where all our battles are fought over again, and the spoils, in their +various beauty, are proudly shown. Among the game-birds may be included +the blue crane, which flies in bands of from ten to twenty, high in the +air. But it does not remain here, and is only killed by chance. + +The other day a bittern (_Ardeidae minor_) was shot--a bird somewhat +larger than the European bittern, but exactly resembling it in all +essentials. + +[Sidenote: _EAGLES, HAWKS, HORNED OWLS._] + +Eagles and hawks we have in abundance, and of all sizes. The former are +destructive to the young lambs even in the valley. How bold they are, +too! One flew into a bush the other day as I rode across a wide +pasture, and watched me as I came close by him, never taking to flight, +though I passed within twenty yards of him--near enough to note the +defiant, proud expression of his great black eye. Last summer we lost +chicken after chicken. I could not make out the robber, having taken +precautions against rats, _et id genus omne_. One night, about ten +o'clock, our English servant burst into the sitting-room with--"Sir, +sir, bring your gun; here's a heagle come down on to the roof of the +barn!" One of us ran out with a gun, and made out a big bird against +the starlit sky. A shot, and down it came on the roof of the stable, +making the horses jump and rattle their halter-blocks. It turned out to +be a splendid specimen of the great horned owl. After his death the +depredations among the chickens ceased for the time. Very often a pair +of owls, just like the English barn-owl, are seen beating the swampy +ground, I suppose after rats; quartering the ground, and examining +every sedgy patch like a setter-dog. + +Two kinds of woodpeckers are common; the smaller sort abounds in the +burned timber, and again and again in the course of the day's ride you +hear the tap, tap, and see the little fellow propping himself against +the black trunk with his strong tail. The larger woodpecker is a +beautiful bird, with a bright brown-and-gray speckled and barred chest, +and a scarlet head and top-knot. These birds are eagerly sought by the +Indians, who adorn themselves with the red feathers, and use them also +as currency among themselves in various small transactions. + +The blue-jays are as noisy in our woods as in other parts of the world, +and as inquisitive and impertinent. + +In summer we have flights of little yellow-birds just like canaries. +One of my boys brought his pet canary from England in a little cage. He +cared for and tended it all the long journey, and until we were on +board the steamer coming up the Willamette. In the course of the +morning he thought he would clean out his bird's cage. The open door +was too strong a temptation. Out slipped the captive, and, after a +short flight or two in the cabin, away he went into the outer air and +perched on the upper rail of the pilot-house. After a moment he caught +sight of a flock of little yellow-birds flitting round a big tree by a +farmhouse on the bank. Off flew the little traveler to join them, and +the last we saw of him was that he was joyfully joining the new +company, while his master stood disconsolately watching the escape of +his favorite. + +Flocks of little bluebirds (_Sialia Mexicana_) frequent the town, the +whole of their plumage a bright metallic blue. Among them is sometimes +seen the golden oriole (_Icterus Bullockii_), making, with his orange +jacket and black cap, a brilliant contrast with his blue companions. + +Along the fences, and in the clumps of bushes filling their angles, is +the favorite haunt of a pretty bird (_Pipilo Oregonus_), in plumage +almost exactly resembling the European bullfinch; like him too in +habit, as he accompanies you along the road in little, jerky flights. + +[Sidenote: _HUMMING-BIRDS AT HOME._] + +When the winter day has closed in, and the lamps are lighted, several +times the little snow-bunting (_Iunco Oregonus_) has come tapping at +the window, attracted by the light, and seeking refuge in the warmth +within from the rough wind and driving rain without. In the +honeysuckle, which covers the veranda and climbs over the face of the +house, two sets of humming-birds (_Selasphorus rufus_) made their home. +It was pretty to watch them as they poised themselves to suck the +honey, and then darted off to one flower after another among the beds, +returning every instant to their nests, close to our heads, as we sat +out in the cool evening air. We were taken in several times by the +humming-bird moths, which imitated exactly the motions of the birds. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Up to the Cascades--Farming by happy-go-lucky--The foot-hills--Sweet +Home Valley--Its name, and how deserved and proved--The road by the +Santiam--Eastward and upward--Timber--Lower Soda Springs--Different +vegetation--Upper Soda Springs--Mr. Keith--Our reception--His home and +surroundings--Emigrants on the road--The emigrant's dog--Off to the +Spokane--Whence they came--Where they were bound--Still eastward--Fish +Lake--Clear Lake--Fly-fishing in still water--The down slope east-- +Lava-beds--Bunch-grass--The valleys in Eastern Oregon--Their products +--Wheat-growing there--Cattle-ranchers--Their home--Their life--In +the saddle and away--Branding-time--Hay for the winter--The Malheur +reservation--The Indians' outbreak--The building of the road--When, +how, and by whom built--The opening of the pass--The history of the +road--Squatters--The special agent from Washington--A sham survey. + + +After recovering from a sharp attack of illness last fall, I was sent +away for change of air. I fancied the mountain air would revive me +speedily; so we resolved to travel up to the Upper Soda Springs, in the +Cascades. It was two days' journey from the valley. The first twenty +miles led us across the rich valley portion of Linn County. We had to +pass through the little town of Lebanon. + +Near here we saw an illustration of farming carelessness that I must +mention. The harvest of 1879 was marked by the first recorded instance +of rust attacking the spring-sown wheat. The spring was unusually late, +and when the rains ceased, about the 25th of May, the summer sun broke +forth at once with unclouded warmth and splendor. The lately sown grain +sprang up in marvelous vigor, and the crop promised abundantly for the +farmer, when, just before the wheat hardened in the ear, the rust +seized it, the leaf took a yellow tinge, and the grain shriveled up. +The valley portions of Linn, Lane, Marion, and Benton Counties +suffered, the first-named the most severely. + +In our ride across the valley we passed several fields which were +standing abandoned and unreaped; the preparations for next year's crop +were in active progress; in one great wheat-field we saw the farmer, +with his broad-cast grain-distributor fixed in his wagon, sowing his +seed among the untouched, shriveled crop! And the wonder is that the +crop of this year, all through this stricken district, was unusually +fine for both quality and quantity of wheat. + +I do not know that a stronger fact could be adduced in proof of the +still wonderful fertility of this Willamette Valley than that it should +be possible this year to reap a good crop, grown on ground that was +neither reaped, plowed, nor rolled--nothing done but to cast abroad the +seed and harrow it lightly in. + +Soon after passing Lebanon, eighteen miles from here, we reached the +foot-hills of the Cascades; round, swelling, sandy buttes; sometimes +covered with short pasture-grass; generally bearing a growth of +oak-brush, sprinkled with firs of a moderate size. + +[Sidenote: _SWEET HOME VALLEY._] + +We slept at the first toll-gate, at the other side of Sweet Home +Valley. This pretty vale deserved its name. Some five or six miles long +by about two in width, there was a good expanse of fertile bottom-land, +plowed and cultivated; all round the hills rose, lightly timbered in +part, affording pasture for the cattle. We were told that the first +five settlers were bachelors, and called the Valley "Sweet Home" to +induce their lady-loves to follow them so far into what was then a +wilderness. That their invitation succeeded, I judge from the fact that +the valley has now three hundred inhabitants; that the settlement was a +permanent one, I judge from the fact that a neat schoolhouse, well +filled with scholars, is now the chief ornament of the valley. + +The road followed on along the course of the Santiam River, now +becoming a rapid mountain-stream, with many a rock and ripple. By the +side of every farmhouse stood one or two "fish-poles," betokening that +the river was of use as well as ornament to the dwellers by its banks. + +The road now led us straight eastward to the mountains, whose +fir-crowned summits frowned on us from every side. Here and there a +little valley nestling among the hills had been reclaimed to the use of +man; and many a neat little farm and well-grown orchard, with fenced +grain-fields and hay-fields, witnessing to the successful labor of the +owner, smiled on us as we passed. + +On nearly all appeared the magic words: "Hay and oats sold here. Good +accommodation for campers"; betokening that we were on the main road of +travel, and that the farmers found a ready market for their produce at +their very door. + +At one farm stood a set of Fairbanks's scales, for weighing and +apportioning the wagon-loads before undertaking the passage of the +mountains. The ascent was soon commenced; indeed, we had mounted +several hundred feet before we were well aware of it, so good was the +engineering of the road. + +[Sidenote: _LOWER SODA SPRINGS._] + +The timber grew larger on either side and ahead; no burned timber here, +but massive, heavy growths, extending mile after mile, of spruce, +hemlock, and pine, interspersed with many a cedar, tall, straight, and +strong. Very little undergrowth of brush; a good deal of brake-fern and +of grass; and by the sides and along the edges of the little gullies +and canyons that we crossed, the large maidenhair-fern grew in beautiful +profusion. We were never far from the Santiam, and now and again the +roar and rush of water told us of little falls and rapids in the +stream. Always ascending, here with a long, straight stretch of grading +cut into the hill-side, there with a winding course to cheat the hill +that rose to bar our road; down a short distance, then along the little +valley with its farm, then up again, till we gained the brow +overlooking the settlement at the Lower Soda Springs. The little wooden +houses, with galleries overhanging the rocky stream; the heavy +fir-woods clothing the hill-sides; the abundant ferns and creeping +plants growing down to the water's edge; the abrupt outlines of the +rocks in places too steep for vegetation--all reminded us of Norway, +and of happy tours in bygone years. And the welcome we received from +the hospitable innkeepers served to strengthen the remembrance. + +We went down to drink at the soda-springs. Long, inclined ledges of +white and gray rocks lead down to the river's edge; there, within a few +feet of the sweet, running water, so near that the rise of one foot in +actual level of the stream would overrun the spring, we found the +alkaline spring, welling out from a hole six inches across in one of +the wide ledges of gray rock. I never yet tasted a mineral water that +was nice, and it seems as if the medical value of a spring varied +exactly with its nastiness; so judged, I should say that the Lower Soda +Springs were very valuable. A few hours more, over broken country, +which grew wilder as we advanced, brought us in twelve miles' travel to +our destination. The last few miles entered a burned timber-patch, +where the black trunks either towered high into the air or lay supine, +rotting by degrees into yellow mold. The vegetation had a different +aspect from the Coast Range; a great feature in the brush was the +abundance of elder-bushes, then covered with blue-gray berries, and the +flourishing dogwood-trees, whose branches bore a quantity of large, +white flowers and also of scarlet fruit. We had crossed the Santiam +several times, here by timber bridges, there by fords. + +The excellence of the road, its freedom from rocks and "chuck-holes," +alike surprised and pleased us, and my poor bones would have told a sad +tale if all the stories of "mere wagon-track" had been founded in even +the semblance of fact. + +[Sidenote: _MR. KEITH._] + +We mounted the little rise which brought us in sight of Upper Soda +Springs. On the left of the road stood a barn; on the right, three +little detached wooden huts, from one of which the thin, blue smoke was +rising and betokened the habitation of the owner. A thin, bent, elderly +man issued from the barn with a big bundle of hay in his arms, as we +drove up, and came across to meet us. "Mr. Keith?" I asked. "I have a +letter of introduction from a friend of yours, and we wish to stay with +you for a week or ten days." "You read it to me," was the answer; "I +haven't got my spectacles." So I read it. "Well, sir, can we stay?" "I +don't mind men, but I can't abear women," was the somewhat forbidding +response, as my wife smiled across from the back of the carriage. "I +don't think you need mind my wife, Mr. Keith; she won't give you any +extra trouble." "I don't mind cooking for men--they don't know any +better; but, as for the women, they are always thinking how much better +they could do it." However, we settled it amicably, and took possession +of the third little hut, where the bundle of hay was soon shaken out on +to the two standing bed-places on either side. We made great friends +with the old gentleman, whose roughness was all on the outside, and who +slew his chickens, and cooked his cabbages, and stewed his dried plums +and apples for us without stint, and in a manner that no woman could +object to. + +The situation was most romantic--just under the shadow of a huge body +of rugged rocks on one side, while on the other Mr. Keith's little +fields, from which all the dogwood and elderberry bushes had not been +grubbed out, led to the edge of the bank overhanging the Santiam. The +river here is a beautiful stream, rocky and broken, deep and shallow, +by turns, with a trout under every stone. + +Mr. Keith's garden was a few steps from the house, in a little bottom; +although so high up above sea-level (about twenty-five hundred feet, I +believe), the vegetables were as fine as I ever saw, and the +grape-vines, trained over a trellis in front of the house, were loaded +with fruit. + +Here, among the hills, trout-rod for me and sketch-book and +water-colors for my wife, we spent ten happy days. There was no lack of +company, for, besides our old host, all the passers-by stopped at the +house. Hardly a day went, even at that late period of the season, +without from six to ten wagons passing, on their way from Western and +Southern Oregon to the wide plains and fertile valleys of Eastern +Oregon and Washington Territory. + +The self-reliance, the absolute trusting to the future, of all these +good people was impressive. The whole family were together: beds, +chairs, stove, blankets, clock, saucepans, and household stores were +all packed or piled into the wagon; underneath hung a box or basket +with a couple of little pigs or a dozen cocks and hens. A couple of +cows were driven along or took their parts as a yoke of oxen in +draught; a colt or two and a few young cattle ran by the side, and the +family dog, presiding over the cavalcade, seemed to have more of a +burden on his mind than the human heads of the expedition. Many stopped +to camp for the night, almost all for at least one meal, and all +without exception to get a drink from the effervescing soda-spring. + +[Sidenote: _OFF TO THE SPOKANE._] + +One wagon was driven by a pleasant-spoken man; with him were his wife +and a sick baby of a year old. They had nothing for the baby but +potatoes and flour. Their stores were but scanty. "Where are you +going?" said I. "To the Spokane, I guess," was the reply. "Where do you +come from?" "Well, I had a valley-farm, and we were doing pretty well, +but I hadn't my health good, and I thought we'd try the Spokane." "Do +you know where it is you are going?" "No, but they told us to take this +road and we'd find our way." "Have you any idea how far it is?" "Not +much; a hundred miles or two, isn't it?" "Put five hundred or so on, +and you'll get there." "You don't say so! Well, I dare say we shall get +through all right." "What do you mean to do?" "Well, I haven't money +enough to buy a farm, so I shall just take up a place." "You mean to +homestead, then?" "I guess so." "How many miles can you make in a day?" +"Not more than ten or fifteen with this old scrub team." "Have you +thought that this is the first week in October, and that you can't +expect to get there much before January?" "I guess not; but I dare say +we shall get on very well." "You told me just now you had not much +money; have you thought how long it will last you, spending two dollars +a day on the road?" "No, I haven't rightly figured it. I knew we +shouldn't have much left when we got there." "What makes you want to go +to the Spokane?" "Well, I've heard it's good land up there." "Isn't +Oregon good enough for you?" "I don't know but what it is. I didn't +know the place was so far off." I fetched him a large scale map, and +left him to think it over after supper. They were off in the morning +before we were out, and I have no idea whether they reached the +Spokane; my only consolation was, that the baby was the better for the +care and food it got that night, and for the additional stores they +carried away for it. + +This conversation was, perhaps, an extreme one; but it is absolutely +true to facts. All that we talked to were equally hopeful, and few much +better instructed as to their course. Certainly no people in the world +could be better qualified to make a little go far, to take cheerily all +the inevitable discomforts of both the long journey and the new home, +and to make the best use of every advantage they found or made. Only a +few were going to this Spokane country, away north in Washington +Territory; the rest were bound for Eastern Oregon, which is being +settled up marvelously fast, when the difficulties of getting there, +and of getting their produce out from there, are taken into account. + +The stretch of burned timber country ended about the Upper Soda. All +round it, and on from there eastward, grew miles upon miles of +magnificent fir, hemlock, spruce, and cedar-trees, averaging three feet +through, and, I judged, a hundred and fifty feet in height. I measured +several of the dead trees on the ground, which ran from two hundred and +twenty to two hundred and fifty feet in length, and the tops of all of +them were gone. + +A few miles farther on eastward are Fish Lake and Clear Lake. The +former merits its name from the abundance of trout from one to three +and four pounds in weight. In summer the water shrinks away to little +more than a stream in the middle of the depression which forms the +lake, and a growth of rich, succulent grass follows the subsidence of +the waters. Clear Lake, some four miles off, is vastly different. It +evidently occupies the place of a great and sudden depression of +timber-covered country, for, looking down into the deep, clear water, +the great firs are seen still standing erect on the bottom, far, far +below. Fly-fishing on this lake is wonderfully good. Throw the flies on +to the still water, oh! so quietly, and there let them lie motionless; +in a moment or two a dim form shines deep down, rising with a quick, +vibrating motion, and up comes your friend: with a greedy snatch he +takes the fly, and bolts downward with it, to be speedily checked and +brought to book. + +Soon begins the descent, much more gradual than the ascent, and not so +prolonged, since all Eastern Oregon is a kind of plateau, elevated from +one to two thousand feet above sea-level. + +[Sidenote: _VALLEYS IN EASTERN OREGON._] + +A stretch of lava-bed is soon reached, the acme of desolation, where +the road has been painfully worked by crushing down the rugged blocks, +or laboriously moving them with levers from the path. Two or three +miles carry us across, and then the bunch-grass country begins. Great +tussocks of succulent feed for spring and early summer, dried by the +hot sun into natural hay for autumn and winter use, afford pasture for +countless herds of cattle. Even here there are watercourses and springs +a few miles apart. The valleys--namely, Des Chutes, Crooked River +Valley, Ochoco, Beaver Creek, Grindstone Creek, Silver Creek, Harney +Lake, and Malheur--stretch in a practically unbroken line across the +whole of the remainder of Oregon to the eastern boundary of Snake +River. + +Take Crooked River Valley as a specimen. It varies from one to three +miles in width, but is bounded, not by the steep and rugged hills we +are used to in the Coast Range, but by gently swelling bluffs, covered +with bunch-grass to and over their tops. The valley-land is rich and +fertile, and wherever cultivated yields abundantly in potatoes, +cereals, vegetables, and small fruits of all kinds. Sixty and eighty +bushels of oats to the acre is not an unusual crop. And tame grasses +take firm hold of the country wherever opportunity is given them. The +bunch-grass slopes, with occasional sagebrush scattered among the +grass, are not to be always set apart for such common use as at +present. + +Precisely the same character of land has been plowed up and put into +wheat during the last few years round Walla Walla, just north of the +northeast corner of Oregon, and produces forty bushels of wheat to the +acre. Indeed, it is from country like this that the great crops of +Northeastern Oregon and Washington Territory are produced; crops +yielding a magnificent return, if not to the farmer whose enterprise +and industry have served to raise them, yet to the recently formed +transportation company called the Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company, by whose boats plying on the Columbia the wheat is carried to +Portland to be shipped. + +At present these vast stretches of rolling hill and dale are the home +of the cattle-rancher--a strange and wild life. A suitable site is +fixed on, commanding ample water privilege, with some valley-land near +by to grow sufficient hay, and to raise the desired quantity of oats +and vegetables; here the house is built, the lumber being hauled by +wagons perhaps fifty or a hundred miles from the mill. The rancher's +family consists of his wife and children, and possibly five or six +herdsmen. While looking after cattle, these men almost live in the +saddle. Horses abound, and form as good a source of revenue as cattle, +in proportion to the capital engaged. The Eastern Oregon horse is +taller and bigger-boned than the valley horse, but naturally his +education is not so well attended to, and he is apt to be "mean" and to +buck. Little recks his rider, and after a bout of bucking, in which the +horse has not dislodged the man, but has shaken up every bone in his +body till he is sore all over with the constant jar, as the horse comes +to the ground all four feet at once after a mighty jump, then it is the +man's turn. Driving in the heavy Mexican spurs, with their rowels two +or three inches across, the rider starts wildly out, and mile after +mile the open country is crossed at a hard-gallop. The herd is soon +seen and ridden round, and a close lookout is kept to see if any +stragglers have joined the band, and if the calves and yearlings are +all right. Branding-time comes twice a year, in spring and autumn, when +the cattle of a whole "stretch" of country are driven together, +separated according to the various ownerships determined by marks and +brands. + +In spring come in the Eastern buyers, who travel through the country, +collecting a huge drove of perhaps from ten to twenty thousand head. +The three-year-old steers fetch about fifteen or seventeen dollars a +head; no wonder the ranchers prosper, considering that the cost from +calfhood was only that of herding. + +Some of the provident ones collect one or two hundred tons of natural +hay against the severities of winter. It may be that for two or three +years the hay will stand unused; then comes the stress. Deep snow will +cover the face of the country and lie for weeks, too deep for the +cattle to live, as in ordinary winters, on the dry bunch-grass +protruding from the snow, or easily reached by scratching a slight +covering away. Even an abundant store will not save all, for many of +the herd will have taken refuge in distant valleys, or perhaps have +retreated far off the whole range in the face of the driving storm. And +even those that are found will move very unwillingly from any poor +shelter they may have secured toward the life-saving food. + +[Sidenote: _THE MALHEUR RESERVATION._] + +There is a large Indian reservation called the Malheur Reserve; the +road crosses its southwest corner. These Indians are quiet enough now, +but only three years ago there was an outbreak among them. One rancher +had built a fine stone house, just outside the reservation bounds, and +there lived in comfort, surrounded by all the necessaries and many of +the luxuries of life. He had six or eight thousand head of cattle and +some three hundred horses in his band. One morning a friendly Indian +rode up in haste, telling him to get away, as the hostiles were coming +to kill them all. Mounting their horses, the rancher and his wife took +to flight; they looked back from the hill-top to see the flames and +smoke rising from their comfortable home, telling how narrow had been +their escape. A hurried ride of fifty miles took them to safe refuge; +and the speedy repulse of the Indians, and their being driven once +again within their own boundaries, enabled the rancher to rebuild his +house, and restore once more his household goods. + +This road was built by men who were sent out from Albany, and spent +years in the work, rifles by their side; for the country fourteen years +ago was not the safe domain it has now become. The first idea was to +use the pass through the Cascades (which is the lowest and safest in +Oregon, so far as I can learn), to build a road to open the plains of +Eastern Oregon to the Willamette Valley. After a good deal of the work +had been accomplished, a suggestion was made to the owners of the road +that if they would undertake to extend it clear across the State to the +Idaho boundary, a distance from Albany of some four hundred and fifty +miles by the necessary deviations from a straight line, a land grant +might probably be procured from Congress to aid the work. Whatever may +be said of the general policy of granting the national lands to +corporations to aid wagon-road and railroad enterprises, there may +surely be cases where the effect is not only to secure the execution of +the work, but also to encourage the settling up of a district, and the +consequent increase of the population and wealth of a State. + +Here was the state of affairs in Eastern Oregon prior to 1866: A vast +country, adapted for the gradual settlement and ultimate habitation of +a prosperous race, was lying at the mercy of a few roving bands of +Indians, who made the lives and property of even casual travelers their +speculation and sport. What was the value then of all that country? +Could any purchaser for it have been then found, at even a few cents an +acre? + +[Sidenote: _BUILDING OF THE ROAD._] + +The projectors of the road took their lives in their hands when they +ventured forth to work. They risked themselves, their horses and +equipments. Every pound of food consumed had to be brought in wagons +from their starting-point. As they progressed, their danger and +difficulty increased with every mile they traversed; and the last +section of the road was built by men who had suffered themselves to be +snowed in and shut off from families and friends, and to give up every +chance of succor in distress, that the work might not stand still. And +it was no light work, even judged by us who travel the road at ease, +and have hardly a passing glance for the rocky grade, the deep cutting, +the ponderous lava-block, the huge black trunk. How appalling must the +undertaking have appeared to those who had first to face the dangers +and difficulties of a mountain-chain, to plan for and survey out the +most favorable route among heavy timber and rocky precipice, beside +rushing waters and through deep gorges; and then across those wide and +then silent plains, where the timid antelope ranged by day, and the +skulking wolf by night made solitude hideous with his melancholy howl! +No roadside farms to welcome them, no little towns to mark, as now, the +stages of their journey, but farther and farther into the wilderness, +till four hundred miles lay between the workers and the valley-homes +they had left months before. + +And this was no wealthy corporation, which has but to announce its +readiness to receive, and dollars are poured into its lap by a public +hungry for dividends, until it has to cry, "Hold, enough!" Here were no +regiments of yellow workmen, trained to labor in many a ditch and +grade; but citizens of Oregon, who desired to build up their State; who +believed the records of their fellows as to the miles of country that +could be forced to contribute their quota of productions if but the way +were opened in and out; who, having themselves prospered in the sound +and moderate way in which Oregon encourages her children, were ready to +risk what they had gained in a cause they knew was good--these men +combined their energies to the common end. It was an enterprise which +roused and maintained the kindly interest of all. The working parties +in the Cascade Range were followed up by the teams of those who desired +the first choice of settlement in the promised land beyond. + +By the time the last great log that barred the pass was reached, a long +string of wagons stood waiting its removal. While the long saws were +plied, and then the levers brought, all stood in expectation; willing +hands lent their eager aid: the great wooden mass rolled sullenly away, +and the tide of settlement poured through the gap. Between that day in +1867 and 1880 upward of five thousand wagons have made the journey, +and, to the honor of the original locators be it said, all without +accident arising from the road. + +The first few years all went merry as a marriage-bell. The road +naturally followed the fertile valleys; and small blame to the +road-makers if, having the whole country before them, they chose the +smoothest and cheapest route. No man will climb a hill and cut his way +along its side if he can find good level ground at the bottom. + +The road-makers were entitled under their congressional grant to +alternate mile-square sections in a wide belt on either side of their +road; the intervening sections were, of course, opened to settlement by +the construction of the road. The open-valley sections were soon seized +on, and a band of settlements justified, even so soon, the principle of +the road-grant. + +[Sidenote: _SQUATTERS._] + +But to many men in this world, and Oregon has her share, the +descriptive motto is not, "Labor is sweet, and we have toiled," but the +antithesis, "Other men have labored: let us enter into the fruits of +their labor." So squatters entered with the legitimate settler, or +close on his heels, and took possession of many a section of the road +company's land, "taking the chances," as they would express it, of +something happening to help them to hold. To aid matters, these men +fenced across the road near their houses, and carried the road round on +the hill-sides above their farms. The settlers were not slow to follow +so promising an example, and, to have the benefit of the bottom-land +through which the road ran, they also pushed the road away up the +hills. + +On more than one occasion the road company sent and had these fences +removed and opened the original road afresh. But travelers did not aid +them; for here came in a trait of American character I have often +noticed, namely, unwillingness to insist on strict right against their +neighbors, and a readiness to make any shift, or agree to and use any +_detour_, when to keep the old, straight road would involve a question. +So the valley road got disused in places, and travel went round by the +hills. + +Next, the squatters bethought them that they might in time upset the +road grant, and get good title to their neighbors' vineyard. So they +sent on a petition to Washington, alleging that the road had never been +made; that there was no road at all; that there had been a colossal +fraud. But the matter was investigated, and discovery made that the +United States authorities had ceased to have any jurisdiction so long +ago as 1866. Still, those who were agitating thought something might be +made of it. So, somehow or other, the Secretary of the Interior, Mr. +Carl Schurz, was induced to interfere, not deterred by the knowledge +that the land department had declined to act twelve months before; and +so, a year after the squatters' complaint had been refused, an agent +was sent out to report; he was well armed with the assailants' stories +in advance, and he need be a man of superexcellent straightforwardness +and hardihood unless he too could "see something in it." + +In this case the phoenix was not discovered, and the eyes, ears, and +common-sense of hundreds of men who knew the road well were outraged by +a report that no road existed or had been made except for about sixty +miles at the western end; and that the road, if road it could be +called, was a mere wagon-track, capable of use only for a short time +and under exceptionally favorable circumstances! + +It was of course assumed that, at so great a distance from +headquarters, a hostile report would end matters, and that all the +advantages hoped for by the squatters, and by any and all who had +espoused their cause, would be forthwith enjoyed. + +We have yet to learn that the American Congress will consent to be made +parties to such an outrageous conspiracy; to cast an infamous slur on +the characters of American citizens who ventured much in an undertaking +for the public good; in violation of plain and acknowledged principles +of law, to hamper and delay an enterprise relying on the title gained +in 1871, and quietly enjoyed for ten years. + +[Sidenote: _HARNEY LAKE VALLEY._] + +The largest of the valleys through which this road passes is Harney +Lake Valley, only about eighty miles from the eastern boundary of the +State, which will receive fuller description farther on. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Indian fair at Brownsville--Ponies--The lasso--Breaking-in--The +purchase--"Bucking" extraordinary--Sheep-farming in Eastern Oregon-- +Merinos--The sheep-herder--Muttons for company--A good offer refused +--Exports of wool from Oregon--Price and value of Oregon wool--Grading +wool--Price of sheep--Their food--Coyotes--The wolf-hunt--Shearing-- +Increase of flocks--"Corraling" the sheep--Sheep as brush-clearers. + + +[Sidenote: _BREAKING-IN._] + +Some of our people wanted to buy ponies this last fall, and heard that +the Indian pony fair at Brownsville, about twenty-five miles from here, +was the best place. They rode off one fine October morning, and +returned the next day but one, with a handsome four-year-old. The scene +as they described it was exciting and interesting. I should say that +the town of Brownsville is a lively little place, with seven or eight +hundred inhabitants, and some fine woolen-mills. It is the nearest +valley town to the mountains accessible by the wagon-road to those +crossing from Eastern Oregon. Near the town was the fair-ground, a +large, fenced inclosure, with from two to three hundred ponies +careering about it in a state of wild excitement. Nearly all the +Indians were Warm Springs, some few Nez-Perces. Both these tribes are +far finer-looking and better grown than our coast Indians. They wear +white men's clothes, but deerskin moccasins on their feet. Except for +the absolute straightness of the black hair, these men almost exactly +resemble the gypsies as seen in Europe; they are very like them too in +many habits of mind and life--equally fond of red and yellow +handkerchiefs for neck-wear for the men or head-gear for the women. +Several of the Indians were on foot, others on horseback in the +inclosure where the horses ran. On our friends telling one of the Warm +Springs chiefs who was standing there of their wish to buy a horse, he +questioned them as to the kind they wanted, and the price they were +willing to give. Then, on giving some directions to one of the Indians +on horseback, that worthy unslung his lasso from his saddle-horn and +rode into the crowd of horses. The whole wild band were kept on a rapid +gallop round and round. The Indian soon selected one, and flinging his +lasso over its head he turned and stopped his horse abruptly, and the +captive was brought to the ground with a shock enough to break every +bone in his body. He was quickly secured by another rope or two by +other Indians standing near, and was then carefully inspected. Not +being altogether approved, he was set free again, and quickly rejoined +the band. Another was caught, and another, and at last a trade was +arrived at, subject to the breaking-in of the horse in question. The +horse, carefully held by lasso-ropes, was quickly saddled, a hide +bridle with sharp and cruel curb-bit was slipped over his head, a young +Indian mounted, and all the ropes were let go. Away went the horse like +an arrow from a bow; then as suddenly he stopped; then buck-jumping +began, while the Indian sat firm and unmoved, seemingly immovable. This +play lasted till the horse tired of it, and then off he went at a +gallop again. Before he got too far away the rider managed to turn him, +and he was kept going for an hour and more till he was utterly +exhausted, and the white foam lay in ridges on his skin. By this time +all the bucking had gone out of him, and he suffered himself to be +brought quietly back to the corral, and he was handed over to the +purchaser as a broken horse. A long negotiation as to price had ended +in sixteen dollars being paid in silver half-dollar pieces (the Indian +declined a gold ten-dollar piece), and a red cotton handkerchief which +happened to peep from our friend's pocket, which clinched the bargain. + +The average size of the ponies was just under fourteen hands; the shape +and make were exceedingly good. There was one splendid coal-black +stallion, a trifle larger than the rest, whose long mane and tail +adorned him; for this the Indians declined all moderate offers, and got +as high as fifty dollars, and would hardly have sold at that. There was +a considerable proportion of the spotted roan, which is the traditional +color for the Indian "cayuse." + +[Sidenote: _THE SHEEP-HERDER._] + +Sheep-farming in Eastern and Northern Oregon has become a very +important pursuit; it is also followed largely in the southeastern +portion of the State. As sheep advance cattle retire, and many a growl +have I listened to from the cattle-men, and most absurd threats as to +what they would do to keep back the woolly tide: even to the length of +breeding coyotes or prairie-wolves for the special benefit of the +mutton. The merinos, French. Spanish, and Australian, thrive better in +the drier climate east of the Cascades than in this Willamette Valley. +The vast expanse of open country covered thinly with grass involves the +herding system. One of our fellows undertook this business near Heppner +in Umatilla County. He had entire charge of a flock of 1,700 merinos. +There was an old tent for him to sleep in, but he preferred to roll +himself in his blankets on the open ground. No company but his dog, and +no voices but the eternal "baa, baa" of the sheep, which almost drove +him mad. His "boss" came out to him once in three weeks with a supply +of coffee, flour, beans, and bacon; and, if meat ran short, there was +abundance of live mutton handy. About once in three weeks, on the +average, a stray traveler would cross his path, and have a few minutes' +talk and smoke a pipe. He had not the relaxation of sport, for the +sheep have driven deer and antelope from the country. Early in the +morning his sheep were on the move; he had to follow them over the +range; about noon they lay down on the hill-side, and he stopped to eat +his scanty meal. All the afternoon they wandered on, till evening fell, +by which time they were back on the sheltered hill-side, which stood +for headquarters, and where the tent was pitched. Day in, day out, the +same deadly round of monotonous duty, until he hated the look, the +smell, the sound of a sheep, and I think has an incurable dislike to +mutton which will last him all his life. Don't you think that his forty +dollars a month was earned? When October came, and a few flakes of snow +heralded the coming winter, the "boss" came, and warned him that he +must now elect whether or not to spend the winter with the sheep, as +the way out would shortly close. If he would stay, he could have a +share in the flock to secure his interest, and could also take his pay +in sheep, which would thus start his own individual flock. The offer +was a tempting one; the path was the same that all the successful +self-made sheep-men had followed; cold and privation alone had not many +terrors to a hardy man; but--one look at the sheep decided him; he +could not stand their society for six months longer. So he left, and +returned to the valley, like a boy from school. + +I know one or two men, who, forced to accept a situation of this sort, +have used the time for the study of a language, and, after a few months +with the sheep, have come out accomplished Spanish, Italian, or German +scholars. But it takes some resolution to overcome the temptation to +drift along, day by day, in idleness of mind and body more and more +complete. + +The Portland Board of Trade reports that, for the year 1879, 766,200 +pounds of wool were received at that city from Eastern Oregon, and +2,080,197 pounds from the Willamette Valley, showing in value an +increase of about thirty-five per cent. over the previous year. But +Messrs. Falkner, Bell & Co., of San Francisco, reported that the +receipts at that city of Oregon wool aggregated 7,183,825 pounds for +the clip of 1879. The figures for 1876 were only 3,150,000 pounds. It +should be noticed also that Oregon wool commands an excellent price in +the market, even six cents higher than California, possessing greater +strength and evenness, and being free from burs. The valley wool is +clearer from sand and grit than that from Eastern Oregon. + +But much remains to be done in this valley. Far too many of the farmers +are absolutely careless about scab; and sheep, infested with this +noxious parasite, are suffered to run at large and poison the +neighbors' flocks. It is true that a law intended to extirpate this +curse now exists; but neither is legislation as sufficient nor its +enforcement so strict as in Australia, though the necessity for both is +full as great. There is but little encouragement either to the valley +farmer to expend labor and money in improving the quality of his flock, +when he sees his neighbors' inferior fleeces command just as high a +price, the wool from perhaps ten or twenty farms being "pooled" without +regard to quality. The remedy is of course found in grading the wool; +steps for this purpose are being talked over by many intelligent +farmers, and I expect soon to see them carried out. + +The exhibit at Philadelphia of Oregon wool received medals and diplomas +from the Commissioners of the Centennial of 1876, with high and +deserved praise. And the show at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 was also +splendid; the Oregon fleeces equaling the Australian in length, +strength, evenness, and beauty of fiber. + +[Sidenote: _PRICE OF SHEEP._] + +I shall have a little more to say as to the breeds of sheep when the +State Fair at Salem is described, where the best specimens were +supposed to be, and I believe were collected. Sheep in this valley are +worth from $1.25 to $1.75 for store-sheep for the flock, and from $2 to +$3 for mutton-sheep in winter. The wool of a sheep may be taken to +fetch $1 on an average of seasons. The sheep eat grass all the year +round; they have never seen a turnip or cole-seed. I know many farmers +who have kept sheep successfully for twenty years on nothing whatever +but the natural wild grasses. The great enemy of the sheep in these +foot-hills, where the pasture is intermixed with brush, and borders on +the thicker brush and timber of the mountains behind, is the coyote. +Two or three of these little wolves will keep half a county on the +alert, destroying far more than they eat. This "varmint" is somewhat +larger than a Scottish sheep-dog, and of a tawny color; he has long +hair like a colley, and is much more cowardly than fierce. He lives in +the thick brush, whence he steals out at dusk on his murderous errand. +He hunts generally alone, though one of our friends saw three together +one evening this winter. His pace is a long, untiring gallop, and it +takes a very good hound to run him down. + +The usual plan of the hunt is for several rifles to command the outlets +from a piece of woodland, and then to take into the brush a collection +of five or six of the best hounds that can be got together. When the +scoundrel breaks cover he may go fast, but the rifle-bullet or buckshot +goes the faster, and it would not do to miss. + +The sheep killed by the coyote is identified by the two little holes on +either side of the throat, where the wolf has struck and held to drink +the fast-flowing life-blood. The carcass is rarely torn. But the worse +and more common coyote is the mongrel hound. Every now and again one of +these impostors takes to murdering, and, demure and quiet as he looks +by day, slouching around the barn, spends his nights killing the +neighbors' sheep. There is not much chance for him if he is but once +seen; his life is a very short if a merry one. + +When shearing-time comes round there are plenty of applicants for the +job. The price is usually five cents a head, the farmer providing food, +but the shearer finding his own tools. Some of these fellows will clip +a hundred sheep a day, or even more: true, you must look after them to +prevent scamping, in the shape of cuts on your sheep, and wool left on +in thick ridges, instead of a clean, good shear. We expect an increase +of at least one hundred per cent. on the ewes at lambing-time, even +though so little cared for; those farmers who are good shepherds too, +improve greatly on this average. The lambs must be well looked after, +unless the wild-cat, eagle, and coyote are to take their toll. Not half +the sheep are kept in this valley that ought to be, and that will be, +when change or succession of crops are universally practiced. + +[Sidenote: _"CORRALING" THE SHEEP._] + +The amusing part of sheep-keeping in our coast-hills is "corraling," or +gathering them for the night. By day they roam freely over the +hill-sides, and you would be surprised to see how they thrive in +brushwood and among fern, where the new-comer could hardly detect a +blade of grass. These mountain-sheep, too, are more hardy and +independent than the valley flocks. But, when the lambs are about, I am +sure it is wise to undertake the labor of collecting them in the +"corral" for the night. Without your sheep-dog you would be lost, for +you would not have a chance on the hill-sides, and over and under the +occasional logs, with sheep that jump and run like antelopes. But the +dog cures all that, and you can stand in the road and watch Dandy or +Jack collect your flock just as well as if he were in the cairns and +corries of old Scotland, whence he or his grandfather came. I like to +see them march demurely in at the open gate, and then run to the log +where you have scattered a handful of salt for them, every grain and +taste of which is eagerly licked up. And they are excellent +brush-clearers; they love the young shoots of the cherry and +vine-maple, and keep them so close down that in one or two seasons at +most the stub dies, and can be plowed out and burned. Therefore every +settler who takes up land, or buys a partly cleared farm, will find +both pleasure and profit in his sheep, and that to him they are a +necessity, even more than to the valley farmer. He must expect a +percentage of loss from the wild animals, but his vigilance and love of +sport together will reduce that percentage to the lowest point. