Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1882)
October, 1882. THE WEST SHORE. and will come under the general description given above. This stretch of country has a great many gold mines which are being worked with profit, principally placer. Without stopping for further observation, I must hasten on to Rock Point, a little hamlet, on the north bank of Rogue river just in the northwest corner of the valley of that name. It contains a store, saloon, hotel, school house, blacksmith shop, and is a station on the Overland stage line. The river here is a roaring, rushing torrent, deep, clear as crystal and rilled with a plentiful supply of trout, and in the spring time with salmon. Its turbulent channel Is here spanned by a bridge, though the one crossed by the stage is about two miles farther up the stream, and is a very substantial structure, having crossed which, we are fairly into ROGUE RIVER VALLEY, which I conceive to be the most pleasant and desirable one on the Pacific Coast. It has an altitude of from one to two thousand feet above tide water. It seems to be peculiarly adapted to the highest perfection of the apple, the pear, the peach, the plum, apricot, quince, grape, the blackberry, strawberry and raspberry. Almonds are produced in abundance and the fig tree grows well, but does not produce abundantly. The climate is remarkably healthful, and the high mountains surrounding it give off grateful breeies which temper the summer's heat. Rogue River valley is bounded on the north by the Rogue River mountains, east by the Cascades, south by the Siskiyous and west by the Coast Range. Its greatest length is from south east to north west, and the distance about forty miles. It is irregular in shape but has an average width of about eight miles, though in places it is much wider. The river which gives name to the valley, rises among the snow peaks of the Cascade mountains, and flowing west through the north side of the valley finds its way, after a tortuous course through deep dark canyons and overhanging forests, to the ocean. 1 venture the assertion that no valley on earth, in its natural state, presents so many delight fully pleasant features of landscape as does this one, or whose surrounding mountains afford more of the grand, rugged, picturesque and sublime, as do the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains, that bound the valley on the east and south. Jackson ville, the county seat of Jackson county, occupies a cove at the junction of the Siskiyou and Coast range of mountains, eleven miles south from Rock point. Without describing the delightful ride between these points, through the groves of fir, pine, oak and maple, I will invite the reader through the streets of Jacksonville, and to the summit of the hill at the foot of which it stands. We now find ourselves between five hundred and a thousand feet above the town, and with a mag' nificent prospect spread out below u. Imme diatelv at our feet, nestline in its little mountain cove, shaded with oak and maple, whose leaves are tinted with the brieht colors of autumn, standi the town thronch which we have just passed. lit neat and tasteful residences, its school houses and church spires, and its solid hesneak wealth and prosperity, and a nomilation of nearly I, coo people. It hill sides and ravines furnish an index to its history as . miin .wn Hundreds of thousands ol 001 lars have been taken from the earth, and yet its rr.nl bed. .r. not allowed to real undlsturoea, though the attention of the people has long sipc. been directed to other nursuits. and ture forms the chief occupation of the valley, though mining is still carried on to a considerable extent, and but a few miles away is worked the heaviest mining machinery- in the state. A great variety of precious metals have been found, and the prospector remaineth not idle during the winter months. Looking now to the north and northeast, the valley spreads out in all its beauty. Bright fields of stubble and groves of oak and fir blend in fine relief. Farm houses and barns. orchards and vineyards, dot the level plain as far as the eye can distinguish these smaller objects. The course of numberless streams are easily traced by their sinuous lines ol maple, aider and asn, while in the distance rise the noble Cascades, already whitened by approaching winter, and Mount McLaughlin capped with eternal snow, its symmetrical form towerinir IO.000 feet aliove the sea, and standing as a monarch of the giants that modestly crowd about his foot. To the north east are other shining peaks piercing the sky and dimly seen because near 100 miles away. These are the rough jutting points that stand as sentinels guarding that mystic spot, Crater Lane, ine Table rocks stand as natural wonders In Ihis pan orama to the north, with a history clustering about them which I have no time here to chronicle. To see all that may be found of