February, 1882.
THE WEST SHORE.
land, 60 per cent, of which is ad up ted
to agricultural purposes. The sales,
from Nov. 12, 1879,10 Dec. 31, 1S81,
amount to $340456.63, the larger
portion being sold for cash at a.6o per
acre; probably not more than 15 per
cent, of this amount was sold on the
instalment plan of five payments, ex
pending over a period .of four years, at
$4.00 per acre; 7 per cent, per annum
interest is charged on deferred pay
ments. ; The Railroad Land Office is located at
Cheney, Spokane county. This coun
ty originally contained about 1,260,000
acres of railroad land, and 90 per cent, is
good wheat land.
There were 607 sales made in this
division in 1SS1, amounting to 115,503
acres; about 55,400 acre was sold Spo
knne county, principally near the head
waters of Hangman, Pine and Rock
creeks on the southeast side of the rail
road, and Deep and Crab creeks on the
, northwest side. The population of this
, county is increasing rapidly; four years
ago the white population in this por-
tion of Stevens county, now Spokane,
did not exceed 300. In September
1881, the school superintendent in this
county reports 1,700 white childnn of
suitable age to attend the public
schools.
. The newer portions of the agricultu
ral lands of this diviion that have been
. settled upon and cultivated during 1S80
arid 1881, have proved to be as produc-
tive as the older portion of Walla Walla
Columbia and Whitman counties, which
: arc so well and favorubly known as
wheat, oats, barley, flax and vegetable
producing lands. The samples of grain
on exhibition in the land office at
Cheney, from all parts of the division
tabled and placed ide by side, show
that the grain raised in Spokane county
not only in length of straw, size of
head, plumpness of kernel, hut the
yield per acre, will compare favombly
with that raised on the best wheat land
east of the Cascade mountains. Over
5,000,000 acres yet remain to the com
pany between Wallula and Lake Pcn!
d'Orcillc, fully one-third of which is
saleable at much more than the prices
above named, notwithstanding its re
motencs from the thickly settled part
of the East, and notwithstanding the
aparseness of population on this coast
Were the company so disposed there
would be no difficulty in selling to cap
italists all of those lands in a body at
$3.60 per acre, but as such a sale would
result in a land monopoly, hindering
the rapid settlement of the region and
thereby operating to the detriment of
the road, such a transaction is not likely
to be considered. It is not premature
to advise people who are likely to want
such lands at the present rate to use
some diligence in the matter, for, al
though we arc not advised as to their
ntention8 it would seem that the rapid
movements of the company, the exten
sive operations of construction indica-
ing the early completion of the road,
the financial stability of the concern
and its ircrcasing traffic, atlord some
ground of probability that the price of
hese railroad lands will be increased.
The Pend d'Oieille division is complc
ted and in full operation, so that this
favored region is accessible to any point
of its entire length along the road in
comfortable warm coaches.' These
laud sales began about the time" that
construction of this division was com
menced at Alnsworth under direction
of General Superintendent Sprague, in
1879, in November of which year the
company opened a branch othce in
Colfax, the county scat of Whitman
county, and then sold land to settlers
until in June, 18S1, when the road was
built as far as Cheney, and the office was
moved to that point.
L. T.' Darin, Esq., Register at the
Oregon City: Land Office, furnished
the following:
The 6tnte of Oregon is now divided
into five land districts, viz.: Oregon
City, Roscburg, Lakeview, LaGrande
and The Dalles, the local United States
land offices for said distticts being sit
uated respectively in the above named
towns. The Oregon City land district
originally the Willamette land district,
embraced prior to March 3, 1853, (at
which date Washington Territory was
organized) all the land in the territory
of Oregon, said territory prior to that
time, embracing all that part of the
territory of the United States which
lay west of the Rocky mountains and
north of the 43d parallel of north lati
tude; now comprising Oregon and the
territories of Washington and Idaho,
covering an area of over 251,000 square
miles of land. The Oregon City land
district now embraces all the land south
of the Columbia river to the 3d stand
ard parallel, and wcM of the summit of
the Cascade mountains to the Pacific,
containing an area of about seven mil
ion acres. The counties of Clatsop,
Columbia, Multnomah, Clackamas,
Marion, Polk, Tillamook, Yamhill,
Benton and Linn, with the exception
of a few acres in- the southern part 'of
the two Litter, fire entirely sltUntcJ In.
this district. About two-thirds of the
and embraced herein has been sur
veyed, a great deal of which is yet' un s
settled. Lands lying near navieable
rivers and railroads, have, of course,
been first selected by settlers; and per
sons who desire to settle upon govern
ment land in this district, should not
expect to find locations nearer than the
foothills of the Cascades and Coast
ranges of mountains. However, by
reason of cancellations and relinquish
mcnts, tracts of land may be obtained
in any part of this land district. There
arc a vast number of acres of vacant
government land in the counties of
Clatsop and Columbia, the soil of which
is very rich and fertile, but heavily
timbered. In fact the land in this dis
trict remaining unclaimed, is generally
covered by forests of fir, interspersed
with hemlockcedar, cottonwood, oak,
pine, alder, maple, ash and various
species of trees of less value. Fire
have at different times raged furiously
in the Cascades and Const ranges of
mountains, partly consuming the tree
for miles In extent, and thus leaving .
the country in some places comparative
ly open ; this is especially the case on the
west side of the Coast range. ' Water
of the purest quality is everywhere
abundant, and range for stock In
the foot hills, excellent. During the
year ending December 31,' 1881, two
hundred and fifty six homestead entries
aggregating 35,593 acres, and 188 pre
emption declaratory statements' under
section 3359 of the Revised Statutes of
the United States, covering 34,638
acres of land, have been filed in this of
fice; 144 claimants have made final
proof in their homestead claims, cover
ing 17,821 acres, for which final receipts
entitling them to patents, have been
issued; 45,420 acres of land, In which
arc included pre-emption claims,' tim
ber entries under the' Act of Congress
approved June 3, 187S, ami excesses in
homestead applications, have been sold
for cash at $1.35 and 12.50 per acre, the
rate depending upon the location of the
land. A numberjfof certificates have