328
THE WEST SHORE.
LINN COUNTY.
The following brief description of
the rcjourccs of Linn county and ad
vantage of the city of Alhany, of
which we furnih a number of ill Ultra
tion in this number, is from the pen of
A. T. llawlcy:
Tlie city of Albany lie nestled in
the heart of the Willamette valley,
and it has a rich country north, south
cast and west of it, a river on one hand
and a railroad on the other. Its entire
aspect it one oi tnrilt, permanence,
pnterity, and steady growth. It is
the county neat of I. inn county, which
embrace area, say, forty miles long by
seventy mile wide. Not being a par
allelogram, the acreage is estimated at
about one and one quarter million acres.
A very large proportion is valley land,
generally characterized as handy loam.
Successive cropping for many years has
unquestionably impoverished the soil.
In a conversation I held this morning
with a gentleman who evidently knew
what he was talking about, he said that
the need of phosphate of lime is be
ginning to make itself apparent. If
such i the case, it only remains for
somebody to go to work and find a
marl lied. This valley was nn arm of
the sea once, and the marl is here some
where. I he valley proper is from lit
teen to twenty miles wide, extending
ensteilv Irom the river to the foothill
where the face of the country changes,
ami is diversities by small vallevs with
soil nf rich loam anil rolling hill
abundantly productive of rich natural
pasture grasses. 1 he county extend
to the summit of the Cascade moun
iiim range, ine slopes 01 w men are
finely wooded. Hut little, if any, va
cant land is found until those portions
oi ine loolhdl thirty miles back ol the
liver are reached.
MUM OP I.ANDs.
Parma within three miles of the town
nf Albany arc held at $100 per acre,
from thence the price declines to $;o,
ami (hence on down lo Js;. A Oiir av
erage may 1 set dow n at (row Sao to
MIST IN WIIRAT.
Itul I he appearance of rust in wheal
fields has had the effect of Baking
some (H-ople believe that the end of all
thing, agriculturally meaning) in I. inn
county, is at hand. I am inclined to
Ihink that such views are fallacious.
The rain for the present seanon were
exceptionally heavy and late, and most
of the grain wa spring-sown, and from
ihe let information I can obtain, the
fall and wintcr-aown grain was un
scathed. The fanners of I. inn county
are learning the same lesaon that Call
fornians have had to pay for so dearly,
ami they arc taking advantage of the
present fine weather to get in their
crop. If it it only spring-sown w heal
thai it liable to rutl, the fanneri ofj
November, 1879
room
1
13
H
IK
No. . KMIINE HOUSE. VICTORIA, B. C.
I'too hf R. Mav.nard.
Linn will require more storaee
next season. 6
TAXABLE pnu,,,,,.
The assessment roll for 1870 fool..,.
$6,784,800; indebtedness,?
exemption, $47i,6oo-t0tal sum uL'
which taxes are levied, $440o L
The rate of taxation is as follows on
one hundred dollars : State, 70 cent.
countyj6o cents ; school, 30 cents j to-'
tal, $1.60. It may be mentioned in this
connection that the tax-roll for 1870
foots up some $200,000 less than that
01 lo7o.
EDUCATIONAL.
Linn county makes a good showing
in her nuhlir sr-h! ,)........ ?
i "vpuiuiicni.
1 here arc 87 school houses in the coun
ty of the average value of $570.11
each. The number of ti-ulwiv .....
ployed is 140. Wages paid teacher
run trom $20 ner month t.
1, , , , . r fiiAi.
1 rohahlv a fair average wnnM h t..
for male teachers and $33 for female,
per month. The number of school
children enrolled is n.ifa: the itfr runt
ot attendance does not show o well,
ine average being a little less than half
of the whole number enrolled.
FARM LA1IOR.
The waccs Daid to farm Inhnrvn
ranee from I2C. ner month with hnanl
the year round, to $1.50 per day in
Harvest time.
TIM1IER LAND AND SAW AND FLOUR
ING MILLS.
One-third of the area of Linn countv
is timber land, the principal varietie
oemg nr, (or urcgon pine,) white pine,
manic. Hsh nnd nnlr Mnmi. niAtinfar.
turers convert the ash, oak and maple
into very attractive furniture. There
are in the county fifteen saw-mills, with
cutting capacities ranging from 5,000
to 15,000 each per day. The price of
lumber rancrns frnm In ill I imt
thousand. There arc nine flouring mill
in the county, one with the capacity ol
it K bnrri.ls rur rlov innthrr I CO 11 1! '
.j-
rels, and the remainder running down
to custom mills.
TOWNS.
There are numerous towns in Linn
county. Alhany, with 3,000 inhabit
ants ; Ilarrisburir with 700, with an
agricultural implement manufactory;
Hrownsvillc, 600, with a woolen factory
employing from twentv to forty hand
the year round, and manufacturing
superior blankets, cloths and woolen
poods im'ih'i allv with the nrinrinal sal
depot in Portland; Scio, 500; Lebanon,
iweive mtiea cast, 400, to wnicn
point a branch of the O. & C. R.
ill be run in time for the next year
crop. Tangent, Shedd, Halacy, ana
I'coria arc other small town in the
county.
MANUFACTORIES.
Albany manufactures furniture, line"
twine from flax raised in the county,
Coot in aril on page 345-