72
THE WEST SHORE.
April, 1883,
lie in vast unbroken tracts fur hundred! of miles
lone lxth banks of the Columbia, extending
btck from the river from thirty to fifty miles, and
lying in Wasco, Umatilla, Klickitat, Yakima,
WnlU Wnlla, Whitman and Spokane counties,
Immigrants are pouring into that portion known
as the Big Rend country, but settlements through
out this whole region are being made. Th
transformation of a few years will be wonderful
Irrigation, though beneficial, is not necessary in
the greater portion, and water can lie found easily
by digging. The cry of " No water" and "Too
dry " has kept as wilderness a region that will
soon be covered with villages. The railroad has
been the chief factor in drawing attention to this
land and making it valuable.
The failure in congress of the river and harbor
appropriation bill is very detrimental to the inter'
esls of this coast and in consequence to the who!
nation. The wealth and power of the United
Slates has been wonderfully augmented by the
development of the great northwest, and money
expended in opening harbors and means of trans
portal ion would be returned a thousand fold in an
increase of the nation a resources. It is but the
cultivation of a field from which results a bounti
ful crop. Whatever there may be of fraud
connection with such appropriations in the east
we know not but we do know that the sums be
towed upon us have been judiciously expended
and have as far as they were able accomplished
the desired end. That many of the improvement!
are in an incompleted state, is due entirely to
the insufficiency of past appropriations. Owing
to the fact that 1 failure of this bill was among
the possibilities, engmeen in charge of govern
ment works here have husbanded their resources,
and have not pushed the work as rapidly as they
otherwise would. The result is that at some
points work can be continued slowly, at others
enough can be done to keep it in its present con
dition so that the work already accomplished shall
not be rendered useless, while in still other places
nothing can be accomplished whatever. Kail
roads in many places along our mountainous coast
are Impracticable, and streams form the only out
let to millions or acres of agricultural, timler,
Coal and mineral lands. It Is for such streams as
these we ask congress for money, and are refused
wcvauas Mncni mriiiucr are ignorant 01 our
geography. The $20,000 appropriated last year
lor rivers emptying into 1'uget sound, which Sec
retaiy Lincoln withheld, have been released, and
Capiain Powell is now constructing a snag boat
lor clearing die channels of the Skagit, Snohomish,
Mvoqualmie, Nookiack and Slillaguamish riven.
This work Is of great Importance to the lumber,
agricultural and mining interests of that region.
Work abtolutely necessary on the Willamette and
Columbia bars will no doulrt I undertaken by
inc mercnanis 01 tnis city.
In the February number of the consular reports
appears a letter from II. Matson, consul general
at Calcutta, in regard to the India wheat crop and
its effect uikmi the market for our own product
India Is now able lo supply a surplus of 40,000,.
OS) bushels annually to the European market, and
is capable of bereaving that quantity indefinitely
by cleariag her vast jungles and converting them
iate grata fields. That it an expensive work and
will not be done to any extent unlet our failure
lo supply the Eutupeaa demand at reasonable
nua skill atimuiate them to unusual exert ion.
At present an expanding area of wheat-producing
lands, railroad conveniences, facilities for hand
ling grain, and the stability of our money exchange,
give us an advantage over India, which we can
maintain if we keep pace with her in reducing
the cost of production and handling. It is just at
this point that the Panama or Nicaragua canal, or
possibly both of them, will play an important
part. The completion ol one of these will give us
a hold upon the European grain market that it
will be hard to shake off. It will save us millions
of dollars annually in reducing the cost of ship
ment by at least half. Even without that the
completion of the great trans-continental lines of
road will so cheapen the cost of producing thi
grain that our grasp upon the market will be
firmer than ever. He who sleeps upon the track
will lose the race even to the most sluggish com
petitor ; and we must be awake to the situation
and prepared to seize every point of advantage,
Our broad acres rapidly being settled upon and
brought under cultivation, our railroads reaching
out their helping arms to every district in our
vast domain, our freight rates being rapidly re
duced by the increasing volume of business, all
give us assurance of continued prosperity in pro
ducing wheat, and extend an invitation to ener
getic men that they should not be slow to accep t,
fertile lands free and a market guaranteed are
blessings that ought to be appreciated, and by the
thousands pouring into our country we know that
they are. A few years hence, when these mag,
nificent opportunities are gone, those who have
failed to appreciate them will wonder at their own
blindness.