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +The trail to the Siletz Reserve--Rock Creek--Isolation--Getting a +road--The surveying-party--Entrance at last--Road-making--Hut-building +in the wilds--What will he do with it?--Choice of homestead--Fencing +wild land--Its method and cost--Splitting cedar boards and shingles-- +House-building--The China boy and the mules--Picnicking in earnest +--Log-burning--Berrying-parties--Salting cattle--An active cow--A +year's work--Mesquit-grass on the hills. + + +When I traveled through Oregon in 1877, we visited the Siletz Indian +reservation. To get there from the district called King's Valley, where +we were, we had to take the mountain-trail first cut out by General +Sheridan, when, as a young lieutenant, twenty years ago, he was +stationed on this coast. The trail went up one mountain and down +another, and crossed this river and that creek, till, at the foot of +one long descent from a lofty ridge, which we thought then, and which I +know now is, the water-shed between two great divisions of this county, +we entered a valley entirely shut in. At the southeastern end, where we +entered it, it was a narrow gorge, down which a quick stream hurried, +with many a twist and turn, and over many a rocky ledge. The hill-sides +above were thick with fern and berry-bearing bushes, and the black +trunks of the burned timber stood as records of the great fire; but the +stream ran through a leafy wilderness, where maple, alder, and cherry +shut in the trail, and the maiden-hair and blechnum ferns grew thickly +along the banks. The valley widened out as we advanced, and we found it +in shape almost like an outspread hand, the palm representing the +central level bottom, and the fingers the narrow valleys and canyons +between the encompassing hills. The trail led us by turns along the +bottom and the lower steps of the hill-sides. We camped to dine, and +explored some distance up the side-valleys, coming on old Indian +camping-places, with the bones of deer and beaver scattered round. + +The isolation of the place, hidden away there among the hills, the +fresh abundance of the vegetation, the mellowness of the thick, fat +soil shown where we crossed again and again the creek dividing the +valley down its entire length, all charmed me; the steep yet rounded +outlines of the hills often recurred to me when I was very far away. +When I came back to Oregon, in 1879, I took the first chance I had of +going over this old ground. + +The question was, if it were possible to run in a road out of the main +Yaquina road, which I knew lay but some five or six miles off. + +So I sent out a surveying-party to ascertain, and a rough time they +had. It rained almost incessantly; the brush was thick; they lost their +way; it got dark, and they went wandering on till they struck a trail +which led them to a river. "Now we're all right," said the leader; +"this is the Yaquina; the road is on the other side of the creek." So +they struck into the rushing water, then running in flood, and waded +across waist-deep. But no road on the other side; only a dark trail +leading into thick brush. Presently it was pitch-dark, and the surveyor +confessed he did not know where he was; that this was certainly not the +Yaquina, and apparently there was no road. The rain still fell heavily, +and saturated them and their packs. Then one of the horses, which they +were leading along, slipped from the bank into the flooded stream, and +nearly dragged his owner after him. At last they determined to camp. +Not a dry spot and no dry wood could they find. So they lay down under +the shelter of the biggest log, and ate a supper of raw bacon and an +odd lump of stale crust. Not even a match would light, and they staid +out the weary hours of darkness as best they could, wishing for dawn. + +With the earliest light they were on foot once more, and, after +wandering a little farther, the leader identified the Rock Creek +Valley, and pointed out the Siletz trail. They had found a route, but +certainly not the route I wanted. + +Next I went out myself and questioned the settlers down the road as to +the trails across. At last we struck on what looked from a distance the +lowest gap in the encircling mountains, and made up our minds to keep +on trying for a road through that till we got it, or were satisfied it +was impossible. Perseverance answered, and we struck a trail up the +course of the Yaquina River nearly to its source, and then through some +thick wood to the foot of the mountain, on the other side of which was +the Rock Creek Valley; then up the mountain to the low gap, and thence +the way was plain down into Rock Creek. + +[Sidenote: _ROAD-MAKING._] + +Road-making in Oregon is like road-making elsewhere. We had a party +of twelve or fourteen men at work, and had to build three huts at +intervals before the road got through. The huts only took a few hours +to construct. Cut down a dozen cherry poles, straight and long; saw off +a cedar log and split it up again and again, till you get planks out of +it four feet long and about an inch or so thick. Drive your cherry +poles into dug holes, and set up the frame of your hut; build a recess +five feet wide and two feet deep at one end for a chimney; board the +whole in, and double the boarding on the roof; line the inside of the +chimney with damp earth for about two feet up, and then carry that up +above the roof of your house also by boards; hang a door on a couple of +wooden hinges made by choosing strong forked pieces of crab-apple which +will not split; beat down the floor level and hard, and, if you are +very luxurious, set up standing bed-places, or bunks, of cherry-pole +legs and cedar boards for the beds, and your habitation is complete--as +soon, that is, as you have brought in a huge back-log and set a great +fire blazing. Cut off a few chunks of wood level for chairs, and fix +two or three boards against the walls for shelves, and you have no idea +of the comfort you can get out of your house. + +We dug, and graded, and moved logs, and built bridges, and laid +corduroy crossings over wet places, and in about three months the way +into Rock Creek was clear. I confess to a little pride when the first +wagon went safely in, and down into the level bottom below. The next +question was the hard one, What will he do with it? The wilderness was +before us; how were we to civilize it? Gazing down into the valley, +with here a ferny slope, there a copse filling acres of bottom, then a +deep canyon with green trees, there a beaver-dam flooding the best piece +of land at every high water, and everywhere the great black trunks, +standing or lying prostrate, in some places heaped together in the +wildest confusion--it was a case that called for the "stout heart to +the stiff brae." + +The first thing was to settle the place for a homestead, supplied with +water, but out of the reach of flood. And a rising ground, some hundred +yards from the river, along one side of which ran a clear little stream +at right angles to the creek, supplying a chain of three beaver-ponds, +overhung with trees and shrubs, was chosen. + +[Sidenote: _FENCING WILD LAND._] + +The next thing was to find out the most open spaces, free from logs and +brush, and which could be plowed for oats and hay. Three such were soon +set apart, lying far distant from each other, and therefore giving +three distinct centers from which clearing should spread. Then the plow +was set to work to tear up the ferny ground, and what few logs there +were had to be cut in pieces and split for burning. Next came the +fencing. It takes five thousand rails, ten feet long and five or six +inches thick, to make a mile of snake-fence. A man can split from one +to two hundred rails a day, according to the soundness and straightness +of grain of the timber; and good hands will contract to saw the logs, +split the rails, and keep themselves the while, for about a dollar and +a quarter the hundred rails. The difficulty was, that not one in forty +of the fallen logs was sound, and the rail-splitters had to wander all +up and down the valley and far up the hill-sides to get the right +material. However, eleven thousand rails were provided and gradually +hauled to their places, and the fields and the intervening spaces of +wild lands all fenced in. + +Meanwhile, as we were too far from a mill to haul lumber to any +advantage, we had to rely on the cedar, which splits more evenly and +easily than the fir; and some five thousand boards, six inches wide and +from four to six feet long, were got ready; while the timbers for the +house and barn were split from straight-grained, tough fir. Then came +the shingles, and a contract at two and a half dollars a thousand set +two excellent workmen going, and first fifty thousand and then twenty +thousand more were made on the spot. Then the house-building and +barn-raising went on merrily, though with constant grumbling at the +expense of time in preparing the rough materials, instead of having +ready-sawed lumber from the mill. We sent to the saw- and planing-mill, +fifteen miles away, for doors and windows, and one wagon brought in all +that were needed for a nine-roomed house, at a cost of just eighty +dollars; the doors and door-frames ready, and the windows duly glazed. +At last the house was barely habitable, and we moved in in patriarchal +procession. + +We treated ourselves to one China boy to cook and wash. For his benefit +a cooking-stove was sent out, and set up in a handy kitchen, close to +but detached from the house. These China boys are well off for sense. +The wagon was heavily laden with stores, and the mules were struggling +up a muddy hill. "Get out, John, and walk," said the Scotch driver, and +John had to obey. Long before the top was reached, John got in again at +the rear, and scrambled back into his place. "Get out, John, I tell +you!" "Never mind, Kenzie; horsee no see me get in; they know no +better." + +But a good deal of the cooking went on over a bright fire of logs down +on the ground in front of the house, where the tripod of sticks stood, +with the black kettle depending. For the children it was a continuous +picnic; two or three times a day they were bathing in the river; and +whenever they were not tending the fires, which were burning up the +logs and brushwood all the time, they were off, fishing down the creek. + +There was abundant employment for every hour of the day, and a +comfortable assurance that the work once done was done for good; that +is, that each patch of ground cleared and sown was so much actual +visible gain. + +[Sidenote: _LOG-BURNING._] + +At night the scene was most picturesque--bright stars overhead, and +great fires going in twenty places, lighting up the whole valley with a +crimson radiance. Some of the huge trunks, fifty or sixty feet high, +were lighted by boring two auger-holes so as to meet a couple of feet +deep inside the tree; the fire would lay hold of the entire mass, and +cataracts of sparks burst out in unexpected places high up the stem, +pouring out in a fiery torrent at the top. And then, when the tree had +been burning for a day or more, it would fall with a heavy crash, and a +great spout of fire would start forth. + +And then there were the berrying-parties. All the women and children +would start for the hills, and come back, their baskets laden with ripe +blackberries, and the crimson thimble-berries, and yellow +salmon-berries, and scarlet huckleberries, and later on with the black, +sweet sal-lals. And they filled their nut-bags and pockets with the +wild hazels. + +If it rained too hard, and it did once or twice, the pocket-knives were +all in use, and candlesticks, and salt-cellars, and other trifles, were +cut out of the ever-useful cherry and crab-apple. + +And the cattle had to be salted. This went on near the house, and in +the great corral, to get them to recognize their headquarters, a most +necessary knowledge for them before the winter set in. They were quick +to learn, and, after a time or two, a short excursion down the valley, +with a pocketful of salt, and the long-drawn cry of "Suck, su-uck, +su-u-uck," would bring a speedy gathering from distant hills and tall +patches of valley-fern, and a long procession would follow the caller +back to the corral. + +These cattle, most of them mountain-bred, do tricks that would make a +valley-cow's hair stand on end. We got one fine young heifer into the +narrow branding-corral, to milk her. This was shut off from the large +corral by a fallen log five feet thick, which looked high enough to +keep the idea of scaling it out of any cow's mind. But I saw her make a +standing high jump on to the top of the log, and over, as neatly as the +best-trained hunter could possibly have done it, even if his rider had +the hardihood to put him at it. + +Even while getting their own livelihood on the wild feed on the +mountain-sides, where you and I could see nothing but fern and +thimble-berry bushes, the cows grew fat and yielded abundance of milk, +and that very rich. And even through the rainy months of winter the +cattle have kept themselves fat and flourishing. + +[Sidenote: _MESQUIT-GRASS ON THE HILLS._] + +The work has now been going on nearly eleven months, and this is the +position to-day: The road is made. The house is built, but not quite +finished inside. The big barn is finished, with stable attached. The +orchard is cleared, plowed, planted with trees, which have now nearly a +year's growth, and is in part seeded down into permanent pasture; as to +the other part, it is in potatoes and onions. Two fields--one of four, +the other of eight acres--are cleared and plowed, and will be in oats +this spring. Another field, across the river, is cleared, but not yet +plowed. The garden round the house is prepared. Another field, near the +house, of about three acres, is cleared, plowed, and now being sowed +down in clover. Another clearing, of about two acres, on old beaver-dam +land by the river, is planted in cabbages in part, and the rest will be +in carrots and beets. About two hundred acres are fenced in for sheep, +and about ninety head are on it, helping out the brush-cutting by +eating the shoots. About fifteen hundred acres of hill-land were burned +and sowed down in mesquit-grass, which is now, at one year old, about +three inches high. Some forty head of cattle, chiefly cows and calves, +and a few two-year-olds, are in the valley and all doing well; the +steers were sold fat to the butcher in December last. The building work +has been done by one carpenter and an assistant, and he has had +occasional help in preparing boards. The doors and windows came from +the mill; and the timbers and boards were got out of the rough logs by +separate contract. The outside work has been done by three men, and an +occasional fourth. The place will support itself this year, if all goes +well, and next year should yield a fair profit. No doubt a more +experienced deviser, and more constant supervision, might have shown a +speedier profit. But I have given these details by way of example in +bringing wild land in, and making a "ranch" of it. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +The Indians at home--The reservation--The Upper Farm--Log-cabins-- +Women must work while men will play--The agency--The boarding-house +--Sunday on the reservation--Indian Sunday-school--Galeese Creek +Jem--The store--Indian farmers--As to the settlement of the Indians +--Suggestions--A crime--Its origin--Its history--The criminals-- +What became of them--Indian teamsters--Numbers on the reservation +--The powers and duties of the agent--Special application. + + +At Rock Creek we are only ten miles from the Siletz Indian agency, and +I have paid many visits there, and have seen a good deal of the working +of the agency, and also know a good many of the Indians pretty well. + +[Sidenote: _THE RESERVATION._] + +First, as to the place itself. There is no question that on the +reservation is some of the best land in the country, and the most +easily improved. At some not very distant geological date, the valley +must have consisted of a series of lakes, connected by rivers. On the +sides of the hills are two clearly defined terraces, and the flat +bottoms, are not covered with heavy timber, either alive or dead. There +must have been one convulsion which let the waters out and reduced the +level to the lower terrace, and then a subsequent one which abolished +the lakes altogether, leaving the Siletz River for the water-course of +the whole district. Entering the reservation from the Rock Creek trail, +there is about six miles of rough and tangled country to get through, +where the hills are broken, and the river foams and breaks every now +and again over rocky ledges. The brush is thick along the river-banks, +and the thimble-berries grow so high and strong that, as you ride by, +you can pluck the berries from the level of your face. + +Mounting a hill, which closes the gorge ahead of you, the whole valley +known as the Upper Farm lies before you. At this point Rock Creek joins +the Siletz itself, which here is a wide and rushing stream, and divides +the valley along its entire length into two unequal parts. The hills +fall back on either side of you and lose their broken forms, becoming +long slopes, draped thickly with the heavy brake-fern. Here and there +stand the houses of the Indians, each with its grain- and hay-fields; +while of cattle of all ages, and little groups of ponies, there is no +lack. + +Except in one or two instances, the houses are log-cabins, and you miss +the staring white paint so common in this country. The barns also are +log-built. + +There is not much show of neatness about the houses, fences, or the +inhabitants. As you ride along, you pass an old crone or two, with bare +feet, and ragged, dirty petticoats, each with a large basket on her +back, supported by a broad band across the forehead, in which she is +carrying home the potatoes she has been digging in the field. + +Round one or two of the doors you see a group of lazy ones, men and +children, lying or squatting on the grass or in the dust of the bare +patch in front--the women you see through the open door at work inside +the house. The voices cease as you come in sight, but your salutation, +either in Chinook or English, is civilly returned, and a quick glance +takes in at once your personal appearance and that of your horse, and +every detail of your equipment. You see a few men at work in the +fields, but only a few. The men are better dressed than the women; torn +or ragged clothes are very rare, and nearly every man has a red or red +and yellow handkerchief loosely knotted round his head. Here come two +cantering after you on their ponies; one carries a rifle, and you +recognize him as one of the reservation Indian police. He asks you your +destination and business, and, as you are bound straight for the +agency, he lets you go on without a pass. They are bound to be strict, +and to see that unauthorized visitors do not enter, and, above all, +that no whisky comes within the reservation boundaries. + +Four miles more along the road, nearly all the way through farms, or by +open pasture-fields, where grass and fern dispute possession, but all +through fine bottom-land, varying in width from one to two or three +miles across, brings you to the agency on the Middle Farm. What timber +is left standing are huge firs, splendid specimens of trees. Here is +the agency, the central spot of the reservation-life. The prominent +building there, two stories high, with overhanging eaves, spick and +span in new white paint and red shingles, is the boarding-house. Here +some forty or fifty Indian children of all ages are collected from the +outlying portions of the reservation, and are clothed, fed, and +trained; their actual teaching goes on in the adjoining school-house. +The low, gray house in the orchard, behind the boarding-house, is where +the agent lives; those other two white houses, each in its garden, are +inhabited by the farmer and the builder or head-carpenter and +millwright. In front of the boarding-house is a pretty, open +grass-field of six or seven acres; and that neat, white structure at +the lower corner of it is the store. The Indians' houses are dotted +round; the fields are better kept and cultivated than the Upper Farm; +there is a notable absence of loafers and stragglers round, and more +farming going on; several teams of horses are in sight. + +[Sidenote: _INDIAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL._] + +The agent receives us kindly, and shows us round everywhere with +interest in his work and its results. One Sunday I was there, and, +hearing the church-bell calling to service, went in. The Sabbath-school +was just beginning in the school-room behind the boarding-house. It was +a mixed assembly of all ages, some ninety or a hundred in all. The +women were better dressed, and the little children had been treated to +all the comforts and care in the way of dress their parents could +muster. There was a great variety of type apparent, for the remnants of +thirteen tribes of the coast and Klamath and Rogue River Indians are +collected on this reservation. Nearly all could speak a little, and +understand more, English--and I think we could have got on quite as +well without the help of the Indian interpreter, who turned our English +into fluent Chinook. This man, named Adams, is an excellent fellow, +well instructed, capable, civil, and, I believe, an earnest Christian +man. The agent asked me to take the Bible-class at the far end of the +room, and soon I was the center of the observant eyes of a dozen Indian +men of all ages. Certain of them were friends of mine. Old Galeese +Creek Jem, a little fellow about five feet high, with a broad face and +a pair of twinkling, laughing eyes, had brought us some salmon in Rock +Creek a few days before, and was under promise to bring us some more on +Monday. Two or three of the others always stopped for a chat as they +passed through. All of them, I noticed, were curious to see how King +George's man would act in this new capacity. I am bound to say that +they showed considerable knowledge and some reflection in the answers +they gave. Perhaps this is not to be wondered at, considering the +resolute efforts made now for several years past to instruct and +Christianize the Indians here. + +At the store I found an excellent stock of all things that the Indians +need, and marked at prices which enabled them to lay their money out so +as to get its fullest value. The assistant told me that they were all +keen traders, and alive to minute differences in quality and texture of +their purchases. + +[Sidenote: _SUGGESTIONS._] + +The great majority of the men now heads of families on this +reservation, engaged in farming a little, and sufficiently instructed +in methods of labor to add considerably to their resources by working +during a part of the year for the outside farmers, who are very ready +to employ them, do not, I consider, either wish or require to be +treated any longer as children or wards of the United States +Government. In my judgment, the time has come to apply a far different +rule. Many to whom I have talked, and others whose opinions I have +gathered from trustworthy sources, desire earnestly to be relieved from +the restrictions and to abandon the privileges of their present +condition. If the lands they now farm, the houses they now dwell in, +could become their private property, I believe that they would support +themselves and their families in respectability. It may be desirable, +it probably is, to prevent their having now the power of free sale and +disposal of such lands, so as to guard them at the outset from +designing purchasers; but I believe the larger part by far would prize +earnestly their separate estate. Why should not an independent officer +have power to establish such families on homesteads of their own, on +sufficient evidence of character and capacity--such men ceasing +thenceforth to have claims for support on the agency as a whole, but +still entitled to all the common benefits of the school, the church, +and the store? The open land of the reservation would be diminished, of +course, but how could it be put to better purpose? I am persuaded that +the sight of their neighbors established on homes of their own would +operate as a strong stimulus to those growing up and entering on life, +to decent and orderly behavior. And as one district of a reservation +became thus settled up, I think the boundaries of the open land devoted +to general Indian purposes might be proportionately removed and +contracted. + +Naturally, this plan would be of slow operation, but I think it would +be sure. I am aware of the powers given to Indians by the homestead act +to obtain land, but the plan differs in important respects from that +set out above. + +The Indians on the Siletz reservation, of which alone I know anything +from personal observation, are not all of the desirable class to whom I +have referred. Some mistiness on the moral law yet remains. For +instance, a murder was committed by three of them a month or two ago. +It took place on the northern and remote part of the reserve, far away +from the agency itself. + +Here lived one who, being a quack-doctor, claimed the character of a +mighty medicine-man, having power to prescribe for both the bodies and +souls of his patients. To him resorted many of his neighbors, whose +faith in his charms and spells was boundless. + +He undertook the cure of the wife of one Charlie, and the poor thing +endured his remedies patiently. But the woman grew worse and worse. +Charlie and his friends debated the case, and at last concluded that, +if the medicine-man could not cure the woman according to his contract, +and that she died, it would prove to them that the doctor was a humbug, +and deserved to die the death. + +The catastrophe arrived, for the woman died. A council was held, and +due inquiry made. The decision was fatal to the doctor, and Charlie and +two friends undertook to secure that no one else should be misled and +defrauded by the quack. + +Proceeding to his house, away up north by Salmon River, near the +sea-coast, the three fell on the medicine-man with clubs, and, despite +threats, prayers, and entreaties, they beat him to death. The news soon +spread, and was carried to the ears of the agent. + +I can not help confessing to a half sympathy with the murderers, though +I am fully aware of the enormity of the crime. It would be a +satisfaction to feel justified in conscience in calling for a bodily +expiation of the false pretenses and ignorant mummeries that did one's +wife to death. And I hear that the Indians in question, while +acknowledging that they knew they were sinning against the laws that +governed life on the reservation, yet evidently had no consciousness of +intrinsic wrong. + +However, they were arrested by the agent, and carried off to Fort +Vancouver for detention and trial. Hence they escaped, but were pursued +by the soldiers. One, being caught, refused to submit, and was shot by +the corporal in charge of the party in the act of flight; the others +were recaptured, and what their fate is or will be I do not yet know. + +But, as one stands on the beach at Newport, and sees a long string of +wagons and teams coming down from the reservation for supplies, each in +charge of its owner, a respectable-looking Indian, it is impossible not +to wish for them the separate life and property they themselves desire. + +The number of Indians on the Siletz reserve is most variously stated; +the estimates range between twenty-four hundred and four hundred. I +should fancy the truth to be nearer the smaller than the larger +figures. It is obvious that the conditions of life, the stage of +civilization, the state of education, the desire or readiness to +acquire or own separate and individual property, must vary in every +reservation. It is impossible to apply the same rules to each, and I do +not presume even to have an opinion regarding reservations other than +the one in our immediate neighborhood. + +[Sidenote: _POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE AGENT._] + +I had no idea till lately of the overwhelming power held by the agent. +No Indian can leave the reservation, however well established his good +character, and for however temporary a purpose, without the pass of the +agent. No one can enter the reservation, even to pass through it, or to +stay a night with one of the Indians at his house, without the same +leave. Work on the roads or in the fields of the reservation is at the +absolute order of the agent; no _corvee_ in ancient France could press +more crushingly on the peasant than could the order of a harsh or stern +agent on his charge. In the choice and erection of houses, in the +furnishing and distribution of stores, in matters of internal police of +all sorts, his word _is_ law. If any one desires to study the working +of an instructed despotism in a partly civilized community, he can see +it carried to its logical extreme on an agency. + +So long as the Indians possess the attributes of children it may be +right so to treat them. But I presume it was intended by the framers of +the existing system that at some date the pupils should put away +childish things and emerge from the condition of tutelage. The question +is, whether that time has not come already in many instances. + +My observations have all had reference to a reservation honestly +governed, as I believe, with the best intentions toward its +inhabitants. But how the system would lend itself to dishonest measures +and arbitrary, even cruel, treatment, it is not hard to imagine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Legislative Assembly--The Governor--His duties--Payment of the +members--Aspect of the city; the Legislature in session--The lobbyist +--How bills pass--How bills do not pass--Questions of the day--Common +carriers--Woman's suffrage--Some of the acts of 1878--Judicial system +of the State--Taxes--Assessments--County officers--The justice of the +peace--Quick work. + + +The Legislative Assembly of the State of Oregon meets for a session of +forty days once in every two years, at Salem, the capital of the State. + +The Assembly consists of a Senate of thirty members and a House of +Representatives of sixty members. Senators are elected for four years +and Representatives for two years; but half the whole number of +Senators go out of office every two years, so that at every biennial +election the whole number of Representatives and half the whole number +of Senators are chosen. + +The proportion of Senators and Representatives pertaining to any county +may be varied after each United States or State census, in accordance +with the results of that census, as showing the number of white +inhabitants in the county or district and their proportion to the total +white population of the State. + +The executive power of the State rests in the Governor, who is chosen +by the white voters in the State every four years. His duties are +various and important. They are defined by the Constitution as follows: +He is commander-in-chief of the military and naval forces of the State, +which forces he may call out to suppress insurrection or to repel +invasion. He must take care that the laws be faithfully executed. He +must inform the Legislative Assembly as to the condition of the State, +and recommend such measures as he deems expedient. He may, on +extraordinary occasions, convene the Legislative Assembly by +proclamation, and must state to both Houses, when assembled, the +purpose for which they are convened. He must transact all necessary +business with the officers of government, and may require information +in writing from the officers of the administrative and military +departments upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective +offices. He has power to grant reprieves, commutations of sentences, +and pardons for all offenses except treason--this last offense being +under the direct control of the Legislative Assembly. He has power to +remit fines and forfeitures--subject in all these cases to his +reporting to the Legislative Assembly his exercise of such powers, and +his reasons therefor. He must sign all bills, and has the power of +veto. The Houses of the Legislative Assembly may, on recommittal, pass +bills over such veto by votes of two thirds of members present. He has +power to fill vacancies occurring in any State office during the recess +of the Legislative Assembly. He must issue writs of election to fill +vacancies occurring in the Legislative Assembly, and all commissions +must issue in the name of the State, signed by the Governor, sealed +with the seal of the State, and attested by the Secretary of State. + +In case of vacancy in the office of Governor the Secretary of State has +to discharge his duties till the next election-time comes round. + +Oregon manifests a good deal of pride in her various Governors; the +portraits of several of them adorn the Capitol building. + +[Sidenote: _THE LEGISLATURE._] + +Members of the Legislature receive pay at the rate of three dollars a +day during the session. The President of the Senate and the Speaker of +the House of Representatives receive five dollars a day. In addition, +they all get mileage for their journeys to and from Salem. + +During the session of the Legislature the capital city is crowded and +busy; a strong and intelligent interest is shown in the meetings of +this miniature Congress, all of which are open to the public. + +The preservation of order, of course, depends largely on the character +and influence of the presiding officers; but the members of both Houses +appeared to me remarkably amenable to discipline. The debates in the +Senate were generally decorous, even to dullness; the House presented a +more lively scene, a good many members being sometimes on their feet at +once. + +The great faults appeared to an outsider to be the tendency to make +very unnecessary speeches, and the constant calling for divisions, by +name, on the most trivial points. Thus, much time was wasted. + +The objectionable feature was the presence of a numerous "lobby." The +persons constituting this institution made themselves seen and heard in +season and out of season; no man or corporation having any bill to +promote could leave it to the uninfluenced consideration of the +members, but sent to Salem paid retainers, to attend the sittings, to +haunt the members, to study their proclivities and intentions, and to +get together and cement such alliances as should secure the passage of +the various bills. + +Bills may be introduced in either House, but may be amended or rejected +in the other; save only that bills for raising revenue must be +introduced in the House of Representatives. + +It becomes a matter for grave consideration in which House a bill +should be introduced, as the prestige of success in one House may help +to carry it through the other. + +Oregon as a State voted Democratic for some years, and that party +commanded a majority in the Legislature. But, prior to the last +elections, namely, those held in 1880, various splits or dissensions in +the Republican party, or among its managers, were got rid of, and a +Republican majority in the Legislature, and the election of a +Republican Representative to Congress, followed. + +The first struggle when the Legislature meets is over the choice of +presiding officers. The chief reason for this interest is that on the +President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House devolves the duty +of nominating the various committees to which bills shall be referred. +There are committees on finance, Federal relations, commerce, +railroads, and several others. The Houses pay some respect to the +report of a committee on a bill--especially if it be unanimous; but the +chief province of the committees appeared to me to be to obtain +possession of a bill, and then according to the private views of the +committee or of a majority of its members to expedite, or hinder, and +perhaps entirely prevent, its passage. And thus, again, the power or +rather the influence of the presiding officers was felt. + +Every kind of parliamentary tactics was practiced; no device that I +ever heard of was unknown and unused by these far-Western politicians. +One thing was very noticeable, namely, that the great fights of the +session were over matters involving, or supposed to involve, private +interests. + +[Sidenote: _THE LUNATIC ASYLUM._] + +Thus, for many years it has been the custom in Oregon for the State to +let out to a physician the care of the insane, he receiving from the +State so many dollars for each patient, the cost to the State being +collected from the responsible relatives or from the estate of the +insane person. As the population of the State increased, of course, the +number of the insane grew also, till about three hundred patients were +in the doctor's care. + +Not a whisper was heard against the management: there was good +supervision; the patients were well and wisely treated, and the +percentage of cures quite up to the average of the most successful +public asylums. But many persons thought the time had come to have a +State asylum, with its buildings, and committee of management, and its +staff. So a bill was introduced to this end; the physician who was then +contracting, and for many years had contracted, with the State for the +care of the insane, objected. Then rushed in the lobbyists, and every +stage in the struggle was watched, and wrangled over, and schemed for, +as if the whole future of the State depended on the result. In spite of +the efforts of the doctor and his following, the State-asylum advocates +won the day, and ultimately the bill passed. + +Plans for the new asylum have since been prepared, and the building is +begun. Another vast question, which divided the Legislature into two +hostile camps, was whether or not the narrow-gauge railway company +should carry an act giving it the use of a piece of ground at Portland, +called the _levee_, which had been presented to that city a few years +ago, but now lay practically unused. The railroad company had marked +the ground for its terminal purposes; the city of Portland objected. +This fight was most bitter, but ended by the country members joining in +support of the bill, and carrying it over the heads of the Portland +members by swinging majorities--animated largely by a spirit of +resentment at the Portland members having been very active in striving +to defeat a bill for preventing unfair discrimination by railroad and +steamboat corporations throughout the State. + +This was another of the burning questions. The transportation business +of the State is now largely controlled by one great corporation, called +"The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company," formed by amalgamating +divers ocean and river steamboat companies, and purchasing or +constructing detached lines of railroad. + +The two lines of railroad running north and south up and down the +Willamette Valley not being as yet absorbed, a lively competition +existed so far as river and railroads ran parallel. Outside the limits +of competition the corporations took it out of the people by what they +thought were oppressive exactions. + +Further, the headquarters of both companies being in the city of +Portland, and their course of transportation carrying all the traffic +of the State in and out through the Portland gate, the continuance of +this state of things, and the support of the Railway and Navigation +Company, became the great object of the Portland members of the +Legislature, as well as of those members who were for any reason +influenced by the corporations. Hence a deep-lying division of interest +between them and the country members. + +[Sidenote: _COMMON CARRIERS._] + +These last desired to pass the bill in question, not only to rectify +existing unfairness, and to prevent the repetition of former +oppressions, but as rendering more easy the task of whoever should +propose to create competing lines, which might connect with or +intersect those of the present companies. This end was to be gained by +providing that all transportation agencies, of whatever kind, should +convey, without preference in time, rates, or method of delivery, all +passengers and goods presented for transit over the whole or any +portion of their lines. It left the hands of all companies entirely +unfettered as to what rates they should charge on fares or freights, +but insisted that all traffic should be evenly and proportionately +charged. + +The bill was introduced in the Senate, and passed its earlier stages +triumphantly. Then the corporations and the Portland merchants awoke to +the possibilities of competition; stimulated also by the knowledge that +the passage of the bill was desired by the promoters of the Oregon +Pacific Railroad, designed to bisect the State from east to west, and +to have its outport at Yaquina Bay. What an outcry arose! Every +argument that could be tortured by the lobbyists into a criticism of +the bill was openly and secretly brought to bear on the members. Its +enemies got it referred to a hostile committee, from which it was with +great difficulty recalled. Time was asked to understand a bill which +consisted of but twenty-four lines. Motions for adjournment were made, +and divided on again and again to waste time. But the most ridiculous +scene was reached when after the debate on the third reading had +virtually closed, and the final vote to determine the fate of the bill +under the "previous question" was just going to be put, the President +of the Senate, a stout Jewish gentleman from Portland, of German +extraction, descended to the floor of the Senate to deliver a panting, +incoherent tirade of abuse, not on the merits of the bill, but against +the Oregon Pacific Railroad and every one connected with it; denouncing +as a "lie, and a fraud of the first wather, ghentelmen," a statement +made by a body of traders and farmers in the valley, and submitted by +them to the United States Board of Engineers, that the grain which +would seek an outlet over the proposed road would amount to six million +bushels annually--which statement had been quoted by the Oregon Pacific +Railroad Company in their prospectus. Shall I ever forget the look of +blank amazement on the faces of the Senators while the President's five +minutes lasted, and he gesticulated and foamed! However, the bill was +lost by a vote of 16 to 14; one Senator having "ratted" at the last +moment, to the disgust of a large body of the members of the House, who +were waiting to seize the bill and carry it up-stairs into their +chamber. + +[Sidenote: _SOME LEGISLATIVE ACTS._] + +Among other resolutions carried was one in favor of woman suffrage--a +triumph celebrated immediately by a supper and reception given to the +members of the Legislature in the Opera-House at Salem by the ladies +who had been pressing forward the resolution, and advocating it in some +cases by a form of lobbying which, however legitimate, I should fancy +some of the members must have found it hard to resist. Heaven forbid +that it should ever fall to my lot to hold opposing views and bring +forward hostile argument to a group of ladies whose heads were as full +of logic and sense as their faces and forms of smiles and +attractiveness! To give some general idea of the scope of the State +legislation, let me quote the titles of a few of the acts of the +session of 1878: + +"An act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to provide for the +Construction of the Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad.' + +"An act to promote medical science. + +"An act to protect the stock-growing interests of the State of Oregon. + +"An act to regulate salmon-fisheries on the waters of the Columbia +River and its tributaries. + +"An act to secure creditors a just division of the estates of debtors +who convey to assignees for the benefit of creditors. + +"An act for the support of the State University. + +"An act defining the rights and fixing the liabilities of married +women, and the relation between husband and wife. + +"An act to authorize foreign corporations to do business and execute +their corporate powers within the State of Oregon. + +"An act to provide for liens for laborers, common carriers, and other +persons on personal property. + +"An act to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases +among sheep." + +Before finishing this chapter I wish to add a few words on the judicial +system of the State. + +The judicial power of the State is vested in the Supreme Court, circuit +courts, and county courts. The Supreme Court sits at Salem, to hear +appeals from the circuit courts. It now consists of three judges, +elected in 1880 to serve six years, four years, and three years +respectively, their successors holding office for six years. + +The State is divided, I believe, into five circuits, and for each a +judge is elected to serve for six years. + +The circuit courts have all judicial power, authority, and jurisdiction +not specifically vested in any other court, and have appellate +jurisdiction over the county courts. + +[Sidenote: _COUNTY OFFICERS._] + +The county court consists of the county judge, who holds office for +four years, and two county commissioners. Together they transact county +business, and have a jurisdiction over civil cases where not more than +five hundred dollars is in issue, and over the smaller class of +criminal offenses where the punishment does not extend to death or to +imprisonment in the penitentiary. + +The Supreme Court of the United States has a district judge presiding +over a court at Portland. That court is the arena for trying all cases +where one of the parties is not a citizen of the State, and also all +cases in which the Federal laws and Constitution, as distinguished from +the State system, are involved. + +The police of the State is in the hands of the sheriffs and their +deputies, the sheriff being elected by popular vote every two years. +The city of Portland has a regular police force of its own. The other +towns in the State appoint marshals, who perform police duties within +the city limits. + +The sheriffs are also tax-collectors. It should be added that the State +and county revenue, as distinct from Federal revenue, is collected in +one payment by an assessment of so many mills (or thousandths) in the +dollar on the total amount of property of every kind owned in the State +by the tax-payer. The amount on which each man has to pay is +ascertained by the county assessor, in consultation with the tax-payer. +No form of property is allowed to escape, but a reasonable valuation is +placed on possessions of a doubtful or fluctuating nature; and +exemptions are allowed for household furniture and clothes and small +possessions to the extent of three hundred dollars. + +The county clerks have also to stand the racket of election every two +years. In Benton County we are fortunate enough to have the services of +a gentleman who has been reelected eight times. His long experience in +the office makes him an absolute dictionary of information on the +history of every farm in the county. He is, to my mind, an illustration +of the absurdity of this election and reelection. Every two years he +has to waste a month in going over the county, spouting on every stump, +to please the electors. He has had to endure several contests, evoked +by the sayings, "It's well to have a change now and then," "He's been +there long enough; let some one else have a show," etc. But any +new-comer into his office would have to spend a year or two in getting +up the very information about the county which the experienced official +has at his very finger-ends. And his long enjoyment of the office is +the only reason I have heard given for a change. + +In the county clerk's office are kept the record-books for the county, +and also the maps of the various townships, received from the chief +office at Oregon City. In the record-books are copied all deeds +affecting the title to land in the county. The chief effect of thus +recording deeds is to give such public notice of the object of the deed +that no man subsequently dealing with a fraudulent vender can he +treated as an innocent purchaser without notice, to the injury of the +real purchaser. All deeds affecting land have to be executed in the +presence of two witnesses, and acknowledged before a county clerk or a +notary public. The interest of a wife in her husband's property is +carefully guarded; and, in order to give proper title, the wife has to +join in conveying land to a purchaser. + +In addition to the various judicial officers above described, there are +the not-to-be-omitted justices of the peace. Their functions are +extensive: among others, they can perform marriages, and at short +notice, too. I have heard of one justice, known for his expeditious +ways, before whose house a runaway couple halted on their wagon. The +man shouted for the justice, who appeared. "Say, judge, can you marry +us right away?" "I guess so, my son." "Well, then, let's have it." +Whereupon the justice mounted the wagon-wheel, and there stood with his +foot on the hub. "What's your name?" "Jehoshaphat Smith." "Well, then, +wilt thou have this woman, so help you ----?" "Yes." "My fee's a +dollar; drive on." The justice in the city tries for assaults and +drunkenness, and administers for the latter seven days in the +calaboose--a hole of a place in a back alley--detention there no +trifle, especially if, like a tipsy little friend of mine, he finds, on +awaking with his customary headache, that his room-mate is a big +countryman, very drunk, who has the reputation of "smashing everything +up" when he has got what some here call "his dibs." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Land laws--Homesteads and preemption--How to choose and obtain +Government land--University land--School land--Swamp land--Railroad +and wagon-road grants--Lieu lands--Acreages owned by the various +companies. + + +To make this book useful, I must run the risk of making it tedious by +some account of the land system relating to the preemption and +homestead laws applicable to the public lands of the State. + +It is true that, long since, the prairie-lands of the Willamette Valley +have all been taken up and are in private ownership. But there are very +large tracts indeed of public lands in the hilly and wooded portions of +Western Oregon still open; there is also an abundance of open land in +the fine valleys of Eastern and Southern Oregon available. There are +still upward of thirty million acres unsurveyed out of the sixty +million nine hundred thousand which the State contains. + +There are five United States land-offices in Oregon: namely, at Oregon +City, for the upper and central parts of the Willamette Valley, +including also Northwestern Oregon generally; at Roseburg, for +Southwestern Oregon; at Linkville, for the southeastern portion; at La +Grande, for Eastern Oregon, strictly so called; and at the Dalles, for +the great counties of Wasco and Umatilla--the northern part of the +State. At each of the land-offices a register and a receiver are +stationed; and the maps of the district are also deposited there for +general reference. + +When the settler has ascertained that a piece of land is eligible--that +is, that it will suit him not only for clearing and farming, but also +to build his house on and live there--he goes to the neighbors to find +out the nearest corner posts or stones, and thence by compass he can +determine roughly the boundary-lines. The land must lie in a compact +form, not less than forty acres wide; thus he can take his one hundred +and sixty acres in the shape of a clean quarter of a section or of an +L, or in a strip across the section of forty acres wide; but he can not +pick out forty acres here, and a detached forty there, and so on. + +[Sidenote: _HOMESTEADS AND PREEMPTION._] + +He then goes to the county clerk's office, where duplicates of the +land-office maps are kept. He finds out there with sufficient +correctness if the piece he wants is open to settlement. The +land-office is the only source of quite certain information, because it +is possible that a claim may have been put on file at the land-office, +particulars of which have not yet reached the county clerk. Being +satisfied that the land is open, the intending settler must next +determine whether to preempt or homestead. If he desires to preempt, +and by payment to Government of $1.25 per acre for public land outside +the limits of railroad and wagon-road grants, or $2.50 per acre for +land within those limits, to obtain an immediate title, he must be sure +that he does not fall within the two exceptions; for no one can acquire +a right of preemption who is the proprietor of three hundred and twenty +acres of land in any State or Territory, nor can any one who quits or +abandons his residence on his own land to reside on the public land in +the same State or Territory. + +But, first of all, he or she must have one of the following personal +qualifications: the settler must be the head of a family, or a widow, +or a single person; must be over the age of twenty-one years, and a +citizen of the United States, or have filed a declaration of intention +to become such. Further, the settler must make a settlement on the +public land open to preemption, must inhabit and improve the same, and +erect a dwelling thereon. + +No person can claim a preemption right more than once. But the settler +on land which has been surveyed, and which he desires to preempt, must +file his statement as to the fact of his settlement within three months +from the date of his settlement, and he must make his proof and pay for +his land within thirty-three months from the date of his settlement. +The fee of $1.50 is payable to the register, and a similar fee to the +receiver at the land-office on filing the declaratory statement above +mentioned. It should be added that, if the tract has been offered for +sale by the Government, payment must be made for the preempted land +within thirteen months from the date of settlement. If the settler +desires to obtain a homestead, he must come within the following +description: the head of a family, or who has arrived at the age of +twenty-one years, and is a citizen of the United States, or who has +duly filed his declaration of intention to become such. + +The quantity of land thus obtainable is 160 acres, which is, at the +time his application is made, open to preemption, whether at $1.25 an +acre or at $2.50 an acre. There was until recently a distinction +between land within the limits of railroad or wagon-road grants or +outside of such limits, only 80 acres of the former class being +obtainable, but the distinction is now done away. The applicant has to +make affidavit, on entering the desired land, that he possesses the +above qualifications, that the application is made for his exclusive +use and benefit, and that his entry is made for the purpose of actual +settlement and cultivation. He has also to pay fees of $22 for 160 +acres when entry is made, and $12 when the certificate issues; and of +$11 for 80 acres when entry is made, and $6 when certificate issues. +Such fees apply to land of the $2.50 price. They are reduced to totals +of $22 for 160 acres and $11 for 80 acres, for land of the $1.25 price. + +Before a certificate is given or a patent issued for a homestead, five +years must have elapsed from the date of entry. Affidavit has to be +made that the applicant has resided upon or cultivated the land for the +term of five years immediately succeeding the time of filing the +affidavit, and that no part of the land has been alienated. The patent +gives an absolute title. In case of the death of the settler before the +title to the preemption or homestead is perfected, the grant will be +made to the widow, if she continues residence and complies with the +original conditions; if both father and mother die, leaving infant +children, they will be entitled to the right and fee in the land, and +the guardian or executor may at any time within two years after the +death of the surviving parent, and in accordance with the laws of the +State, sell the land for the benefit of the children; and the purchaser +may obtain the United States patent. + +From what has been stated, it will be seen that no title to land can be +obtained from preemptor or homesteader who has not perfected his title. +Nothing can be done to carry out such a transaction except for the +holder to formally abandon his right, which can be done by a simple +proceeding at the land-office, and for the successor to take the +chances of commencing an entirely fresh title for the land in question. +Another point to be noticed is that the homestead is not liable for the +debts of the holder contracted prior to the issuing of the patent. The +law allows but one homestead privilege: a settler relinquishing or +abandoning his claim can not thereafter make a second homestead entry. +If a settler has settled on land and filed his preemption declaration +for the same, he may change his filing into a homestead, if he +continues in good faith to comply with the preemption laws until the +change is effected; and the time during which he has been on the land +as a preemptor will be credited to him toward the five years for a +homestead. + +The above information is obtained from the statutes of the United +States, and is generally applicable. The rates of fees given are those +which apply to Oregon, and vary slightly in different States. + +[Sidenote: _SCHOOL AND RAILROAD LAND._] + +Besides the public lands open to homestead and preemption, a settler +may purchase school lands, university lands, State lands, or railroad +or wagon-grant lands. In each township of thirty-six sections of 640 +acres each, the two numbered 16 and 36 are devoted to school purposes, +and are sold by the Board of School Commissioners for the State to +settlers in quantities not exceeding 320 acres to any one applicant, +and at the best prices obtainable; such lands are valued by the county +school superintendents for the information of the commissioners, but +the minimum price is two dollars an acre. A further number of sections +has been granted by the United States to the State of Oregon for the +support of the University and of the Agricultural College. The greater +part of these lands has been sold; some still remains; the average +price of previous sales is somewhat under two dollars an acre. The +State also possesses some further lands donated by the United States +for various purposes, but the quantity is not extensive--except of +lands known as swamp lands. Where the greater portion of a section is +properly describable as wet and unfit for cultivation, it is called +swamp land. Such lands have been granted by the United States to the +State of Oregon, and are not open to preemption or homesteading. A very +free interpretation is put on the words "wet and unfit for +cultivation," and a very large acreage is included. The State has given +rights of purchase over large bodies of these lands to different +parties, and at prices which I have heard bear but a small proportion +to their real value. At every session of the Legislature some fresh +bills are brought in for dealing with the swamp lands, and a vast +amount of "lobbying" goes on, which I suppose some people or other find +a profit in. The great bulk of these lands are situated in Southeastern +Oregon, in the vicinity of the lakes, such as Klamath Lake and Goose +Lake; but a good many acres are scattered throughout Eastern and +Southern Oregon. + +[Sidenote: _ACREAGES OWNED BY COMPANIES._] + +The largest land-owners in the State are the railroads and the military +wagon-road companies. The great grant to the Oregon and California +Railroad extends over the alternate sections within twenty miles on +either side of the road, to the extent of 12,800 acres for each mile of +railroad. The total estimated amount of this grant is 3,500,000 acres. +The West-side Railroad, called properly the Oregon Central, has a grant +estimated at 300,000 acres. The prices at which these companies sell +these lands do not exceed seven dollars per acre; and the amount may he +spread over ten years, carrying seven per cent. interest. The +wagon-roads have grants the amounts of which are stated as follows: + + ACRES. + + Oregon Central Military Road Company 720,000 + The Dalles Military Road Company 556,800 + Corvallis and Yaquina Bay Wagon-Road Company 76,800 + Coos Bay Military Road Company 50,000 + The Willamette Valley and Cascade Mountains + Military Wagon-Road Company 850,000 + +This last grant is attached to the road company described in a previous +chapter. The Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad Company also has a +grant of all the tide and overflowed lands in Benton County, the amount +being estimated at about 100,000 acres of alluvial land. In many cases +the companies were unable to obtain the full amount of acreage which +their grants give them out of the odd-numbered sections within the belt +covered by the grant. The alternative is for them to get what are +called "lieu-lands," outside of their declared limits. + +So rapid is the tide of settlement, especially in Eastern Oregon, that +the land-offices are thronged with applicants. A young Englishman who +came out with me wrote from the Dalles to us last spring that on three +successive Fridays he had come in from his range to file his homestead +application, and after waiting the whole day he had been unable to get +the business done, and had to return to his quarters disappointed. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +The "Web-foot State"--Average rainfall in various parts--The rainy +days in 1879 and 1880--Temperature--Seasons--Accounts and figures +from three points--Afternoon sea-breezes--A "cold snap"--Winter-- +Floods--Damage to the river-side country--Rare thunder--Rarer +wind-storms--The storm of January, 1880. + + +I should think that no State is so much scoffed at as Oregon on the +score of wet weather. Our neighbors in California call us "Web-feet," +and the State is called "The Web-foot State." Emigrants are warned not +to come here unless they want to live like frogs, up to their necks in +water, and much more to the like effect. And this question as to the +quantity of rain is one always asked in the letters of inquiry we get +here from all parts of the world. It is impossible to give a general +answer, because the rainfall varies in the State from seventy-two +inches at Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, to twelve inches +on some of the elevated plains of extreme Eastern Oregon. Western +Oregon also varies in its different parts; the rainfall of seventy-two +inches at Astoria sinking by pretty regular stages southward to +thirty-two inches at Jacksonville. + +[Sidenote: _AVERAGE RAINFALL._] + +The average rainfall for four years reported by the United States +Signal-Service Station at Portland is 52-82/100 inches. At Eola near +Salem the average of seven years is 371-98/100 inches. At Corvallis the +average of the last three years, taken at the Agricultural College by +Professor Hawthorne, is 31-62/100 inches; but this last low average is +produced by the fact of the months of October and November, 1880, +having been unusually dry. The average rainfall for October, in 1878 +and 1879, was 2-86/100 inches, and for November 4-12/100 inches; while +in 1880 the rainfall for those months was only 80/100 and 50/100 of an +inch. + +The result of the late setting in of the rains in the fall of 1880 was +that the grass was very late in resuming its growth, and consequently +feed for stock during the early part of the winter of 1880-'81 was very +scanty. But, perhaps, it is better to give the number of snowy and +rainy days annually occurring, as that is what at any rate the feminine +part of the families of intending emigrants desire to know. During +1879, from May to December, there were at Corvallis thirty-five rainy +days and five snowy. During 1880 there were sixty-nine rainy days and +nine snowy. In these figures are taken in several days which were only +showery at intervals, and there are omitted several days when a slight +shower or two fell, with bright sun in between, but which it would not +be fair to call rainy days. But the distribution of the rain is of more +consequence, both to the farmer and to the mere resident, than the +aggregate. So I will set out the rainy and snowy days for the several +months, at Corvallis: + +1879.--From May 17th to 31st, 5; June, 1; July, 2; August, 3; +September, 4; October, 2; November, 7; December, 11, and 5 snowy. + +1880.--January, 10, and 3 snowy; February, 5, and 2 snowy; March, 5, +and 3 snowy; April, 10; May, 8; June, 2; July, 1; August, 2; September, +4; October, 5; November, 5; December, 12, and 1 snowy. + +1881.--January, 9 rainy, and 2 snowy; February, 16, 1 snowy; March, 5 +showery, no steady rain. + +At Eola, near Salem, about forty miles north of this, the figures +differ slightly, as will be seen from the following table. But this is +an average of the seven years, from 1871 to 1878: + + MONTHS. Number of Snowy days. Rainfall, + rainy days. in inches. + + January 14.6 1.8 5.1 + February 14.4 .6 5.7 + March 17.4 .6 6.1 + April 11.5 .28 3.1 + May 9.5 0 2.0 + June 5. 0 1.2 + July 1.8 0 .24 + August 2.1 0 .14 + September 3.4 0 .78 + October 7.4 0 2.93 + November 12.2 .58 5.56 + December 12.5 1 5.13 + +[Sidenote: _TEMPERATURE._] + +The next question is as to temperature. The following figures speak for +themselves--the highest and lowest temperature in each month, and the +monthly range, reported by the United States Signal-Service Station, +Portland, Oregon: + + Legend: + + H = Highest + L = Lowest + R = Range + + 1874. 1875. 1876. + + MONTHS. H L R H L R H L R + + January 56 deg.26 deg.30 deg.53 deg. 3 deg.50 deg.58 deg.20 deg.38 deg. + February 60 31 29 54 24 30 59 32 27 + March 65 33 32 55 34 21 59 33 26 + April 77 37 40 83 28 55 67 33 34 + May 83 43 40 75 40 35 82 36 46 + June 82 45 37 82 39 43 99 45 54 + July 88 49 39 95.5 46 49.5 90 49 41 + August 84 46 38 88 46 42 84 43 51 + September 88.5 42 46 86 44 42 90 44 46 + October 77 32 45 78 36 42 79 42 37 + November 63 27 36 63 28 35 63 34 29 + December 57 31 26 63 33 30 56 24 32 + +For comparison's sake we give a similar table for 1878, 1879, and 1880, +kept at the Corvallis Agricultural College: + + Legend: + + H = Highest + L = Lowest + R = Range + + 1878. 1879. 1880. + + MONTHS. H L R H L R H L R + + January 55 deg.20 deg.35 deg.46 deg.20 deg.26 deg.50 deg.24 deg.26 deg. + February 60 34 26 52 25 27 44 25 19 + March 67 32 35 66 32 34 54 24 30 + April 71 31 40 67 32 35 76 29 47 + May 80 34 46 72 36 36 72 32 40 + June 92 42 50 73 42 31 85 40 45 + July 79 53 26 90 45 45 81 42 39 + August 81 52 29 83 43 40 84 38 42 + September 73 38 35 84 42 42 80 38 42 + October 61 32 29 64 28 36 68 28 40 + November 55 30 25 55 18 37 56 12 44 + December 54 19 35 56 8 48 56 20 36 + +The averages of temperature for the four seasons at these three points, +Portland, Eola, and Corvallis, are as follows: + + POINTS. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. + + Portland 51.9 deg. 65.3 deg. 52.8 deg. 40.1 deg. + Eola 48.3 63.7 51.2 38.2 + Corvallis 52 67 53 41 + +The difference between the extremes is therefore for Portland, 25.2 deg.; +for Eola, 25.5 deg.; for Corvallis, 26 deg. Contrast this with similar +figures from Davenport, in the State of Iowa. The winter mean there is +19.9 deg., the summer 75.2 deg.; showing a difference of 55.3 deg. + +At Corvallis, throughout the summer months and till late in the fall, a +daily sea-breeze springs up from the west about one o'clock in the +afternoon, and continues till night closes in, and then dies off +gradually. However pleasant this is to the settler heated in the +hay- or harvest-field, it brings its perils too. I give an earnest +caution not to be betrayed into sitting down in the shade to cool down, +with coat and vest off, while this sea-breeze fans a heated brow, or a +sore attack of rheumatism or its near relative, neuralgia, will very +likely make you rue the day. Rather put on your warm coat and button it +close, and let the cooling process be a very gradual one. But if, by +your own forgetfulness of simple precautions, you have taken cold, and +rheumatism has you in its grip, do not turn round and abuse a climate +which is one of the most delightful in the whole temperate zone, but +blame yourself, and yourself only. + +In the winter of 1879-'80 we had a "cold snap." The day before +Christmas the west wind suddenly veered round northward. What a bitter +blast came straight from the icy north! The cattle set up their poor +backs, and crowded, sterns to the wind, into the warmest corners of the +open fields, and there stood with rough coats and drooping heads, the +pictures of passive endurance. In two days the ice bore, and everything +that could be called a skate was tied or screwed on to unaccustomed +feet; and a beautiful display of fancy skating followed, as all the +"hoodlums" of the town sought out the Crystal Lake or Fisher's Lake. + +Then came the snow; and every one left off skating and took to +sleighing. The livery-stable keepers made fortunes by hiring out the +one or two real sleighs; but poor or economical people constructed +boxes of all shapes and fastened them on runners, making up in the +merriment of the passengers for the uncouthness of the vehicles. + +But the snow, too, only lay a few days, and we were glad when our old +friend the rain fell and restored to us the familiar prospect. For +houses here are not constructed for extremes of temperature in either +direction; and hot, dry air in the sitting-room, where the close stove +crackles and grows red-hot, is a bad preparation for a bedroom with ten +degrees of frost in it, or the outside air with the icy wind bringing a +piece of Mount Hood and its glaciers into your very lungs. + +The only good thing was, that it lasted so short a time. And during +this last winter of 1880-'81 we have had no such experience. + +[Sidenote: _FLOODS._] + +Instead, we have had trial of floods--the highest since 1860-'61, the +year of the great flood. After about twenty-four hours' snow, the wind +went round to the south, and a soft, warm rain followed for nearly +thirty-six hours more. This melted the snow, both on the Cascades and +on and round Mary's Peak. The Mackenzie, which is the southeast fork of +the Willamette, and comes straight from the Cascades, brought down a +raging torrent into the more peaceful Willamette. All the tributary +streams followed in their turn. Telegrams brought news from Eugene +City, forty miles up the river, every hour, "River rising, six inches +an hour." Soon the banks would not hold the water, which spread over +the surrounding country. + +Corvallis stands high on the river's bank; but looking across over the +low-lying lands in Linn County, nothing but a sea of moving, brown +water appeared, in which the poor farmhouses and barns stood as islands +in the midst. The settlers who were warned in time cleared their +families out of their houses, and left their dwellings and furniture to +their fate. The horses and cattle that could be reached in time were +swum across the river to safety on this side, and an excited crowd +lined the river-bank, watching the swimming beasts and helping them to +land, while every skiff that could be pressed into the service was +engaged in bringing across the women and children and their most valued +possessions. One man lost fourteen horses which had been turned out on +some swampy land four miles below the city; others cattle, sheep, and +pigs; and none within reach of the inundation--that is, within a belt +of low land averaging two miles from the river in extent--but had their +fences moved or carried away and heaped in wild confusion. The worst +case I heard of was of a poor fellow from the East, who had just +invested his all in a farm of fat and fertile bottom-land a few miles +from Salem. He had repaired his house and furnished it, had stocked his +farm, and had written for wife and family to join him. The rain +descended, the flood came; higher and higher it rose, sweeping off +fences, drowning cattle; it entered the house and spoiled all of its +contents. The unlucky owner had to betake himself to a tree, whence he +was picked by a passing skiff the next morning, bewailing his fate, and +offering his farm as a free gift to any one who would give him enough +dollars to return to the Eastern State whence he had just come. + +But nearly all the mischief to stock came from neglect of timely +warning. No one but could have driven all off to safety, for the +water-worn belt was a very narrow one. Some men gained largely by the +deposit left by the flood on their land, serving to renew for many +years the productive qualities; others were in a sad plight--the soil +being washed away, deep gullies plowed, and a thick coating of stones +and river-gravel left. + +The river rose high enough to flood the lower floors of the wheat +warehouses from Rosebury to Portland, and in the river-side towns +caused a great deal of discomfort and some loss; but no loss of life +resulted. It carried away the new bridges over the Santiam River just +built by the narrow-gauge railroad, and washed away several miles of +their new track. It also broke through several viaducts on the +East-side Railroad, and stopped postal communication for a day or two. + +[Sidenote: _THE "CHINOOK."_] + +The winter of 1880-'81 has proved disastrous to stock in Eastern +Oregon. As a general rule, the sheep and cattle ranges are covered with +bunch-grass, which grows from ten to twenty-four inches high during the +summer months, and is dried by the sun into natural hay. When winter +comes it brings with it snow from six to eighteen inches deep, and this +lies light and powdery over the face of the country. The cattle and +sheep scratch the covering off, and feed on the hay beneath. The +prevailing winds in the winter there are north and south, and neither +melts the snow. But now and again comes the west or southwest +"Chinook." It breathes softly on the snow, and a quivering haze rises +from the melting mass. When the "Chinook" blows long enough to melt the +snow away, all goes well. But this last winter, after blowing for a day +or two and melting the surface, it gave place to a biting blast from +the north, which froze all hard again. The unfortunate sheep and cattle +tried in vain to scratch through the icy crust, and died from +starvation within but a few inches of their food. + +In speaking of the rainfall of the State it is right to mention a +considerable stretch of land lying on the east side of, and directly +under the lee of, the Cascade Mountains. Here there falls but six or +eight inches of rain in the year. The residents have, therefore, to +depend on irrigation for fertility of soil. They have abundant +facilities for this, as many streams and creeks flow down from the +Cascades. With irrigation, very heavy crops of grain (as much as forty +bushels of wheat to the acre) are produced. + +Western Oregon enjoys a remarkable immunity from thunder-storms. They +are of very rare occurrence, and when the thunder is heard it is +rumbling away in the mountains many miles off. We have seen some summer +lightning on a few evenings, gleaming away over the hills. + +Wind-storms, too, very seldom visit us. In January, 1880, one curiously +local storm swept from the south through the valley. It bore most +severely on Portland. A friend there told me that he was looking across +the river to East Portland, where the Catholic church stood with its +spire, a prominent object. As he looked, the blast struck it, and, as +he expressed it, the building melted away before his eyes. Riding +through the green fir-timber in the hills a few days after the storm, I +saw several places where the limbs were torn off, and even great trees +blown down in a straight line, their neighbors within but a few feet of +them standing unhurt. + +[Sidenote: _PLEASANT SPRING WEATHER._] + +The Government records in twenty-five years only show three winds +blowing over the State with a velocity of forty-five miles an hour and +a force of ten pounds to the square foot. But what a spring we have had +this year--1881! While the papers have been full of snow-storms and +floods in other places, here we have had balmy sunshine and mild +nights, with occasional showers. The old residents call it real Oregon +weather, and say it always was like this till two or three years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The State Fair of 1880--Salem--The ladies' pavilion--Knock-'em-downs +_a l'Americaine_--Self-binders--Thrashing-machines--Rates of speed-- +Cost--Workmanship--Prize sheep--Fleeces--Pure _versus_ graded sheep +--California short-horns--Horses--American breed or Percheron-- +Comparative measurements--The races--Runners--Trotters--Cricket in +public--Unruly spectators. + + +About two miles from the city of Salem, the capital of the State, are +the fair-grounds. Round a large inclosure of some fifteen acres of +grass-land there runs a belt of oak-wood. Here, inside the +boundary-fence, are camping-places without end. Until 1880 the State +Fair has been held in October, but it was then changed to July, in the +interval between the hay- and the grain-harvest, and so as to take in +the great national festival on the 4th of July. Every one goes to the +fair, which lasts a week, for every one's tastes are consulted. The +ladies have a pavilion with displays of fruit and flowers; of +needle-work and pictures; of sewing-machines and musical instruments of +all kinds; of household implements and "notions" various. The children +delight in an avenue of booths and caravans, where the juggler swallows +swords, and a genius in academic costume and mortar-board hat teaches +arithmetical puzzles and the art of memory in a stentorian voice. Here +is the wild-beast show, and there the American substitute for the Old +World knock-'em-downs. A canvas-sided court, five-and-twenty feet +across, contains the game. At the farther side, on a continuous ledge, +stands a row of hideous life-size heads and shoulders labeled with the +names and painted in the supposed likeness of the prominent political +characters of the time. A great soft-leather ball supplies the place of +the throwing-sticks; and for a quarter (of a dollar) you can have a +couple of dozen throws at the pet object of your aversion. As fast as +the doll is knocked over his proprietor sticks him up again; while an +admiring crowd applaud the hits, or groan, according to their political +colors. + +Here is a great opening for skill, and also (say it in a whisper) for +trifling bets. A man I know was "dead broke" when he went to the +knock-'em-down, but by straight throws and cunning he gained a couple +of dollars in a quarter of an hour, and so got another day in the fair. + +The real business of the fair appeals straight to the farmer and +mechanic. + +The long rows of lumber-built sheds are filled with choice sheep, +cattle, horses, pigs, poultry. The race-track on the farther side of +the grounds is crowded also every afternoon, while many a rivalry +between the running or trotting horses of the various counties is +decided. + +[Sidenote: _SELF-BINDERS._] + +The implements, too, are a fine show. The "self-binders" display their +powers by catching up and tying over and over again the same sheaf of +grain before a curious crowd, far better instructed than you would +suppose in the intricacies of construction and neatness and rapidity of +performance of the various machines. Last year the great attraction was +the Osborne twine-binder, for every one was interested in getting rid +of the wire that has been injuring the thrashers and hurting the +digestion of the stock. It was voted a good worker, but complicated, as +far as we could judge; and the general verdict seemed to be that +greater simplicity of make and fewer parts to get out of order would +soon be brought to bear either by these or other makers. + +There were two or three thrashing-machines displayed--the Buffalo +Pitts, the Minnesota Chief, and one or two others. The great +distinctions between these and the machines of English makers, such as +Clayton and Shuttleworth, lie in the American drum and cylinder being +armed with teeth and driven at a rate of speed from twice to three +times that used in the English machine. The straw is, of course, beaten +here into shreds between the revolving teeth, and its length and +consistency far more completely destroyed than in the Clayton and +Shuttleworth, and so loses much of its value for storing and feeding +purposes. On the other hand, the grain is better cleaned, and the +product per hour in clean grain is double that of the English machine. +The American makers authorize as much as fifteen hundred bushels per +day with horsepower, and up to three thousand with steam. There were +several horse-powers shown, for use with the thrashing-machines; these +left nothing to be desired for simplicity and economy of power. The +thrashing-machines are of various sizes and prices, ranging from $750 +to $1,500 in value. + +An idea prevails in some parts that the mowers and reapers of American +make are slighter and more fragile than those of English construction. +Such is not the result of our observation and experience here. On the +contrary, our "Champion" mower and reaper combined did work over rough +ground, baked hard with the summer's sun, which demonstrated both +strength and excellence of work beyond what we should have expected +from any English machine we know of. + +There was a very poor show of chaff-cutters and root-pulpers, because +our farming friends here have not yet required these indispensable aids +to mixed farming and succession of crops. After spending a couple of +profitable hours among the machines, now come and inspect the stock. + +[Sidenote: _PRIZE SHEEP._] + +We turn first into the long alley of sheep-pens. The first attraction +is the prize lot of Spanish merinos. Huge, heavy sheep clothed with +wool almost to their ankles; ungainly to an English eye, from their +thick necks, and large heads, and deep folds of skin. The shearer was +at work, and fleeces weighing from seventeen to twenty pounds were +displayed. We examine eight or ten pens of these merinos, including +Spanish, French, and German, mostly in use in Eastern and Southern +Oregon, where the dry climate and wide range suit these sheep exactly. +There were one or two pens of graded sheep, merinos crossed with +Cotswold or Vermont bucks. The crosses maintained the weight in wool +and decidedly showed improved mutton, but the quality of the wool, of +course, betrayed the admixture of the coarser fiber. There were two or +three pens of improved Oxfordshires, the breed of which has been kept +pure by a well-known fancier in Marion County, on the uplands east of +Salem. The sheep were in many points very pretty, but seemed to us now +to require fresh blood, as the wool-bearing surfaces were evidently +reduced. Several pens of pure Cotswolds were exceedingly good, both in +shape, size, and wool. The Vermont crosses which had been tried in a +few instances did not seem to us to have been profitable. One thing +pleased us, namely, that the best sheep, as a rule, came from those +farmers who bred sheep in inclosed lands and fed them well, as part of +a general system of farming, rather than from the huge flocks of the +sheep-men who range the wilds. + +The only cattle worth looking at were some Durhams brought up by one of +the successful California breeders for exhibition and sale. The prices +he got must have been very satisfactory to him, and proved that some +Oregon farmers at any rate have the pluck and foresight to give full +value for good stock. + +Next came the horses. The stamp varied from nearly thoroughbred to +Clydesdale and Percheron stud-horses, with a fair number of mares and +foals. The parade of the horses each day, as they were led round the +ring each by its own attendant, was a very pretty sight. Nothing +special need be said of the well-bred stock--that is much the same the +world over; only the size proved how well adapted Oregon is for the +home of horses of a high class. What interested us most were very fine +specimens of what are called here heavy horses for farm-work. Standing +fully sixteen hands high, with long but compact bodies, good heads, +with large, full eyes, and hard, clean legs, fit to draw a light wagon +six or seven miles an hour over muddy roads, and to drag a sixteen-inch +plow through valley soil, they seemed to us the very models of the +horse the valley farmers should breed in any number. We regretted to +notice the large number of Clydesdales and Percherons; the latter type +of horse especially we deprecate--tall grays, with thick necks, heavy +heads, upright shoulders, slim, round bodies, hairy, clumsy legs, huge +flat feet covered with the mass of hair depending from the fetlock. +Just such you may see any day in the farm-carts in the north of +France--a team of four in a string, the shaft-horse overshadowed by the +huge cart with wheels six feet high; the carter plodding by the side, +in his blue blouse with his long whip. Just to settle a controversy +with some Percheron-mad Oregonian friends, we had several horses of the +two different types measured then and there. We found the Oregon mare +girthed nearly a foot more round the body behind the shoulders than the +Percheron horse. The girth of the forearm below the shoulder was +greater. The Percheron was the taller at the shoulder, the thicker +round the fetlock, and, I should think, carried two extra pounds of +horse-hair in mane, tail, and fetlock-tufts. The Oregon mare showed +just those points which every horse-lover seeks, to testify to +activity, strength, endurance, and intelligence; the Percheron was +lacking in such respects, but instead had a certain cart-horse +comeliness, looking more suitable for a brewer's van in a big city than +for our farms and roads. + +[Sidenote: _THE RACES._] + +Like the rest of the world, we answered to the call of the bell, and +crowded through into the grand stand to see the races. A circular track +of half a mile, the surface of which was already churned into black +mud, did not look promising for the comfort of either drivers or +riders. The benches of the grand stand were crowded with eager +spectators, ladies predominating--the men were lining the track below, +while the judges looked down from a high box opposite. The din of the +men selling pools on the impending race was deafening, and each of the +little auctioneers' boxes where the sales went on was surrounded by a +throng of bidders. The first race was for runners, that is gallopers, +ridden by boys thirteen or fourteen years old. It was not a grand +display to see three or four horses galloping away, dragging their +little riders almost on to their necks, and their finishes showed no +great art. Then came the trotting races, and these were worth seeing. +Three sulkies came on the track, the driver sitting on a little tray +just over his horse's tail, and between two tall, slender wheels. +Catching tight hold of his horse's head, and sticking his feet well in +front of him, each driver sent his horse at a sharp trot round the +track to open his lungs. Then the bell rang again, the course was +cleared, and the drivers turned their horses' heads the same way, and +tried to come up to the judges' box in line. Once, twice, they tried; +but the bell was silent, and back they had to come, the horses fretting +at the bit, and getting flecked with foam in anxiety to be off. The +third time the three sulkies were abreast as they passed the line, the +bell sounded once, and off they tore. The drivers sat still farther +back, and the horses laid themselves down to their grand, far-reaching +trot. Before two hundred yards was covered one broke into a gallop, and +had to be pulled back at once, his adversaries gaining a yard or two +before he could be steadied to a trot again. Here they come in the +straight run-in, the little black horse slightly in front, the big bay +next, but hardly a head between them; the crowd shouts wildly, and the +bay breaks trot just at the critical moment, and the black wins the +heat, his legs going with the regularity and drive of a steam-engine. + +The horses are surrounded by admirers as they are taken out of the +sulkies, and led off to be rubbed down and comforted before the next +heat comes on. Then follows a running race, and then another heat of +the trotting race. This time the bay wins, hard held, and forbidden by +a grasp of iron to break into the longed-for gallop. Soon comes the +deciding heat, and the excitement grows intense; the pools are selling +actively, and speculation is very brisk. + +Our sympathies are with the little black; half a hand shorter than his +antagonist, and more like a trotting-horse than the tall, thoroughbred +bay. But the fates are against him--size and breeding tell, and the bay +wins. + +Then the band strikes up, and the crowd disperses. Most get back to the +city by one of the miscellaneous wagons, or hacks, or omnibuses pressed +into the service of the fair; the rest betake themselves to their +camping-places among the oak-grubs, after supplying themselves with +meat and bread from one or other of the temporary stores set up at one +side of the grounds. + +[Sidenote: _CRICKET IN PUBLIC._] + +This year the visitors had a new sensation in seeing cricket played on +the fair-ground, to most of them a new sight. Portland is blessed with +a cricket club, mostly supported by the emigrants from the old country. +Corvallis has a similar advantage. The Portlanders, in the pride of +their strength, and heralded by a paragraph in the "Oregonian" +newspaper, that the "team selected to beat the Corvallis athletes" had +gone up to Corvallis, had come for wool and gone home shorn. So, as a +return-match was under discussion, it was determined to accept the +invitation of the fair committee and play the return on the +fair-grounds for the amusement of the visitors. Accordingly, the game +was duly played out, and ended again in a one-innings defeat of proud +Portland, to the delight of the spectators from the valley, who are +generally a little jealous of the airs and graces of the hustling town +which calls herself the metropolis of the Northwest. There was some +difficulty in keeping the ground clear; the ladies particularly could +not comprehend the terrible solecism they were committing in tripping +bravely across, to speak, to "point," and chat with the wicket-keeper. +If you could but have seen the horror-stricken faces of one or two of +our eleven, accustomed to the rigor of the game at Cambridge, Rugby, or +Cheltenham! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +History of Oregon--First discoverers--Changes of government--Recognition +as a Territory--Entrance as a State--Individual histories--"Jottings"-- +"Sitting around"--A pioneer in Benton County--How to serve Indian thieves +--The white squaw and the chief--Immigration in company--Rafting on the +Columbia--The first winter--Early settlement--Indian friends--Indian +houses and customs--The Presbyterian colony--The start--Across the +plains--Arrival in Oregon--The "whaler" settler--A rough journey--"Ho +for the Umpqua!"--A backwoodsman--Compliments--School-teacher provided +for--Uncle Lazarus--Rogue River Canyon--Valley of Death--Pleasant homes +--Changed circumstances. + + +Taking note of the civilized and settled condition of so large a part +of this State, it is hard to credit that it was only in 1831 that the +first attempts at farming in Oregon were made by some of the men in the +Hudson Bay Company's service, and that in 1838 the first printing-press +arrived. This valued relic is now preserved in a place of honor in the +State Capitol building at Salem--more accordant with the spirit of the +times than rusty armor or moth-eaten banners. + +The early history is somewhat misty, but the following slight sketch +is, I believe, accurate: + +The coast of Oregon was visited both by British and Spanish navigators +in the sixteenth century. In 1778 Captain Cook sailed along the coast. +In 1775 Heceta, and in 1792 Vancouver, both suspected the existence of +the Columbia River from the appearance of its estuary. But in 1792 +Captain Gray, of Boston, and afterward, in the same year, Captain +Baker, an Englishman, entered the estuary itself. It was on Captain +Gray's discovery that the United States Government afterward rested its +claim to the whole country watered by the great river, the mouth of +which he had discovered. But Lieutenant Broughton, of the British Navy, +in 1792 or 1793, a very few months after Captain Gray's visit, actually +ascended the Columbia for one hundred miles, and laid claim to the +country in the name of King George III. In 1804 the American Government +expedition of Lewis and Clark crossed the Rocky Mountains, descended +the Columbia, and passed the winter of 1805-'6 at its mouth; and the +records of their discoveries first drew public attention to the +country. In 1810 Captain Winship, also from New England, built the +first house in Oregon. Astoria was founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor, +of New York, as a trading-port. The British, while the war was raging +in 1813, took possession of the post and named it Fort George. Then +followed the Hudson Bay Company, who claimed the sovereignty of the +country under the terms of their wide charter. They established their +headquarters for the North Pacific coast at Vancouver, on the north +bank of the Columbia, about one hundred miles from its mouth. There the +fort was built, the settlement formed, farming began, and the Governor +of the Hudson Bay Territory had his Western home. + +In 1832 the first school was opened. Between 1834 and 1837 missionaries +of various denominations arrived, bringing cattle with them; and in +1841 Commodore Wilkes visited Oregon on an exploring expedition by +order of the United States Government. From 1816 to 1846 the "joint +occupancy" of Oregon by the American and British Governments lasted +under treaty. + +In 1843 the people were for the first time recognized, and united in +forming a provisional government, formally accepted at a general +election in 1845. By the year 1846 the white population numbered about +ten thousand souls, and in that year the Oregon Territory, including +both the present State of Oregon and also Washington Territory, was +ceded, under the Ashburton Treaty, by the British Government to the +United States. + +Congress formally recognized the Territory of Oregon in 1848, and in +1849 General Joe Lane entered office as the first Territorial Governor. +His portrait now adorns the Capitol building. And the old general, +still erect and in full preservation, in spite of his years and +services, has been until this spring of 1881 yet seen and respectfully +greeted at many a public gathering. + +[Sidenote: _ENTRANCE AS A STATE._] + +In 1859 Oregon was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State; the +population was 52,465. In 1880 the census gave a total of 174,767 +souls, showing an increase of 122,302 in twenty-one years, and an +increase of 74,767 over the State census in 1875. But, after all, the +history of a State is the history of its people. + +Nowadays we enter Oregon within twenty days from Liverpool, having been +speeded on our journey by steamships and railroads in continuous +connections. Within two years the State expects to have two direct +lines of Eastern communication--one by the Northern Pacific, the other +by a line through the southeastern corner of the State to Reno, on the +Central Pacific--shortening the twenty to sixteen days. Within two +years more it is hoped that the Oregon Pacific will make communication +at Boise City, Idaho, with independent Eastern lines, and open a still +more direct course out to the centers of population and enterprise. But +in the early days, from 1846 to 1851, when the tide of settlement ran +first this way, their experiences were widely different. + +Listen to the tales some of these men tell--not old men yet by any +means; the vigor and power of life still burn in most of them, for the +dates are but thirty years back. But what a different life these +pioneers led then! + +Let me sketch the scene and its surroundings where these "jottings +round the stove" are made. It is rather a dusty old room, and a rusty +old stove in the middle, and rather a dusty and rusty company are +gathered round it. Winter-time is upon us; the rain falls in a +ceaseless drizzle, and the drops from the eaves patter on the fallen +leaves of the plane-trees round the house. The time is after the noon +dinner-hour; no work presses, for the fall wheat is all in, and there +is a sense of warmth and comfort within, which contrasts with the dim +scene without, where the rain-mists obscure the hills and fill the +valley with their slowly driving masses. + +Five or six of us "sit around"--mostly on two legs of the chairs, and +our boots are propped up on the ridge round the stove. We don't go much +on broadcloth and "biled" shirts, but we prefer stout flannel shirts +and brown overalls, with our trousers tucked inside our knee-high +boots. Tobacco in one form or the other occupies each one. Carpets we +have no use for, and it is good that the arm-chairs are of fir, as the +arms are so handy for whittling, there being no loose pieces of soft +wood by. But we are all good friends, and I, for one, do not wish for +better company for an hour or two "around the stove." + +[Sidenote: _A PIONEER IN BENTON COUNTY._] + +"So the old man came into Benton County in 1845, did he?" + +"Yes, he and his wife and two young children, and took up a claim there +three or four miles from town." + +"Was there a town then?" + +"Not much--just three log-cabins and a hut or so; they called it +Marysville; it did not get the name of Corvallis till years after." + +"How about the Indians?" + +"Well, there were plenty in the valley, Klick-i-tats and +Calapooyas--these last were a mean set at that. The valley was all over +bunch-grass waist-high, and the hills were full of elk and deer." + +"Had the old man any stock?" + +"He had just brought a few with him from Missouri over the Plains, and +fine store he set by them. You see the Indians used to come and beg for +flour and sugar, and a beef now and then. Some of the neighbors would +give them a beef at times, but the old man used to say he hadn't +brought no cattle to give to them varmints." + +"How did they manage to live at first?" + +"Well, the old man used to go off for a week at a time to Oregon City +to work on the boats there at his trade of a ship-carpenter. He had to +foot it there and back, and pack flour and bacon on his back for his +folks, and a tramp of sixty miles at that." + +"Did the Indians bother any while he was gone?" + +"One time a pack of them came round the cabin and got saucy, finding +only the old lady at home. They crowded into the house and began to +help themselves, but the old lady she took the axe and soon made them +clear out. When the old man came back she told him about it. 'Well,' +says he, 'I reckon I shall have to stop at home a day or two and fix +these varmints.' So three or four days afterward back they came. + +"The old man he kept out of sight, and the buck they called the chief +came in and began to lay hold of anything he fancied. + +"Then the old man showed himself in the doorway with his old rifle on +his arm. He looked the chief up and down, and then he says to his wife: +'Do you see that bunch of twigs over the fireplace? You take them down, +and go through that fellow while the twigs hold together!' And he says +to the Indian, 'You raise a finger against that woman, and I'll blow +the top of your head off!' So the old lady takes down the willow-twigs, +and goes for the Indian for all there was in it, and beats him round +and round the house till there wasn't a whole twig in the bunch. Lord! +You should have seen the whole crowd of twenty or thirty Indians +splitting with laughter to see the white squaw go for the chief. I tell +you, sir, that Indian made the quickest time on record back to the camp +as soon as she let him go, and that crowd never bothered that cabin any +more. Now, wasn't that much better than shooting and fighting, and +kicking up the worst kind of a muss?" + +"Well, I guess so. Did he have any more bother with the Indians?" + +"Not a great deal. You see they were a mean lot, and would lay hands on +anything they could steal; but there wasn't a great deal of fight in +them. One time they had been robbing one of the neighbors of some +cattle, and they went and told the old man. He went up all alone to the +Indian camp with his rifle, and picked out the man he wanted out of a +crowd of fifty of them; and he took him and tied him to a white-oak +tree, and laid on to him with a sapling till he thought he'd had +enough, and not one of the whole crowd dared raise a hand against him. +Now the old gentleman's got three thousand acres of land and all he +wants. How's that for an early settler?" + +"Why, pretty good. But you came over the Plains yourself, didn't you?" + +"Yes; I was but a little shaver then, in 1845. We came by way of the +Dalles." + +"What sort of a crowd had you?" + +[Sidenote: _RAFTING ON THE COLUMBIA._] + +"Well, there was my father, Nahum his name was, and my four brothers, +all older than I was, and there was the Watsons and the Chambers and +their families in the company. We crossed the Plains all right and got +to the Dalles. There were thirteen wagons in the party, and we rafted +them and the cattle and all the rest of it down the Columbia." + +"How on earth did you make a raft big enough?" + +"Well, we just cut the logs in the woods on the edge of the river, and +rolled them in and pegged them together with lighter trees laid across. +It took us about all the morning to get out into the current, and all +the afternoon to get back again. But, after all, we got to the +Cascades." + +"How did you get past them?" + +"We had to just put the wagons together, and cut a road for ourselves, +six miles round the portage, till we could take to the river again. +Then we got boats and came all right down the Columbia and up the +Willamette past where Portland now stands." + +"Where was Portland then?" + +"There was no Portland, I tell you--just a few houses and cabins. I +forget what they called the place. Anyhow, we got pretty soon to the +Tualitin Plains, where Forest-grove Station is now, and there we passed +that first winter in Oregon." + +"Was it rough on you?" + +"Well, no--not particularly. All the lot of us crowded into one little +cabin; but we lived pretty well." + +"What did you live on?" + +"Well, there was a little grist-mill near by, and the folks had raised +a little wheat and some potatoes and peas. We got no meat at all that +winter. The next spring we came on into King's Valley and took up the +old place--you know where I showed it you--under the hill." + +"Weren't there plenty of Indians there?" + +"Indians! I should think so; about two or three hundred Klick-i-tats +were camped in that valley then. Good Indians they were, tall, and +straight as a dart." + +"Who was the chief?" + +"A man they called Quarterly. When we came in and camped, that Indian +came up to my father and said, 'What do you want here?' My father said, +'We have come here to settle down and farm and make homes for +ourselves.' 'Well,' says the Indian, 'you can; if you don't meddle with +us, we won't hurt you.' No more they did; we never had a cross word +from them." + +"Was the country theirs?" + +"Well, no; it belonged properly to the Calapooyas, and these +Klick-i-tats had rented it off them for some horses and cloths and +things for a hunting-ground." + +"Plenty of game?" + +"Just lots of it; elk and deer plenty, and the bunch-grass waist-high. +The Indian ponies were rolling fat; good ponies they were, too." + +"What sort of houses had these Indians?" + +[Sidenote: _INDIAN HOUSES AND CUSTOMS._] + +"The Klick-i-tats had regular lodges: sticks set in the ground in a +circle and tied together at the top, and covered all over with the rush +mats they used to make. Good workers they were, too. They and the +Calapooyas fell out once. I mind very well one day the Klick-i-tats +came running in to our camp to say there was ever such a lot of +Calapooyas coming in to attack them. They sent off their women and +children to the hills, and then drove all their horses down to our +camp. Strange, wasn't it, they should think their stock safer with five +or six white men? There must have been several hundred of those +Calapooyas." + +"Did the fight come off?" + +"Not that time; they made it up with some presents of horses and beads +and things." + +"What's become of those Klick-i-tats?" + +"All that's left of them are gone to the reservation away north on the +Columbia. They had their big fight with the Calapooyas down there by +the Mary River bridge, out by Wrenn's school-house, just before we came +into the country. The Calapooyas were too many for them, for they were, +I should say, three to one. That was quite a battle, I should say.--But +here comes one of the early settlers. Why don't you ask him about it?" + +Just then the door had been opened, and in came a slender, gray-haired +minister, with black coat and white collar and tie. + +"So you were an early settler?" + +"Yes, I had some experiences in early days. Did you ever hear of our +Presbyterian colony?" + +"I think not." + +"Well, I was born and raised in Pennsylvania. I had just finished my +theological course and got married. I had heard a good deal about +Oregon, and took the notion of getting some Presbyterians to go out +there. This was in 1851, when the law had been passed giving half a +section of land to every settler, and half another section for his +wife, if he had one." + +"How did you set about getting Presbyterians together?" + +"I just put an advertisement in the Pennsylvania papers that a +Presbyterian minister intended starting for Oregon in the spring of +1852, and would be glad for any Presbyterians to join him and found a +colony there." + +"Did you get many answers?" + +"About eighty agreed to go, but a good many weakened before the time +came, and only about forty of them started; some twenty came in +afterward, so that our party was sixty strong. When we left St. Joe, in +Missouri, we had twenty wagons. I had a nice carriage with four mules +for my wife, and a half-share in a wagon and ox-team. We left St. Joe +in May, 1852, and arrived in Oregon four months and a half afterward." + +"Did you travel all the time?" + +"We laid over for Sundays, and I preached every Sunday on the journey +but one, when we were crossing an alkali desert, and had to push on +through to water." + +"Were there many emigrants on the road, minister?" + +"There was the heaviest emigration to Oregon that year that there has +ever been. Many times I have climbed a hill just off the great emigrant +trail, and counted a hundred wagons and more ahead, and more than a +hundred behind us." + +"Did you carry any feed for your stock?" + +"Not any, and it was terribly hard on stock, as the bunch-grass on and +near the trail was eaten down so close. It was harder on the oxen than +on the mules. I brought all my mules safe into Oregon, but only one ox +out of our team." + +"How did you do when the oxen gave out?" + +"Oh, a man just cut his wagon in half and hitched what oxen he had left +on to the front half, and left the hinder end there in the desert." + +"Did you have trouble with the Indians?" + +"None at all; all quiet and peaceable. We came into Oregon by way of +Boise City, Idaho, and Umatilla and the Dalles. The last sixty miles my +wife and I walked nearly all the way, for the mules gave out crossing +the Cascades, and we drove them before us into this valley. The first +milk and butter was at Foster's, near Oregon City; but one old lady in +the crowd would not eat the butter her son had bought for her: she said +it tasted too strong of silver." + +[Sidenote: _THE PRESBYTERIAN COLONY._] + +"Where did you settle down?" + +"About three miles from Corvallis, or Marysville, as it was called +then. Just twelve houses in the place, and two of them stores." + +"What did you do for a house?" + +"Just set to and built one. I built it round my wife as she camped in +the middle. I cut me down a big fir-tree, and split it out into boards +and shingles." + +"What was this valley like then?" + +"All open prairie. A man could drive seventy miles without +stopping--from Salem to Eugene. All this oak-brush has grown up since." + +"What became of your Presbyterians?" + +"Well, we organized the church the next fall, in 1853, with just seven +of the sixty persons who had left the East with me the year before. So +you see we have grown a good deal in these seven-and-twenty years." + +Here the minister got up and left the circle. So we turned to a +brown-coated, cheery fellow in the next arm-chair. "You came round the +Horn, didn't you, Bush?" + +But the cake of tobacco had to be got out of a deep pocket, and a +pipeful slowly cut off and the fresh pipe started, before the answer +came; and then a great laugh had to expend its force over the merry +memories called up by the question. + +"We had a pretty rough old time of it, hadn't we, boys?" and a low +murmur of assent ran round, and all eyes turned, meditatively, to the +stove. Presently the answer to the first question dropped casually out: +"Yes, I came round the Horn. I had been whaling in the Pacific, and +stopped at 'Frisco; we were all mad for the diggings. One day, as I was +strolling round, I saw a great, big placard on the wall, in letters two +feet long: 'Ho! for the Umpqua diggings! Lots of gold! Plenty of water! +Good grub! Fine country! The well-known schooner Reindeer, Captain +Bachelor, will sail for the Umpqua, October the 15th, 1850!' There were +four of us in my party, all young and active then, and we made up our +minds to go, and weren't long about deciding, either. We were up to +roughing it, too; you see, a few years in a whaler will fit you for +most anything." + +"What was the voyage like?" + +"Rough! There were about one hundred and thirty on board the schooner, +some for the Umpqua, the rest going on to Portland. After knocking +about at sea for a few days, we made the Umpqua and stood in. The old +man anchored just under the north beach. As I put my hand on the cable, +it was like a bar of iron, and I felt the anchor drag. I told the mate, +and he went and called the captain. Up came the old man, and wouldn't +believe it at first, but in another minute we should all have been in +the breakers, and nothing could have saved us. Just then a little boat +came past and they hollered out, 'You'll be on the beach inside of +three minutes!' I tell you it was touch and go." + +"How did you get off, Bush?" + +[Sidenote: _THE "WHALER" SETTLER._] + +"The old man shouted to set all sail, and I ran to the helm. I could +see the channel pretty well, and I just steered her by the look of the +water. We just shaved a big rock by three feet or so, and ran up the +river. Presently we anchored again and landed. Then we got a little +Indian canoe and pulled on up the river." + +"What was the country like?" + +"Pretty rough." + +"But the diggings, Bush?" + +"Bless you, there weren't any! It was all a plant." + +"Didn't you get back to the coast?" + +"No, sir, we were in for it, and we calculated to see it out. The +country there, in Southern Oregon, pleased us mightily, it looked so +fresh and green in the valleys, but the mountains were no joke. Then we +heard of this Willamette Valley, and traveled on north to find it. Two +of my mates staid down there on Rogue River for the winter, but one +came on north with me." + +"Any adventures, Bush?" + +"Not particular. I mind me, though, when we got up to where Monroe City +is now, there was one log-house. Old Dr. Richardson lived there. As we +came to the house he came out and stood just outside. I tell you he was +a picture." + +"What like, Bush?" + +"Well, he was a great, big, stout fellow, about fifty, with a jolly red +face. He had on a buckskin hunting-shirt with long fringes, and long +buckskin leggins, and his old rifle lay ready in the hollow of his arm. +When we stepped up to him, 'Well, young men, and what do you want?' +says he. 'We should like to stop here and get some dinner,' says I. +'What a beautiful place you have got here, sir!' I went on, 'and, if +you'll allow me to say so, I just admire you for a perfect specimen of +a backwoodsman.' 'What!' says he, 'what on 'arth do you mean, you young +thief of a son-of-a-gun?' says he, stepping up to me, to lay hold of me +by the collar. I tell you, sir, I thought we were in for it, and he was +big enough to whip the two of us. As good luck would have it, the door +opened just then, and the old lady stepped out. She just looked and +then she spoke up. 'Old man,' says she, 'just let me speak to these +young men.' So, she came and asked us our names and where we came from, +and I explained to her that I had no notion of insulting the old +gentleman. 'Oh, well,' says she, 'don't mind him; and now what can I do +for you? You seem nice, quiet young men.' So she gave us some bread and +milk, and the end of it all was, they wanted us to stay all winter with +them." + +"So the lady helped you out, as usual, Bush?" + +[Sidenote: _UNCLE LAZARUS._] + +"They didn't help me always. For the next place we came to was Starr's +settlement. There were a lot of ladies, quilting. We went into the +house to ask if there were any claims to be had. 'Are you married?' +says one of the ladies. 'No, ma'am,' says I. 'Oh, well, then, you can +just get on; we have got plenty of bachelors already. Say, are you a +school-teacher?' says she. I thought for a moment if an old whaleman +dared venture on school-teaching, but I thought, maybe, that was a +leetle too strong. 'No, ma'am,' says I, at last, 'I am not, but my +friend here is well qualified.' 'Oh, well,' says she, 'he can stay and +take up a claim; we have got one here of three hundred and twenty +acres, we have been saving up for the school-teacher; but as for you, +young man, you can jest go on right up the valley.' So I had to go on +to where Corvallis now stands. There were just four or five log-cabins, +and a little stock. I took up a claim and built me a house, and as I +was a pretty good carpenter I got all the work I wanted.--But here +comes Uncle Lazarus." + +Just then the door opened, and a quaint figure entered. Let us sketch +him. A broad-brimmed, low-crowned, brown beaver hat (and when we say +broad-brimmed we mean it--not a trifling article of fifteen inches or +so across, but a real, sensible sun-and-rain shade, two feet or +thereabout from edge to edge); an old worn blue military great-coat +covered him; while a mass of snow-white hair and beard framed in a +ruddy face as fresh as a winter apple, and a pair of bright blue eyes +twinkled keenly, but with a hidden laugh in them, from under the broad +brim. + +"Sit down, uncle," cried some one, and the old man came to an anchor +with the rest of us round the stove. + +"Talking of old times, uncle," we said. "You came in pretty early, +didn't you?" + +"Well, I guess it was in 1846," said he, in a plaintive, slow voice. +"We came over the Plains, the old lady and I, from Illinois. We had a +pretty good ox-team, and we got through safe." + +"Did you have any fighting, uncle?" + +"Well, no; there was too many in the company when we started, and they +did get to quarreling, so I jest left them with one or two more--any +day rather fight than have a fuss; so I thought we'd jest take our +chance with the Injuns, though they was pretty bad then. We were nigh +to six months on the road." + +"Which way did you come into Oregon?" + +"By Klamath Lake and Rogue River. The worst piece on the whole journey +was that Rogue River canyon; you know where that is?" + +"Yes, uncle, came through it at a sharp run on the California stage a +month ago." + +"Well, there warn't no stage then--no, nor road either. You know it is +about eight miles long, and I calc'late you might go a quarter of a +mile at a time on the bodies of the horses and oxen that had died +there. No man got through without leaving some of his cattle there. +Tell you, sir, when you once got into the place, seemed like there was +no end to it, and you jest got to face the music; for there warn't no +other way." + +"How did this country strike you when you got through?" + +"Well, the old lady and me jest thought lots of it. We took up our +claims in King's Valley--you know the place--jest the nicest kind of a +place, with lots of grass and a nice river. You had all the timber you +wanted on the mountains close by, and jest lots of deer and elk." + +"Pretty lonely, though, wasn't it?" + +"Well, it was kinder lonely, but we had lots to do, and the time passed +very quick. The country settled up quick, and we had all the neighbors +we wanted." + +"Any trouble with Indians, uncle?" + +"No; the Calapooyas would thieve a bit, but fifty of them cusses would +jest scare from five or six of us settlers with our rifles. And the +Klick-i-tats were good Injuns, and never troubled us any. Those were +good old times, boys." And the old man rose to go, with a sigh. + +[Sidenote: _CHANGED CIRCUMSTANCES._] + +Think of the change the old gentleman has seen--for he lives there yet! +Now, his white farmhouse, with good barn and out-buildings, fronts on a +well-traveled road, leading past many a neighbor's house, and to the +church and village. The woods on the hill-sides have disappeared, and +the ruled furrows of the wheat-fields have replaced the native grass; +the elk and deer which found him food as well as sport have retired +shyly away into the far-off fastnesses round Mary's Peak and in the +"green timber," and the fleecy flocks have usurped their place. The +thievish Calapooyas and good Klick-i-tats have lost their tribal +connections, and their shrunken remnants have been shifted away north +to the Indian reserve. As you stand on the hill above his house, and +the vision ranges over the gentle outlines of King's Valley, dotted +with farms and lined with fences, it is but the noble forms of the +distant mountains that could identify the scene with that which he +scanned with wayworn eye as he halted his weary oxen after his six +months' journey from distant Illinois. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +State and county elections--The Chinese question--Chinese +house-servants--Washermen--Laborers--A large camp-Supper-- +Chinese trading--The scissors--Cost of Chinese labor--Its +results--Chinese treaties--Household servants--Chee and his +mistress--"Heap debble-y in there"--The photo album--Temptation +--A sin and its reward--Good advice on whipping--Chung and the +crockery--Chinese New Year--Gifts--"Hoodlums"--Town police--Opium. + + +In the summer of 1880 there occurred an election of Senators and +Representatives to the State Legislature, and also to the county +offices of clerk, sheriff, assessor, coroner, surveyor, and +commissioners. + +The whole apparatus of caucuses and canvasses was put in operation, and +the candidates nominated on both Republican and Democratic "tickets" +perambulated the county, and addressed audiences in every precinct from +the "stump." + +The Greenbackers had the courage of their opinions and put candidates +in the field. Indeed, one of the precincts in the burned-woods country, +of which I have already discoursed, enjoyed the proud distinction of +casting more votes for the "Greenback" candidate than for either of the +two great parties. + +I attended some of these meetings and listened to the stump-speeches +with much interest. That which caused the current of eloquence on all +hands to run fastest was the Chinese question. How vehemently have I +heard denounced the yellow-faced, pig-eyed, and tailed Mongolians who +were spreading like locusts over the face of the country, and ousting +the poor but honest and industrious white laborer from those +employments to which he is specially adapted--how they sucked the +life-blood of the people in order to carry their ill-gotten gains +across the seas; how their barbarous language and filthy social habits +"riz the dander" of these orators, while the audience loudly applauded +every strong stroke of the brush! At the torch-light processions which +closed some of the evening meetings, transparencies were carried about +by citizens staggering under their weight, which depicted Chinamen in +various conditions of terror flying from the boot-tips of energetic +Americans; or, on the opposite back, the poor but honest white man +prostrate on the ground, while a fat Chinaman sat heavily on his +breast. + +Such an obvious current of popular opinion set an on-looker to rub his +eyes, and feel if he were dreaming. + +For, go into nearly every house inhabited by a family, in or near any +town in the State, and you will find one or more Chinamen doing the +house-service. Walk through the streets, and you will meet a +blue-coated Asiatic with a big clothes-basket of clean linen on his +shoulders. Here and there in the streets hangs a sign: "Hop Kee," "Sam +Lin," "Lee Chung," "Ah Sin," "Washing," or "Chinese Laundry," and +"Labor provided," or "Intelligence-Office," and through the steamy +windows you catch a glimpse of white-shirted Chinamen, bending over +their ironing, and a mixed gabble of strange "Ahs" and "Yahs" strikes +the ear as you pass by. + +[Sidenote: _CHINESE TRADING._] + +I went up the Columbia River to the Dalles the other day. At the Dalles +was a camp for the night of about five hundred Chinamen, being +transferred by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company from work +higher up the river to some of the heavy rock-cutting and tunneling +between the Dalles and the Lower Cascades. I stood and watched them at +their suppers. Divided into messes of twelve or fifteen each, they had +supplied themselves with beef in the town. Holes were dug in the +ground, sticks lighted in them, and large pans set on to boil, and, +with plenty of salt and pepper, a savory smell soon arose. Large pans +of rice were boiling by the side, and before long each man's portion +was ladled out into a real China basin, which he held in one hand close +to his mouth, while the chop-sticks moved at a terrible rate in the +fingers of the other hand. Such uncouth figures!--bronzed in tint, +short and heavy in form, clad in thick blanket-coats, with knee-boots; +turbans round most heads made of heavy scarlet woolen comforters, and a +few old hats among the crowd; and a constant gabble of voices, nearly +deafening in the aggregate. Their little tents were pitched on the +river-bank close at hand, and a huge pile of their unmistakable baggage +lay heaped, with their shovels and axes, on the deck of the great scow +hard by. The town was full of them, buying or bargaining in every +store. I marked a group of four who wanted a pair of strong scissors. +They were asked fifty cents in a store. They examined the scissors and +tried to cheapen them in vain, and then left. They tried four stores in +turn, but found no better article, and the same price; then returned to +their first love, and strove hard for a reduction in vain. Again they +went the round; again they came back: on the fourth visit the patience +of the Jewish gentleman behind the counter gave way, and he told them +to take it or leave it, they should not see the scissors again. Most +unwillingly, and after a vast amount of breathing on the blades to see +how quickly the vapor disappeared, the half-dollar came forth and the +scissors changed owners. They are the closest buyers in the world. The +next morning by seven o'clock the tents were struck, the Chinamen on +board the steamer, and in the afternoon we passed them hard at work, +spread in a long line on the face of a terrible rock, which looked as +if five thousand Chinamen might work at it in vain for a year to make a +fit passage for the train. + +But without them how would these great works get done? Later on I +intend describing some of the undertakings in progress in the State. +Delay in them--still worse, the stoppage of them--would be a calamity +indeed. After all, the Chinamen work for about eighty or ninety cents a +day, and out of this sum the contractor has to find them food. The +food, save the rice, is purchased in the State; the material of the +clothes they wear is manufactured and sold in the United States; the +tools they work with also. So that it is only the profit on their +labor's price which goes to China; and some of that goes to pay their +passage in the ships which transport them to and fro. And their labor +remains--its results felt by every passenger and freighter on the +railroads, and every Oregonian directly or indirectly interested in +increasing the population of the State. + +Naturally, it is easy to have too much Chinaman. I should grieve to see +them multiply so as to dominate the State. Excellent servants, but bad +masters. + +And by all means let us have treaties with China to enable the influx +of these Mongolians to be regulated. Already we have laws forbidding +the employment of Chinamen on government or municipal public works. And +I do not see that there is any economy in the working or superiority in +the labors on such undertakings. + +For household service on this coast they are simply indispensable. They +receive high wages: for a good Chinese cook you must pay from fifteen +to twenty-five dollars a month. A laundryman and house-servant can be +had for somewhat less. But our experience and observation lead us to +the knowledge that two Chinese servants will do well the work of four +English servants. Another thing is that, having learned to cook any +special dish, you may be sure of having it always thereafter equally +good. + +If they are a bother sometimes by not comprehending orders, they make +up for it by quaint ways. An English neighbor of ours has one Chee, a +boy of sixteen, as house-servant, and a very good cook and general +servant she has made of him. Chee and his mistress are on the best of +terms usually; sometimes they fall out. + +[Sidenote: "_HEAP DEBBLE-Y IN THERE!_"] + +The mistress was staying with us for a few days once, while her husband +was out hunting in the hills, and she preferred sleeping in her own +house. This Chee strongly disapproved, as it involved his going up to +make the bed and clean the house, instead of having high-jinks in the +China house down in the town. When his mistress went into the house, +Chee pointed into her bedroom, and in a mysterious voice warned her +thus: "Heap debble-y in there. Some time I make bed, I see four, fi' +debble-y go under bed. Some time come catch you in night!" + +Another time, his master and mistress being out, Chee amused himself +with their photograph-album. They found many of the pictures shifted, +and one charming young lady missing. Chee stoutly denied it all, and +swore he never saw the picture. So his "boss," Hop Kee, was appealed +to. In the afternoon of the same day Hop Kee appeared with a second +Chinaman. This man produced the missing photograph for identification, +and then Hop Kee disappeared into Chee's kitchen and administered a +hearty beating to the culprit. When Hop Kee reappeared, panting, his +companion explained and apologized thus: "Chee heap bad boy; but he no +steal um; he heap love um picture; he sew um up his bed." + +Another time Chee was pottering about in the garden when his mistress +called him. He would not answer, so she called him again, and this was +the conversation: + +"Chee, come here." "Heap tired in foot; can' walk." "Chee, come here +directly." Chee comes and gets his orders. "Wha' for you can' talk me +there?" "Chee, you must not answer me like that; you speak as if I were +a dog." "Well, you allee same likee one dog!" "Chee, how dare you? I +tell Hop Kee what you say." "I no care." But Hop Kee comes that +afternoon and hears the sad accusation, and this is his advice: "Mrs. +----, you heap takee some poker; you beat him. I heap much obliged. +Chee no good; you whip um." + +Chee asks for his wages, and even for some in advance. "What for you +want money, Chee?" "I want fi'teen dollar." "What for, Chee?" "I want +buy one big watch." "How big, Chee?" "Heap big watch; he weigh ha' +pound." And I believe it does weigh half a pound. + +One of our Chinamen, Chung, was a sad breaker of crockery. We bore it +patiently in spite of the loss, for stone-ware is terribly dear here. +But one day there was an awful smash, and we ran out to see Chung +wringing his hands over a tray on the ground, with broken cups and +plates all about. We said nothing; but the next day he went of his own +accord, and at his own cost replaced the greater part. + +[Sidenote: _CHINESE NEW YEAR._] + +All the house-servants expect a holiday for a day or two at the Chinese +new year, which occurs about the 20th of January. It is a mark of good +breeding and condition with them to give presents at that time to every +one in the house. A little cabinet of lacquer-work to the lady of the +house, a fan in sandal wood or ivory, one or two flowered silk +handkerchiefs, a pot of sweetmeats, and two or three boxes of the +inevitable Chinese crackers for the children, make up the list. + +Each of the China houses in the town collects all the Chinamen that +make it their headquarters, and prepares a magnificent supper. They +spare no expense on this occasion; all the chickens in the neighborhood +are slaughtered, and the sweet Chinese wine flows freely. Even a +drunken Chinaman may be met in the street, staggering from one China +house to another, and he will very likely be mobbed by all the +"hoodlums" in the town, pelting and hustling him. + +"Hoodlums"--a fine word this to describe the vagabond, rough +hobble-de-hoys that swarm in these Western towns; lads too big for +school, too lazy to work, an incumbrance to their families, a nuisance +to all their neighbors. I am told that the word originated in San +Francisco twenty years ago. There were there gangs of these rough lads +who hung about the wharves, ready for riot or plunder as occasion +offered. Against them the police of the city waged a constant war. +These Arabs had various haunts among the hovels and sheds, the piles of +lumber and rubbish, that deface the water-side of every growing and +unfinished city. When the police appeared, "Huddle-um!" was the +watchword that sent every skulker to cover. But the Irish element +pronounced the watchword with a rounder sound, and so "Hoodlum!" caught +the ear of the passer-by, and soon was adopted as the label of the +tribe. + +The police of our town is represented by the city marshal and his +deputy, who act under the authority of the mayor and the city council. +The "calaboose" is the lock-up for offenders; and work on the streets +in irons is also a punishment which may be awarded by the recorder for +offenses against the city laws and regulations. Drunkenness and +opium-smoking are in this black list. Passers-by were edified, a few +days ago, by the spectacle of one white man, for drunkenness, and two +Chinamen, for opium-smoking, shoveling away at the mud, and ornamented +with iron ball and shackles. It is strange to find that opium-smoking +in these dens is not altogether confined to the Chinese, but some +degraded white men are occasionally captured by the marshal in a raid +on a China house. Such are not only punished, but scouted, and still +they repeat the offense, proving the hold the practice gains when once +yielded to. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Life in the town--Sociables--Religious sects--Sabbath-schools-- +Christmas, festivities--Education, how far compulsory--Colleges-- +Student-life and education--Common schools--Teachers' institutes +--Newspapers--Patent outsides--"The Oregonian"--Other journals-- +Charities--Paupers--Secret societies. + + +Life in these country towns possesses some features strange to a +new-comer. Every family, almost without exception, is allied with some +church organization. The association of such families in religious +matters gives the connecting bond they need. Not contented with +worshiping together on Sundays, they often meet in church sociables and +in school entertainments and concerts, for which purposes the +church-building is very commonly used. + +To get up a "sociable" is a pleasant task for the matrons of the +church. Having settled on the day, they meet and agree for how many it +is likely they must provide. Then each lady undertakes her share, +finding so much tea, coffee, and sugar, and so many sandwiches and +cakes. It is a delicate compliment for outsiders also to contribute a +cake to the common fund. Then, the evening having come, the company +begin to meet, generally about seven o'clock, and are received by the +ladies of the congregation. Every one is made welcome. The object of +the "sociable," so far as money-getting is concerned, is met either by +a small charge for refreshments as supplied, or by a charge for +admission, making the visitor free of the room. + +When the tea or supper is finished, there is a fine flow of talk, as +all tongues are loosened. Then follows music, either as solos by such +as venture to make so public an appearance, or in duets, glees, or +choruses provided by the church choir. Interspersed with the music are +recitations, readings, or short lectures. The recitations are as +commonly given by young ladies as by the other sex; and the most awful +and tragic pieces are decidedly the favorites. A good deal of gesture +and action is approved. + +Generally, a few words from the minister of the church close the +entertainment, and the audience separate about ten o'clock, all the +better for the "sociable." + +The comparatively trifling differences which serve to keep one sect +separate from another, result in a number of small congregations and +weak "interests"--and also, I think, react injuriously on the education +and condition of the various ministers. And I do not see any progress +toward obliterating differences and combining scattered forces against +the common foes of indifference, irreligion, and vice; rather, I notice +in the meetings or conventions attended by representatives or delegates +from the various congregations of a special sect, and held annually in +some central place, a disposition to insist on differences, and enforce +the teaching of each special set of distinctive doctrines on the young. + +Outside of the Episcopal Church, which, of course, possesses and uses +its own liturgy, the services of the other Christian sects are almost +exactly similar; I except also the Roman Catholics, who are present in +the State of Oregon in considerable numbers, and whose organization of +archbishop, bishops, priests, and sisters is as perfect as usual. But I +have reference to Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Methodists, North +and South, Baptists, Evangelicals--the order of their services is about +the same, and unless by chance you were present on some occasion for +enforcing the special doctrines of the sect, you could not determine to +which belonged the particular church in which you might be worshiping. + +The institution of the Sabbath-school is not similar to that pursued in +England, at any rate. The church is opened at a special hour for +Sabbath-school, and the children attend in numbers; the minister of the +church holds a service for the special benefit of the young, but adults +are also present. There is not the division into classes, and the +enlisting of the efforts of teachers for those classes, which we have +seen elsewhere. + +[Sidenote: _CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES._] + +Christmas is chiefly marked by the Christmas-trees which are so +commonly provided; the religious significance of the day is hardly +enforced at all. But the great Christmas-trees arranged by a +congregation, lighted up in the church or school-room, and hung with +presents contributed by each family for its own individual members, and +only brought to the common tree that the joy of donor and receiver +might be alike shared in by friends, are a pretty and a happy sight. + +And this is by no means confined to the towns. The various precincts of +the county have each their headquarters at the common school-house, and +in many of these Christmas-trees are provided; and, if the gifts are +less in money cost than those hung round the city Christmas-trees, they +are none the less worth if got by so many hours of country work, and +brought over many a weary mile of muddy road, and treasured in the old +trunk among the Sunday garments till the happy day came round, and the +Christmas frost hung the fir-trees with their sparkling load, and +glazed the old black logs and gray snake-fences with their glittering +covering of ice. + +A common notion prevails that education here is compulsory. It is +compulsory in the sense that facilities by way of school-houses and +trained teachers, and superintendence by committees and clerks, are +provided by the State, and paid for by the counties from the county +tax. It is not compulsory in the sense that so many hours of school +attendance can be enforced against parents or children by the public +authority. Much is done; a strong and general interest is shown; +expense is not spared, even where expenditure is severely felt; but +still many children both in town and country escape the educational +net. There is a State Superintendent of Education; there are county +superintendents; there are many schools and teachers; and there are +universities and colleges, with good staffs of professors, and a very +high and wide course of studies in all. But very much remains to be +done. + +There is far too much effort at variety rather than thoroughness in +study. However hard both professors and students may labor, it can not +be possible in a four-years' course to fill a lad, who has previously +had but a common-school education, with a satisfactory knowledge of +Latin, high mathematics, Euclid, history, English grammar and +composition, chemistry, organic and inorganic, geography, geology, +mechanics, electricity, polarization of light, and various other +studies usually required for the master of arts honors examination in a +British university. But this is attempted here. + +And, moreover, this extensive course is carried on in the State +Agricultural College as well as in the universities of the State. It +can hardly be said that the name of "agricultural" is earned, since +there is nothing in the studies here engaged in to distinguish this +from any other high-class college in the State. + +[Sidenote: _TEACHERS' INSTITUTES._] + +The course followed in the common school is open to much the same +criticism--too much of the ornamental, too little of the thorough and +solid, being instilled. This is hardly to be wondered at when it is +considered that the teachers in the common schools are taken +principally from the students of the colleges or universities, whose +learning is of the class above described. There is a great need of a +normal school, where teachers can be specially trained for that work; +as it is now, a young fellow is ready to "teach school" for a year or +two for want of, or on his way to, his intended niche in life. + +The scale of payments at the schools is moderate enough, but a large +item of expense is in the school-books: they are dear, their use is +compulsory, they have to be purchased by the scholars, and they are +frequently changed by the Board of Education. + +One great means by which it is sought at once to instruct, amuse, and +infuse the school-teachers with common ideas and sympathies is by +"teachers' institutes." In each county a time is fixed by the State +Superintendent of Education, and for two or three days all, or as many +as can be got together of the teachers in the county, are gathered in +some central town, and for two or three days have constant meetings. +This occurs annually. + +The most experienced teachers give illustrations of their favorite +methods of instruction in the various subjects, and free discussion on +these matters follows. + +The days are devoted to this practical work, and in the evenings some +more general entertainment is provided in the shape of music, lectures, +or readings, and these are thrown open to the public. At one of these +the lecturer, who was one of the professors at the Monmouth College, +descanted on the high general standard of educational attainments in +this Willamette Valley. He pointed out, in proof, that whereas through +the United States the population supported one newspaper to each eight +hundred, in this valley the proportion was one to three hundred or +thereabout. + +[Sidenote: _NEWSPAPERS._] + +I found on inquiry that the figures were about correct. And the fact +is, that it is only in the newspapers that the country people find +nearly all their literature, and that barely a farmer can be found who +does not regularly take three or more papers, and this makes the +continued lives of these papers possible. A town of a thousand or +twelve hundred inhabitants will support two or even three papers. How +is it done? Examine one of these papers and you will find the outside +pages better printed than the inside, and filled with a special sort of +romantic stories, and short bits of general information; extracts from +magazines and from Eastern or English newspapers. The inside pages have +the true local color. Here you will see the leader, devoted to the +topics of the time and place; descanting on the railroad news of the +day; expressing the editor's opinions on the rates of freight or +passage, or on the advantages his town offers for establishing new +industries; or criticising the recent appointment of postmaster. Then +the correspondence from various outlying towns or villages, written +very often by the schoolmaster, and abounding in literary allusions and +quotations. And then comes the amazing feature of the paper--a column +or two are devoted to "locals." This is the style: "Beautiful weather. +New York sirup at Thompson's. The spring plowing is nearly done. Use +the celebrated XL flour, the best in the market. Mrs. ---- has been in +----, attending to the woman-suffrage question, the past week. Our +thanks are due to two fair ladies for bouquets of spring flowers, the +first of the season. Our young friend Pete M---- called on us +yesterday; good boy Pete. Judge Henry was at Salem the past week. Miss +Addie Bines is visiting friends in town. Did you see that bonnet at the +Presbyterian church on Sunday? The accidental pistol-shot the sheriff +got is pretty bad. The rates of board at the Cosmopolitan Hotel are +five dollars a week; three meals for a dollar. The Odd-Fellows will +give a ball on the 25th. Our vociferous friend Sam N---- is starting +for Puget Sound." And so on. + +I observe and I hear that these locals are by far the best-read portion +of the paper. A variety of items of scraps from the neighborhood, and +advertisements, the longest of which relate to patent medicines of all +sorts, fill up these two inner pages of the paper. The secret of cheap +production lies in obtaining the paper, with the two outside pages +ready printed, from an office in Portland, which supplies in this way +twenty or thirty of these little newspapers. Thus the cost to the +editor is reduced to the getting-up of the two inner pages, and, as +will be seen, not a very high level of brain-power is needed. + +"The Oregonian" is the only journal in the State giving the latest +telegrams. Naturally it is published in Portland, and devoted mainly to +the interests of that city. It is connected with the Associated Press, +and possesses the practical monopoly of the supply of news, properly so +called. Professing to be Republican in politics, it assumes the liberty +of advocating doctrines and supporting candidates for office in direct +violation of the acknowledged principles of the party and the wishes of +the party managers. With a parade of fairness, and willingness to admit +to its columns views and communications opposing the ideas it may be +advocating at the time, it takes care to color matters in such form as +to pervert or weaken all opposing or criticising matter. It is bitterly +hostile to every movement in the Willamette Valley tending toward +independence of Portland's money power and influence. While professing +to desire the development of the State, it reads that to mean solely +the aggrandizement of Portland. It enjoys a happy facility of +conversion, and will unblushingly advocate to-day the adoption of +measures it denounced last week. Unreliable in everything except its +telegraphic news, and oftentimes seeking to color them by suggestive +head-notes and capital announcements, it is a calamity to the State +that its chief journal should be at once the most unpopular at home and +the most misleading abroad. + +Of course, "The Oregonian" is not the only journal professing to be of +and for the State at large. Several are published at Portland claiming +the character of general State interest. Such are the "Willamette +Farmer," a journal chiefly devoted to the farming interest, and with +which "The Oregonian" is very frequently at war; "The New Northwest," +edited by Mrs. Duniway, a lady enthusiast in favor of woman's rights +and woman's suffrage, but making up with a good deal of ability a paper +containing much of general interest; the "Pacific Christian Advocate," +a religious paper; and also a number of other papers, Democratic and +Republican, of no special note. + +Salem, Albany, and Harrisburg possess newspapers above the average of +ability and circulation. + +I thought there was a good deal of wisdom in the letter of a +correspondent of mine in one of the Eastern States, who concluded a +letter of general inquiry as to the State of Oregon with a request that +I would send him a bundle of local newspapers, "by which," said he, "I +can judge better of the present conditions of life in Oregon than by +the answers of any one special correspondent." + +There are very few poor people in Oregon--so poor, that is, as to need +charitable help. Such are taken charge of by the county court, and from +the county funds such an allowance is made in the case of families as +shall keep them from absolute want. In the case of single persons they +are given into the care of such families as are willing to receive them +in return for a moderate sum, say three or four dollars a week. + +[Sidenote: _SECRET SOCIETIES._] + +The various societies and orders, namely, the Freemasons, the +Foresters, the Odd-Fellows, the Order of United Workmen, the Good +Templars, and others, have a large number of adherents in Oregon. I +believe the Freemasons number upward of seven thousand brethren; the +present Grand Master is the Secretary of State, and a very efficient +head he makes. The Freemasons and other orders take charge of the needy +brethren with their proverbial charity, and thus relieve to a great +extent the public funds. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Industries other than farming--Iron-ores--Coal--Coos Bay mines-- +Seattle mines--Other deposits--Lead and copper--Limestone--Marbles +--Gold, where found and worked--Silver, where found and worked--Gold +in sea-sand--Timber--Its area and distribution--Spars--Lumber--Size +of trees--Hard woods--Cost of production and sale of lumber--Tanneries +--Woolen-mills--Flax-works--Invitation to Irish--Salmon--Statistics +of the trade--Methods--Varieties of salmon--When and where caught-- +Salmon-poisoning of dogs--Indians fishing--Traps--Salmon-smoking. + + +It must not be inferred, from the prominence given in these pages to +the farming and stock-raising interests of Oregon, that openings can +not be found in many directions for new and rising industries. + +Oregon is as rich in minerals as in lands for wheat-growing and +cattle-raising. In the north of the State, about six miles from +Portland, at a place called Oswego, on the Willamette, very rich +deposits of brown hematite iron-ore have been discovered, and have for +a few years been worked. The pig-iron produced at these smelting-works +is now used in a foundry close at hand, to which a rolling-mill is just +added. The iron is of the very best Scotch-iron quality, and commands +equivalent prices at home and also in San Francisco. + +At many other points large deposits of iron-ore are waiting for +development. It is reported from Columbia, Tillamook, Marion, +Clackamas, Linn, Polk, Jackson, and Coos Counties. In the Cascade +Mountains it has been found in many directions, but as yet has not been +properly prospected. + +Coal abounds. The Coos Bay mines have been opened and worked for some +years, and they keep quite a fleet of schooners plying between the +mines and San Francisco. Other beds have been found on the Umpqua; and +coal is reported from many points in the Coast Range. So far as my own +knowledge goes, these mountain discoveries are of no very great value, +from the want of continuity and uniformity of level, though it is but +little more than the outcrop which has been tested in most places. A +different report is given of a recent discovery in Polk County, in this +valley, where a thick vein of stone-coal in the basin has been found. +The coal I have seen in the hills is anthracite, nearly allied to +lignite. The favorable feature is the outcrop at so many points in a +northeast and southwest line of what seems to be the same vein. + +Recently there has been a very energetic effort made to develop the +coal-mines located in the Seattle district of Washington Territory. The +presiding genius is Mr. Henry Villard, now so widely known in +connection with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The present +output of these mines is about one hundred thousand tons per annum; but +under the new arrangements it is expected that this will be raised to +seven hundred and fifty thousand tons, so as to supply not only the San +Francisco market, but also to deliver the coal at a moderate price at +the various points, both on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, reached +by the steamboats of the above-mentioned company. Three large +steam-colliers are to be used for the ocean transport of the coal. +Although this enterprise belongs to Washington Territory, I have +thought it deserving of mention here, as being likely to have an +important bearing on the development of Oregon. + +[Sidenote: _MINERALS._] + +Lead and copper have been discovered in abundance in Jackson, +Josephine, and Douglas Counties, on Cow Creek, a tributary of the +Umpqua River, and also on the Santiam among the Cascades. + +Limestone, sandstone--both brown and gray--and marble quarries have +been opened at various points in the State. + +Gold is found in paying quantities at many points in Southern Oregon, +and also in the gold-bearing black sand of the sea-beach, all along the +southern and central portions of the State. The finely comminuted +condition in which the gold occurs in the black sand has been a serious +obstacle in the way of its profitable working; but the combined +chemical and mechanical processes recently adopted bid fair to prove +thoroughly successful. The Governor of the State estimated the product +of Oregon in gold and silver in the year 1876 at not less than two +million dollars. + +The gold-mines of Baker County, and the gold and silver mines in Grant +County in Eastern Oregon, have also recently been more fully developed, +and with great success. + +With the inflow of foreign capital, now begun in earnest, those best +qualified to judge predict for Oregon a very high place among the gold +and silver producing States of the Union. + +The mineral district in Grant and Baker Counties will be shortly +rendered accessible and profitable by the expected completion, both of +the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company's line and of that of the +Oregon Pacific, having eastward connections at Boise City in Idaho, +some fifty miles eastward of the eastern boundary of Oregon. + +The timber of Oregon is of world-wide fame. It will take many years to +exhaust the districts even now accessible to river, railroad, or +harbor; and the opening up of the various portions of the State to be +traversed by the railroads either now or shortly to be put in hand will +bring to market the timber from hundreds of square miles of woodland +yet untouched. + +The following general statement is chiefly extracted from the "Report +of the Government Commissioner of Agriculture" for the year 1875: + +Baker County has a timber area of five hundred square miles, +principally pine and fir. Benton County has a belt of timber-land of +one eighth of a mile wide by forty-five miles in length, lying along +the Willamette River, and another belt in the Coast Mountains of +twenty-five by thirty miles. + +This timber is principally pine and fir; there are also large +quantities of splendid spruce; alder and white-oak, laurel and maple +are also found. Alder grows from twenty-four to thirty inches in +diameter, and is worth for cabinet-making purposes from thirty to forty +dollars a thousand feet at the factory. There is a belt principally of +spruce timber, a mile wide and how many miles long I can not say, +heading northward from Depot Slough, a stream running into Yaquina Bay, +many of the trees being eight and nine feet in diameter, and two +hundred and fifty feet high. + +I have seen a hundred and thirty pines cut for ships' spars on one +homestead near Yaquina Bay, not one of which snapped in the felling, +and which ran from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet in the clear, +without a branch, and about as straight and level as a ruler. And this +lot were cut from but a very few acres of the wood, and where it was +easy to convey them to the tidal stream which floated them to the +harbor. It was a pretty sight to watch the team of five or six yokes of +oxen hauling the long, white spars from the wooded knoll on which they +grew--the red and white colors of the oxen and the voices of the +teamsters and lumbermen lending life and cheerfulness to the somber +forest. + +[Sidenote: _TIMBER._] + +Clackamas is one of the best timbered counties in the Willamette +Valley, fully one half of its area being in heavy timber. Pine, fir, +spruce, white cedar, white oak, maple, and ash are found. About two +thirds of the area of Curry County is covered with forests of yellow, +red, and white fir, sugar-pine, white cedar, spruce, white and other +oaks, and madrono. The timber-lands of Douglas are principally covered +with the different varieties of evergreens and oaks. There are +thousands of acres which would yield from three to six hundred cords to +the acre not yet taken up. Not over one third of the area of Lane +County is woodland. This embraces the different varieties common to the +Pacific coast. + +The timber-land of Linn, occupying half its area, is comprised in three +belts of dense forest, half of which is red fir. Within the last +twenty-four years thousands of acres of woodland have grown up from +seed, and are now covered with trees from forty to eighty feet high, +with a diameter of from ten inches to two feet. There have been made +from one acre of fir-timber six thousand rails ten feet long by at +least four inches thick. + +Multnomah has a large area of timber-land, mostly yellow and red fir. + +Three fourths of the area of Tillamook is in timber, and half of this +is fir and hemlock. The forests of Umatilla are confined to the +mountains, where they are very dense, and to the belts along the +streams. Wasco has immense forests in the mountains, many of them as +yet inaccessible. The general result is, that Oregon has in all +15,407,528 acres of woodlands out of a total area of 60,975,360 acres. +The timber on the average is worth now about four dollars per thousand +cubic feet at the saw-mill in the log, and costs when sawed into inch +lumber about eight dollars the thousand feet of such lumber. The price +of the lumber to the consumer varies from nine to fourteen dollars per +thousand feet, according to the demand. Much of the fir and spruce +timber will cut into six or seven logs of sixteen feet in length, the +tree being six feet in diameter two feet from the ground. + +From one cut out of a fallen fir on my own land we split one hundred +and thirty-two rails of fully four inches diameter, and from several +trees over six hundred rails each have been split. + +A good deal of unauthorized timber-cutting goes on upon the Government +land not yet taken up. When the logger is honest, he buys the right to +cut from the owner of the land, paying "stumpage" of about fifty cents +a tree. I have known many acres to provide over fifty of these big +trees, thus returning a good price for the timber, and leaving rich and +partly cleared land for pasturing purposes in the hands of the owner. + +One of the industries that needs to be established in many parts of the +State is tanning. Hides are plentiful, and of excellent quality; bark, +both of oak and of hemlock, is easily procurable, and the water-power +is abundant almost everywhere. At present the leather used is chiefly +imported from California; it has been hastily tanned, and is of poor +quality. The drawback to this business is that it absorbs capital +before it begins to yield profit; but, the machine once having begun to +revolve, the returns are steady, the risks few, the results permanent, +and the profits very considerable. + +[Sidenote: _WOOLEN-MILLS._] + +The woolen manufacture in Oregon has already taken good hold. Oregon +goods are well known in California, and in Philadelphia and New York +also. They received well-deserved praise at the Centennial Exhibition +of 1876. There are three woolen-factories in the State: one at Oregon +City, one at Brownsville, and one at Ashland, in the south of the +State. Their blankets and tweeds are admirable for thickness, solidity, +and softness of texture. The Oregon City mills employ a good many +Chinamen; they work well and economically. There is every probability +of a fourth factory being at once established in or near Albany; and +the more the better, considering the ample water-power, and the +abundance and excellence of fleeces. + +Taking into account the quality of the flax grown in the State and the +indefinite power of expansion of the product, seeing that the very edge +of the flax-land has hardly yet been touched, while many thousand acres +are specially fit for the crop, and considering, also, that linen in +its various forms is unnaturally dear on the Pacific coast, it seems a +pity that one or more linen-factories should not be established. The +present disturbed state of Ireland has, we know, prepared many of its +inhabitants for emigration, and among them are many trained in the +growth, the preparation, and the manufacture of flax. Any persons +familiar with this industry could not do better than transfer +themselves, their capital, their machinery, and their staff of workers, +to this free land; here they will find a hearty welcome, a fine +climate, the very best of raw material, a market at their doors, +unlimited opening for expansion of their business, and a habitation +free alike from turbulence, riot, and oppression. + +No book attempting to deal, in however general terms, with the +industrial development of Oregon, can pass the business in canned +salmon without notice. + +The growth of the business has been marvelous. The following table +shows the canning of the Columbia River salmon during the ten years +ending with 1880: + + Year. Cases. Year. Cases. + + 1871 35,000 1876 429,000 + 1872 44,000 1877 393,000 + 1873 103,000 1878 412,924 + 1874 244,000 1879 440,000 + 1875 291,000 1880 540,000 + +Each case contains four dozen tins of one pound each, or two dozen of +two pounds. + +The total output of the Pacific coast for 1880 is estimated at 680,000 +cases. + +[Sidenote: _SALMON._] + +Besides the Columbia River, which is the main source of supply, other +Oregon rivers are laid under tribute. The Rogue River, the Alsea, +Umpqua, Coquille, Nehalem, Siletz, and Yaquina Rivers are all +salmon-yielding streams. The system followed is generally known. The +proprietor erects his cannery on the edge of the river, generally on +piles driven into the mud. The cannery consists of a large warehouse +for laying out the fresh salmon as soon as caught. Next comes a +building fitted with large knives for cutting up the salmon into the +proper length for canning, and boilers in which the cans or tins are +boiled. Then come the packing and storing houses. That the undertaking +need be on a large scale may be judged from the fact that they may have +to deal with three or four thousand salmon at a time, as the produce of +one night's take, and these salmon averaging twenty-five pounds in +weight. + +The canneries make their own tins, one man, by the aid of ingenious +machinery, putting together fifteen hundred tins in a day. + +The boats and nets belong to the cannery. The fishermen are paid by the +fish they bring in: one third belongs to the cannery in right of boat +and nets; the other two thirds are bought from the fishermen at fifty +cents a fish. + +The importance to Oregon of the trade is shown by the proceeds for the +year ending August 1, 1879, from the 412,924 cases exported being +$1,863,069. + +The tin for the salmon, and also for the canned beef which is prepared +in several of the canneries, is all imported. The imports for 1879 +amounted to 54,520 boxes, costing from $8 to $9 a box. + +The number of salmon ascending some of these streams to spawn is almost +incredible. + +Both the Siletz and the Yaquina Rivers yield two kinds: one a heavy, +thick-shouldered, red-tinged, hooknosed fellow, which is never eaten by +white men when it has passed up out of tidal waters; the other a slim, +graceful, bright-scaled fish, known as the silver salmon. Of this last +there are two runs in the year: one in April and May, the other in +October and November. + +The heavy, red salmon runs in the fall of the year, from August to +November, and the heads of all the streams, even to the little brooks +among the mountains, are filled with ugly, dark, yellow-and-white +spotted fish pushing their way upward, until I have seen five huge fish +in a tiny pool too shallow to cover their back-fins. Some get back to +the ocean with the autumn floods; the majority are left dying, or dead, +on the gravel or along the edges of the streams. Here they are deadly +poison to dogs, and to wolves also. It is almost impossible to keep +dogs of mature age in the coast district; sooner or later they are +almost sure to get "salmoned," and to die. + +The only way is to allow the puppies free run at the salmon: two out of +three will die; the survivor, having passed the ordeal, will be +salmon-proof and live to his full age. + +The symptoms of salmon-poisoning are refusal of food, staring coat, +running at the eyes, dry and feverish nose, absolute stoppage of +digestion, followed by death in about three days after the first +appearance of poisoning. + +All sorts of remedies have been unsuccessfully tried. A young dog may +battle through, if dosed with Epsom salts as soon as his state is +observed; for an old dog, I can find nothing of avail. Castor-oil, +large doses of mustard, shot in quantities forced down the throat, +calomel, aloes, blackberry-tea--all of these I have heard of, but have +not the slightest faith in any one. + +Therefore, any new-comers into the coast country bringing valuable dogs +with them will have to keep them tied up, or else may expect to lose +them, as I have unfortunately experienced. + +[Sidenote: _INDIAN SALMON-TRAPS._] + +The repugnance of the white man to the dark and spotted salmon is not +shared by the Indians. They had a salmon-camp on Big Elk, the chief +tributary of the Yaquina, last year, which I went to see. The river +runs between steep hills, covered with the usual brush, and with a +narrow trail cut through along the edge of the water. The tide runs up +for about four miles above the junction with the Yaquina, and there, in +a wide pool into which the little river fell over a ridge of rocks, +hardly to be called a fall, the Indians had their dam and traps. Just +below the fall they had planted a row of willow and hazel stakes in the +bed of the stream close together and tied with withes. In the center +was an opening--a little lane of stakes leading into a pocket some six +feet wide. The Indian women sat out on the rock by the side of the +pocket with dip-nets and ladled out the salmon, which had been beguiled +by their instinct of pushing always up the stream into entering the +fatal inclosure. + +The Indian _tyhees_ or shelters were on the bank close by--miserable +hovels made of boughs, and some old boards they had carried up--and +hung round with torn and dirty blankets to keep in the smoke. Poles +were set across and across, and from these hung the sides and bellies +of the salmon, while a little fire of damp wood and grass was kept +constantly replenished in the middle of the floor, by a +wretched-looking crone who squatted close by. + +[Illustration: Newport Pier, 1879.] + +When we got there, a younger woman was opening and splitting the salmon +just caught, pressing the eggs into a great osier basket, where they +looked exactly like a pile of red currants. She gave us a handful of +eggs for trout-bait; as every one knows, the most deadly and poaching +lure for that fish. And we found the benefit of them that same evening +at Elk City, four miles below, where the salmon-trout crowd almost in +shoals to be caught. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Eastern Oregon--Going "east of the mountains"--Its attractions-- +Encroaching sheep--First experiments in agriculture and planting +--General description of Eastern Oregon--Boundaries--Alkaline +plains--Their productions--The valleys--Powder River Valley-- +Description--The Snake River and its tributaries--The Malheur +Valley--Harney Lake Valley--Its size--Productions--Wild grasses +--Hay-making--The winters in Eastern Oregon--Wagon-roads--Prineville +--Silver Creek--Grindstone Creek Valley--Crooked River--Settlers' +descriptions and experiences--Ascent of the Cascades going west-- +Eastern Oregon towns--Baker City--Prineville--Warnings to settlers +--Growing wheat for the railroads to carry. + + +While Western Oregon and the Willamette Valley in particular have been +settled up, the valleys, plains, and hill-sides of Eastern Oregon are +only just now beginning to attract population. + +But the reports of that country have spread far and wide through the +valley, and half the young men are burning to try their fortunes "east +of the mountains." When a youngster has been brought up in a wide +valley, the eastern sky-line of which has been marked out, from his +very infancy, by a line of rugged hills, over which the snow-peaks +tower; when he has been used to see the mountains stand out clear and +majestic, rosy in the glow of the setting sun, and then putting on +their winter garments of purity, and shining cold in the clear +moonlight of the winter nights; when he has watched them disappear as +the mists of the autumn rains filled the valley, to be hidden for weeks +from his gaze, and then suddenly revealed as the drying and vigorous +west wind dispelled the veil which the warm south wind had only served +to thicken--I can sympathize with the longing felt, even if +unexpressed, to climb this barrier and find if there be in verity a +Canaan beyond. + +And then, until lately at all events, to the young and bold there was a +strong attraction in the life on horseback, in the gallop after the +straggling cattle over those rolling plains; in the bachelor life of +freedom, where home was just where night found him, and where his +comrades had made their fire and picketed their horses; and, though +last not least, where the wealthy stockmen had started from the exact +point where he stood, their capital good health, readiness to rough it, +and a determination to get on. + +But a few years ago this was what life east of the mountains meant. +Then men found that sheep paid better than cattle; and the +sheep-herder, with his band of merinos, took possession of the rocky +hill-sides, on which the thick bunch-grass was already beginning to +fail to hold its first vigor and abundance, and his peaceful but not +unresisted invasion pushed the cattle-men farther into the wilderness. + +The loathing and contempt of the stockmen for these encroaching sheep! +Some of them actually encouraged, and refused to permit the slaughter +of, the prairie-wolves, which did not molest the cattle, but waged war +on the flocks. But the tide would not be turned back, and mile after +mile the sheep pushed on. + +The bunch-grass which the cattle lived on, and which only overstocking +injured, gave way before the sheep; for these eat out the hearts of the +young grass, and their range grew wider as the feed became more sparse. + +And then the farmer followed the sheep-herder, and the eaten pastures +were turned up by the plow. True, the soil was alkaline in many places, +and rocky and stony to an extent strange to the eyes of the valley +farmer, who hardly ever sees a stone. But there were streams on many a +hill-side which only needed a little work to be turned on to and to +irrigate the soil below; and many a valley was explored, whose level +land gave promise of numberless farms. + +Even if the land were bare and desolate-looking to a degree, and the +farmhouse stood naked and unattractive, yet it was found that apples +and pears would grow, and even that peaches would ripen well in a +hotter and drier summer climate than is found elsewhere in Oregon. + +And when the results of the first experiments were disclosed, and it +was found that wheat yielded thirty, forty, and even fifty bushels to +the acre on these very lands, the tide turned. + +[Sidenote: _EASTERN OREGON._] + +Men who had decried Eastern Oregon as a desert, fit only to pasture a +few cattle and scattering bands of sheep, suddenly changed their tone, +and nothing was heard from them but advice to leave the worn-out lands +of the Willamette Valley, and go to this, which was the coming country. + +And advantage was at once taken of this state of things to prepare the +public mind for, and then to take up vast sums of money to provide, +railroad and increased steamboat accommodation to bring the products of +these eastern plains within reach of Portland and the seaboard. + +What is this country like? The Columbia bounds the north, the Snake +River the east of Oregon--the one running east and west, the other +north and south. Nearly midway between the Cascade Mountains and the +Snake River, the Blue Mountains run, roughly speaking, north and south. +This range is much less elevated than the Cascades, but very wide, and +rises gradually from far-reaching foot-hills about the center of the +State. + +Between the Blue Mountains and the Cascades lies a great stretch of +open, rolling country--bare, rocky hills, not a tree and hardly a bush +to be seen; until lately covered with bunch-grass and some sage-brush. +This is some of the country to which the change of purpose applies +which I have just described. + +The prevailing color of the country is a reddish-brown, except when in +spring a tinge of living green spreads with the growing grass. + +Near the Cascade Mountains are wide tracts covered with fine volcanic +lava-dust. Where there is moisture to be found, this soil supports a +good growth of grass, and the pine timber stretches to its edge. But +joining it come the bare alkaline plains. Their natural vegetation is +the bunch-grass and the sage-brush (_Artemisia_). + +The chief constituents in the alkaline formation are chlorides of +sodium and potassium--demanding irrigation as the remedy for the excess +of alkali, while beet-root is recommended as a first crop to absorb the +surplus salt. Excellent crops are raised in the Ochico Valley, on this +land; and there is no doubt that a very large portion of the tracts now +being abandoned by the cattle- and sheep-herder will prove of enormous +productiveness in wheat. + +East of the Blue Mountains is found, among others, the Powder River +Valley. This is in the western part of Baker County and partly in Union +County. On the north and east a steep hill-side separates it from the +Grand Ronde Valley; on the south and west rises the spur of the Blue +Mountain range. The valley is about twenty-four miles long by twelve +wide, thus covering two hundred and ninety square miles. + +The lands in this valley may be taken as a type of similar valleys in +Eastern Oregon. They may be divided into three classes. First, the +bottom-lands pure and simple. These consist of alluvial soil of +abundant depth and richness; the only question an intending settler +need ask is whether they are subject to inundation from the overflow of +the river, which invariably is found running through the whole length. +Above the bottom-lands, and far exceeding them in extent, are the +foothills, yielding in this instance fully one hundred and eighty +square miles of excellent grain-producing lands, and adapted in all +respects to farming purposes. And above these again rise the hills for +pasturage, and only useful for grain-growing where facilities for +irrigation can be found. The character of bareness does not apply to +these hill-sides; the alkaline soil does not extend to them, and a +richer vegetation, in which other native grasses and spreading plants +come to the aid of the predominating bunch-grass, affords food to sheep +and cattle all the summer through. + +[Sidenote: _SNAKE RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES._] + +All the tributaries of the Snake River from the Oregon side run through +a country of a somewhat similar character, and each of these streams is +the source of life and vegetation. Among these other valleys may be +named the Lower Powder River, Eagle Creek, Pine Creek, Upper Burnt +River, Upper and Lower Willow Creek, and the Malheur. This last +requires separate mention. It runs through the boundaries of the +Malheur Indian reservation, now shortly to be thrown open to +settlement, and offering about three million acres of fertile and +desirable land. + +The Malheur River runs from the Harney Lake Valley to the Snake. This +last-named valley is about sixty miles long by twenty wide; and this +area of twelve hundred square miles is mainly covered with a growth of +grass so tall that a man riding through it on horseback in August can +tie the heads of the wild-rye together over his head, or, to use +another illustration, sufficiently high and dense to hide completely a +horseman who diverges from the road or track. With the wild-rye are +mixed bunch-grass, blue-joint, and quantities of the wild-pea vine. And +the country north and south of it, though bare, is not barren and +mountainous; but in the spring and summer, before the grass is up to +its full height, a man can ride and even drive his wagon, day in and +day out, until he gets out of the boundaries of Oregon. + +The preparations which the settlers make for the winter consist mainly +in cutting and storing for hay the natural grasses of the country. Fort +Harney, which has been until lately a post held by two companies, has +stabling for four hundred horses. Five years ago the troops got cut and +stacked from the surrounding country nine hundred tons of choice hay. + +Neither in this valley are the winters very severe. Until railroad +communications are provided, the sparse settlers have to abandon +themselves to isolation from the outside world, because the snow lies +deep on the plateaus and ridges which extend between them and the +haunts of civilized man. But within the limits of the valleys the +inhabitants enjoy life in winter. The snow does not lie long or deep; +and from so many sources that I am forced to credit it comes the +information that no one accustomed to American winter in any of the +Middle States need have any apprehension in coming to live in any of +the valleys I have named. + +Turning westward from the Snake River and traversing the Malheur Valley +and the Harney Lake Valley, the traveler may follow one of the military +wagon-roads--that one whose fortunes in the violent and scandalous +attempts on the title to its granted lands I have before referred to. + +From Camp Harney to Prineville, the principal town in the southern +portion of Wasco County, the distance is about one hundred and +forty-five miles. For between thirty and forty miles the road runs +through Silver Creek Valley, or along land watered by its affluent +streams. The description I have given of valleys in Eastern Oregon +applies to this. The country on either side of the road consists of +rolling hills, covered with bunch-grass and sage-brush, and +occasionally sparse juniper. Settlement in this valley is very recent. +But thirteen families had taken up their residence there previous to +and during the fall of 1880, and several more are going in this spring. + +[Sidenote: _GRINDSTONE CREEK VALLEY._] + +Then Grindstone Creek Valley is reached. This is one of the head-waters +of Crooked River. A perfect network of creeks and streams is passed +before the main Crooked River is reached, and each stream and creek +brings fertility to the land on either side of it and through which it +runs. + +A farmer named Moppin has the credit of growing the first grain on +Grindstone Creek; and there, in the harvest of 1880, he raised six +hundred bushels of fine oats on nine acres of land, and grew one +hundred and fifty bushels of potatoes on less than two thirds of an +acre; several of the potatoes weighed two pounds and upward. + +Then, following down the course of the Crooked River Valley, we pass +through a country which is described in the following terms by a +settler of eleven years' experience: + +"This Crooked River Valley is about seventy-five miles long, and +extends almost due east and west. It is a beautiful valley, with little +or no timber in it, with the exception of willows along the river. The +average width of the river is about one hundred feet. Now comes the +stock country on the south of this river, and along its entire length +is one line of hills and plateaus, thickly covered with bunch-grass of +the best quality. Every few miles comes in a creek from the highlands +back on either side. On these streams, from head to mouth, with but few +exceptions, are good farming-lands. + +"At this time there are hundreds of thousands of acres of good land +lying idle, waiting for the industrious farmer to fence and plow and +raise grain on. But what is the use? There is no market for the grain +except in limited quantities, as we have no facilities for shipping to +the outside world. The consequence is, that if a man does not have +money enough to go into the stock-business, he won't come here at all. +The one great trouble is to get our supplies. Within a year after the +completion of a railroad to this locality the people over in your +section will be surprised at the vast amount of grain received from +here. As it is now, we have to drive our fat cattle from one to two +hundred miles in the winter to find a market, and by the time we get +them there they are poor. Give us a railroad, and we can ship our fat +stock five hundred miles to market, and afford to sell cheaper than +those who live in your (Willamette) valley. We do not have to feed at +all. We mark and brand a calf, turn him out on the range, and, when he +is four years old, sell him for twenty dollars cash--net profit about +seventeen dollars. Does that pay? Give us facilities for getting to a +better market, and it will pay better." + +Passing still eastward after leaving Prineville along this Crooked +River Valley, and then to its junction with the Des Chutes River, the +country retains its fertile and promising character. + +[Sidenote: _A FARMER'S OPINION._] + +A farmer of twenty years' experience in Oregon, and who is a thoroughly +reliable man, writes thus: "I have known this country well for several +years. This fall (1880) I have taken a journey through it right along +east, traveling slowly and with a view to settling. What my opinion is +you may judge when I tell you that I have made up my mind to settle in +the Crooked River Valley, where I shall go with my family in the +spring. + +"I know no part of Oregon that pleases me better. You have the best of +land for wheat, oats, and potatoes. You can get a good garden, and grow +all the vegetables you want. You have unlimited range for your stock, +where they will get fat on the natural grasses, and where you can put +up all the hay you want. Cattle, horses, and sheep do equally well out +there. You are going into a healthy climate, away from all fever and +ague or any other sickness of that nature; and you are going to a place +where the land is bound to be worth four times its present value when +the Oregon Pacific Railroad is opened." + +Beginning the ascent of the Cascades, you pass through and over some +twenty miles of rough lava country, interspersed with strips of +scattering timber-land, and then come to Fish Lake and Clear Lake, the +paradise of the fisherman, the hunter, and the berry-gatherer and +botanist. + +Before I leave the description of Eastern Oregon, let me quote from one +more letter from a settler of last year out in the Prineville country: +"I am located on a ranch on Camp Creek, and eight miles below the +famous 'soap-holes' (silver-mines). We can raise almost anything out +here, unless it is a mortgage. We have all the potatoes, turnips, +onions, carrots, and beets we want; all were raised on our ranch, and, +by-the-way, they were immense. I pulled one turnip that measured +thirty-four and a half inches in circumference, and quite a number ran +as high as thirty inches. Early-rose potatoes do remarkably well here. +I have in about five acres of rye, and will sow about twenty acres of +wheat and oats in the spring." + +I should add that the towns in Eastern Oregon, away from the Columbia, +are beginning to assume considerable importance. + +Baker City was described in December, 1880, as having about one +thousand inhabitants, while the amount of business transacted would +average fully $450,000. There were then six substantial fire-proof +business structures, and two large school-buildings, namely, "St. +Joseph's" and "The Sisters of the Holy Names." The former is said to be +a large four-story structure, in brick and stone, of the pure Gothic +style of the fourteenth century, with accommodations for about one +hundred and fifty boarding and day scholars; it is managed by a Roman +Catholic priest named De Roo. + +Prineville is a very lively and bustling place, with about the same +number of inhabitants. It is growing fast, several fine buildings +having been recently erected, among them a convenient and substantial +church. There are three large general stores, supplied with heavy +stocks of goods; from this, as a distributing center, the stockmen and +ranchers for fifty miles and more in every direction fetch the +necessaries of life. In the summertime ten or a dozen heavily-loaded +wagons may be seen any day starting out along this road (which was +called no road!) for their distant homes. + +[Sidenote: _WARNINGS TO SETTLERS._] + +It must not be assumed that all Eastern Oregon could be divided off +into farms of the character of these choicer pieces which such men as I +have referred to have chosen and settled on. There is many a rough, +stony hill-side, where the sparse vegetation struggles for life in the +crannies of the rocks. There is many a stretch of sandy, alkaline +plain, where the dingy sage-brush grows, with here and there a tuft of +bunch-grass; there is many a gully where the thirsty steer would look +in vain for water, even in a dirt-hole, to quench his thirst. + +But all this is fully consistent with the fertility and attractiveness +of the valleys and slopes I have described. For, remember, we are +dealing with fifty thousand square miles of country, on which, if the +existing farms were marked on a large scale-map, they would be hardly +noticeable in the vast expanse of land waiting for settlement and +population. + +But he would be a short-sighted man who should think of farming in +Eastern Oregon, as it now is, save in a few accessible spots, where +proximity to a road will provide a market at his door for the produce +he has raised. In Northeastern Oregon, where the great crops of wheat +are beginning to be grown, the farmer is at the mercy of the +Transportation Company, which hitherto has sucked the oyster and left +the farmer the shell. For what profit can there be in growing wheat at +thirty and thirty-five cents a bushel, that same wheat being worth one +hundred cents in Portland, and the difference being absorbed in freight +and charges? + +And yet, so great is the charm of novelty, so prone are a large number +of the emigrants to this State to try a new place, that land up there +fetches from five to fifteen dollars an acre, just about the same price +for which they could buy a farm in the valley foot-hills, where wheat +was worth seventy-five cents against the thirty-five, and where +churches, schools, post-offices, and telegraphs are already provided. