1)2
THE WEST SHORE.
July,
THE METHUSELAH OF
STEAMSHIPS.
TVS HISTORY OK THE "UEAVEK," TUB
rmsv BT8AMSHIP that BVBH
CROBSSD THE PACIFIC.
Forty-three years have passed, and a
generation of men have come and gone
since t!ic Hudson's Hay Company's
steamer Heaver floated down the river
Thame, through the British Channel,
and went out Into the open, trackless
sea, rounded Cape Horn, clove the
placid waters of the Pacific Ocean, and
anchored at length, after a 103 days'
pastage( flt Astoria, then the chief
town (?) on the Pacific Coast.
IJuilt and equipped at a period when
the problem of steam marine navigation
was yet to he solved, is it any wonder
that the tittle steamer which was des
tined to traverse two oceans one of
them scarcely known outside of hooks
of travel waa an object of deep and
engrossing interest from the day that
her keel was first laid until the morning
when she passed out of sight amidst
the encouraging cheers of thousands
gathered on cither shores and the
answering salvoes of her own guns, on j
iung voyage in an uiiKnown sea.'
Titled men and women watched the
progress of construction! A Duchess
kroke the traditional bottle of cham
pagne over the how and bestowed the
Si. one she has ever since proudly worn.
The engines and hoilers, built by Bob
ton & Watt (Watt was a son of the
Great Watt) were placed in their
proper positions on board, hut it was
Slot considered safe to work them on
the passage; so she was rigged as a brig
ami came out under sail. A hark accom
panied her as convoy to assist in case of
accident Hit the Heaver set all canvas,
ran out of sight of her "protector," and
reached the Columbia river 12 days
ahead. Capt Home was the name ol
the first commander of the Ueaver ho
brought her out, and we can well
Imagine the feeling of pride with which
hfl bestrode (he deck of his brave little
ship, which carried six guns nine
pound orSi The Beaver, soon after
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MOUNT BAKER, FROM VICTORIA HARBOR
light, io,7Hi feel
Yesterday, through the courtesy of
Cnpt Rudlln (one of her new owners
and future commander) we visited the
nlil ship. On board we met the vener
able Capt. Win. Mitchell, who has had
charge of the vessel for some years. He
was busily engaged In packing his
clothes into chests preparatory to going
ashore. He remembers well the Bea
ver in her early days, Every room,
every plank possesses historic interest
to him. He pointed out the Captain's
room, "Just the same," said he, "as
when I lirst saw it In '36, There's the
chest of drawers, there's the hunk, and
there's the hook where the Captain's
pipe hung, and many's the smoke I've
had in those cabins nearly forty years
ago, Nothlngbclow has been changed,"
continued Capt. Mitchell, "except
except the faces that used to people
these rooms in the days long ago, and"
reaching Astoria, got up steam, and pointing to his thin gray locks "I was a
after having "astonished the natives" Meal younger then!" lie led the way
with hei performances, sailed up to
Nis.pi. illy, then the Hudson's Buy Co.'s
chief station on the Pacific, Here Capt.
McNeil took command of the Beaver,
and Capt. I Ionic, retiring to one of the
Company's forts on the Columbia river,
pcrlshod iii 1S17 in Death's Rapids by
the upsetting of boat. From that pe
riod until the steamer passed into the
hands -of the Imperial hydrographert,
the history of the Beaver was that of
t"it f the Company's trading vessels.
She ran north and south, east anil west,
collecting f ns ami carrying oimIs to
mid from the stations for manv vears.
into the engine-room, chatting pleas
antly as he went, and relating incidents
connected with the Beaver and her
dead people. There are two engines,
of 73 hone-power, as hrijrht and ap
parently as little worn as when they
first came from the shop of Bolton &
W att. From some cuddy hole the
Captain drew forth Ihe ship's hell, on
which was Inscribed "Beaver iSis"
then he showed us into the little fore
castle, with the hammock-hooks still
attached to the Umbels, from which
had swung two generations of sailors.
1 nan me main-decK was regained, and
A HIT HI- OREGON'S HISTORY.
From the Salem Mercury of July
16th, we clip the following:
We have just heard related the cir
cumstances of the settlement of one of
tlie oldest farms within the present
boundaries of the State of Oregon, and
which we deem worthy of putting on
record. Somewhere about 1S12 a
French mountaineer and trapper by the
name of Montoure, who had drifted in
to this, then wild l egion of country, con
cluded to cease his wild rovlngs and
stopped among the Indians of the Wil
lamette Valley, Having appreciations
of the value and importance of the cul
tivation of the soil, he looked around
him for a proper location, Hischolce
fell upon the spot where Hon. Sam
Brown now lives, on French Prai
rie, in this, Marion county. Here he
settled down and commenced iii a rude
way. no doubt, the erection of his future
home and the cultivation of the soil. Of
his adventures among the wild Indians
then Inhabiting this beautiful country, of
his trials, adversities, hopes, fears, his
sorrows or happiness, we, perhaps, may
never know. Hut here he remained in
peaceable possession of his home in the
wilderness until i$6. The Hudson's
Hay Company had gained a foothold in
the country, and they sent one of their
trusted French employes, Peter Depot,
to the French Prairie to establish a farm
and raise grain, vegetables, etc., for the
use of that company. Peter Depot, on
ins arrival, purchased Montoure' nrlmt.
