The West Shoke.
VOL. 9 No. 4.
L. Baraniil. fnMUhtr,
Portland, Oregon, April, 1883.
Intarmt l Uw
rWorttoa.
far Annua, I MinU
ia rront ,
Craigie Sharp, Jr.,
Is fully authorized to transact business for this
publication.
SPECIMEN NUMBER.
Any one receiving this copy of The West
Shore will please consider it an invitation to be
come a regular subscriber.
Mr. Henry Villard is spending a few weeks on
the coast looking over the field of his operations.
Every visit he has paid us heretofore has made him
more familiar with the needs of this region, and
has resulted in enterprises tending to aid our de
velopment We have no doubt that similar re'
suits will follow the inspection he is now giving
the country.
the east, the merchants of Portland and other
business centers of the northwest will be placed
on a par with San Francisco in the matter of
facilities for importing goods from the cut direct.
That they will then be able to command the trade
of this region , so far as the Day City is concerned,
is certain, and it will result In the building up of
the trade centers here and the limitation of San
Francisco's field of operations. That they do
not relish the prospect is evident from the many
warning editorials contained in their leading
journals. The hand-writing on the wall is plain,
and San Francisco must in the future look to the
south, and not to the north, fur her commercial
support. ,
As an example of grasping land monopoly
we give the lollowing Incident published by
the Ortgtnia : " Yesterday afternoon a farmer,
probably 70 years old, came to the land office of
the Oregon and California railroad company,
from near Tillamook, to beg further time on his
We respectfully ask, when will New Tacoma
dmn the fust half of her name? She is now the
onl v nlaee of imoortance and will nrobablv absorb Pymenl$ 5
old Tacoma In a few veara. Has not the tail vinK lort nU cbio b fi,c- nd rf 1UbI "
warred the doe lone enouch ? ,he wv 10 Norlh Y",l,il iUlion fnm ,he
Coast Range mountains. Good-hearted Hanson,
The new steamer wtUtHgion, built lor the ,he inipector pntn 0f lhe company, passed the
tni. in n.Mi nn Via Ufa 11 favtm ITnnrfanrl itwitVi I . . . 1 tf i t
1. uow ..w... ...... ntt tiuougn the several onices, raised cnougn
a full list of passengers who intend to settle in fundi ,0 nj, ut pay,ent and a consider
Oregon and Washington. Fully 200 families tb,e um besides. A pass back to North Yam.
applied for passage, but could not be accommo- wu gjven the .ge(i settler, and tears came to
dated. h), evcl u he uttered his tlianks and asked
One of the best indications of the great progress blessing on his benefactors.
of this region is the numler of new papers mak- There appears to be an unusual amount of
ing their appearance. Within the past month enerpy in the canal projects this spring. DcLct-
dailies have entered the field in New Tacoma and Kp, has spent nearly $30,000,000 in gelling his
Dayton, W. T., and several weeklies have been Kheme well in hand and in the preliminary work
established in various placet They all help to tn( now promises to push the canal to a compli
build up the country. I tion in 1888. On the other hand the promoters
The first step towards the supply of proper of the Nicaragua scheme have undertaken to s
r.;i:.: r. 1 it; n,nH,.ri h cure the necessary meant to commence Iheli
been taken by the incorporation of the Columbia I work without the aid of congreu. To construct
v.n-. vJ..... rv . r.nH.1 stnek of the anal across Nicaragua will require $45.V
e-, tv. ;n K..1M ,U.mr. ooo, or about one-half more than has already
and handle grain at the principal shipping point, been expended by the Panama company. The
... iu.u -n-.: f .hi. ..r completion of one of these great waler-way. from
. the Pacific to the Atlantic will be of uniold ad
h I ..... . il,i. naii. anil thai comoanv which
I W w - .
The recent action of Mr. Villard in ordering oflen (he iure( ,nj .peedjetf construction should
the Mutunppt to make a special trip to the sound, . tkxnt ,Upport. The great ship rail
to convey immigrants who were unable to obtain I Kheme appears to have tome vitality, and
passage on the regular steamer, it another ex-1 gp(Ijn gj, asserts that It will be completed in
emplihcation ol the liberal policy aoopieu uy
that gentleman. To aid settlers in every way
and build up the country as rapidly as possible, is
the policy of the gentlemen controlling our rail
way system,
A letter from Grand Marian, New Brunswick,
1887.
