January, 1881.
THE WEST SHORE.
11
great cheese milkers of Monterey, nt a
cost of $1,750, and that over fifty ap
plications to breed cows to him at $40
per head had been rejected. The milk
of the llolstcin cattle is prized chiefly
by the cheese-makers, and although I
have eaten some good cheese made in
this State, yet I do not know of the im
portation of any llolstcin cattle up to
date.
My -good old friend, Capt. John C.
Ainsworth, one of Oregon's most suc
cessful business men, was asked one
day what it would cost to build a steam
boat of two hundred tons. " That
would entirely depend upon the trade
in which she was designed to run," was
his answer. " It takes powerful and
costly engines to run some steamers,"
he continued, "while others can be
navigated with vc.-y cheaply built hulls
and comparatively defective power."
It is just so with cattle-breeding in
Western Oregon. Your means will
not allow you to begin with anything
but good American cows of no preten
sions to select breeding, and then you
must improve upon by selections of
blooded bulls. Hence you must breed
according to your location. And be
particular always to breed upwards
when you do breed, whether you pro
duce for the dairy or the shambles.
I am told every day that dairy Tann
ine don't pay. that it is a great deal of
work for a very little money, next to
none at all. Hut here is my argument
upon the proposition : A day's work is
a day's work, is it not ? Well, one
man can work as hard as another, if he
will. Now, then, we come to the joke
of the cream. If men can get rich and
keep their carriages in the western
counties of New York state, with but
ter at an average of fourteen cents, the
year round, by pasturing and feeding
cows upon lands worth from $60 to
$200 per acre, what is the reason
won't pay in Oregon ? Here our lands
go as high as $6ox:rucrc,mit there are
thousands of unoccupied acres yet to lc
had ut.the Government price; and here
butter will average thirty rents the year
round. There is not a store in my
town where you may buy a roll of but
tcr for less than a dollar, since the 51I1
of Novcmlier, and I would hale to lct
that the rolls would average two
pound.
look forward to an increased inter
tit in dairying business in oicgon,
whenever sullicicnt capital can be got
hold of to establish u beet-sugar f.ictoiy
in the Wilhime.ttc valley. After the
beet pulp has been boiled in the sugar
vats, there is still left a large residue of
fattening matter, which the searching
chemistry of nature alone can extract.
Commit this, therefore, to the stomach
of the milch cow, and let her, or the
stall-fed ox, consume what man's inge
nuity has failed to reach. It takes capi
tal to start it, but there are huge divi
dends for those who attempt, it. And
there is very little land in the Willam
ette valley but will produce two hun
dred bushels of beets to the acre. If
these could be sold to a beet sugar fac
tory at forty cents a bushel, it is a bet
ter reward for the farmer's industry
than wheat at $1.50 percental. And
in the mean while Oregon s larmers
could grant a Sabbath to some portion
of her soil and let her fertility be born
anew.
TUK Ol.lt HONT.r.KS.
A few years ago the emigrants cume
toiling across the sage plains, marking
with broken pieces of wagon boxes the
graves of those who were not strong
enough to withstand the privations and
hardships of the six movth's journey
with ox teams, or who fell victims to a
savage foe. It was a marvelous under
taking, but "they were brave and true
as stern crusader clad in steel."
Mnilc utruiiK with hic lliey iUiciI tu ilu,
Achievement! ihnl a hint lo lny
Would linger al, Maiul lark ami irrl,
Ikfciiletl at I he lliilil of it.
When we consider that the l'acilic
coast was then an almost unknown re
gion, and the dangers and har.lships to
be encountered in the pilgrimage across
more than half the continent, we can
not but admire the spirit of the old pio.
necrs who led with their rilles on their
shoulders, the vanguard of civilization
We may carefully examine the history
of the American continent, hut we
shall nowhere liud another record like
this. Those were indeed, days that
"tried men's souls," hut those at the
front were strong and resolute, ready
for the work liefure them, and to them
Itclongs the honor of bringing the far
western territory under the protecting
egis of the American Union, and of
laying the foundation of a State des
tined to tnke place 111 the front twV
of the National itcrhood.
We can well remember when the IV
otic coast was a howling wilderness :
when the grey wolves held their
nightly concerts in tho hearing of our
iliin homes, and tho red-men rode
their "tireless cuitans" over our wido
meadows, and even sometimes failed to
espectour rights, to our melon and tur
nip patches J when wo ground meal
upon the codec mill, luxuriated on
sorrel pic, and talked about the opening
of a new horse trail, or the felling of h
foot-log over some insignificant creek
as an important Internal Improvement.
Hut in tho marvelous march of civilisa
tion the Pacific Northwest has become
an Important portion of the American
Union, containing yet undeveloped the
elements of almost incalculable wealth
and prosperity. As wo enjoy tho ad
vantages of a civilization which has fol
lowed in tho footsteps ol tho old time
leaders, we should not forget our duty
to those who fought the early battles
for us ; whose courage and cnterprixo
first sought and claimed the wild hut
beautiful land, so far remote from tho
old hive of civilisation.
Alasl how many of those who c.ime
in the early days "gather no more in
the councils of their brethren." Many
of them lie where they perished from
excessive toil, where they were lost
amid the snows of the mountains, or
where they fell In fierce conflict with a
savage foe. Others have since faded
away from our sight in the glow of a
hrightercivili.ation, How many thrill
ing stories have Wen buried with their
authors? Much of tho history of the
past "with those bent with years, is
fast perishing unrecorded, Irretrievable."
Let us not be slow then to gather from
them the historic traditions of the early
days, and learn to treasure the memory
of the Intrepid leaders us we seo crum
bling to dust around us the lust rem
nants of their handiwork ( for eie long
wo shall all he covered by the colli 11
lid, and the cold page of history will
hear at best but a oor record of the
trials and hardships of the Old Pioneers.
You may say what you please about
it, but there is luck in horse-shoes. A
woman nailed one up against the wood,
shed a rfionth ago, and last week her
husband eloped with the hired girl.
The man had not carnqd, a $ for
more than two year.