February, 1883.
24
THE WEST SHORE.
FROM PORTLAND TO ST. PAUL,
We were to many year, wailing for direct rail
communication with the Eastern Statei, that molt
of our reiidenti can hardly realiie that in five
monlht from the present writing we shall have
" all rail " to the tut j in fact, in a trifle less
than three months the Northern Pacific will make
ilt first eastern connection with the Utah North
ern railroad, now completed to the mouth of the
Little Blackfoot river, and iince il completion
ceded to the Northern Pacific from the Blackfoot
to Deer Lodge. Thii will be our first " all rail "
to the Eat. It will take ui over the N. P. R. R
to Deer Lodgej thence by Utah Northern to
Ogdcn, and then by usual routes East. The trip
will neceitate five changes of can from Portland
to New York, and consume eight day. When
the Northern Pacific it finished, solid trains will
be run, without change of cart, in six days. We
have" recently passed over the entire route, from
Portland lo St. Paul, and were gratified to find it
by far the roost desirable of any of the trans-conti-nenlal
routes. The sleeping cars running over the
eastern end, from St. Paul to Livingstone, a dis
tance of I, loo miles, are marvels ol elegance well
ventilated, brilliantly lighted in short, haven't
their equal on any route, Last or West. We at
first intended to give only a general sketch and a
few illustrations of the country the road passes
through, but since studying our notes and field
sketches, we find it would be an injustice to our
readers not to furnish more complete information.
Montana alone, at present a sort of terra intognita,
it larger by far than Great Britain and Ireland
combined, or more than twice as large as the six
New England states, and has in its 145.776 square
miles of territory the nucleus of more wealth than
any other locality of similar site in the Union. He
fore us it reliable map of Montana. It is seven
by thirteen inches. The county of Silver Bow
occupies a space on thii map so small that it may
be entirely covered by 1 five-cent nickel, and yet
the assessed value of thii little spot it $4,106,767,
and we are reliably informed that id real value it
not less than $50,000,000. Its county scat, Butte,
has sprung up within the latl five years. It it
substantially built nearly all brick and stone
has 7,000 inhabitants, and enjoys the electric
light and other modem improvements. Helena,
the territorial seat of government, unlike all other
capitals, it stirring business place, and is said to
b tht) richest city in the Union for itt site, a
position heretofore occupied by Hartford, Connec
ticut, with Portland, Oregon, at second. Benton,
an isolated place away up on the Missouri river,
has J.000 inhabitants, a hotel building which
hasn't lit equal in the Pacific Northwest, and
(tore which would be a credit to any place.
In view of all these facts, and having illustrated
and described the trip from Portland to Lake
Peod d Oreille in the August number of this
journal, we proceed in this issue with the first two
counties in Montana Missoula and Deer Lodge-
through which the northern 1'acific passes after
leaving tht 1-aJte. in our neat we shall have
something to aty of Butte: then of Helena, and
on, until our readers become familiar with every por
cash customers for fruits and vegetables, fresh,
dried and canned, and for salmon, oysters, and
many other necessities and luxuries. In addition
to our descriptions of the country, we have in
preparation a series of illustrations of the won
derful scenery along the entire length of the rail
way, from Portland to St. Paul, which will in
clude the National Park of the Yellowstone, and
the Mauvaises Terns, or Pyramid Park, through
which the railway passes. These illustrations of
scenery will be furnished in a separate number,
and will be executed in the very highest style of
the art.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, OREGON.
This was the first county peopled in Oregon
subsequent to the settlements in the Willamette
valley; in fact the Applegates and many others
lived in what it now Douglas county, long before
the occupation by whites of large portions of the
Willamette. The first permanent settlement was
made in Yoncalla, a narrow, rich valley in the
northern part of Douglas. Soon after this,
Scottshurg, on the Umpqua river, was laid out
with a view of making it a commercial town and
the future entrepot of all the rich region of the
southern Oregon.
The present territory of Douglas county has
not always been under the government of this
county, but was formerly divided into the counties
of Douglas and Umpqua, the latter county cover
ing the north half of the region now included in
Douglas ; and many have been the battles over
this county division question, the relation of which
by any of the old time politicians would make a
most interesting chapter in its history. Umpqua
county never erected any permanent county build
ings, and its former seat of government, Win
chester, it now hardly known to the great body
of new comers. Douglas has improved its oppor
tunity to erect valuable and commodious county
buildings at Roseburg by the taxes collected from
the whole region, yet the ambition for a separate
county organization for the northern part under
me oiu banner of " Umpqua," has never been
extinguished, and is one of the local questions
wnicn nas 10 be delicately handled by the county
politicians of both parties, so that neither can
gain or lose by the nomination of objectionable
county organiiers on either side.
