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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1879)
January, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. OREGON' AS SEEN BY A H11LADEI PIIIAN. Mrs. P. B. Simmons, of Philadelphia, lately visited our State, and her obser vations, which can be relied on as being correct in every particular, are given in the Press as follows : The unsurpassed natural advantages of Oregon, its mild, salubrious, equable climate, the varied productiveness of its soil, and its great mineral and other re sources, have lately attracted much no tice, and caused a large and steadily in creasing emigration from the older States as well as from Europe. Oregon contains 95,274 square miles, and em braces, from its warm, sunny valleys, to its icy-clad mountains, every variety of climate found in our country; scen ery, unsurpassed in any other part of the United States for attractiveness and variety, and a soil so productive that even the surface of the mountains, to n considerable extent, may be cultivated. Three distinct ranges of mountains, stretching across the State from north to south, and covered with mighty for ests, afford an inexhaustible supply of timber. At the late State Fair twenty six varieties of woods from Coos county alone were exhibited. The mineral wealth is very great, gold, lead, copper and iron having been found in large quantities, but as yet imperfectly de veloped. The gold yield has already reached a million and a hall' a year. Coal, the essential element in the de velopment of mineral resources, abounds in beds of great thickness. Its rivers, lakes, streams and creeks teem with fish of superior quality, principally trout, salmon and sturgeon, and in its bays are shrimps, oysters, ci aha, mus sels and clams. The water-power, so necessary in profitable manufacturing, is unlimited. No part of the Union ll better supplied with natural power than Oregon; the falls of Oregon City alone being equal to over a million horse power and ca pable of great extension. At Salem, the water-power is estimated to be equal to that of Lowell, Mass. Everything in the way of game can here be found, from the sagc-hen to the grizzly bear; but, to find the latter, we are h:qpy to be able to say, the un inhabited portions ol the State must be visited. As to the rainfalls (with which they have been so abundantly blessed 'hat the Californians, in derision, call them web-footed), the Oregonians seem well pleased. They say they are some times a little disagreeable, but in the vnd prove the greatest blessing, as their regularity in the absence of neverc hosts always insures abundant crops and plentiful natural pasturage. The rains arc always gradual. The rainy season proper is from the middle of No vember till May 1, with intermissions of days and weeks of tine weather, after that up 4 ill July 1 only occasional showers. Oregon must surely be the farmers' paradise, for there has never been a fadure of crops there from any cause. There is no rust or mildew, anil no locusts, grasshoppers, chinch-bugs, or insects of any kind to injure the crops. Hail storms, hurricanes, whirl winds and earthquakes have never been known. Sheep raising is attended with great success. Oregon wool ranks high in the market. The wool clip for the season of 1S7S amounted to six and a half million pounds. For wheat grow ing it is unsurpassed, as it always has an abundant supply of moisture. It is noted for its superior quality and large yield, and for being the heaviest wheat in the world, weighing from sixty-live to sixty-nine pounds to the bushel measurement. It commands the high est price in the Liverpool market. Thirty bushels per acre is an average yield without fertilizers, and with high cultivation very much larger. Slock raising is successfully pursued ami very profitable, from the fact that the native grasses remain green during most of the year, and cattle are allowed to roam at. large the greater part of the year. Ship building has been followed for some time with great success at differ ent polntl along the const. A steam revenue cutter, hunt DV tlie Oregon Iron Works at Albion, lor the United Slates Government) is said to be the finest vessel in the revenue service. Vegetables of every kind, of a superior quality, are grown in Oregon. The potatoes are (specially line. In ihe office of I'hc QrtgoHPm we saw eight potatoes which weighed twcnlvtwn pounds, wilh an average length ol eleven inches mid a diameter of three and a half inches. They were of early rose variety. Mr. Ilunion, of Benton county, raises potatoes of the same variety that weigh fic pounds each. Indeed, potatoes are usually so long that farmers cany I hem piled up in their arms as t BV would billets of wood. The yield is from 1 S to SjOO bushels per acre. The potato disease is un known, and the polalo-bug has not vet made the tour of the continent. The onion crops are really enormous, yield ing from l,xx to i,x bushels tier acre. Six squashes were on exhibition from Marion county, which weighed 1,256 pounds, ranging from 1N0 to iH pOttmb each. California must look to her laurels. As a fruit country, Western Oregon excel. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, prunes and quinces grow in great abundance, and are unusually line. The apples and jwars arc simply im mense. The Gloria Mundi variety of apple often weighs between two and two and I half pound.; plump, round and reST, and as ptcttv .1 1 pit Utrt. Some of the K-ars grow n have weighed three pounds. Large at the fruits arc, they still retain the lcauty and flavor of the smaller varieties grown in the Last. So great is the yield of fruit that numerous fruit drying establish ments have been erected. Plums and prunes have been found to be especially profitable for drying, as these fruit's grow to a very limited extent in the United States and large quantities have been heretofore imported. Many of the vegetables, also, and other fruits, are canned. Strawbei l ies, raspberries, cm . rants and gooseberries are of a very fine cjtiality. A company is about being formed for the cultivation of the cran berry, at Olympia, the land near there being well adapted to that purpose, Oregon should lie called Americas LI Dorado, for here they say hard limes have never been known. This won derful State is only waiting for the magic touch of the iron horse to make it the richest producing scctian in our country. There arc millions of acres unoccupied and susceptible of cultiva tion listening for the Westward ho I of thousands of the young men who on our Lasturn shores are striving lor their daily bread, while heir they might ho iiiounrclis ol all they surveyed. The Government oilers n donation grant of ilxi acres lo eveiy bend of 11 family, male or female, or single man over 2 1 years of age, on payment of the registry fees, which amount to hut a few dollars, The Stale mollo of Oregon is Ais Volal I'roti iis (she llies with her own wings), and it certainly is a very ap propriate one, for with her rosOUtOSS she might be a world within herself. Winn we (onsider that so rci cully as SS Oregon was admitted as a Icr t il it v , and Hut she did mil become a State until 1 859, and though hut sparsely settled) her yearly exports amount to over $i6,(kk,(xsi, il seems extraordi nary. Theoulydrnwli.uk to Oregon is the want of railway communication with the Last. The Kipulatiou of Ihe entire Stnle is but 1 50VKi, nnd yul, in 1X77, there was realised fioin the wheat, wool, salmon mid hops, $1 1 ,mo, OCX) in gold. This will give some idea of wlsat Ihe Slate is destined lo be when 1 ' luuicntioii is cheap mid easy. I HI -MHMP Apples weighing a Miund apici I in tuit uncommon here. We recently weighed 11 lo' of seventeen which lours the st ales past the sixteen potssyj mark. A liltle fortune awaits the enterpris ing individual who will tart an estab lishment for preserving the immense amount of diircreiil varieties of berries thai are now annually going lo waste in Cons county. The following are the most abundant there: Black, blue and scarlet huckleberries, bluelicrric, black berries, sallal and salmon licrrics.