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Southern Oregon--Its boundaries--The western counties--Population--Ports +--Rogue River--Coos Bay--Coal--Lumber--Practicable railroad routes--The +harbor--Shifting and blowing sands--A quoted description--Cost of +transportation--Harbor improvements--Their progress and results--The +Umpqua--Douglas County--Jackson County--The lake-country--Linkville +--Water-powers--Indian reservations--The great mountains--Southeastern +Oregon--General description--Industries. + + +Southern Oregon is defined generally as bounded on the west by the +Pacific, and starting from its western boundary is bounded on the north +by the Calapooya Mountains, shutting in the Umpqua Valley, and then +running eastward, taking in the lake country. In this division are +included the western counties of Douglas, Coos, Curry, Josephine, +Jackson, Lake, and the southern half of Grant and Baker. A great +portion of the last-named counties is yet unsurveyed. + +The western counties already possess, according to the census of 1880, +a population of 29,081 souls. + +The portions of Grant and Baker Counties properly belonging to Southern +Oregon have only about two thousand people, the reason being that this +country is truly inaccessible, being so far distant from the seaboard, +and hardly traversed by a road. + +Southern Oregon possesses several rivers and their attendant seaports. +The most southerly is the Rogue River, which has a course of about one +hundred miles, running through a very fertile but secluded valley. The +bar at the entrance is shifting, and the channel very variable; but it +is entered by both small steamers and by the coasting schooners which +ply along the coast, with San Francisco as their port of delivery. + +Coos Bay, some sixty miles to the north of the Rogue River, needs a +fuller description, as it is the headquarters of the coal and lumber +business of Southern Oregon. Detailed reports of the coal-basin give +not less than seventy-five thousand acres of coal-bearing land, +estimated to produce from the one vein at present worked not less than +four hundred and fifty million tons of coal. As many as six workable +seams are, however, known to exist, including one which has been +prospected to eleven feet in thickness. Five coal-mines have been +opened, which are capable of producing about two thousand tons of coal +daily. The working of these mines is of an inexpensive character, much +of the mineral being accessible from adits or galleries delivering +their produce on the hill-sides. + +The lumber shipped at Coos Bay is yielded by four large steam +saw-mills, with an aggregate capacity of about one hundred and fifteen +thousand feet per day. + +There are also four ship-yards, from which between forty and fifty +vessels have been launched, even up to two thousand tons burden. + +The value of coal and lumber exported from Coos Bay was upward of +$445,000 in the year 1877, according to the statistics collected by a +committee of residents, when application was about to be made to +Congress for an appropriation for the improvement of the harbor. It was +then reported that a railroad was found to be practicable from Coos Bay +along the Coquille Valley across the Coast Mountains. Such a line would +then pass through the Umpqua Valley to Roseburg, with a practicable +extension up the North Fork of the Umpqua River and through the Cascade +Mountains into Eastern Oregon. + +[Sidenote: _SHIFTING AND BLOWING SANDS._] + +It was ascertained that the chief difficulty in improving the entrance +to the port lay in the enormous quantity of movable and shifting sand, +driven along the coast southward by the prevalent summer northwest +winds, and then returned by the winter southwest gales. + +So violent is this action that it is thus described: "Large tracts to +the north of Coos Bay and along the rock separating its lower part from +the sea, where once stood farms and pine-forests, are now buried to the +tops of the highest trees. Immense quantities of this wind-borne sand +are constantly going into the bay, and by its swift currents are +carried out to form the bar, or be deposited in the bight to the east +and north of the cape." + +Let me quote a short description of this section of the country, on +which before many years the tide of immigration must roll in. The +writer is the Hon. B. Hermann, who is doing all in his power to draw +public attention to his district: + +"Ten-mile and Camas Valleys, being respectively ten and fifteen to +twenty-five miles from the terminus of the Oregon and California +Railroad at Roseburg, are without any other outlet. The cost of teaming +to this point, added to the present exorbitant rates of railway +freights, discourages the farmers of those sections in the cultivation +of the soil. And yet some of the best and most extensive wheat-fields +of the country are within those circuits, while a vast area is left +annually to grow brush and weeds, and to remain of comparatively little +value, which should otherwise contribute to the harvest of thousands of +bushels of the finest grain. + +"From Camas Valley, and along the Middle Fork of the Coquille River, +until its junction with the main stream is reached, a distance of +twenty-eight miles by survey, three fourths of the route is without +even a wagon-road communication, travel being by trail, with ox and +sled, saddle and pack horse. And yet there is found a goodly +population, having substantial improvements, some very good farms in +cultivation, with flouring-mills for the local accommodation. + +"The land is very fertile, and capable of growing the usual cereals and +esculents to perfection, but, owing to the great difficulty of +transporting the productions to market, a very small portion only is +cultivated, and much remains vacant, subject to homestead and +preemption.... + +"From the junction with the main river, and following the latter to +near Beaver Slough, or Coquille City, the point of diversion of the +route toward Coos Bay, an enterprising community is found, owning +bottom-lands of rich alluvial soil, a great portion of which is now +being cleared of timber, annually placed under cultivation, and large +crops of grain garnered. This same remark applies to all the remaining +portion of the main Coquille Valley, a distance of forty miles or more +to the sea, and also along the North and South Forks, as well as the +smaller tributaries. For a distance of seventy-five miles inland the +Coquille Valley is capable of extensive agricultural development. +Already this distance is closely peopled, all lands on the main stream +settled, and improvements slowly made. Much grain is now grown here, a +large proportion manufactured into flour by the various mills for home +consumption and shipment to Coos Bay, while a considerable quantity of +the grain is exported to San Francisco through the mouth of the river. + +[Sidenote: _COST OF TRANSPORTATION._] + +"Owing, however, to the condition of the Coquille entrance, only small +ships venture in, and even they are often delayed in the river for +months at a time, with the shippers' cargo on board.... + +"Thus the hopeful people of this extensive and unrivaled valley for its +soil, its productions, its coals, timber, and other abundant natural +resources, are virtually left without an exit to the markets of the +world.... + +"The cost on each bushel of wheat for transportation to Portland from +any point in the Umpqua Valley is twenty-three cents, to say nothing of +the added expense of one hundred and ten miles to Astoria, thence by +sea to San Francisco and elsewhere. From Roseburg to San Francisco by +way of Portland and Astoria is about eight hundred and seventy-five +miles, and from Roseburg to San Francisco by the way of Coos Bay is +only four hundred and sixty-five miles. + +"Mr. James Dillard, as we are credibly informed, produced last year on +his farm in Douglas County about six thousand bushels of grain. To have +transported this only to Portland on its way to market would have cost +him $1,380. The saving in transportation to Coos Bay by eighty-five +miles of narrow-gauge road would be to this one farmer on one year's +crop $780." + +No wonder that in this district, as in all others in the State, the +transportation question should be the burning one of the day. + +The Coos Bay people succeeded in gaining the ear of Congress, and two +years ago an appropriation of $60,000 was made for the improvement of +the harbor. + +The problem was a very difficult one for the engineers to solve, from +the conditions above stated of the driven and shifting sand. It would +not have been strange if the works first planned had needed alterations +as they progressed. + +But the success of the breakwater constructed by the United States +engineers from cheap material, available on the spot, has been +sufficiently marked to encourage the requests for further +appropriations until the plans are executed in their entirety, and the +opening of the harbor carried still farther out to sea. + +It is reported now (in the spring of 1881) that the north sand-spit is +being cut through by the current in the direction indicated by the +lines of the breakwater, and that deeper and more constant water is +found than heretofore--a good augury of success for similar works where +the obstructions are not so shifting as sand alone, and where they are +free from the influence of the sand tracts to the north, whence so much +of the obstruction to Coos Bay entrance came. And this is our happy +case at Yaquina. + +The Umpqua River is the largest river that, rising in the Cascades, and +draining a large and fertile valley in its course, flows directly into +the Pacific, after cutting its channel through the Coast Range. There +is a wide and very shifting bar at its mouth, through which the usual +channel gives twelve or thirteen feet at low water. The river is +navigable for all vessels which can cross the bar as far as Gardner +City, five miles from the mouth, while smaller vessels can get as far +as Scottsburg, twenty-five miles up. + +Douglas County, now possessing a population of 9,596, is capable of +sustaining a vastly increased number. It lies almost surrounded by +mountains, but with a good outlet to the north along the valley lands +through which the Oregon and California Railroad runs. It is well +watered throughout by the Umpqua and its tributaries, while the +northern portion of the county forms the head of the great Willamette, +the aggregate of many creeks and streams having here their rise. + +The climate of Jackson County is a good deal warmer than its mere +geographical relations to the counties on the north and east of it +would account for. Indian corn is a staple crop, and peaches and vines +flourish exceedingly. The sun seems to have more power; and I have a +vivid remembrance of heat and dust along its roads. + +[Sidenote: _THE LAKE COUNTRY._] + +Lake County is well named. Huge depressions in the land are filled with +the Upper and Lower Klamath Lakes, the latter crossing the California +boundary-line. + +North of the Upper Klamath Lake, again, some twenty miles, is the +Klamath Marsh, doubtless not long since another lake--now, in summer, +the feeding-ground for cattle, in winter the home of innumerable flocks +of migratory birds. Between the Upper and Lower Klamath Lakes runs a +rapid water-course. The town of Linkville stands on its banks. I am +told that there is water-power enough here to drive as many mills as +are found at Lowell, Massachusetts. At Linkville is the land-office for +Southern Oregon. + +It has been proposed to run the California extension of the Oregon and +California Railroad through the gap between Upper and Lower Klamath +Lakes. Should that long-talked-of project ever be realized, the +manufacturing facilities of this splendid water-power will no longer be +suffered to lie dead. + +Passing eastward, the great Klamath Indian reservation is reached--a +tract I only know by hearsay as a land of hills and streams, of gullies +and water-courses, of lava-beds and barrenness intermixed with quiet +vales and dells of wondrous beauty--a land where Indian superstitions +cluster thickly. The Indians are few and scattered, and this country, +no doubt, ere long will be thrown open to the white traveler and +hunter, to be quickly followed by the herdsman and the settler. + +The great snowy pyramids of the Southern Cascades stand on guard. Mount +Scott (8,500 feet), Mount Pitt (9,250), and Mount Thielsen (9,250) are +placed there, thirty miles apart, forbidding passage between the warm +valleys of Jackson County and the open plains east of the mountains. + +But here, too, the hardy pioneers have found their way. I have talked +with several men who are herding sheep and cattle on these plains. The +merino thrives here even better than in Northeastern Oregon, and many +thousand pounds of wool are raised. They describe the country as one of +open plain and rocky hillside, of scarce water and abundant sage-brush; +resembling in general features the tract fifty miles to the north, but, +alas! containing scarcely any of the creeks \and streams which give +life and fertility to Middle Oregon. + +[Sidenote: _THE IDAHO BOUNDARY._] + +Eastward again of Stein's Mountains you strike the head-waters of the +Owyhee, an important tributary of the Snake, and at once recur the +common features of fertility and consequent settlement. And thus the +Idaho boundary is reached. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +The towns--Approach to Oregon--The steamers--The Columbia entrance-- +Astoria--Its situation, industries, development--Salmon--Shipping-- +Loading and discharging cargo--Up the Columbia and Willamette to +Portland--Portland, West and East--Population--Public buildings-- +United States District Court--The judge--Public Library--The Bishop +schools--Hospital--Churches--Stores--Chinese quarter--Banks-- +Industries--The city's prosperity--Its causes--Its probable future +--The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company--Shipping abuses and +exactions--Railroad termini--Up the Columbia--The Dalles--Up +the Willamette--Oregon City, its history--The falls--Salem--Its +position and development--Capitol buildings--Flour-mills--Oil-mills +--Buena Vista potteries--Albany--Its water-power--Flour-mills--Values +of land--Corvallis--The line of the Oregon Pacific Railroad--Eugene, +its university and professors--Roseburg--The West-side Railroad to +Portland--Development of the country--Prosperity--Counties of Oregon +--Their population--Taxable property--Average possessions--In the +Willamette Valley--In Eastern Oregon--In Eastern Oregon tributary +to Columbia and Snake Rivers. + + +Having said so much about the country, something needs to be said about +the towns. All persons reaching Oregon, save those few who choose to +face the three nights and two days of staging that divide Redding (the +northern terminus of the California and Oregon Railroad) from Roseburg +(the southern terminus of the Oregon and California Railroad), enter +Oregon by ship from San Francisco. And here, in passing, a word of +praise for the really beautiful and commodious steamers which have now +replaced the Ajax and the other monsters which disgraced the traffic +they were furnished for, as well as their owners. No better boats ply +on any waters than the State of California, the Columbia, and the +Oregon. The first two are new ships, with electric lights, and all +other appliances to match. All are safe and speedy. The State of +California belongs to the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, the others +to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. + +The approach to Oregon is forbidding and stern. There is nothing +attractive in the sandy coast, in the muddy water, in the broken but +not romantic scenery, where the water is encroaching on the land, and +shifting its position and attack from time to time. Here and there +along the edge are strewed, or stand in various attitudes of death, the +skeletons of the pine-trees, which look like the relics of battle, the +perishing remains of the beaten defenders of the coast; and, once over +the bar, that terror to sea-worn travelers, the approach to Astoria can +hardly be called beautiful. + +[Sidenote: _ASTORIA._] + +But the city of Astoria itself has claims to beauty of position. It +lies within the course of the Columbia; though here the estuary is so +wide as to give the idea of a lake. Jutting out into the bay above the +town rises a little promontory, crowned with firs; and between the eye +rests on the unfamiliar outlines of a large cannery, the buildings of +gray wood, based on piles sunk into the mud of the bay, and the long, +shingled roofs catching the rays of the departing sun. + +The city consists of a mass of wooden structures low down by the +water's edge--wharves and docks and repairing-yards in front, and a +long line of stores and saloons and business-houses behind, broken by +the more imposing custom-house, post-office, and churches. On the +slopes of the high hills rising from near the water's edge are the +scattered white houses of the inhabitants, while the sky-line of the +hills is broken through by the cutting by which many tons of stone and +sand are being piled into the bay. The city proper mainly stands on +piles, the water gurgling and lapping round the barnacles, which +cluster thick; the enterprise of the people is fast filling in +underneath from the hills behind. + +There are large and substantial docks of the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company and others adjoining, where are generally lying two +or three large ships or barks, going out or returning from their long +and weary voyage. + +The atmosphere of the place in the salmon-season is fishy, huge stacks +of boxed salmon filling the wharves. The principal street is fringed +with saloons, mainly looking for custom to the fishermen and seamen. + +There is a large lumber-mill, which makes the air resonant with the +shriek of the great saws; and a boot-and-shoe factory has been recently +established. Other industries exist; but it is as a seaport that +Astoria justifies its existence and the foresight of its founders. + +Clatsop County has 7,200 inhabitants, of which, I suppose, Astoria +claims a third. There is an air of business and life about the place, +and there will be, so far as I can see, even though means should be +found of ending the present practice of all large ships going to sea +from Portland being towed to Astoria, and followed by scows and barges, +there to complete their loading for their outward voyage. A similar +necessity exists for incoming ships to stay at Astoria to discharge a +large portion of their cargo before facing the shallows and mud-banks +of the Willamette on the way to Portland as their port of discharge. + +[Sidenote: _PORTLAND._] + +The voyage up the Columbia for a hundred miles, and up the Willamette +for twelve, to Portland, has many charms. First, the grand stream of +the mighty Columbia, telling in its size and volume of the three +thousand miles some of its waters have come from their far-off sources +among distant mountains; then the banks, rising generally sheer from +the water's edge, crowned with rich and varied vegetation, and here and +there the rugged rocks breaking through, to give clearness and strength +to outline; and then on either side the more distant hills, clothed +with the dark fir-timber to their summits, and behind the mountains +proper, with Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helen's showing their snowy +heads. Here and there in a niche or angle under the bank lie huddled +close the buildings of a cannery, the blue smoke rising from the +central chimney, and the white boats tied to the piling which juts out +into the deep water of the river. + +You are hardly conscious of leaving the Columbia for the Willamette. It +looks as if it were an island in mid-stream behind and to the south of +which you are about to pass; but soon you find that the supposed island +is the opposite bank of the Willamette, and, passing beacons and marks, +set to define the channel with the accuracy that is absolutely needed +(since a sheer to the east or west of only a yard or two would leave +you fast in a mud-bank for hours), you come in sight of Portland. + +I ought to have noticed that here and there along the banks coming up, +almost on the river's level and exposed to inundation at each high +water, you pass dairy-farms, consisting of a shanty, or tumble-down +house, and a few acres of rank and muddy pasture, where ague seems to +sit brooding on the branches of the trees, whose trunks and limbs yet +bear the traces of last season's flood. + +But now for the juvenile but audacious Portland, who describes herself +as "the commercial metropolis of the Northwest." One considerable +suburb, called East Portland, stands on the east bank of the +Willamette; but the main part of the town is on the west bank, and now +nearly fills all the level land between the river and the hills behind, +which seem to be pushing at and resenting the intrusion of the streets +along their sides. Extensions are taking place along the northern end, +where a considerable stretch of low-lying land is yet available along +the banks of the river, and also to some extent at the farther or +southern end of the city. The building westward is mounting the +hill-sides, already dotted with the somewhat pretentious wooden houses +of the more prosperous towns-people. + +To one who has seen real cities it is but a little place; but some of +its twenty-one or twenty-two thousand inhabitants raise claims to +greatness and even supremacy that make it difficult to suppress a +smile. In thirty-five years the place has grown from a collection of +log-huts, set down as if by chance, to its present dimensions, and, no +doubt, could go on growing as fast as Oregon developed, could the same +conditions last. The city consists of near a dozen streets running +parallel with the Willamette, and about twenty-three at right angles. +Front Street and First Street contain some brick buildings, remarkable +for so very young a place: the former backs on the Willamette, and on +it front the warehouses and wharves, against the backs of which the +ships are moored; the latter contains nearly all the city's stores and +shops of any consequence. + +[Sidenote: _THE PUBLIC LIBRARY._] + +The United States District and Circuit Courts sit at Portland. The +former is and has been for several years presided over by the Hon. +Matthew P. Deady. This gentleman's name will be long associated with +the jurisprudence of Oregon, having been one of the original compilers +of the Code, and reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of the +State, until, promoted to the bench of the United States Court, he has +taken a high place as a conscientious and able judge. To him also +Portland mainly owes that which I consider the chief ornament and pride +of the city, rather than the ambitious but faulty structures in wood, +stone, and iron on which most of the citizens glorify themselves--I +mean the Public Library. This institution has its headquarters in +spacious rooms over Messrs. Ladd & Tilton's Bank; the shelves are +filled with upward of ten thousand well-selected books, and the process +of addition is going on under the same careful oversight. Here every +evening are groups of readers, and it must be a source of constant +satisfaction to the judge to have been the means of organizing and +continuing the successful working of an institution which is effecting +silent but untold good. + +Portland is also the residence of Bishop Morris, of the Episcopal +Church. He has resided there for twelve years past; and to him the city +is indebted for the St. Vincent's Hospital, where accidents are treated +at all times, and which is open for receiving besides a certain number +of sick persons. The bishop has also founded and kept going the Bishop +Scott Grammar-School. This is a high-school for boys. Last year it had +fifty-nine pupils and five teachers, and a sound and solid education is +there given. St. Helen's Hall, the best girls' school in the State, was +also founded by him. There were here one hundred and sixty pupils and +twelve teachers last year. Other churches exert themselves to occupy +and hold prominent positions in the city: notably the Roman Catholics, +whose archbishop, Seghers, resides in Portland, and who have erected a +large red-brick cathedral. It is as yet unfinished, but a further +effort by the Roman Catholics in the diocese is about to be made to +complete and furnish it. + +There is a fair theatre in the city; it is occupied now and again by a +traveling troupe from San Francisco, generally consisting of a star, +and his or her supports of a more or less wooden consistency. + +The building of the Mechanics' Fair, which is used for balls and +concerts, one or two Masonic and societies' halls, the rooms of the +several fire companies, and those of the Young Men's Christian +Association, complete the list. There are a good many expensive stores +of all kinds, and all seem prosperous. + +The Chinese quarter is, of course, not so large and picturesque as in +San Francisco, but it is equally well marked: a complete range of +Chinese stores, with doctors' shops and theatre, the usual lanterns +hung out over the doors, and the common display of curious edibles. +There are several substantial Chinese firms and business-houses; one of +their chief sources of revenue is the bringing over and hiring out the +large numbers of Chinese laborers required for the railway works now in +progress. The census disclosed nineteen hundred Chinamen as residents +of Multnomah County; I suppose eighteen hundred of them were found in +Portland. + +[Sidenote: _BANKS AND MANUFACTORIES._] + +Four banks do a large general business, and there is also a +savings-bank. A mortgage company, having its headquarters in Scotland, +at Dundee, takes up cheap money in Scotland, and lends it out to great +advantage in Oregon, at the rates prevalent here, with results +satisfactory to its manager, Mr. William Reid, as well as to its +stockholders. + +There are two iron-works, a large sash and door factory, a brewery, and +a twine and rope factory, but beyond these scarcely any manufacturing +industry. + +The prosperity of the city, which has been very great during the last +few years, is solely attributable to its character of toll-gate. +Situated at the extreme northern boundary of the State, in a position +which was not unsuitable when Oregon and Washington Territory were +bound together, it is perfectly anomalous to suppose that the capital +city of Oregon should have been there placed by deliberate intention. +As matters now stand, it is the only port in Oregon, save Astoria, to +which the large grain-ships can come, and at which the deep-draught +ocean-going steamers can take in and discharge their cargoes; and, very +naturally, its business-men seek to perpetuate that state of affairs, +regardless of the growing interest of the great country which now pays +tribute to their little town. It is not easy to forget how more than +one of its leading citizens, when applied to to add their signatures to +a petition to Congress in aid of the removal of the reef partially +obstructing Yaquina Bay, replied, "Every dollar you get is so much +taken directly from our pockets." + +A further adventitious help that Portland got was by being made the +headquarters of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, which brought to +its wharves the produce of the Columbia River traffic as well as that +of the Willamette. It might be natural to bring to and to leave at +Portland wharves the wheat of Western Oregon, but there seems little +sense in bringing grain down the Columbia, and then up the Willamette, +to be deposited in Portland, thence to be transferred partly in ships, +partly in barges and river-steamers, to Astoria, where alone the +loading of the ships could be completed. + +The present style of the Portland and Astoria newspapers is to make +very light of the Columbia bar. In fact, they boldly state that to +hardly any port is so good an approach vouchsafed as to Portland; they +instance London and Philadelphia, Glasgow and New Orleans, as parallel +instances in position; and "The Oregonian" is never weary of singing +the praises of their Tom Tiddler's ground of a city. + +But it has not always been so with them. "The Astorian" stated, on the +30th of January, 1880, that there were thirty vessels off the bar, +unable to enter. The same paper, on the 23d of March, 1880, published +this item of news: "Pilots on the bar all agree that, unless some +measures are adopted for permanent improvement of the channel, it will +not be longer considered safe for vessels to enter or cross out with +more than eighteen feet draught of water." "The Astorian" in the same +issue also informed us that "Captain Flavel has been making personal +inspections of bar-soundings, ... and is himself fully satisfied that +it is only a question of very brief time, so rapid and broadcast is the +shoaling process, when it will be impossible for deep vessels to cross; +the North Channel, along Sand Island from the head, is filling up as +fast as does the South Channel"; while "The Oregonian" told us as +recently as December, 1880, that "the Gatherer, with railroad-iron for +the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, was compelled to lighter four +times between Baker's Bay and Kalama, at heavy expense. The Chandos, +sailing from this port within the past two weeks, lightered thirteen +hundred tons. The A. M. Simpson lightered eleven hundred tons; and the +last departure, the Edwin Reed, getting off on a winter rain-flood, +scraped over the shoals with all but two hundred and eighty tons of her +load, the lightest lighterage of a wooden vessel for many months. The +report has gone forth that to reach Portland a ship must be dragged up +a hundred miles or more of river over four bad bars, and at the +shipping season lighterage at enormous cost is necessary. Naturally +enough, we now have no large ships." + +[Sidenote: _SHIPPING ABUSES AND EXACTIONS._] + +The abuses of the present system of shipping are many and great, and +all on the principle of making hay while the sun shines. Hear a +shipmaster who published his experiences in October last: + +"On the fourth day we got two tugs and crossed the outer bar and +anchored in Baker's Bay, where the ship had to be lightened to twenty +feet and six inches draught before she could cross the inner bar and +reach Astoria. This lighterage cost two dollars per ton, and had to be +paid by the ship. As four other ships arrived about that time which +required lightering also before they could proceed farther, we were +detained at Baker's Bay for nine days, having the expense of a full +crew on board all that time. The distance from outside of the outer bar +to Astoria is about fourteen miles, for which the towage is $500, +pilotage $192, and that was in the middle of a beautiful day, ship also +using her own canvas and hawser. I believe this charge is almost equal +to salvage. The pilots are hired by the owner of the tugs, who collects +the pilotage, paying the pilots $100 a month for their services.... As +the pilots have no boat of their own, they are obliged to go in the +tugs, which are all owned by one man. I was just fourteen days from the +time I anchored off the bar till I reached the dock where I was to +discharge cargo, and for towage and pilotage alone from the bar to the +dock, paid $1,009." + +Portland is the Oregon headquarters of the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company, a corporation formed by the fertile genius of Mr. +Henry Villard in June, 1879, by the amalgamation of the Oregon +Steamship Company, owning the ocean-going steamers between San +Francisco and Portland, and the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, owning +the river-boats plying on the Columbia and Willamette. Here are the +termini of the East and West Side Railroads (originally formed by Mr. +Ben Holladay, a name very familiar to Oregon ears), but until this +spring of 1881 owned and worked by the committee of European +bondholders, into whose hands the lines in question fell by virtue of +the securities they held. And in Portland also are the head offices in +Oregon of the Scotch system of narrow-gauge railroads, now being +constructed by means of Scotch capital attracted to the State by the +successful working of the land-mortgage company referred to above. + +It will be seen, therefore, that there are abundant reasons for +predicting that a large portion of the business of Oregon will center +in Portland, for many years to come, at any rate. The more cause that +Portland men should welcome the development of the other portions of +the State, with which in the future profitable business is certain to +arise, as new industries are started, existing interests widen and +strengthen themselves, and new centers of population and business find +their places in the growing State. Time will show whether the sanguine +hopes of the Portland people that their city will hold the virtual +monopoly of the trade of the Northwest are well founded or not. There +can, in my mind, be little doubt that she will have a very formidable +rival in the city on Puget Sound which will spring up, as by magic, +when the Northern Pacific Railroad there receives and discharges +passengers and freight. It will be an evil day for Portland when the +wharves at Tacoma find the grain-ships alongside, and the cars pouring +in the grain of Eastern Oregon and Washington Territory. And some +little effect on her tolls will be produced when Yaquina Bay is opened, +and the cars of the Oregon Pacific are there delivering the freight of +Middle and Southern Oregon. + +Portlanders rely on what they call the concentration of capital to pull +them through. They have yet to learn the sensitiveness of the movements +of their divinity--how prone she is to follow the current of trade to +its points of receipt and delivery. And should that day ever dawn, when +figures show her "supremacy" to have departed, not one single sigh will +escape these valley counties, which Portland has levied tribute on, and +done her best to keep in bondage till the end of time. + +[Sidenote: _UP THE COLUMBIA RIVER._] + +Passing eastward from Portland up the Columbia, in one of the large and +comfortable boats of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, a day's +journey brings you to the Dalles. I have already mentioned how rapidly +this town is growing, as the point of distribution for the greater +portion of Northeastern Oregon, and the point of reception for vast +quantities of grain, wool, hides, and other productions of that +pastoral and agricultural country. + +Taking a Willamette River boat, notice in passing the Oswego +Iron-Works, seven miles from Portland, and then the village of +Milwaukee, with large and well-appointed nurseries, whence many of the +orchards of the State have been supplied. + +The steamer will then stop at the wharf of Oregon City, just below the +great falls of the Willamette. Notice the magnificent river throwing +itself over the rocky ridge which shows one or two black points of rock +amid the foam of the falls. See the lofty hills on either side, clad +with vegetation to their very tops, while the little town is crowded on +the narrow strip down by the river on the eastern side. What a +water-power is yet running to waste, though lumber-mills, flour-mills, +and woolen-mills take their tribute as it passes! + +On the west side are the locks. Here the steamer crosses the river from +the city, and you get a pretty view of this, one of the earliest +settled towns in the State. It dates from the Hudson Bay Company's +rule, and the oldest inhabitant can tell you story after story of the +early days, when the meetings were held here which virtually determined +the allegiance of the infant State. + +Iron-ore has been prospected in plenty in these hills above the town, +but waits for development. + +[Illustration: The Columbia Point below the Dalles.] + +[Sidenote: _SALEM._] + +Passing up the river, the next important place we meet is Salem, the +capital of the State. The State Capitol stands on elevated ground about +a mile back from the river, with a large, green space in front, planted +with ornamental trees and shrubs. The scene from the great windows at +the back is really grand, Mount Jefferson being in full view, and the +line of the Cascades in ridge after ridge displayed in all their +beauty. Fronting the Capitol buildings at the other side of the Park +are the Court-House and offices of Marion County, also a substantial +and handsome pile. On the southern side of the Capitol stand the +buildings of the Willamette University. + +The town of Salem is now growing. It has the advantage of a splendid +water-power, called Mill Creek, which is turned to good account before +it reaches the Willamette just below the city. On it are placed the +Pioneer Oil-Mills, where linseed-oil and linseed-cake are produced, of +excellent quality and moderate price; also a large building now used +both as an implement-factory and as a flour-mill; this has lately +changed hands, and it is too soon yet to speak of its success. Below +this are placed the "Salem Flour-Mills" of Kinney Brothers & Co. Their +brand is recognized and approved in all the markets of the world--as it +ought to be, if the best of wheat turned into the best of flour, and +its sale honestly and intelligently carried out, can command success. +The mills are fine buildings, fitted with the most modern and powerful +machinery, and stand just on the edge of the Willamette, with a dock +where the river-steamers can deliver wheat and receive flour. I believe +that this last fall of 1881 they converted 600,000 bushels of wheat +into flour. A switch from the Oregon and California Railroad runs from +the main line to the mills on the other side, and is proving an immense +convenience to the city generally as well as to the mills. + +The steamboat pauses on its upward journey at Buena Vista, to take in +and deliver freight for the pottery there, already extensive, and which +by the excellence of its productions demonstrates that it only needs +further capital and enlarged business relations to do an important +share of the trade of the coast. The glaze on the ware is very good, +made from a mineral earth found in the bank of the Willamette at +Corvallis. + +After passing the mouth of the Santiam, the most considerable tributary +of the Willamette, we stop at Albany. This is one of the best situated +and most progressive towns in the State. Although with a little less +than two thousand inhabitants at present, it has all the enterprise and +"go" of a town in Europe of five times that number. There are here also +three large flour-mills, the brands of some of which are known and +prized in Liverpool, to which port cargoes are frequently sent. + +Albany has a lumber-mill, foundry, twine-mill, and scutching-mill, +fruit-drying works, sash and door factory, and soon will have +woolen-mills also. The making of the place is the water-power of the +Santiam River, brought in a canal for thirteen miles through the level +prairie-land, but rushing through the town and supplying the mills and +factories with a flow and force of water sufficient for double as many +works as at present use it. The town is supplied with water for +domestic purposes from the same source, of clearness and purity that it +is hard to equal. + +Albany has three newspapers, six churches, a very good collegiate +school, and excellent common schools. It is a principal station on the +Oregon and California Railroad, and also an important station on the +Oregon Pacific, now so rapidly building, and its point of crossing the +Oregon and California, and a junction for the branch line to Lebanon, +away there under the slopes of the Cascades. Land in the neighborhood +of the town, and indeed throughout the level portions of Linn County, +ranging over an area of nearly twenty miles each way, is worth from +twenty-five to sixty dollars an acre--the last sale I heard of, of one +hundred and thirty-two acres, about five miles from the town, being at +thirty-nine dollars an acre. + +[Sidenote: _CORVALLIS AND EUGENE CITY._] + +The next town we come to is our own Corvallis, appropriately named as +the heart of the valley. It is indeed fitly placed as the valley +starting-point seaward of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, being on the +direct line east and west between Yaquina Bay, the Mount Jefferson Pass +through the Cascades, Prineville, in Eastern Oregon, Harney Lake and +Valley, the Malheur River and Valley, and Boise City--the meeting-place +in the near future of divers transcontinental lines. + +Corvallis has been too fully described in these pages to need further +reference here. The commencement of energetic construction of the +Oregon Pacific and the assurance of its early completion have given an +increased business-life to the place which impresses the visitor +strongly with the idea