The west shore., December 01, 1881, Page 284, Image 2

284
THE WEST SHORE.
December, 1881
in his icy fold, the warm wind from
the Japan current ladened With moisture
soon compel our release. Taking all
thing into consideration, I know of no
city sofrce from an objectionable climate
a the city of Portland. San Francisco
ha it disagreeable wind, sands,
and dust while the chic cast and north
are blocked with ice and snow for
month at time; hut here we are free
from such drawback, and our vegeta
tion scarcely ever cease to grow. The
rainy season here banishes disease of a
malaiial nature and I the season of
health and vigor. People arc finding
out these fact and from all part of the
world, come Rocking to our streets,
city and county, disregarding the words
that arc okcn with a purpose to dam
age u. y
OCHOCO VAl.l.KV, OKWiON.
rT, wsknt anh som-mtivk.
Thi valley i itualcd in the southern
part of Wasco county, and near the
geographical center of the state. It is
about thirty mile in length, and varies
in width from one-half to four miles.
It i abundantly supplied with water
from the Ochoco ami Crooked river,
the lormcr riing in the mountain of
the Mine name, to the east of the val
ley, flowing west, which gives direction
to the valley ami empties into Crooked
river toward it southern end. The
latter rie near Wagon Tire mountain,
some 75 mile to the south cast, Hows
north west and enter the valley through
a valley of its own of considerable
extent and fertility, thence by a sinuous
course toward the west for a distance of
twenty or twenty-five miles to it
junction with the Deschutes near the
bo of the great Cascade range. The
volume of water (Horded by these two
streams Is very large, and for manufac
turing purpose would afford a power
unexcelled. There are also a great
number of smaller streams, coursing
into the valley, especially from the
north, each of which possesses a margin
of greater or less extent, of very rich
alluvial oil, which is now !cing oc
cupied by an industrious and thrifty
people. To the north and northeast
the mountain rise gradually to a con
iderable elevation and possets a reason,
ably good quality and quantity of pine,
fir and cedar limtwr. From this body
of timber, which i rather limited, a
heavy drain U being made to supply
the demand for improvements in the
valley and surrounding country, all of
which is being rapidly sciueu. i
mountain to the east are higher and
more abrupt, while along the south the
valley is Winded by a high plateau or
table hind, supported by a basaltic
formation which rises very abruptly
from the valley to a hight of 800 or
l,ooo feet. This table land i covered
with an excellent growth of bunch
grass and thickly studded with juniper
timber, here used exclusively for posts
and firewood. This plain also possesses
much good soil adapted to the raising
of grain and vegetables and is being
occupied and tilled, where springs can
he found to furnish the indispensable
supply ol water, for irrigation seem to
be needful here. In the month of
August, 1S7J, the writer, in company
with four others, passed through the
Ochoco valley in our return from
Idaho. At that tune, thoueh we
traveled it entire length, we found but
four houses in sight of the line of our
route, within the precincts of this val
Icy, thrrec of which occupied the present
site of Princvillc. Not to exceed fifty
acres of laud was at that time tilled,
and the little store at Princvillc held a
monopoly in trade with the Indians
and a few hardy stock-men who chose
to cast their fortunes on the borders of
"The (Srcat Oregon Desert," in the
midst of which this valley appeared,
an uncultured oasis. Dut little thought
was then indulged ol subduing these
sage lands to cultivation ; in fact sage
and rabbit brush was thought to be the
index to a worthless soil, and the few
who lived among and roamed over the
hills'and valleys of this great untamed
region, dreamed only of the day when
their herd could be exchanged for
shekel and they, thus enriched, could
return to civilization and luxury and
talk over the scenes and events' of their
wanderings in the wilderness. Then
the only imagined wealth of that region
was the boundless supply of nutritious
hunch grass the joy of the grazier, the
land of tender beef, and great expecta
tutu. fr..i l -1 -ni
...... u iv iiciii-. aiunc. 1 nis sec
tion had only commenced to attract the
irrepressible "cow boy," and he who
suggested agricultural operations here
was scouted as a dreamer. Tim
t svi
antelope and mountain sheep cropped
the herbage undisturbed.
the recent intruder with littl f.r r,.
behind their clump of juniper or rocky
edges. The speckled trout, in myriads,
arted in and out among the willows
that drooped their lazy branches into
the limpid flood of many a mountain
stream, and had not yet learned the
angers that were hid beneath the
wings of the patent fly. No well de
fined roads or finger boards guided the
wanderer on his way, and scarce a trail
then threaded the treeless waste, to the
valley s 'south and "just over the desert."
n November last the writer visited
this valley again. Coming from Goose
Lake valley, 200 miles south of
Princvillc, by the regular mail line be
tween Lake View and the Dalles, about
the middle of the afternoon, I reached
the "rim rock" that bounds the valley
on the south. The day was bright and
serene, and there at an elevation of
,000 feet above the valley I stopped
and gazed upon a cheerful scene. The
whole valley was spread out below
me, and the beautiful little town of
rinevillc, with its wide streets, neat
buildings, and church spire in its midst,
seemed just at my feet, and was only a
mile away. Stretching far away up
and down the valley, were numerous
farms with broad expanses of golden
stubble, painted houses, barns, sheds
and stacks of hay and grain. I recog
nized the topography of the country as
the same I had seen nine years ago, but
busy hands had changed the scene,
happy homes were built, where was
then a dreary waste. The little Btreams
still ran into the valley from the north,
but their margins had been transformed
into homcsteads,and though miles away,
seemed to turn a smiling face of pros
perous welcome to me and to speak a
pride in the mantles of civilization, that
had been spread around and about them.
Even the sombre plains of sage which
still remained unreclaimed, seemed to
bear a more cheerful aspect in the
prospect of bearing fruit to the labors
of man and in refuting the idea, now
demonstrated to be erroneous, that the
sage indicates a barren soil.
The rivers of the valley seemed also
to sparkle with more lustre, as with
many a crook and curve they cut the
sod of the meadow or divided farms
and marked the division between truck
patch and grain field.
The hum of industry came leisurely
along on the evening breeze, and the
happy shouts of school children at play
were echoed back from the rim rock
or came faintly from the willows tha