The west shore., January 01, 1885, Page 13, Image 13

THE WEST SHORE.
13
overlooked. It is advantageous in every respect, and
those may regard themselves as lucky mon who obtain
lund Lure, lor a quia tor suction of land in any part of
Umatilla County is not a thing to be snoozed at, and is
growing in value every day.
In regard to climate, I will say that the altitndo varies
from 500 feet on the Columbia Iiiver to 1,200 foot at the
head of the Cold Spring canyon. Down to December 10
(the date of this writing), plows have boen running all
over the country, and a large amount of now soil has
been broken since the Presidential election. No snow
has fallen in the Blue Mountains to date, although it 1ms
rained every week since October. Snow generally falls
about the middle of December, and remains on the
ground until removed by the Chinook wind, which may
put in an appearance in three days or throe weoka. Late
in January we usually have a week's hard frost, with
another Chinook, and then " spoils of weathor " until the
spring rains. Stock have been wintered here for yenrs
without shelter, and with no othor food than tho natural
bunch grass, and in no instance has the loss ever excoodud
five per cent, even in the most severe winter.
People coming to this country to make homos ore
heartily welcome, and will recoive all encouragomout from
their neighbors. A poor man with nothing but a largo
family is heavily handicapped, and will have a sorry time
of it making headway in a now country. All new coun
tries are proverbially poor, and it is the poor mon who
make them so. I would earnestly advise every new
comer to have at least 11,000 at his command before
starting for this country, for with that amount lie will
be practically master of tho situation. It is ossontial to
successful farming to own a wagon and team, which cost
money. Lumber for house and barn must also be pur
chased, as well as food for man and boast If desired to
farm extensively the fiist year it would be advisable to
have 100 acres broken by contract at 12 per acre and
socdod on sod All those things a man with a littlo cash
capitid can do and speedily have roturns from the invest
ment; but the poor man has a constant struggle for
existence and is always behind The objective point for
all intending immigrants to the Cold Spring country is
Pendleton. It is, however, not advisable to spend too
much time idling round the towns. Make directly for
Helix, and inquire for the writer, or for W. W. Caviuoss,
at the Cold Spring ranch, and either of us will assist in
locating new-comers all we can.
The chief products of Umatilla County are wheat,
wool and live stock. Of tho first two tliore wore shipped
in the year ending May 31, 1884, by rail, 41,723 tons
(1,474,100 bushels) of wheat and 2,790,000 pounds of
wooL The Assessor's returns for lust year, which, of
course, are not ulwolutely reliablo, show the following
statistics of the condition of the county: Acres of im
proved land, 400,000; horses and nudes, 12,032; cuttle,
11,205; sheep, 240,051 (wrong, as there are between
400,000 and 500,000 sheep in the county); swine, 4,41)8 ;
gross value of projorty, 5,759,624; net value for assess
incut purposes, $3,895,902; rute of tax, $1.90 ou $100;
number of inhabitants, 9,607; wealth por capita, $599.52;
number of school children, 4,536.
Coid has been found iu the mountains south of Mepp
ner, and though it has not boon minod to any extout, the
quality has boon tested with good results, and prospect
ing enough has boen done to show that it exists in great
quantity. Some day, whon a railroad has boen extondod
up Willow Crook, tlioso ooal deposits will bo extremely
valuable. Several saw mills are located in tho mountains,
supplying the adjaoont territory with lumber for the
improvements constantly being in ado by tho settlers. In
summing up the condition of the county, the Emt Ore
(jtmitm recently said: "This is a largo country; none too
large whilo it was sparsely settled, for it noods people as
well as territory to organize and maintain a oounty gov.
ommont "Within the last two or three years, however,
the population has so inoreasod that both political con
ventions held last spring decided that it was expedient to
form a now county in the western portion. Whothor this
will be douo or not noxt year doponds upon tho view
taken of tho subject by the Legislature, though all the
representatives from this oounty will favor such a divi
sion. The second reflection is that tho pursuits, and with
them the very character of tho people, havo to somo
extent undergono a chango in tho past few years. For
merly about the only business which men came hero to
pursue was that of stock raising, for which noarly the
wholo of this county was excellently adapted It was a
hardy, healthful, yet not a very hard-working sort of a
lifo, and it proorly pursued oould hardly fail of success.
Out the plow has driven tho flix;ks and herds almost
entirely from somo portions of the oouhty, and greatly
restricted them in others; and though tho stock raising
interests will always bo large, this is oven now, and will
bo still more so henceforth, an agricultural oounty.
Scores of townships (thousands of sections), which four
yoars ago were uninhabited except by roaming herds of
stock, are now travorsed by wire fences and dotted with
settlers' cabins. Many, indeed most, of theso people who
intend to pursue farming as a business are xor. They
aro obligod to go in debt; consequently, tho plentiful and
"flush" times of years ago are no longer with us. We
must henceforth bo mostly a county of farmers, ami ordi
narily a farmor'i lifo moans hard and incessant work and .
small profits, even with strict economy and moderate
good luck. This is not peculiar to us it is so the world
ovor; and here, after a fow yoars of experiment and
rosultnnt wisdom after the transformation from a pas
toral to an agricultural life has become more complete
and bettor recognized tho opportunities for farmer will
bo fully equid to those in almost any county in the
Union."
The county seat and chief commercial centre of Uma
tilla County is Pendleton, a town of 1,800 inhabitants,
situated on Umatilla Ilivor, on tho western vergo of the
reservation. It is now seventeen years since tho town
was laid out and Ixtcnme the seat of justice, and its career
has boon one of stoady advancement It ia admirably
situuUd for a eouuuorcial eeutre, being centrally located