TOPOGRAPHICAL FEATURES.
No region of Oregon, or of any country, presents
greater variety or more pleasing landscape than
...umy.ana many correspondents speak
of il ik ic...:. 1 1 . r
.- - owiitcnana ot America." A .11
time, the traveler through Douglas has within his
ww we most romantic and delightful little val
ley. hid away among gently rounded hills, beau,
tifully ornamented with scattered .nH miA.u v
fip , : 'K evergreen pine or
hr, while sloping away from th. ..!,!.,. -r ...
"'J ,he " nge, Calapooi. and Cas-
in on all
in
giant firs.
cade mountains, shutting the county
UllM (t ill. - . , '
nn a seeminc imnal.L 1 : . . .
the deep green 0f boundl. r,..,. .,. .
The cranio i:..u ..... Pawn,..
tlcWMoolana, ThiswillUof advance notonly other by the h U of Z hom
lo intending aettlera, but lo residents of Oregon and and eslen i ' ' odd haP
portuaitylo ttisdy
to const the territory will b 00 of our very best I who
,7 ' "H.nea down at
ants. Foe Years been ik ...i . . .
e .... . ' . I . ' "v,m" n admiral on nf
Washingtoo a, well, u i, will give ,hem an op. random instead 0 fl Z , 7 V,
portly 10 ), Montana', wants. For ' W ! . , f UP
below, have
-pused through the county 0tt w;7;7f
one of the coaches of the old stage line. And
the way the iron horse slips in and out rwu,..
- -vm
this mate of hills and valleys, by openings which
no traveler can discern from the car window, only
heightens the interest in the puzzle and makes him
long to get out and see more of this beautiful
region.
SOIL, CLIMATE AND HEALTH.
Douglas county possesses a quick, rich soil on
the hills and a deep, rich black vegetable loam in
the valleys, producing every fruit, grain and veg
etable of this latitude. Much of the lands in
cultivation has been farmed every year succes
sively for more than twenty-five years, and like
other parts of Oregon have never been aided by
the application of nny artificial manures, and yet,
to-day, they produce almost as abundantly as when
the virgin soil gave up its first crop. The county
contains an area of about five thousand square
miles, or three million two hundred thousand
acres. Nine-tenths of this vast area is almost
covered with the primeval forests, and of the re
maining tenth, of open hill, prairie and valley
land, not more thanone-third of it has ever been
touched by the plow. Lands can be had in the ,
county at all prices, ranging from homesteads on
public lands for the taking, ud through railroad
selections at two dollars and a half per acre to
the improved valley farms at forty and fifty dollars
per acre, Grazing land is abundant and cheap,
but valuable principally for sheep. In point of
climate, Douglas county possesses attractions over
every other section of the Pacific coast.
Midway between the "Webfoot" regions! of
Oregon and the droughty plains of California,
and shut in by mountain chains on all sides, and
yet so close to the ocean as to be certain of
reasonable moisture for crops, and its healthy
breezes to dissipate the heats of summer, the
Umpqua valleys are free from all storms of wind,
severe weather of any kind, and possess that mild,
iquable climate which so distinguishes southern
Fronce from all the rest of Europe. There is no
malarious swamps, no malaria, and no prevailing
type of disease in Douglas county.
The health of the neonle of this repion is oro-
verbial, and it was many years before the settlers
could get a grave yard started.
FISH AND GAME,
The streams are abundantly stocked with sal
mon which run up from the ocean, and the
speckled mountain trout which breed in all the
rivers and creeks in the county. Game, too, is
yet comparatively plenty. A day's ride to the
foothills of the surrounding mountains will bring
the sportsman to the grazing grounds of the deer,
and in the neighborhood of the black bear. And
occasionally along the higher ridges of the moun
tains a stray "grizzly" may be encountered, al
though no one is particular about hunting for
this dangerous game. The quail, pheasant,
grouse, coon, fox, Virginia gray squirrel, panther
aud wolves, both large and small, can be found
in sufficient quantities to make their hunting real
sport, while a few beaver yet linger along the
water courses, and wild geese are plentiful
during the winter season.
FORESTS AND STREAMS.
All sections of Douglas county are fairly sup
plied with timber for farm use, while the surround
ing foothills and mountains are heavily covered