An.,.,, -si the best known of h.r .,; , I . ,,r"'"" '"" ue" wc n"",c tm --"''I commenced in
- 1 t V .101. IX 110 nil.
during that period were Capt. Dodlls,
Capt. llnichic, Capts. Scarborough,
SangSter, and others, all of whom
tiscd away long since, hut have left
their names behind them. We believe
we are cornet ill saying that not 11
single person who came out in the
Ihmr in iSj is now alive; and nearly
all the Company's officer, with a few
exceptions, who received her on her
arrival at Columbia river, arc gone loo.
Our engraving, which Is most faith
fully executed, represents the Bearer';
at onchot in ihe bsauttful harbor at
Victoria, II. C. Although old, she i.
yet staunch, and for the past two years
has been successfully running as a tw . 1
r.at, in command of Capt, Rudlin, hei
peculiar construction (as shown in our1
engraving) especially titling her fori
that kind of steamboatlng, A Clemtot
eejwrtcr went aboard the Beaver just i
alter she was sold to h
earnest the business of agriculture,
crs, Sandei
Hu.Hu
tier present own- '
.V Co.,
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HKAVKR" (TUS MlTttUftlUAH Sruuoui
Kkom hwro st Niu'i mu
SND k rORIA I1ARH0R.
When the restless American race pushed
j their way into this ricli and fertile valley
and began to erect their homes on its fine
j agricultural and grazing lands, the Hud-
son's Bay Company gave up their farm-
ing enterprise, preferring to obtain their
supplies derived from the soil, from the
early pioneers, and turned their attention
more exclusively to their legitimate busi
ness of trapping and trading with the
Indians. When this change occurred,
Peter Depot, preferring to continue the
peaceable occupation of a farmer to that
of the roving trapper and hunter, wu
left in peaceable possession of his home.
Here he remained until 1S50, when Mr,
Brown bought him out and took posses
sion of the place. During all this time,
nearly 65 years, this farm has been in
continuous cultivation. It has never
been manured, nor has it needed it, and
during all that period the fields have re
ceived no rest, except having been summer-fallowed
three or four times. The
crop growing upon it the present year
is as fine as any in the State; the growth
is luxuriant and the yield will be as
great as any previous year, notwithstand
ing its long and constant service. This
farm and its present condition is a fair
and practical illustration of the richness,
productiveness and durability of the
lands of the Willamette Valley.
GUXDSTONK ON WEDGWOOD.
Josiah Wedgwood, the great English
potter, was quite nearly contemporary
with Franklin, having been born in
1 730 and having died in 1 795, He was
uneducated, except in his- trade, to
which lie was brought up by his
brother. In 1759 he began business for
himself, and produced the cream
colored "queen's ware." Subsequently
he began to reproduce antique models
of vases and pottery of all kinds and to
introduce original designs, to which
Plaxman, the artist, contributed. His
factory was at Burslcm in Staffordshire,
but in 1771 be removed it to a new vil
lage called Etruria. He wrote some
valuable papers on natural philosophy,
and Mr. Gladstone lately said this of
him :
Perhaps I am a little given to hero
worship, but Wedgwood is one of my
heroes. I consider him to be, take him
altogether, the most extraordinary man
whose name is recorded in the history
of the commercial world. (Cheers.)
Putting together the whole of his quali
ties and the whole of his performances,
Wedgwood completely revolutionized
the character of the fabrics of this coun
try at his period. He recalled into
existence the spirit of Greek art.
Whatever we may say of the earthen
ware or porcelain manufacture as he
found it, it never had arisen to the lofti
ness of the spirit of Greek art. The
forms of Sevres porcelain or of Chelsea
and How w ork were greatly inferior to
Wedgwood's forms. He did not re
vive Greek art in a servile spirit. His
works were not mere reproductions.
His style was strikingly original, and
though he was most powerfully aided
by such men as Bcntley, the same re
mark applies to him as applies to Queen
K1i7;d.tb. It ;C mniL. ..M th.K
I too much credit is given to Queen
Elisabeth, atul that the greatness as
cribed to her belonged in a great
measure to Burleigh and her other
ministers. But how came she to have
those great ministers? She had the
judgment and discrimination which en
abled her to bring them around her.
Wedgwood not only completely revolu
tionized the character of the fabrics of
his day, but he carried the manufacture
I of earthenware to by far the highest
; point it had ever attained in any coun
' try in the world. Before this time
i England was not particularly distin
1 guished in the potter's art, for we were,
' upon the whole, importers and not ex
porters of pottery. But from the hour
! edgwood came upon the scene all
1 this was altered, and we became great
exporters of potterv, and from St. Pe-
tcrsbur on the one" hand to the Mis
I sissippi on the other the name and pro
, ductions of Wedgwood became familiar,
and were everywhere met with. But
j his great triumph was the attempted
I imitation at Sevres of his ware, which,
j however, never reached the perfection
' of the genuine Wedgwood.