OREGON.
EASTERN OREGON.
lleppner has now a paper, the Gazettt. and will
receive much benefit from the prominence its
columns will give it.
The system of water works to be introduced
mo 1 cnciicion includes a reservoir back of the
cuy 10 give a pressured seventy-five feet.
A Catholic college is to be erected at The Dalles
i once. I he structure will be 60x90 feet, two
stories and basement, and be constructed of stone
IIU UIILK.
Foster, a station between Umatilla A
has now a good store, and is the point ni
tin or. railroad to run to Prospect farm and the
wheat fields in the northwestern corner to Umatilla
tuuniy.
Twenty miles southeast of Hnn., .1..
mbryo town of Adamsville. nr. it,.
- iwu irum
Canyon City ,0 The Dalle, and Alkali, in ,he
midst of an excellent agricultural rermn T,
. S3"vaaAl 111 l-
!t:e,tnd,b,ac!:,,nith ,hp- nd " to
nave a hotel and olher imornv.m...
and limber are abundant.
There are many fine sections in w..
yet inviting settlement. One of ih. i. rv:.,.l
Springs, about twentv-five mil fmm tu. r.
ctoad , Canyon City, wn-;;;
have demonstrated the feriilii.r .1.. . .. . .
danuhilb. .v. . ' ",c " ana "
,.,c proaucuon of gra in and fruit
The fact that W.sco has been fcJL .. . V
o hette, uu. thoK they pb, VwS."
Many are learning this, and a great increase ia
business at the land office in The Dalles is th
consequence.
Since the Malheur reservation was thrown opes
to settlement considerable attention has beta'
traded by that portion of Grant and Bales'
counties known as the Malheur country. Mam
settlers have gone thither in search of homes. A,
a stock region this is well known to be all that
could be desired, but for agricultural purposes,
with the exception of a comparatively small
amount of bottom lands, the general opinion it
that it is not desirable. In the neighborhood of
Stein mountain, to the southwest, there is said to
be much fine agricultural land. It may, perhaps,
be proven that the general opinion in regard to
the Malheur country is incorrect, as it has been ia
many other places. Good bunch grass land hat
been generally found to be worth something for
farming purposes.
WESTERN OREGON.
A national bank has been organized in Albany.
A fruit cannery is talked of in Eugene Citv.
That is certainly a splendid location for one.
A reservoir to contain 20,000 'gallons of water
and to give a pressure of fifty feet, is being con
structed at Corvallis.
With 4,000,000 feet of lumber from her mills
and several million bricks from the penitentiary,
Salem hopes to have material for her new build
ings this season. The demand for lumber and
brick is great.
During the fine weather in March, C. P. Hall,
of Washington county, plowed and seeded it$
acres in twenty-four days. All but thirty-seven
acres were drilled in, and from present appear
ances will make a good crop. Grain throughout
the whole county is in splendid condition.
Building activity in Astoria is very great
Times are lively there now because of the open
ing of the canning season. The river is dotted
with sails, and thefe are more boats yet to go
into the water. Too many boats have been
fitted out, and an effort is being made to lay np
some ot them, though no satisfactory agreement
has yet been made by competing companies.
Portland is as busy as ever. Work 00 the
foundation of the large hotel is being pushed
with vigor. A four-story brick hotel too feet
square will soon be commenced on the comer of
Fourth and Yamhill, several fine brick blocks IB
under way and others will soon be started. Tot
stranger the activity and bustle of this city ii w
prising, exceeding so much that which they hue
been accustomed to seeing in other cities of the
same size.
A new town to be called Lenore is to be Wi
out in Columbia county near the foot of Deer
Island and about a mile above and opposite to
Kalama. The town site cover 400 acres. The
main channel of the Columbia is but sixty W
from the shore at that point, and as it Is below
several of the most troublesome obstructions ill
the channel and at or near the Doint where UK
Northern Pacific will cross the river, the pf
DrietOri exnrci In malt, il an Imnnrlint fhiPP10!
point, and possibly a rival to Portland, as K
lama was expected to be some ten years ago.
SOUTHERN OREGON.
The spring wheat b all in, there au