Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1882)
July,, i88a., THE ,EST; SOIE., I THE TIDE OF IMMIGRATION. Immigrants are coming into Oregon and Washington more rapidly now than at any time since the country was set- . . ml . i ... t lea. mis applies more particularly to "the country east of the Cascades,although the Wi'lamette and other valleys on the J west of the mountains are beginning to feel the effects of.it very sensibly. A i t r XT colony 01 over zoo people irom rse braska arrived at Cheney, W; T. , a few days ago. The Sentinel says, the colony left Nebraska on June 1st, coming by rail to the terminus of the Utah North ern, and from there by team over the Mullen road through Missoula and down Clark's fork. The trip by wagon con sumed 32 days, and was a tedious course through a mountainous country. The special rates secured over the railroad lines were very low, and enabled the colony to come through at an outlay surprisingly small. Each passage cost $25, each horse i 7. so, and each wagon Dr. Hoyt started immediately for Nebraska, to start another party of 300. Many of the members of the colony have gone into the Big Bend country, looking for locations. They are well pleased with the country. ; PUGET SOUND LANDS. The land in the Puget Sound basin has often been denounced as unfit for agricultural purposes, and that it never could compare to the Willamette valley or the plains east of the Cascade Mountains for producing crops. The reason is that the different localities are not properly understood. Most of the lands here require a good deal of hard labor to clear and subdue them, and the Eettler has a rough life of it for few years in getting his farm open and under cultivation. When he does so, his farm is a lasting one and will never wear out with proper care. It may not be suited for a large grain field, but is suited for nearly all crops of the tern perate region, while for dairy puposes meadows and fruit orchards none can surpass it. This is really a region fitted for a diversity of crops, rather than for a single kind of production. While grain grows well, the fields for it must of necessity be : small. No country raises vegetable superior to ours, and no country can grow better fruit. Butter and cheese of the finest qualities are produced; while the' timbered hills afford pasturage for the fattest cattle and sheep. The heavy clay soil of our up-lands will be found in a few years to be superior to the valley of the Willamette or the wheat plains of the upper Columbia, as it will always grow better as it is cultivated and warmed up, and jn the future will be found of more value than the light soils of other localities.-- Transcript. Forty-nine hundred immigrants land ed at Castle Garden, N. Y. in one day. Climatic The present i v. week of the midsummer month of July and here we have cool and pleasant weather, without anybody having suf fered from the unpleasant effects of the heated term. The nights up to this time have been delightfully cool, but not so well do the people of the Eastern states fare with the thermometer at 1 io, which is almost unbearable in that cli mate, where the nights are as hot as the days, and far more suffocating. One can siana a great deal ot tatigue during the day, if allowed to rest comfortably at night ; but this is a boon seld om en. joyed in the east in the summer time, t1. ! .1 1 .. . . ' especially in me larger cities, where the buildings absorb the sun's heat during the day and retain it. It may be the lack of refreshing sleep and the subse quent exhaustion that renders the peo- pie 01 tne eastern states so liable to nun stroke. Lewiston Neius. '35 The railroads west of Chicago have been having a war on rates, their object being to equalize the rates on the differ ent roads, In order to do this the Union Pacific sought to increwe her fare. It is already gioo from Kansas City to San Francisco, but that road wanted it raised to $ 104. We are glad to see that it was not permitted. The rates are already too high. Instead of being $100 it should not be over 6o, and $75 at the most. At such rates the benefit would go to the railroad. Drop it to $50 and the travel on the Union acific would be doubled. One peculiarity in the soil of this country is that the longer it is tilled, the richer and more productive it be comes, in most lands rotation must be practiced, or the producing qualities of the sou are soon exhausted. There is an element in this land that escapes when the latter is frequently exposed to the elements, and it thereby becomes enriched. An example of this kind was seen the other day in a field where the land was plowed, and sown n gram lor several years; this showed much better quality, and a thriftier growth of grain than the new ground, though it had all been subjected to the same amount of cultivation this year This fact is generally conceded by our farmers, wnose opinions are ceriuimy reliable. Prmevillt New. Secretary Teller does not con tern plate a general and forcible disarming of the Indians, but favors the policy of encouraging them to deliver up their arms voluntarily, even to the extent of offering a tempting bonus if necessary, This is the proper policy, but we fear Mr. Teller will find it one of practica difficulty. Secretary Schurz had sim ilar desires, but owing to the impossi bility of preventing mercenary whites from selling arms to the Indians, the .Mi. ftnrt of the Secretary did not wholly succeed. The Odd Fellows of Oregon have purchased a farm, comprising 100 acres of land, admirably located near the mouth of the Sandy, in the eastern por tion of Multnomah county on the line of the Oregon Railway and Navigation fnmnanv's railroad, and about twelve miles from Portland. The farm is to be used as a home for the aged and in digent of the Order, that ore not other wise provided for. The disastrous fire that almost oblit erated the thriving town of Colfax, should prove a warning to other new places, and efforts should be made at once to secure an adequate fire appa ratus in nil such towns. The report Is made, that Colfax was in possession of a fire engine, but that it was allowed to get out of order nearly two yeirs ago, and remained unrepaired ever since. Maj. Truax, of Walla Walla has pat- ented a device to be applied to the grain chutes on the Snake river. These chutes are wooden pipes several thousand feet long, through which the grain slides down the steep banks to steamboat andings. The most ingenious part of the patent is a wheel, whicn the sliding grain turns and gives power to a clean ing apparatus at the hopper of the chute. Little chimneys are placed in the chute at intervals, through which the duHt and smut in the wheat rises and it finally comes out as clean as possible, all by automatic motion. A New Haven, Conn.,man has taken out a patent for an invention of which he claims secures the absolute storage of electricity for electric light purposes. He says that by his contrivance the electrical force becomes as portable as kerosene oil, and the perils to life and property incident to a current produced by a dynamo machine are entirety obviated. He also says that to secure this electrical force primarily his in vention contemplates the utilizing of the rising and falling of the tides along the sea-coast, the winds in the interior and the moving of trains and steamboats when it is desired to light them with electrical illumination. Mr. II. Villard haa kindly donated a library of select books to the shops in The Dalles.