interest, one should spend a summer here and explore the hundreds of nooks, crannies and coves that reach out into the surrounding mountains, and the little valleys that are hid away from the casual observer, every home has its orchard and vineyard, its grain field, its garden and its "woods pasture." I know .nnt where the people live so independently and enjoy such advantages of climate and soil. Seventeen miles southeast irom jacawnvmc the town of Ashland, by far the handsomest vil lage in the state. It has' a thousand inhabitants, Is growing rapidly, and presents advantages which are sure to build up here one 01 me cniei iuw. ... of the Willamette valley. Ashland has two drug kor.lw.re establishments, tour general 91UICB, I merchandise establishments, two or three minor ...... tnrife and popular nouring mm, SIOIO, l"" " - - . . i f.Mnrv. two lareecabinet factories, a large wuuiKH.-v.-. - l,- L. . newsDSDer. iwo mw urn.". maroic wmii - ., buildings, an excellent college, and . fine public . i i tnnn. It is situated directly on SCnOOl, vm iiu - the line of the 0.4C.R.R. on. fin. mountain .(ream that furnishes abundance of pure, cold, .now water for all pur,,, manufacturing and otherwise. The town is more than usually attrac and nearly evert lot has tive. ne im - iii .. ... li i.. o.rden. and ornamental shrubs IIS orcimiui ..- and flower. The soil U ol gnsm. i.h. mud nor dust is nrooucev " TheV.lleV..hispoml trouoieiuniB . - not more than a mile wide, but the mountains ... l Iliile timber, and, possessing ,umn.is. To ll.e south iht Si.kiyou mountains Abruptly and are clothed with magnen . ,u. fn.lt of this valley, ther. is otr, of the coast that outdo it in the quality 1 ..... . !.. Mffrtililea, Its wheal, rye, oats rue1 Urley. The mountain, furnish . n ab.l.nu .-.i ,. from which the fine of suear ami r - , , Iberintheworldbm. The,..... in the streams the twwt ires -. .. . . th. wood nd canyon, bear, the searcher for game and pleasure need not m away dissatisfied. Ten miles farther up the valley is a cluster of soda springs, already place of . . i ... . ?j great reson, ana wnicn promises a wio nam when the K. K. comes along to enable the outside world to reach them. Ashland it the last town in Oregon as you go southward, the first reached from California. Following the proposed line of the raihoad. from Ashland to the state line it I. about $ miles, though on a direct course it I onlv fourteen. Leavine Ashland our course run. to the south east for eight miles where we com. mence the ascent of the Siskiyou mountain.! though steep the distance Is not great, and .when the summit is reached a magnificent landscap. greets the eye. The Klamath and Shat valley. are spread out before us, and Mount hhasta 14,440 feet high, seems almost within a stone's throw, ihnncrh !tv miles distant. Its eternal snow, It. glaciers and pinnacles of Ice shine Ilk polished steel in the bright sunshine, and an otner oojecw seem dwindled to Insignificance. From the sum- mil ..f ihe Sl.kivou to the California line is arjow two miles, nd we soon find ourselves whirling .long toward Yreka, thi first town ol sigmncanoi after leaving Oregon. ' C. B. WATWN. PROBABLE IRON MINES AND INDUS- TRIES OF THE PUGET SOUNU A3in. RV UV, 0. H. ATKINtON. COAL AN INUKX 0 WON. inform us that .bout two per cent. of the per oxide of Iron Is found In natural soli. This per oxide become, a protoxide by the action of acidulated w.ter, but not by w.tei lon. De cayed vegetation in swaniin furnishes a llgneou. acid, which acts upon the adjacent soils, and brings out a thin reddUh film or Iron .cum that is often sco floating on Iht pool ,0 mPr place. As thl scum lncrea.es It seines ana num. depo.it of Unlit P' prwoi' ' "on' " i. ih UimI form of be Iron or.. It l tint proce of growth now In bogs nd w.mp on smll ml. It I found In .lnlv. tract, like that discovered near Port Townsend. This ore ha been reduced, tested nd '" valuable. When mixed with older ore. lions other beds Ilk. thos. on T.aad. and Lop Itl.nd, It I malleable when reduced ny iimh. Rr ore are found In Ih. Puyallup V.llet .no lis signs appear in other valley. th.t botrUf th. Sound. Older ami richei Iron ore ha, been dUcowwl tha ramn cut thiouch by th. Skagit livtr, but the finest exposed masse, of lion or. at. report from Snoqualmi. pa, near tin rauroao survey- If then is no .not In Ih. tstimattd .ai.nl, judg ing by th. .ample, lb. owrnr. will hav. lib work in that mine. ikpkx or COAL. But lite coat beds, which are liacMbl. .long th. who), tang, of th. foot bill, of Ih CscarfM suggest, on lb. principle above stated, abundance of lion alto. Il l th. belief ol ..pert. IBM was of Iron will U found In th. vicinity of the coal. Al Columbia City vein of Iron or. ar. found few scort feet above ih. lignite, coal veins. II t loo, red or., similar to that RmismI mm Oswego. It. position In both lucaliiU. smcm irang nH oM m pi(U wor. whh the lbotf'