of rapid future growth. + +Continuing in our steamboat to the head of the Willamette navigation, +we pass the little towns of Peoria and Harrisburg, and at last reach +Eugene City. This, which is the chief town of Lane County, is blessed +with a university, presided over by excellent professors, one of whom, +Professor Condon, has a name and fame as a geologist far beyond the +limits of his county and also of the State. I trust the time will soon +come when the liberality of the Legislature of Oregon will provide the +funds necessary to enable Professor Condon to complete and publish the +systematic geology and mineralogy of Oregon, the materials for which +are already to a large extent in his possession, the result of years of +careful study and journeyings over the State. + +Eugene City is a lively, pleasant little town, but has not yet attained +any manufacturing or industrial development like some of the other +towns in Oregon. This is to come. + +Leaving the river for the railroad, we journey up to Roseburg, the +capital of Douglas County, and the southern terminus of the Oregon and +California line. No town can be more prettily placed, really at the +head of the great valley country, with the vast mountain-forms behind +frowning on the traveler who dares attempt to thread their passes. As I +have said, the Douglas County people trust to get a railroad outlet +from Roseburg down to Coos. I hope they will succeed, and so open to +ocean-transit the productions of a vast and fertile country. + +Turning north again as far as Corvallis, we may there take the +West-side Railroad and journey along the western side of the Willamette +Valley and River. + +The towns of Independence, Dallas, Sheridan, Amity, Lafayette, +McMinnville, Forest Grove, and Hillsboro' lie in the district between +Corvallis and Portland. Each and all are thriving, but I can do no more +than mention them, though I fear so short a reference will be +considered scant courtesy to the active, pushing people who are +laboring with such success at the development of Polk, Yam Hill, and +Washington Counties. The land is almost uniformly good; large +quantities are being yearly grubbed and put under the plow, and several +of my recently arrived English friends prefer the undulating land and +gentle slopes of this side of the valley to any other part of Oregon, +and have proved their preference by their actions. Land in these +counties varies from ten to twenty-five dollars an acre in price. + +[Sidenote: _COUNTIES: POPULATION, ETC._] + +I think I will close this somewhat tedious chapter by setting out the +counties of Oregon, their population, and the statement of their +taxable property, furnished by the Secretary of State: + + COUNTIES. Population. Taxable property + of 1880. + + Baker 4,615 $931,139 + Benton 6,403 1,766,282 + Clackamas 9,260 1,886,916 + Clatsop 7,222 1,136,099 + Columbia 2,042 305,283 + Coos 4,834 832,335 + Curry 1,208 219,333 + Douglas 9,596 2,248,985 + Grant 4,303 1,088,097 + Jackson 8,154 1,449,623 + Josephine 2,485 253,594 + Lake 2,804 708,517 + Lane 9,411 3,078,756 + Linn 12,675 4,334,479 + Marion 14,576 3,983,170 + Multnomah 25,204 11,511,058 + Polk 6,601 1,751,211 + Tillamook 970 92,912 + Umatilla 9,607 2,094,723 + Union 6,650 1,265,603 + Wasco 11,120 2,870,645 + Washington 7,082 2,137,630 + Yam Hill 7,945 2,547,833 + ------ --------- + Total of the State 174,767 $48,494,223 + Increase over 1879 2,071,406 + +The proportion of taxable property held by each man, woman, and child +in Oregon is therefore $277.47. + +The population of the valley counties, properly so called, is +83,549--this leaves Portland and Multnomah County entirely out. The +taxable property of these valley counties is $23,735,262. + +The population of the whole of Eastern Oregon east of the Cascades is +but 39,099. The value of its taxable property is only $8,958,724. + +The population of that part of Eastern and Northeastern Oregon which is +in any sense tributary to the Columbia or Snake Rivers is 28,180. The +value of their taxable property is $6,256,547. + +The average taxable property of the population of the valley counties +is $282.68; that of the population of Eastern Oregon, $228.96. + +[Illustration: The Columbia Cascades Landing (Looking up stream).] + +These figures will be seen to have an important hearing on the subject +of the next chapter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The transportation question--Its importance--Present legal position-- +Oregon Railway and Navigation Committee's general report--That company +--Its ocean-going steamers--Their traffic and earnings--Its river-boats +--Their traffic and earnings--Its railroads in existence--Their traffic +and earnings--Its new railroads in construction and in prospect--Their +probable influence--The Northern Pacific--Terminus on Puget Sound--Its +prospects--The East and West Side Railroads--"Bearing" traffic and +earnings--How to get "control"--Lands owned by the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company--Monopoly--How threatened--The narrow-gauge railroads +--Their terminus and working--Efforts to consolidate monopoly--The +"blind pool"--Resistance--The Oregon Pacific--Its causes, possessions, +and prospects--Land grant and its enemies--The traffic of the valley-- +Yaquina Bay--Its improvement--The farmers take it in hand--Contrast +and comparisons--The two presidents--Probable effects of competition +--Tactics in opposition--The Yaquina improvements--Description of +works--The prospects for competition and the farmers' gains. + + +From all that has gone before, the deduction is plain that on the +solution of the transportation question in the interests of the fixed +and industrious population of the State depends absolutely the growth +and prosperity of Oregon. Nature has done her part. + +The words of Messrs. George M. Pullman, of Chicago, and William +Endicott, Jr., of Boston, in their report of August 1, 1880, to the +stockholders of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, will be +echoed by every man who is now or has been in Oregon with eyes to see. +They wrote as follows: + +"Our observations afforded, in the first place, ample confirmation of +all we had previously heard and read of the propitious climate, great +attractions of scenery, and wonderful agricultural resources of Western +and Eastern Oregon, and Eastern Washington Territory. We believe that +in these respects those regions are not surpassed, if equaled, by any +other portion of the United States. It can, indeed, be safely said that +nowhere else in this country do rich soil and mild climate combine to +the same degree in insuring such extraordinary results of almost every +agricultural pursuit as regards quantity, quality, and regularity of +yield.... The striking evidence of past and present growth which we +found everywhere, forced at the same time the irresistible conclusion +upon us that we were beholding but the beginning of the sure and rapid +progress in population, productiveness, and prosperity which will be +witnessed in the immediate future within the vast stretch of country +watered by the great river Columbia and its numerous tributaries." + +The reader of this book will, I think, admit that the facts herein +detailed go far to justify the conclusions summed up in these few but +carefully chosen words. + +How does this transportation question now stand, and what (if any) +matters are in progress or contemplation to affect it? + +In the first place, the companies are all free to manage their own +business in their own way; they charge what they like, favor what +persons and places they choose, and load on others burdens heavy to be +borne. + +I have before indicated what was the purpose of the bill introduced in +the Legislature of 1880, to prevent discrimination by common carriers. +"The Oregonian" commented on the loss of the measure in these terms: +"We present to-day the report of the (hostile) Senate committee on this +bill. The report shows why the proposed measure was both an unjust and +an impracticable one. It should be apparent to every one that railways +never can be operated in this way. The confusion and disorder would be +endless; besides, every railroad which is undertaken and constructed as +an actual business enterprise is entitled to make fair earnings. +Instead of being annoyed by straw railroads got up for speculative +purposes, it ought to have protection from such annoyance." + +[Sidenote: _OREGON RAILWAY AND NAVIGATION CO._] + +In further illustration of the working of the present system, I would +instance the fact that from Corvallis to Portland for about a year the +freight on wheat by the river steamboats of the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company has been one dollar a ton, and of this fifty cents +had to be paid for passing the locks at Oregon City; the rate +immediately previous to this was three dollars and a half. This +ridiculously low rate was put on in order to destroy the traffic of the +East and West Side Railroads, and is in strong contrast with the rate +from Corvallis to Junction City, some twenty miles up the river, where +no such reasons existed, and which stood through this period at about +tenfold the one-dollar rate. + +No sooner did the President of the Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company think he had secured "control" of the two railroads, than steps +were prepared to quadruple the previous rate. The question of "control" +stood adjourned, and the one-dollar rate was confirmed. But, having +seen reason to think his acquisition secure, the rates from Portland to +Corvallis (ninety-seven miles by railroad), both by railroads and +steamboats, have just now (April, 1881) been raised to six dollars per +ton--a rate equal to that charged in the infancy of the business, +twenty years ago. + +The lion's share of the carrying business of the State is in the hands +of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and with them are closely +identified the hopes of the city of Portland. This company owns two of +the steamers plying between Portland and San Francisco--the Oregon and +the Columbia. With these two steamers, or with the George W. Elder as +the predecessor of the Columbia, they carried from the 1st of July, +1879, to the 30th of June, 1880, 17,333 passengers, and 101,661 tons of +freight. The gross receipts were $636,888; the net profits, $286,459. +As we know from the published circular of Mr. Villard, the president, +that the cost of the Columbia was $400,000, and the Oregon is a smaller +and decidedly less expensive ship, the proportion of net earnings of +the vessels in question to their total cost will be seen to be about +enough to pay ten per cent. per annum on their cost, and to buy the +vessels out and out in three years and a half. The fare from Portland +to San Francisco, even while these earnings were being made, stood at +twenty dollars the first-class passenger. News has just arrived that +these fares are to be raised to thirty dollars a head. If the same rate +of expense is maintained as during last year, the earnings at the +higher figure now put on will be increased by about $100,000, and +enough will be realized to pay for the fleet in about two years and a +half. + +With twenty-five steamboats (stern-wheelers) navigating the Columbia +and Willamette Rivers, and twelve barges and two scows (several of the +boats being old, and laid up in ordinary much of the time, reducing +thus materially the fleet in real service), the company earned +$1,992,836 gross, and $1,101,766 net profit. If $50,000 is deducted for +the earnings of the barges, it will be seen that the average net +earnings of the twenty-five river-steamers are positively $44,070 each. +The fleet could be replaced for less than the sum of the net profit of +one year. Like Oliver, "asking for more," they are positively raising +these freights also! + +[Sidenote: _RAILROAD ALONG THE COLUMBIA._] + +The railroad possessions of the company for the year in question +consisted of but forty-eight miles, and of these the line from Walla +Walla to Wallula on the upper Columbia, a distance of about thirty +miles, was the longest; the other two being short strips of portage +railroad round the Cascades or rapids on the Columbia. The passengers +carried were 12,588; the tons of freight, 72,149; and the net profits, +$269,004, or $5,604 a mile. + +The company is engaged in constructing a line of railroad along the +south bank of the Columbia; the portion from Celilo (the upper end of +the rapids, at the lower end of which the town of the Dalles is +situated) to Wallula, just over the Washington Territory border, a +distance of one hundred and fifteen miles, is just completed. The line +is being extended to the city of Portland, the works between the Dalles +and the western end of the pass through the Cascade Mountains being of +the most severe and expensive character. At least two tunnels and mile +after mile of blasting and cutting through solid rock, where the +mountains tower perpendicular above, would inspire dismay in the soul +of any ordinary railroad-man. + +But the word has gone forth that the road has to follow what is +facetiously called the pass of the Columbia through the Cascades, and +doubtless it will be done. Several thousand Chinamen are at work; +steam-drills are busy perforating the rocks; scows have to be moored +alongside in the river (there not being even room for the track between +mountain and water), while the perpendicular faces of the cliffs are +being tormented and torn. And thus about seventy miles of construction +of this nature have to be got through. When completed, of course, the +result will be at once to transfer nearly all of as many of the 117,000 +passengers as traveled in the company's boats on the Columbia, to the +cars; and a vast quantity of the freight must follow the same route. + +[Illustration: Columbia, above the Lower Cascade.] + +But another factor is intended shortly to come into play. The Northern +Pacific Railroad is vigorously at work, and in a year or two will +compete with the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for the +Washington Territory and extreme Eastern Oregon trade. The passengers +and freight intrusted to the Northern Pacific line will be carried from +Wallula, the Columbia River point above referred to, to Tacoma, on +Puget Sound. By this route a saving of one hundred and fifty-one miles +in actual distance will be effected, and the traffic will reach the +deep and still waters of Puget Sound, far away from the troubles and +stickings of the Willamette and Columbia mouths, and the delays, +dangers, and expenses of the Columbia bar. It is true that before this +result is gained the line must cross the Cascade Mountains, but it is +well known that a pass at less than thirty-four hundred feet exists, +and the engineers have no doubt whatever that this piece of road will +keep pace with the rest to the port. + +[Sidenote: _HOW TO GET "CONTROL."_] + +Mark now another feature in the case. The East and West Side Railroads +on either side of the Willamette River compete with the boats of the +Oregon Railway and Navigation Company for the trade of the Willamette +Valley. The railroads naturally divert the passenger traffic almost +entirely, and carry a large quantity of freight. They would carry more +and earn a fair profit for their owners, the German and English +bondholders, but, instead of a fair competition, the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company, as I have said, put down the freights from +Corvallis downward to Portland on grain to one dollar per ton--of +course, an impossible rate for either river or railroad to profit by. + +Why is this? Because what Mr. Villard calls the "control" of these +railroads is vitally necessary to the future continuance of the Oregon +Railway and Navigation Company's stocks in their exalted dividends and +consequent enormous market value. Therefore, it is sought now to +destroy the earning powers of these railroads, to force the owners into +succumbing to the "policy of control." + +One more step. The Oregon Railway and Navigation Company owns +practically no land--that is to say, it is interested speculatively in +the rise of value in property in Portland by having invested a large +sum (I believe $199,000) in the purchase of 484 acres of land in and +near the city. But, outside this and its railroad-track, the company +owns altogether about 3,055 acres of land in scattered pieces, only +about 850 acres of which lie in Oregon; the rest in Washington +Territory, and a bit or two in Idaho. We will not omit to mention its +wharves at the various stopping-places of the boats, as they represent +the expenditure of a considerable sum. Once again: if anything at all +is clear, it is that the inflated value of this company's securities +depends solely on the continuance of their monopoly. I have shown that +on the Columbia River this is threatened by the Northern Pacific, and +also by themselves in effect, by the substitution of the costly +railroad line for the inexpensive boats, and the consequent devotion of +both investments, namely, that in the boats and that in the railroad, +to the same traffic, which the competition of the Northern Pacific is +certain to reduce in gross volume. + +Now turn to the Willamette Valley traffic, and scrutinize the position +there. Not only is there the existing competition of the railroads, +which is fatal, so long as it is genuine, to the earning of large +profits from the north and south traffic of the valley, both in +passengers and goods, but here come in two competitors more. + +The Scotch narrow-gauge system also centers everything in Portland, and +has succeeded, after a hard fight with the city authorities, in +securing a large tract of land for depot or terminal purposes. It had +the audacity to claim a right of way right through the tract purchased +by the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, and, under the law of +eminent domain as it exists in Oregon, it would have got it, ay, and +used it, too, with but scant regard for the feelings of the high and +mighty corporation which had marked it for their own. But a working +arrangement was with much difficulty made, by which the Scotch line +runs, free of charge, alongside the other, right through its land, to +the terminus of the narrow-gauge. + +This Scotch line has put boats on the Willamette also. They ply between +Ray's Landing, about seventeen miles up the Willamette, and Portland. +The narrow-gauge also has an East-side and a West-side line through the +Willamette Valley. The East-side line runs north and south a short +distance from the foothills of the Cascades, and has now got as far as +Brownsville, about one hundred and twenty miles from Portland. Their +West-side line runs through the rich farming country in Polk County by +Dallas to Sheridan, and a junction with the Western Oregon broad-gauge +near by. This is also an ambitious company, who are pushing surveys +across the Cascade Range. + +The narrow-gauge system is yet by no means complete, but, when it is, +it will become at once a very dangerous rival both to the East and West +Side roads, and also to the boats of the Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company on the Willamette. + +So seriously did Mr. Villard feel the impending danger that it is no +secret in Oregon that a confidential agent was dispatched by him to +Scotland, to endeavor to put the Scotch investors out of conceit with +their property, and, failing that, he attempted to secure some of their +stock, so as to gain a footing inside their camp. But there also he +failed. + +[Sidenote: _THE "BLIND POOL."_] + +Shortly before these pages were written, occurred the episode of what +is known in financial circles in America as "the blind pool." Mr. +Villard caused it to be known among his circle of followers that he +desired the use of eight million dollars. According to statements made +on his authority, he not only secured it, but in all fifteen millions +were offered him. Quietly and secretly he used the eight millions in +buying up stock of the Northern Pacific Railroad in the New York +market, nor did he show his hand until he had thus secured twenty-seven +millions par value of the stock of that road. When his great gun was +thus loaded, he discharged it full at the head of Mr. Billings, the +president of the Northern Pacific, and those directors who had loyally +cooperated with him in the reorganization of the company and the +redemption of its securities from the chaos into which they had fallen +following the Jay Cooke failure. And the invader boldly claimed that he +had secured the "control" of that company too, and proposed to oust the +president, to install a representative of the "blind pool." + +But an unexpected check was met. It seems that part of the +reconstituted stock of the company, amounting to eighteen million +dollars, was as yet in the treasury of the company, but was the +property of divers persons who had cooperated in or assented to the +reconstruction. This being issued, as Mr. Billings and his friends +claim, in fulfillment of engagements long since entered into, displaced +the center of gravity, and caused it to incline heavily toward the +Billings section. A vociferous outcry was of course heard; the courts +were appealed to; and the result of what promises to be a long and +costly litigation remains to be seen. + +Even without the entrance on the field of the new forces I am about to +describe, the position of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company +appears to be a very perilous one. + +Under the chieftainship of Mr. Villard, who was no novice at the art of +playing with railroad companies as counters in the game of +"beggar-my-neighbor," a vast amount of Eastern capital was taken up by +the aid of the enormous profits earned by the previously existing +Oregon Steamship and Oregon Steam Navigation Company. Then followed +naturally an era of really delusive prosperity, while the expenditure +of this capital in substituting the new lamps of costly railroads for +the magical old lamps of stern-wheel steamboats was going on. + +But, in order to secure this capital, it was necessary to publish to +the world the enormous profits the earlier companies were making. The +effects were twofold and immediate. One was to open the eyes of the +farmers of Oregon to the fact that they were paying for the transport +to market of their crops sums utterly disproportionate to the cost and +risk of the services rendered. And thus it was certain that ere long +measures would be taken in the Legislature of Oregon, similar in +purport to those adopted in other States, to check and curb the power +of discrimination, which was the engine used to force the traffic on to +the boats and trains of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The +measure to that end introduced in the session of the Legislature of +1880 was, it is true, defeated by the strenuous efforts of the company, +aided by their Portland friends. But that success was dearly bought, +and the process was so patent as to awaken the farmers, with whom the +real power dwells, in a fashion that will soon be felt. + +[Sidenote: _YAQUINA BAY._] + +The other result, equally inevitable, was to call into active life +plans, long in preparation, for constructing an east and west line +across the State, relying on Yaquina Bay as the outport, and on the +trade of the Willamette Valley as the mainstay of the road. + +But the enterprise had other features to recommend it. The Willamette +Valley and Coast Railroad Company had been originated four or five +years back by the farmers of the valley to construct a railroad between +Corvallis and Yaquina Bay. It had obtained a charter from the +Legislature giving it authority to extend its line across the State to +the eastern boundary, at a point directly _en route_ to Boise City, +Idaho. + +This had been long ago marked out as the probable limit where +connection either with a branch from the Union Pacific Railroad, or +with some other road pushing westward to the ocean, might be made. + +The Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad received in its charter from +the State immunity from taxation for twenty years, and also a grant of +all the rich tide and overflowed lands in Benton County, amounting to +probably upward of one hundred thousand acres. + +Not content with this, the framer of this scheme had obtained the right +of purchase, on the basis of value of land in Eastern Oregon ten years +ago, of the grant of lands in aid of the construction of the Willamette +Valley and Cascade Mountains Military Wagon-road, amounting to eight +hundred and fifty thousand acres. A sketch of the history of this road +has been given before in these pages, and of the character of the +country through which it runs. + +The vital force of the Oregon Pacific Company, which was formed and +brought before the world in the autumn of 1880 to complete and operate +the Willamette Valley and Coast Railroad, lay in the advantage of +position in its central line, cutting Oregon in half, and thereby +attracting traffic to it from both sides, and also in the solid backing +of about nine hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, stretching +across the State from east to west, and which was certain to rise +four-fold at least in value by the construction of the railroad through +it. + +The first hundred and thirty miles of the road pass through Benton and +Linn Counties, which together produce about one half, and, with the +adjoining counties of Polk and Marion on the north and the county of +Lane on the south, fully three quarters of the wheat-crop of Oregon. + +It was estimated by a committee formed in these counties, who +investigated the subject thoroughly, that not less than one hundred and +eighty thousand tons of grain, and other freight to the amount of fifty +thousand tons or more, would seek an outlet over this road, from these +valley counties, on the basis of the crop of 1878. The subsequent +increase in acreage under crops would give not less than three hundred +thousand acres instead of two hundred and fifty thousand, at a very +moderate estimate. The inward freight may be taken at one half of the +outward bound, thus giving four hundred and fourteen thousand tons +which the new road would be called on to transport. + +These figures raised the ire of the Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company and of some of its Portland friends, and their abuse called +forth a reinvestigation of the whole subject, which resulted in +thorough confirmation of the estimates. + +[Sidenote: _OREGON PACIFIC RAILROAD._] + +The Oregon Pacific proposed, as soon as open for business, to lower the +seven dollars a ton, the previous average charge of the other company +on valley freight to San Francisco, to three dollars and a half, and +the twenty-four dollars for first-class passengers and fourteen dollars +for emigrant passengers to one half of those figures. And it showed a +very large probable dividend on its capital, on those reduced figures. +The reasonableness of this will be seen by reference to the enormous +earnings of the other company. + +The whole question turned, of course, on the practicability of so +improving the entrance to Yaquina Bay that heavy-laden ships of deep +draught could enter to deliver and receive cargo. + +The valley farmers and traders, to the number of thirty-four hundred, +petitioned Congress to appropriate $240,000 for these works. Strenuous +efforts in support of this petition at Washington, in the session of +1880, sufficed to overcome the opposition of the Oregon Railway and +Navigation Company, and the prayer was granted in principle, but only +in extent to $40,000, after the fashion in such cases. + +But the careful surveys and investigations of the United States +engineers, which were at once undertaken, justified the hopes of the +people and of those interested in the railroad, and very early in 1881 +the works for the improvement were begun. + +Application was made to Congress in the winter session of 1880-'81 to +appropriate $200,000 more for the works; but only $10,000 were granted, +although the Legislature of Oregon had, in their session of 1880, by +formal resolution, unanimously supported the application for $200,000. + +But the farmers of the valley counties were at last roused to vigorous +action, and, under the presidency of the Linn County Grange and its +officers, are raising a large fund by subscription, to continue without +interruption the harbor-works until additional appropriations are made +by Congress. The subscription will not only serve to keep the +harbor-works in vigorous progress, but demonstrates the subscribers' +conviction of the success of the efforts made for the completion of the +Oregon Pacific Railroad, and their active and personal interest in such +success. + +[Sidenote: _PROBABLE EFFECTS OF COMPETITION._] + +And now the full force of the figures given in the last chapter is +seen. So far as the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company depends on +Oregon for its support, it must come from counties the population of +which is but 28,180, and the value of their taxable property, in 1880, +only $6,256,547; the proportion of property for each inhabitant being +$228.96, or nearly twenty per cent. below the average for the State. + +The Oregon Pacific will draw its present support from the valley +counties, with a population of 83,549, and taxable property of +$23,735,262, each about four-fold greater. Their average property is +$282.68 per head, or about two per cent. above the rate for the whole +State. + +If it be argued that the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company bases +its hopes for maintaining its high dividends on its enlarged capital; +on the development of Eastern Oregon in population and productions, +which is in rapid progress--I reply that the same considerations apply +with vastly increased force to the district served by the Oregon +Pacific. The latter relies not only on the fertile lands on the western +side of the Cascades, unequaled in the whole United States for +attractiveness to immigrants of the better class, but it also asserts +its undoubted claim to profit from the settlement of the broad stretch +of country, also in Eastern Oregon, through which its line runs in its +eastward course. + +If stress is laid on the advantage of the established position of +Portland for the headquarters of the one road, the scale kicks the beam +when the one hundred and ten miles of towage and pilotage, the probable +delays in the rivers, the certain dangers and difficulties of the +Columbia bar, are weighed against the saving of two hundred and +twenty-one miles in actual distance, and the short course of but three +miles from the ocean to the wharves at Yaquina. + +[Sidenote: _TACTICS IN OPPOSITION._] + +If Mr. Villard has displayed his cleverness in laying hold of +established profits and turning them to the enormous gain of himself +and of those friends of his who have followed his lead, I can here do +but partial justice to the foresight and energy of Colonel T. Egenton +Hogg, whose clear judgment realized the necessity and the many +advantages of the Yaquina route ten years ago, who has fought through +unnumbered difficulties and a bitter and envenomed opposition toward +its attainment, and who has secured in so doing the hearty support of +the backbone and sinew of Oregon life, which trust to the Oregon +Pacific to set free the commerce of the State. + +Let it not be supposed that the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company +is foredoomed to failure, or to immediately explode and go out like a +rocket. According to my ideas, it may have a moderately prosperous +future, bringing down to Portland a certain quantity of freight and +passengers from the upper country, and an increasing quantity as that +country develops. But to suppose that on its enlarged capital it will +be allowed to go on earning dividends at the same preposterous rate as +heretofore its boats have made for it, is to insult the common-sense +alike of the Oregon farmer and of the capitalist looking now more +eagerly than ever for profitable and safe investment. + +One other point deserves attention. The Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company owns practically no land (except its building-land speculation +in Portland); therefore, when these competing lines come into play, and +traffic rates are consequently reduced over all the State, its +dividend-producing power is gone. + +The other lines can follow it down and down in any war of rates so far +as the Oregon Railway and Navigation lines see fit to venture. Such +tactics would be absolute madness in California, as by its new +Constitution rates once lowered can not be raised again. But suppose +the war of rates is begun in Oregon. The Northern Pacific, when +completed according to law, will save one hundred and fifty-one miles +in distance, and deliver freight and passengers at deep water on Puget +Sound. The narrow-gauge roads and boats together can carry more cheaply +than the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company. The valley standard-gauge +railroads and the Oregon Pacific share with the Northern Pacific this +tremendous advantage, that every dollar they lose on transportation +is only invested at enormous profit in the rise and value of their +lands. It is the cost of transportation that keeps down value on +their lands; lower this, and land rises at once. + +Nor is it to be supposed for an instant that the same tactics by which +it has been attempted to prevent, hamper, or delay the building of the +Oregon Pacific Railroad will long succeed. + +Shortly after the prospectus of that railroad was issued, there +appeared in "The Oregonian," of Portland, three columns of abuse over +the signature of "Examiner." The writer described himself as a citizen +of Oregon, anxious to avoid delusion and disaster to the Eastern +public. + +The whole was telegraphed or mailed long in advance back to New York, +and appeared in a garbled and still more contemptible form as a +circular, professing to be reprinted from "The Oregonian," as if from +the editor's chair of that paper. New York was flooded with the copies. +Fortunately, it was easy enough to repel the attack, since the chief +points were that the Eastern Oregon lands were worthless, and the +statements of the Willamette Valley trade exaggerated. And on both +points ample, even overwhelming, evidence was at hand. + +[Sidenote: _THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS ROAD._] + +Then, by what hidden influences it is of course impossible to say, the +Secretary of the Interior, Mr. Schurz, was set in motion on the +allegation that the Cascade Mountains road had never been made, and +that consequently the United States had been imposed upon fourteen +years ago when Congress granted the lands to the State of Oregon, and +that State defrauded in turn ten years ago when, on certificates of due +completion satisfactory to the then officials of the State, the lands +were duly confirmed to the wagon-road company. + +Thereupon, without inquiry as to the facts from the State officials of +Oregon, or from the road company or their representatives, who had all +the evidence in their possession--without one word of notice to any of +the parties concerned--a man named Prosser, then residing at Seattle, +and occupied in repressing unwarranted timber-cutting on Government +lands in that neighborhood, was dispatched to professedly examine into +the condition of things. His journey; the narrative of his duplicity; +of his inducing the president of the road company, in the innocence of +his heart, to fit him out and to lend him all the money for his +expenses; of his return and interviews with the citizens of Albany; of +his subsequent report that no road existed where upward of five +thousand wagons and innumerable droves of cattle and of passengers on +foot and horseback had passed without accident for ten years; of his +allegations of the trivial cost of the works, met by the evidence of +the outlay of about $100,000 on the construction and repairs of the +road; of the storm of indignation which swept through Linn County, and +found expression wherever the facts were known--all these things form +an amusing chapter in the history of this transaction. + +The Congressional committee, to whom the matter was referred, reported, +as might be expected, that Congress had no jurisdiction; that, so far +as they could see, the present owners, being innocent purchasers, had +good title to the lands; and that, if there were to be any attempt made +to disturb them, it must be a judicial and not a legislative matter. + +Meanwhile an action of ejectment had been brought by the purchasers +from the road company of the land grant, in the United States District +Court at Portland, against a squatter on the land, whose letters of old +date to the Commissioner of the Land-Office had been made the pretext +for the course taken by the Secretary of the Interior. Every +opportunity was given for raising in court the question of no road; but +the defendant dared not accept the challenge, and Judge Deady rendered +judgment for the owners of the land grant, and so settled the question +for good and all, so far as I can see. His judgment was masterly and +exhaustive, and I should think would convince any candid mind. + +Thus ends this act in the drama, with the position of the Oregon +Pacific confirmed at every point, and the Oregon Railway and Navigation +Company with a very pretty quarrel on their hands with the Northern +Pacific, and an impending competition, at which the farmers of the +State rejoice. + +And so the transportation question in Oregon is in a fair way to be +settled in a manner consonant with justice and honesty, so that produce +will be charged only what is commensurate in fair measure with the cost +and risk of the service rendered, and not in the opposite direction of +what the producer can bear. + +[Sidenote: _THE YAQUINA IMPROVEMENTS._] + +Before I close this subject, let me describe very shortly the principle +and method of the harbor improvement at Yaquina. + +The problem is this: In the harbor is a sheet of tidal water running up +more than twenty miles inland, and in the bay or harbor proper +expanding into a width of about three miles. To the tidal water has to +be added that brought down by the Yaquina River and its tributaries in +a course of fifty miles or thereabout. The deep-water channel to the +ocean through which this inflow and outflow are repeated twice every +twenty-four hours is deep and narrow, and the current very swift. Thus, +this channel of a quarter of a mile wide between the headlands on +either side of the mouth does not vary appreciably in width or depth, +and requires no attention. + +Just where the mouth opens to the ocean is the reef, of soft sandstone +rock, rising in intervals of separate rocks to within ten or eleven +feet of low-water mark--that is to say, each of the three channels +through the reef, north, middle, and south, gives this depth of water. +But here the water, which has kept clear and deep the channel of a +quarter of a mile wide or thereabout, expands to a width of about two +miles. Consequently, the current is not sufficiently strong in any one +of the three channels to prevent the piling of the sand against the +rock outside and in, in a gentle rise from the forty-feet depth outside +to the height of the rocky reef, and similarly from the thirty feet +inside the reef. + +The engineers propose, by a jetty from the south beach to a group of +rocks forming the south side of the middle channel, to extend the +narrow deep channel inside, and the consequent force of concentrated +tidal and river water, up to the rocky reef itself. They judge that the +tidal force is ample to scour away clean all the sand deposited both in +and outside the reef. They propose, then, to blast away the rock itself +from the middle channel, which, as the obstruction is both soft and +narrow, will be neither a difficult nor costly operation, and they +intend thus to open to the commerce of the world the calm and deep +waters of the harbor, which will suffice to receive all the fleet of +vessels trading to this coast. + +The construction of the jetty is proceeding rapidly by means of large +mattresses of brushwood sunk in the destined position, loaded with rock +and attracting and retaining the sand, and covered in, when the needed +breadth and height are gained, with larger rocks brought down from a +quarry of hard stone about eight miles up the harbor. + +No one who, like the present writer, has often tried to stem the tidal +current sweeping out to sea, can doubt the force and velocity it will +bring to bear; and no one familiar with Yaquina doubts the anticipated +success of the improvement. Once gained, it will be permanent, and then +half an hour will suffice to tug the arriving vessel from the deep +waters of the Pacific to her station alongside her wharf, and the same +time will dispatch her, fully loaded, on her voyage. + +To sum up this matter: At present a very large portion of the profits +of farming and of other industries in Oregon goes into the pockets of +the transportation company. The rates of freight bear no proportion to +the benefits obtained, but are fixed simply on the principle of sitting +down to pencil out a list to see how much the farmers can possibly pay. +If this state of things were to be indefinitely perpetuated, the +outlook would be dreary. That a radical change is impending is to me +clear. The country is too rich in productive powers, the citizens are +too fully awake to the needs of their position, the knowledge of what +Oregon is and what she wants is too widely spread, and the president of +the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company has trumpeted forth the +enormous profits of his corporation too loudly, for the failure of the +efforts now in progress to introduce competition in the carrying-trade. +So that I, for one, am at rest as to the result. Oregon will take her +own part in the general movement, now current throughout the United +States, to regulate, if not to curtail, the powers of the corporations. + +But I have confidence in the steady and peaceful character of her +population not to carry this matter here to extremes, which might +unduly burden associated capital, and check the flow of its full +current to our State. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Emigration to Oregon--Who should not come--Free advice and no fees-- +English emigrants--Farmers--Haste to be rich--Quoted experiences--Cost +and ways of coming--Sea-routes--Railroads--Baggage--What not to bring +--What not to forget--Heavy property--The Custom-house--San Francisco +hotels--Conclusion. + + +The question most often asked and most difficult to answer is, "Do you +advise me to come out to Oregon?" It is easy to say who should not +come. We want no waifs and strays of civilization, enervated with +excesses, or depressed with failure; men who can find no niche for +themselves, who have neither the habit, the disposition, nor the +education for work. We want none of those youngsters who have tried +this, have failed in that, until their friends say in disgust, "Oh, +ship them to Oregon, and let them take their chances!" We desire no +younger sons of English or Eastern parents without energy or capital to +start them. High birth, aristocratic connections, we value not at all, +unless they carry with them the sense of responsibility to honored +forefathers--the determination that the stigma of failure shall not +stain a proud name. Nor do we desire those young men whose first +thought is, "How shall we amuse ourselves?" and whose first aim is the +cricket, or base-ball, or lawn-tennis ground, and whose chief luggage +is bat, fishing-rod, and shot-gun. + +And, on the other hand, we do not want those who, having qualified +themselves, as they suppose, for life in Oregon by six months or a year +with some scientific farmer, consider that they know everything, +despise instruction, neglect advice, are wiser than their elders, and +then throw up in disgust as soon as they find that they have sunk their +money, that their theories will not work, and that they must here as +elsewhere begin at the beginning. + +Nor do we propose (and we are certain it is in no way necessary) to +charge new-comers an initiation fee of two hundred and fifty dollars, +or any other sum, for the privilege of joining our society in Oregon, +and profiting by our experience. + +And, as I began by saying, the English who have come here have +established no colony, in the usual sense, set up no separate society, +and claim no common corporate life. + +[Sidenote: _WHO SHOULD COME._] + +Society we have, association we have, common amusements and pursuits we +have, but in all these we invite our American neighbors to take their +part, and see no reason to regret our course. + +True it is that the costume of knickerbockers and gaiters and +heather-suit and pot-hat is a very common object in our town, and that +we meet in considerable force at the Episcopal church on Sunday to join +in the familiar service. But we adhere to our original plan that the +newcomer shall settle where he pleases in these counties, shall have +the best advice we can bestow in the choice of land, the purchase of +stock and implements, and of the other necessaries for a farmer's start +in life; and shall have this free of charge. We offer the right hand of +friendship; we will do our part to keep up association and kindly +relations of all kinds. + +But we are more anxious that Oregon should be built up by the gradual +incoming of men of serious purpose, possessed of moderate capital, who +shall disperse over the face of the country as they would at home, and +strengthen the State by the force of attraction each will exercise over +the friends and acquaintances he has left behind, than we are to create +here a bit of interjected foreign life. + +Therefore let the farmer, above all, tried and worried at home by +fickle seasons, heavy rent, burdensome tithe and taxes, labor-troubles, +low prices, and gradually fading capital--let him bring his wife and +children and come. His few hundred pounds will make a good many +dollars, and he will be amazed to find himself _owning_ productive +land for about the sum he would have paid for two years' rent at home. + +If his means do not permit him to pay down the whole purchase price, he +is one of the very few who can be safely advised to begin to some +extent in debt; for, remember, land in Oregon is expected to pay for +itself from its own productions in five years' time. + +Even if the new-comer has had no previous practical experience, that +need not of itself deter him. One of our best farmers told me the other +day that when he began he did not know which end of a plow went first! +But in such case the wisest thing is either to hire himself out to work +for an Oregonian farmer for, at any rate, a few months, or, if he takes +an opportunity of buying land for himself, let him reverse the +operation and hire an Oregonian to work for him for a time. + +I read a short article in the "Portland Evening Telegram," the other +day, which seemed to me very much in point; so I shall quote it: + +"Seven years ago two men, dissatisfied with the sluggishness with which +their fortunes grew in Portland, determined to better their condition. + +"The wonderful resources of the Willamette Valley as an agricultural +country attracted one of them to Washington County, where he purchased +a farm, and stocked it with teams and farming implements, and started +on his road to independence and wealth. + +"He told his neighbors, who had been in the farming business for years, +that he proposed to show them how to succeed. + +"He was industrious; he studied the books on farming, and pursued his +occupation on scientific principles, joined the Grangers, became an +active member of farmers' clubs, was bitter in his denunciation of +monopolies. + +"Disliking the looks of the old-fashioned worm-fence, he divided his +fields by building nice plank partitions, and even asked permission of +an old fogy neighbor to build the whole of a partition fence of plank, +that the old one might not offend his fastidious taste. Here was +mistake number one. The rail-fence answered the purpose well enough, +and he ought to have avoided the expense of the costlier one at least +until a new one was necessary. He was from Indiana, and thought corn a +good crop to grow; so he prepared ten acres of his best land and +planted them to corn: the squirrels came and took it all up; he +replanted, and again the squirrels took the seed before it sprouted; he +planted it once more, and succeeded in getting a small crop of poor +corn which did not mature, and it profited him nothing. + +[Sidenote: _QUOTED EXPERIENCES._] + +"This was another blunder, as any man who had made any inquiry ought to +have known that the raising of corn in this valley was never a paying +business. A small patch for roasting-ears for family use is all any +wise farmer will ever attempt to raise. + +"Again, our progressive farmer had been so impressed with the idea that +the climate of Oregon was an exceedingly mild one, that he thought his +apples and potatoes were in no danger of freezing; so he put his apples +upstairs, and left his potatoes uncovered. Consequently, they were all +frozen and lost. + +"This was an inexcusable blunder, for any man who would look at a map +and see that he was located above the forty-fifth degree of latitude, +should have known that any winter was liable to be cold enough to +freeze unprotected fruits and vegetables. + +"Our friend became discouraged, and gave more attention to wheat, but +found that he could not raise that commodity for less than seventy-five +cents a bushel, although other farmers have asserted that the cost did +not exceed fifty cents. + +"With his experience of seven years' farming in Oregon, he is perfectly +satisfied that it will not pay, and hence he is back in Portland, +intending to stay. The corn, apple, and potato business fixed him as +far as farming is concerned, though he ought to have known that his +course in regard to them would have resulted just as it did. + +"Our second young man did not like the slowness of farming as a means +of getting rich, so he put his money in sheep, and took up a ranch in +Wasco County. + +"For a few years he was encouraged: as the grass grew, his stock +increased; the winters were mild, and wool brought a good price. + +"He raised some feed, and for three years had no use for it, as the +sheep made their own living off the range. + +"He thought when the cold snap set in last winter that he had enough +feed to last through any winter that could reasonably be expected. But +the cold winds continued to blow, the snow fell and froze, and +continued to fall and freeze. + +"Two months passed; his feed was exhausted, and his sheep began to die. +Out of 4,300 head 3,000 died, and though a neighbor who started in with +about the same number had only six head left, our young friend thought +his own condition bad enough, and so concluded to quit the business and +come back to Portland. He says a man can take a thousand head of sheep, +build sheds, provide food, and have a sure thing to clear a few hundred +dollars every year, but he did not want that kind of a sure thing. + +"He made the mistake of him who 'makes haste to be rich,' and hence he +retires from the contest on that line no better off than when he +started in. + +"Both these men are now in Portland, and each is hopelessly disgusted +with the attempt he has made. + +"One thinks that farming in Oregon will never pay, though there are +hundreds of farmers all over the State who started with less than he +did, and are now well situated and independent. + +"The other thinks the whole of Eastern Oregon, so called, a failure, +though he virtually admits that his lack of providence, and his desire +to make a large sum of money in a short time, were the causes of his +losses." + +Since we have been in Oregon we have seen several cases like these +examples. Let the intending emigrant weigh this well--that farming in +the Willamette Valley is not the road to large fortune, though it is to +comfort and prosperity. + +[Sidenote: _COST AND WAYS OF COMING._] + +Let no young man, brought up in a comfortable Eastern home, come to +Oregon to farm, unless he can be assured that at the end of a year or +two's probation and apprenticeship he can have provided for him some +small sum of money, enough for a start on his own land. The life of the +agricultural laborer in almost every farmer's family here is a very +hard and uncomfortable one; the lodging is rough, the living, though +plentiful, is often coarse, the hours of labor very long, and the +employments on the farm miscellaneous indeed. + +The better thing is for two friends or relatives to come together; they +may separate for their apprenticeship, but their purchase may easily be +made together; and, indeed, out here two are better than one. + +And now for some hints as to the ways of coming, and what should and +should not be brought. + +For the English emigrant there is a large choice. He may come by any of +the New York lines, and thence across the continent to San Francisco, +and on by steamer to Portland. If he comes first class throughout, he +will find the expense nearly L60 sterling, or about $300. By choosing +the cheaper cabin on the steamer, and reconciling himself to doing +without the comforts of the Pullman car, and economizing in meals on +the journey across by providing himself with a provision-basket, to be +replenished at intervals, he may save about L15, or $75. The time is +short; three weeks will bring him from Liverpool to Oregon, unless he +delays needlessly in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco. + +In New York let him beware of cabs or carriages. He is likely to be +charged five dollars for a ride he will get in London for one shilling. +The proper course is for him, after his baggage has passed the +custom-house, to intrust it to a transfer agent, who will have it +conveyed to the hotel, and the emigrant can take the elevated railway +or get a tram-car ride for a few cents. The same course should be +followed on leaving the hotel for the railway terminus to come West. + +So far as I know, he can make no mistake in following his fancy in +choosing his route. + +The Erie or the New York Central will carry him to Chicago, by way of +Buffalo and Niagara; and, if any pause on the journey at all is made, +let the opportunity be seized of seeing the most glorious of +waterfalls, the remembrance of which will never die. + +The Baltimore and Ohio passes through Maryland and West Virginia, and +the Pennsylvania Railroad through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and each +shows him some of the finest scenery on the Atlantic slope. + +From Chicago he will have a choice again. There is no difference in +cost, time, or comfort between the Chicago and Northwestern, the +Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, and the Chicago and Rock Island. I +have traveled by all three; perhaps the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy +runs through the most interesting scenery. + +Up to Omaha the first-class traveler is allowed one hundred and fifty +pounds of baggage free, and so far it will be properly handled and +cared for by the baggage-men. + +[Sidenote: _BAGGAGE-SMASHING._] + +At Omaha things change for the worse. Only one hundred pounds of +baggage is allowed by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads; and +on all excess the rate to San Francisco is fifteen cents a pound. And, +if the traveler has any regard for his possessions, let him see to it +that they are closely packed in the very strongest and roughest trunks +that he can procure. Oh, those baggage-smashers at Omaha! When we +crossed last I stood by to see a baggage-car brought up alongside the +stone platform, piled with trunks and other baggage to the roof, the +doors thrown open, and the contents literally tumbled out pell-mell. +Trunks were smashed open, locks broken, straps burst, contents ruined. +And the baggage-men seemed to take a horrid pleasure in tilting heavy +trunks on to their corners, and so bundling them across at a rapid rate +to the other car; dislocation of the strongest joints was the result. + +If the passenger be incautious enough to burden himself with needless +weight from Omaha, he should dispatch it to San Francisco by +freight-train addressed to his hotel; the rates are thus so moderated +that he will not have the chagrin of paying to the railroad companies +about as much as most of his baggage is worth. + +Another route from England is by Southampton and Panama to San +Francisco. The charge for a first-class passage is L50, and the +traveler will not be bothered about his baggage save on the Isthmus +Railway. He _may_ lose no time in catching the Pacific mail-steamer on +the Pacific side, but he is more likely to have three or four days to +wait at Panama, in a town where there is nothing to see or do, and +where he will be charged not less than three dollars a day at the +hotel. The lovely scenery and gorgeous vegetation of the tropics will +be a pleasant picture in memory, whatever draw-backs the five weeks +occupied on this route may discover. + +San Francisco is the city of comfortable and moderately charging +hotels. The most expensive are the Palace and the Baldwin. The Lick +House and the Russ House are comfortable and more moderate; and the +International is cheap but comfortable. + +From San Francisco to Portland the steamers Oregon, Columbia, or State +of California, sail every five days, and are each safe, speedy, and +excellent boats. The cost of the journey is twenty dollars, and the +time usually three days or more, including a detention of some hours at +Astoria. As soon as the Yaquina route is opened, it is expected that +this time will be reduced by one half. + +And now, what should the emigrant bring to Oregon? So far as household +furniture and fittings are concerned, the best and cheapest way is to +send them by Royal Mail from Southampton by way of Panama. The freight +was L4 10_s._ per ton of forty cubic feet. I do not know if any change +has been made. + +It is wise for any family to bring bedding (but not beds), knives and +forks and electro-plate, books, pictures, and the little ornaments and +trifles which go so far to transfer the home feeling to whatever room +they may at once furnish and adorn. And do not forget the crockery. It +is foolish to bring furniture, pianos, or such heavy and cumbersome +property. All these used articles will come in duty free. If they are +sent to San Francisco direct from England, they will have to be +examined at the custom-house there. + +The traveler will find it a great waste of time and temper to pass his +goods through the custom-house himself. There are many respectable +agents, whose trifling fee is well spent in getting their services for +this work. + +As for clothes. New clothes will be charged with a duty of sixty per +cent. of their value, and cause trouble also. Worn clothes and boots +come in duty free. The strongest and most durable woolen garments are +those best adapted for the Oregon climate. English ankle-boots are +treasures not to be obtained for love or money in Oregon. The +field-boot, of porpoise-skin, will be infinitely valuable in our muddy +winters; but such are too hot for summer wear. English saddlery should +all be left at home. + +If the emigrant is the happy owner of a good breech-loader, let him +bring it, with as many of Eley's green cases as he can pack. Ammunition +is expensive here. English rifles are a nuisance. The Winchester, +Sharp, or Ballard, I think superior to any sporting rifles we have--as +much so as the American shot-guns are inferior to the English makers'. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _ATTRACTIONS WHICH OREGON OFFERS._] + +Let us see, then, in a few words, why we expect that immigrants will +continue to arrive. What are the attractions which Oregon offers? + + 1. A healthy and temperate climate, whether residence in the Willamette +Valley or in Southern or Eastern Oregon is chosen. + + 2. A fertile and not exhausted soil, adapted to the continuous raising +of all cereals, to the growth of the best kinds of pasture, and to the +ripening of all temperate fruits in profusion and excellence. + + 3. A climate and range unusually suited to cattle, sheep, and horses of +the best breeds. + + 4. The ocean boundary on the west, giving free access to shipping for +the cheap transport of all productions. + + 5. Mineral wealth of almost every description, most of which is yet +unworked. + + 6. Industrial openings of many kinds, with special facilities by way of +abundant water-power. + + 7. Beautiful scenery, whatever portion of the State may be selected by +the new-comer. + + 8. Sport and pastime in moderation, with a notable absence of dangerous +animals, and reptiles, and noxious insects. + + 9. A modern and liberal Constitution, affording special advantages and +securities to foreigners and aliens. + +10. A quiet and orderly population, ready to welcome strangers. + +11. Good facilities for education, remarkable in so young a country. + +12. A railroad and river system of transportation, only now in process +of development, and which is certain to effect a great rise in the +value of lands. + + * * * * * + +And now my work is done. I have endeavored to give, in as concise and +short a form as I could contrive, a faithful picture of life as it is +in Oregon to-day. I have extenuated nothing, nor set down aught in +malice. + +If, in reviewing what I have written, I feel conscious of a special +weakness, it is that I have brought too strongly into view the +difficulties the immigrant will have to encounter; for I feel sure that +no one, on full knowledge, will accuse me of drawing in too fair and +flattering colors the attractions of our beautiful State. + +May Oregon flourish by receiving constant additions to her vigorous and +industrious people, whose efforts, in scarcely any other place in the +wide world so certain of a due return, may make her waste places plain, +and cause her wildernesses to rejoice and blossom as the rose! + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +Since the foregoing pages were finished, a period of six months has +passed. Nothing has transpired which should affect the opinions formed +and expressed by the author in favor of the attractions which Oregon +offers to the energetic and industrious. The past half-year has been +one of successful development for the State as a whole. A bountiful +harvest, which has been vouchsafed to Oregon while many Eastern States +and many European countries have had to mourn because of drought or +excessive rain and consequent scarcity, has again proved how highly +favored by position and climate is this Western nook. And now, in the +early days of October, we have had a week's rain to soften the clods +and prepare the ground for tillage, but the sun of the Indian summer is +shining with soft brilliancy, and we look for crisp nights and +mornings, and lovely days, for from six to ten weeks to come. + +During the six months, Eastern capital has been prodigally turned into +Oregon and Washington Territory by Mr. H. Villard and his associates. +New lines of railway designed as feeders to the Columbia River route +are being pushed to completion regardless of cost, while the +trunk-line, along the side of the Columbia River, is being still urged +forward by the united forces of over three thousand Chinamen and all +the white laborers that can be picked up. Time alone will show how far +a line, which winds and twists along the banks of the mighty Columbia +in devious curves, overhung by mountain-sides loaded with loose rocks +at the mercy of every winter's storms, can be trusted to carry the +enormous traffic predicated for it; and, granted that this slender reed +has the necessary strength, at what kind of port is the hoped-for mass +of grain for export to be delivered? The following article appeared in +the "Daily Oregonian," of Portland, on the 10th of this last September. +The newspaper in question claims to be the leading journal of the +State, and is in fact the only one publishing full daily telegraphic +dispatches. It is also the organ of the Villard interest, and it may be +taken that it is not likely to overstate the disadvantages attaching to +the city of its publication: + + "THE COST OF NEGLECT." + + "The water in the rivers between Portland and the ocean is at about + the usual September stage, but, owing to the absence of any means + whatever of dredging the bars, the depth at the three or four shoal + places is less than in former seasons. Steamers drawing seventeen + or even seventeen and a half feet come up by plowing through a few + inches of mud at certain points, but ships have not the force to go + through, nor, in many instances, the iron bottoms to stand the rub. + It is not safe to load a vessel which must pass down the river more + than sixteen feet. The result is, that grain-ships can only be + partly loaded here, and must take a large proportion of their + cargoes down the river. The American ship Palmyra went down + Thursday with 900 tons of a total wheat cargo of 2,200. The bulk of + her load--1,300 tons--must be carried down by barges and taken in + at Baker's Bay. The Zamora, now taking wheat here, can only be half + loaded at her Portland dock. Lighterage costs $1.25 per short ton, + or six cents per cental. Thus the Palmyra must pay $1,625 extra + because the river is not properly dredged. The average of + lighterage this season will be about three cents per cental on all + wheat that goes out of the Columbia River." + +It is not far from the fact that, although from sixty to sixty-five +shillings is a well-paying freight for ships from Portland to the +United Kingdom, and although abundance of sailing-ships are available +from the substitution of steamers in so many parts of the world, yet +the actual freight charged has ranged from eighty to eighty-five +shillings, this resulting from a combination of causes, of which the +charges for pilotage, towage, and lighterage are among the chief. + +Of course, all these charges come out of the pocket of the producer, +and, unless some radical change can be effected, there is no apparent +reason why these sums should not be cumulated to such a height as to +place the valley farmer on the level of his Eastern Oregon and Eastern +Washington Territory neighbor, who does not realize for his wheat much +over thirty-five cents a bushel on an average market price of +seventy-five cents. + +Nor would there be much hope of a reduction in the inland +transportation charges, were matters to progress as they have been +doing during the past six months. Everything pointed toward the +centralization of the control of every railroad and steamboat line in +this State and the adjacent Territory in the hands of the Oregon +Railway and Navigation Company, presided over by Mr. Villard. The +narrow-gauge system of railroads in this valley, owned and operated by +the Scotch company, with headquarters at Dundee, was six months back +the sole hope of the valley farmers as an honest competitor with its +huge rival. But a few months ago announcement was made that Mr. Villard +had secured the Scotch company, by a series of astute operations in +Scotland; and now, under the ninety-nine years' lease which he +obtained, the narrow-gauge company has ceased its independent +existence, and its traffic is being assimilated as to rates with that +of its former competitor, while it is so conducted as to stifle its +growth as a separate organization, and throw all its vitality into the +other roads. + +But the anticipations, expressed in the earlier pages of this book, of +an active rivalry to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, through +the Oregon Pacific Railroad and its outlet at Yaquina Bay, are being +realized as rapidly as men and money can do it. + +Early in July last the news came through the wires that the financial +battle had been won by Colonel Hogg, and that construction was to be +pushed forward immediately. Short as the time is, much has been done, +and more is being done. Engineering parties were organized and fitted +out, and their work is nearly complete in all its parts. A good line of +easy grades is located through from Corvallis to Yaquina Bay, +presenting no extraordinary difficulties of construction. On this, as I +write, a large force of both white and Chinese labor is employed, with +the full expectation that the line will be surveyed, built, equipped, +and running within four or five months from the time the first spadeful +of earth was dug. Difficulties in starting a great enterprise like the +Oregon Pacific Railroad, of course, abound, but so far have been +successfully met. Meanwhile the goodwill of the valley farmers has been +maintained throughout, and the new road will open with abundance of +customers. Therefore, all interested in the undertaking are well +satisfied with the prospect of having to operate a line which shall +save the valley farmers two hundred and twenty-one miles in actual +distance, and save them half the present charges for transportation +between the valley and San Francisco, and which gives also an early +prospect of ocean-going ships loading direct from an Oregon port, with +wharves within three miles from the ocean, for the European or Eastern +market. + +It does not seem, then, an unreasonable augury that the day of +exorbitant freights, excessive pilotage and towage charges, half-cargo +lighterage, and also of traffic discrimination, will have passed away +for ever, so far as Oregon is concerned, when the Oregon Pacific is +opened. And I think every reader of this book will admit that it is a +matter of just pride to see projects formed years back, and adhered to +through much evil speaking, slander, and belittling, come to their full +strength and fulfillment. + +The last time I visited Yaquina Bay was during the closing days of +September. The afternoon sun shone on the little dancing waves as we +rowed across from Newport to the South Beach, where the harbor-works +are going on. A heavy equinoctial storm had raged for two days before, +and it would have been no surprise had the incomplete works suffered. +But we found the men busily employed in piling large blocks of rock on +the mattresses made of large, long bundles of brushwood, secured with +cords, and deposited carefully in the line of the breakwater. Many of +the hands were Indians, who were working very intelligently and quickly +under the direction of our old friend Kit Abbey. No damage whatever had +been done, but, on the contrary, the storm had piled the sand in even +layers, five or six feet deep, on each side of the breakwater, +solidifying and strengthening the work. Already the channel nearest to +the beach, which had robbed the main channel of some of the tidal +water, had been permanently closed. And the increase of the tidal +in-and-out flow thus caused had proved to the satisfaction of the +United States engineer officer in charge the correctness of the theory +on which the works were designed. So that all tends in the one +direction of opening this harbor, on which so many hopes are fixed, to +ocean-going ships of deep draught. + +Fortunately, the facts are being daily ascertained, tabulated, and +certified by the independent authority of the United States engineers; +they have minute surveys of the channel, and the changes operated by +the new breakwater will be observed and recorded. Thus, as soon as the +time comes to invite the shipping sailing to the Northwest coast to +enter the port, there will be no further room for question as to depth +of water and ease of access; but the facts will be so patent and plain +to the world, that no one need be longer blinded by the persistent +misrepresentations of interested parties. + +[Illustration: Entrance to Yaquina Bay (Looking seaward)] + +The effect of the opening of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, which in two, +or at most three years from now, will meet at or near Boise City, +Idaho, the lines rapidly pushing westward to that point, will be +manifold: + +First, it will open the new port at Yaquina to commerce, and so give +the Willamette Valley its independent outlet, unaffected by +terror-dealing bars, winter ice, and exorbitant charges. Second, it +will in its eastward progress open up to settlement a broad belt of +fertile and well-watered country, at present well-nigh untenanted. +Third, it will operate as a check to the pretensions of the Oregon +Railway and Navigation Company to entire monopoly of the transportation +of the State, and its boasted consequent ability to fix fares and +freights at its own sweet will. + + +THE END. + + + + +TWO YEARS IN OREGON. + + +By WALLIS NASH, author of "Oregon There and Back in 1877." +_Second edition._ With Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, $1.50. + +The following are a few out of a very large number of press notices: + + _From the New York Sun._ + + "Under the title of 'Two Years in Oregon,' by Wallis Nash, we have + an authentic and exhaustive guide-book, written for the benefit of + those persons who intend to settle there. There is nothing in this + volume to recall the superficial observations of the ordinary + tourist; yet, although the author has confined himself to + collecting information of real value to the emigrant, he has set it + forth in a distinct, unpretentious, and attractive way." + + _From the Springfield Republican._ + + "For the best picture of Oregon as it is to-day, we are indebted to + an Englishman. 'Two Years in Oregon' is the title of the book, + written by Wallis Nash, and published by D. Appleton & Co., of New + York. Mr. Nash conducted a colony of his countrymen some time since + to the neighborhood of Corvallis, a thriving town a hundred or more + miles south of Portland. He did not attempt to set up a New + Jerusalem of his own after the example of unlucky Tom Hughes in the + Rugby venture, but mingled all his interests with the settlers + already on the ground, and good success has evidently attended his + efforts. Mr. Nash has made a thorough study of the State and its + resources. He has considerable literary skill, and while his book + contains the practical facts and statistics needful to the posting + of the would-be immigrant, it has besides enough racy descriptive + writing to make it attractive to the general reader. Oregon has two + distinct climates. The Cascade Range, cutting the State in halves, + is the dividing line. On the Pacific side of the mountains, where + most of the settlements are located, there are milder winters, + cooler summers, and a heavier rain-fall than upon the plains + stretching to the eastward of the range. There, too, are the heavy + forests for which the State is noted. Wheat is the staple crop of + the Oregon farmers, and last year there was a surplus of over one + hundred thousand tons sent to market. Sheep husbandry is + considerably followed, and the climate appears admirably adapted to + the profitable raising of all kinds of livestock, while all the + fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone yield remarkably. With + better transportation facilities, a mixed agriculture is likely to + be pursued in the future. The State has suffered much at the hands + of transportation monopolists. The Villard combination have so far + had almost complete control of the railways and waterways, and the + rates charged have been enormous. A Portland merchant's freight + bill on some goods shipped recently from New York, showed that one + third of the whole amount was charged for the water-carriage of + seven hundred miles from San Francisco. The company's railroad + charges are still heavier. According to a new schedule of reduced + rates from Portland to Walla Walla, two hundred and seventy miles, + twenty-four cents is the rate for a bushel of wheat, against two to + four cents a bushel for greater distances on Eastern roads. Mr. + Nash devotes a chapter to the iniquities of the Villard monopoly + which bears so heavily upon the farming community. There is + prospect, however, that the burden may be lightened when the + railway now building eastward from Yaquina Bay to a connection + through Southwestern Idaho with the Union Pacific is completed." + + _From the Portland Standard_ (_Oregon_). + + "Mr. Nash's experiences and observations as set forth in this book + are correct representations of Oregon life. His opinions are not + biased and warped by long residence, so as to give everything a + color beyond the truth in favor of the beauties and facilities of + the State for persons desiring homes, and which would be found to + be untrue by strangers seeking farms and residences, and + consequently bring disappointment to them after the trouble and + expense of going there. Mr. Nash represents the State as it is, and + his book is calculated to do far more good as an advertising medium + for bringing immigration within her boundaries than the many + pamphlets issued by immigration bureaus, painting in high colors + beyond the truth the many advantages which Oregon presents. This + book should be widely circulated and read. It will attract + immigration and capital to the State with an impetus not heretofore + felt." + + _From the Corvallis Gazette_ (_Oregon_). + + This journal gives a large number of commendatory extracts, and + concludes its notice as follows: "Many others are equally + complimentary, and we are glad that Oregon, and especially the + Willamette Valley, are being so well advertised. We understand the + book is having a large sale." + + _From the Albany Register_ (_Oregon_). + + "'Two Years in Oregon,' by Wallis Nash, is the title of a very neat + work just issued from the press of the Appletons, New York. It is + the impressions made and the experience gained by the writer after + a two years' residence in Oregon, written in a most entertaining + and attractive style. It will be read everywhere with pleasure, as + it is a most faithful description of things and scenes as the + writer beheld them. The picture, to our mind, is nowhere overdrawn. + Portland is faithfully pictured, and 'The Oregonian' so faithfully + portrayed that its poor editor will never forgive the writer." + + _From the Philadelphia Press._ + + "Mr. Nash's book describes the State in the most practical manner. + It describes the scenery, the society, the legislative + peculiarities, the economical advantages and disadvantages, the + state of the industries, the transportation question, and all the + various points which a possible emigrant might wish to know before + he took the decisive step. It is written in a pleasant, vivacious + style, and can be read with much profit by any one who takes an + interest in our own great West." + + _From the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent_ (_England_). + + "Mr. Nash's 'Two Years in Oregon' is one of the most charming books + we have lately come across. He is a shrewd and careful observer, + and writes with grace and ease. The illustrations, also, of the + book are more than ordinarily clever. Mr. Nash evidently feels a + warm interest in Oregon, and his book will go a long way to attract + public interest in that direction. Few men can tell a story better, + or enable readers to realize more vividly the appearance of a + country and people they have never seen. The emigrant, the + politician, the student of men and manners, the naturalist and the + political economist, will all enjoy this book, which we hope will + soon be followed by a fresh work from its author's pen." + + _From the University Press._ + + "This book has for its author an Englishman who visited Oregon in + 1877, and who then traveled 'its length and breadth.' He moved his + family there in 1879. He now sends out this interesting and + instructive volume in answer to the many letters received by him + asking for information. He is an easy, simple, unostentatious + writer. We believe, as he says, that he has endeavored to give 'a + faithful picture of life as it is in Oregon to-day.' He has good + descriptive powers, and has enlivened his book with several amusing + incidents." + + _From the Chicago Times._ + + "This book is the work of a man who has lived two years in the + State, with an observant eye, an apparently judicial and impartial + mind, and a ready and fluent pen. It embraces pretty much + everything in the way of information about the region which any + emigrant would like to know on pretty much all of its natural, + social, and political features. It is, indeed, almost a guide-book + to the region, but is one quite out of the usual sort, enlivened + with a great fund of personal and local anecdote and incident, + which serves to make it very interesting reading. It offers to the + public a more complete compendium of information about one of the + most interesting, at least, of American localities, than can + elsewhere be found in the same space; and as one of the chief final + centers around which American civilization promises to reach its + ultimate development, everything connected with it is of interest, + not only to Americans, but to people abroad also." + + _From the New York Evening Mail and Express._ + + "It would be impossible in a brief notice to state even the + substance of this book, which is packed with information of all + sorts, information procured and conned by himself, which neglects + nothing that a would-be emigrant ought to inquire into, which is + close in observation, terse in deduction, good-tempered, + warm-hearted, hard-headed, and, what is more than all this, + thoroughly amusing." + + _From the Utica Observer._ + + "A book like this is especially timely. The author, Wallis Nash, is + an English settler in the great Willamette Valley, and discourses + of his adopted home with the tone of an avowed advocate of its soil + and climate. He combats with his own observations and the official + weather reports the wide-spread belief that Oregon is a land of + perpetual rains, and presents altogether the most comprehensive + sketch of the existing industries and possible development of the + State which has yet been published." + + _From the Chicago Inter-Ocean._ + + "Mr. Nash narrates his own experiences, and gives a detailed + account of the agricultural, business, and social resources of the + State in an obviously impartial manner." + + _From the Chicago Journal._ + + "In the year 1877 the author of this volume visited Oregon, + traveled through its length and breadth, and, on returning to his + home in England, published a book giving a short account of his + journey, and recommending the country as a desirable one in which + to settle. A few months afterward he left England at the head of a + party of twenty-six persons, and, upon arriving in Oregon, settled + at Corvallis, a pleasant little village on the banks of the + Willamette River. After a continuous residence of two years in that + far Western State, Mr. Nash again gives the result of his + experience, as a guide to the emigrant who may intend to make + Oregon his future home. He presents in a favorable view the + agricultural and business prospects of the country; the social and + political life of the people, and while he does not claim that a + competence can be secured without persevering industry, he + maintains that the inducements offered to the enterprising and + energetic are such that in a few years the emigrant of moderate + means and some experience will be able to acquire a home and + pecuniary independence. The book contains a vast amount of + information useful to the emigrant, and it is written in a + pleasant, chatty style. The descriptions of the varied scenery, the + character sketches of the settlers, and the laughable incidents + recounted, give an additional pleasure to the volume, which is + enriched by several illustrations of Oregon scenery." + + _From the St. Paul Pioneer Press_ (_Minnesota_). + + "Any thorough description of Oregon, its resources, and the people + who settle in it, must win many eager and interested readers. But, + to do full justice to Mr. Nash, he has taken but little advantage + of this fact. His book, which he modestly styles 'a guide-book to + Oregon for the intending emigrant,' is far more than this. It is a + pains-taking description of the natural features of a great Pacific + State; of its soil, climate, and productive qualities; of its past + development and future promise; of its leading industries and its + adaptation to others; in short, of all that a man who has lived in + Oregon with his eyes open might be expected to find out, and all + about which one who has not lived there might be expected to wish + information. There are in existence very few works which tell in + such short compass as much about any State east of the Rocky + Mountains. There are very many points in this hand-book which it + would be interesting to present in detail, but nothing less than a + careful reading will suffice. The story told by the writer about + the outrageous swindling out of their land grant of the men who + constructed, at great sacrifice, the greatest wagon highway in + Oregon, deserves investigation. If Mr. Nash is correct, the farmers + of Oregon have no reason to love Mr. Villard or his transportation + company. The greatest drawback to the settling up of the State is + the iron grip and remorseless extortions of the railways. This book + is from beginning to end thoroughly readable. It furnishes more + information than whole folios of statistics, or any number of + glowing descriptions by hasty, prejudiced, and uninformed + correspondents." + + _From the Chicago Evening Herald._ + + "Mr. Nash's data were gathered during a two years' residence, and + are so well digested and so thoroughly re-enforced by the practical + and personal experiences of the writer and his friends, that the + most captious critic can not reasonably pick many flaws therein. + Mr. Nash is evidently not only a close observer, but an eminently + practical man, and in describing the advantages and disadvantages + of Oregon, keeps constantly in view the information which other + practical men, seeking a location, would be likely to need and + appreciate. A great many chatty and amusing pages are devoted to + anecdotes of early and later life in Oregon, and to the fortunes + and misfortunes of those who sought first to subdue the virgin soil + of that State. Some of the concluding chapters of the book are + devoted to a very intelligent discussion of the existing + transportation problems in Oregon. All in all, the work is not only + readable, but has an intrinsic value which those who wish to know + all about the _terra incognita_ of which it treats will thoroughly + appreciate." + + _From the Janesville Gazette._ + + "The book contains a vast amount of information useful to the + emigrant, and it is written in a pleasant, chatty style. The + descriptions of the varied scenery, the character sketches of the + settlers, and the laughable incidents recounted, give an additional + pleasure to the volume, which is enriched by several illustrations + of Oregon scenery." + + _From the Detroit Evening News._ + + "Mr. Nash has just written for the benefit of his old friends and + neighbors in England a little book relating his observations and + experiences during his first two years of frontier life. It + contains much interesting information about Oregon and its people, + and coming from a disinterested source will be especially + acceptable to those contemplating removal to that State." + + _From the Columbus Dispatch_ (_Wisconsin_). + + "It is a compendium of information, and will be an addition to any + library." + + _From the Boston Journal._ + + "Mr. Nash writes especially for the benefit of emigrants and + intending settlers, but the book will have an interest for all + readers who like to trace the developments of social and political + institutions in a swiftly growing State. The author writes with + enthusiasm, but frankly and sometimes critically; and he has + collected a good deal of valuable information, which, together with + the results of his own experience, he presents in an animated and + pleasant manner." + + _From the Christian at Work._ + + "It is a capital book." + + _From the Ann Arbor Chronicle._ + + "To read the book is like making a trip to Oregon without the + tediousness and expense of the journey." + + _From the Milwaukee Sentinel._ + + "The reader instinctively feels that here is a careful, temperate + guide, who can be absolutely trusted." + + _From the Springfield Union_ _(Massachusetts_). + + "A valuable book." + + _From the New York World._ + + "It is a description of the country and of life in Oregon that is + worth reading by anybody who may for any reason be interested in + the subject." + + _From the Cincinnati Commercial._ + + "A fascinating book." + + _From the San Jose Mercury_ (_California_). + + "A highly interesting and instructive volume, marked by fairness of + statement and honesty of opinion." + + _From the Omaha Republican_ (_Nebraska_). + + "Mr. Nash has written a most interesting volume. His powers of + description are simply magnificent, and, with such an expansive + theme before him, he has wrought out a book that will no doubt have + ready sale, and do a great measure of good in placing the + advantages of Oregon most entertainingly before a large and choice + number of readers." + + _From the Philadelphia North American_. + + "It is a very good report which Mr. Nash has to make of the State, + and of the people by whom it is inhabited; and as he tells his tale + in the plain, straightforward way of a man who is relating facts, + and nothing but facts, and who simply desires to make known the + truth, it can not fail to make a favorable impression." + +Cordial commendatory notices of the work have appeared also in the +following journals: + + Albany (Oregon) Herald. + Benton (Oregon) Leader. + State Rights Democrat (Albany, Oregon). + San Francisco Argonaut. + San Francisco Chronicle. + San Francisco Bulletin. + Montreal Daily Star. + New York Herald. + Kansas City Times. + Buffalo Courier. + Kansas City Journal. + Worcester Daily Spy. + Philadelphia Business Advocate. + Holyoke Paper World. + Albany (New York) Evening Journal. + Akron (Ohio) Gazette. + Syracuse Daily Journal. + Pittsburg Gazette. + Syracuse Herald. + Charleston (South Carolina) News and Courier. + Chicago Tribune. + Albany Argus. + Cincinnati Gazette. + Boston Post. + Montreal Gazette. + Boston Gazette. + Philadelphia Times. + New York Observer. + Philadelphia Inquirer. + Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) Patriot. + Boston Times. + Portland (Maine) Argus. + Petersburg (Virginia) Index and Appeal. + Davenport (Iowa) Gazette. + Albany Country Gentleman. + Cincinnati Times. + Boston Commonwealth. + Boston Courier. + Pittsburg Telegram. + Brooklyn Times. + Indianapolis Sentinel. + Boston Journal. + Providence Press. + + +_For sale by all booksellers; or sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of +price_. + +_D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers, 1, 3, & 5 Bond Street, New York._ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO YEARS IN OREGON*** + + +******* This file should be named 35288.txt or 35288.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/5/2/8/35288 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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