The flow of immigration through San Fran
eisco into the norlh west continues in steadily in
creasing stream. The transportation facilities art
taxed to their utmost, and notwithstanding ine
fact that extra steamers have been used, delay
Informs ua that the desire to emierate to the Pa- freouenlly occurs. While wailing in ban Nan-
cine coast it increasing. Entire families are cico the Immigrant is Importuned by the wily
makincr anted nrrnaralions to emierate this I immicrstsoa agents of California, to settle upon
-r rr - .1 - ,. 11 t.
leaving wbUe heads ,K. n.rched lands ol that atare, ana ww, m
of families are going out to locate a borne for the L not provided with a through ticket, be mil
w(, mA linl. . t.ft l.mtvri! Lehind. Let I .irllra to tnC UCOl Uianoiwrocms. nm
them comet if made of proper material they L sported where one of these ofltciel etumpted
will not reeret the strp. to md.ee
AitoooasUxroughraUconaectiom U had with I large t0a aw"Jr' w
1 settle ia SuuWa Cali
fornia, asserting that Oregon and Washington
were lands of perpiual snow and disastrous
floods) but the gentleman had visited our coun
try and knew better. They muit lie reduced to
their last resort, when compiled to make state
ments of that character, such as could deceive
none but those loo ignorant to travel without
guardian.
The amount of good arable land still open to
settlement in the great northwest ia almost be
yond the comprehension of one who has not given
the subject deep thought. The map conveys but
poor idea of the immensity of this region at a
whole, and none whatever of the proiiortton of It
which it lusccptible of cultivation or deslulilt for
slock and lumber purposes. It takes a vast ex
tent of territory to make a small patch upon an
ordinary map, and a five cent nickel will cover
up ten township upon one with a scale of thirty
miles to the inch, or ai',400 acre of land.
Divide this into farms of 160 acres, and place
upon each a family of live persons, and w have
1,440 farms and 7,aoo people. Allowing but one
town as a commercial cepter for such a lorming
community, It would necessarily have a popula
tion equal In that of the couulry from which it
derived its support. Thus looking at it simply
from an agricultural Hand-point, aiid not taking
into account other resources and the Item of
manufactures, a little nickel will hide the homes
of 1 5,000 people. It would lake Joo of limn to
cover the 70,000 square miles of Washington
alone. Allowing but one-third of that lerillory
at suitable for farming purposes, though w well
know two-lhirdt to be good tillable land, there
are homes and a livelihood within lit limits fur
1,000,000 people, supported by the agricultural
industry alone. When the factors of mineral,
coal, timber, fob, etc., are alto considered, the
capabilities of Washington for the support ol a
vast population apicar almost unlimited. The
same It true of the whole northwest.
Twenty yeart ago it was generally supposed all
the valuable agricultural land In that portion of
Oregon and Washington lying between the Co
lumbia and Snake river and the lllue mountain
bad been taken up. This consisted of the ikk
bottom lands along the many small i reams. A
few year later It was discovered that the bigu
bench land lying back of lhe bottoms were
equal, if not superior, to them, foe the produdioe
of grain. These were tallied upon, and agaia M
was given out that all the desirable land vat
taken but settlers still pushed farther back and
found good land, and grain fichlt appeared on Ike
crest of ll highest ridge and far up the sloping
sides of the lllue mounlaina, Though mil boot of
acre lying near Ilia Columbia were not occupied,
it was again the prevailing opinio that all lh(
desirable land bad been taken ep. The argument
was that lit raiulall near the livcf waa low light
lo mature a crop, and the rrgioo was popularly
termed a desert. Thiee year ago teveiaj large
tract of thi depUed Usui were lakea by capital
isla, and the retell of Iwo year ol cullivaliott aa
tma aa average yield of aluel thirty bavJtatt of
wheal lo the acre. UiJLmjm of acat ul I sua Uad