THE WEST SHORE.
231
valleys odor splendid ranges for stock. Considerable at
tention has been paid to improvement in the quality of
slock, and many high grade nnimalB Lave for a number
of years been imparting their excellent qualities to the
flocks and herds of this region. Not much attention has
been paid to swine. Great numbers of hogs are raised,
but thoy iut of aii inferior breed and small in Bizo, It
is a commou practice in the foot hills to let the swine
run at large in the woods and pick their living. A num
ber of farmers have pens of fine blood hogs, and their
success with thorn, as well as the great contrast in size
and quality betweon them and the scrubby, long-snouted
natives, iB so great that it must result in a general im
provement throughout the county.
As a dairying region Lane county xx sesses many
advantages. Grasses of all kinds, both native and cul
tivated, grow in luxuriance. Cattlo have to dexmd but
little upon hay, since the warm rains from early iu the
fall until Into iu the spring keep the grass growing.
Even in the dry summer season grass remains fresh and
green in tho meadows along river and creek Imttom,
and in the mountain valleys. Timothy is the leading
cultivated grass, and many tons of it aro annually cured
for hay. White and red clover make remarkable growths,
especially tho former, which is indigenous to tho soil,
and springs up spontaneously on tho hills wherever the
destruction of trees and underbrush gives it an oppor
tunity. Whorover seed is scattered it takes a strong
hold, and the meadows of tho valley aro in tho spring
covered with the whito blossoms of the shamrock.
Tlif re are splondid opxrtunities for associated dairying
in Lane county. Butter and cheeso factories conducted
on tho cooperative or individual plan pursued in the
East would moot with the highest success if managed
by a man possessing tho necessary qualifications of ex
perience and business tact Certainly milk ought to lie
produced choapor in a country whore tho winter climnto
is so mild, and fresh grcon grass can lie had almost tho
entire year. A few successful small dairies indicate
that larger ones properly managed would meet with
equal or greater success.
The timber resources of this region are vast in tho
extreme. From the foot hills to their summits tho en
closing mountains are clothed with a dense growth of
vahmhe timber, fir, pine, cedar, spruce, hemlock, ash,
larch, yew, maple, oak, balm, alder and madrono. Tho
most common and most valuaMo of these trees for com
mercial purposes is tho Douglass fir, Ahiv lhmijUii,
which is the chief reliance of tho lumberman. This
wood is improjwrly designate! in the markets of Califor
nia and foreign jxrt reached by shippers, as " Oregon
pine." It is of a large, tall and straight growth, adapted
for this reason, and for its strength and durability, for
ship timlors, masU and spars, aa well as for bridge tim
bers and general building purposes. As yet little lum
Wring has been done in Lane county, except for tho
supply of local market, and the great body of timW
may be said to be still in it primeval condition. The
maple, ash, alder, and oak are used to soma extent for
furniture and ornamonttd purposes, for which they are
excellently adapted. Considerable tracts, especially iu
tho Coast Range, havo been burned over by forest fires,
destroying an amount of timber which would bo consid
ered enormous in a country less blessed with such a
wealth of forest growth. The quantity of timber Hint
hits beeu destroyed in clearing land, would, it circum
stances had admitted of its being converted into lumber,
have Wen worth a sum reaching into the millions of
dollars. Circumstances, however, justified this apparent
ly prodigal waste. There is less of this wholesale de
struetion now, and mora effort is being mndo while
clearing land to utilize tho timW growing upon it
Tho mineral resources of Lane county, while as yet
almost totally undeveloped, aro known to bo extensive
and valuable, Gold-Waring quarts ledges have been
discovered on tho McKen.io and other leading forks of
the Willamette. Tho richness of these lodge has been
tested, and recently considerable work has Wn dono on
somo of them. In conjunction with numerous available
water jmwors, an abundance of cheap fuel, a yearly de
creasing cost of tho expense of mining and reducing
ores, and of transportation, capital should find profitable
employment iu developing these ledges.
Immigrant desiring to settle hero should under
stand from tho first that there can not now lie had, eith
er in Lano or any other county of the Willamette val
ley, any prairie land not already occupied There are,
however, large tracts of timW laud comparatively level,
and much hill land but lightly timWed. Large areas
of rich land, as yet unclaimed, extend along tho courses
of tho streams flowing from tho eastern side of the
county. In many places the ravages of forest fires have
so reduced tho heavy growth of timber covering that
section of tho country, that tho work of clearing the
laud for farming pursms is comparatively easy. Along
tho eastern slope of the Coast Ilango are quite extensive
areas of foot hill land, covered with brush and timW,
which aro available for settlement.
(Special attention is called to what is known aa the
" Hiuslaw country," by which term is meant tho region
bordering ujsin the stream of that name. It extends
through the Coast Ilango to tho Pacific, and embrace
twenty-nino townships of agricultural laud, not a tenth
of which has yot Won taken. This land Wlongs to the
government, end is subject to entry under the general
land laws. The soil is rich and produces prolillcally.
As a dairying region it ixmsetises advantages even su
erior to the valley, since tho ocean mista keep tho grass
fresh even during tho dry season. There is nsun on the
Hiuslaw for five hundred families. On the bay at the
mouth of tho river aro located three salmon fisheries,
and preparing for market this excellent fish is th lead
ing industry of that region. Tho town of Florence is
the commercial jsiint and shipping port The limber
of that region is especially Ann, ami ImuWing will be
come a great industry as soon as transpiration facilities
aro provided A good wagon road leads down the river
from Eugene City, the distance to the Uy being sixty