Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1887)
A GEM OF THE WILLAMETTE. "I TILE upon miloof level valley ami great terrestrial footstool their lot may y I rolling hills, stretching in nil di- bo cast rations as far as tho eyo can Thcro are, of course, many wvtinna see, the whole Wring the universal tint deemed by thono familiar with their of the golden yellow of harvest time, in. characteristic, and ignorant cf tho ad. terspcreod with long lines and patch- vantages offered ly other regions, n tho es of the green of oaks, alders, firs and best in existence. I have traveled over orchards, is tho sight which opens out tho entire Pacific coast, and through all to the view of every ono who, at this sea- the states of tho great Mississippi val. son of tho year, visits tho county of ley. I have seen field of grain without Polk, ono of the fairest gems of tho Wil- numlxr, barns almost bursting with the lametto valley. Huch a sight would fruiUof harvest, K-autiful homes, and warm tho blood in the veins of the most happy and contented iplo; but in all sluggiih man, who retains in his compo- this, I have never yet seen tho region sition ono grain of admiration for the combining all the advantage j beautiful, or ono atom of appreciation of by this favored p.rtion of the green and th bountiful gift of nature. Put there fertile Willamette. Hurh an motion is more than beauty in tho scene. Tho as this require a strong array of fact thousands upon thousands of acres of to sustain it, and these I will proceed to yellow grain, tho hum of scores of har- give. vesters, and the busy whir of threshers, Take down the map of Oregon, and all testify to a succesafal harvest and a turn your attention to the long valley rich reward for the lalwr of the hus- lying Mween tho Gat range and ('a, bandman. Around him are tho pro- cade mountains. Follow up the wind, duct of his toil, and over him, from a ing course of the Willamette until the cloudless sky, nature seems to smile in city of Halem, capital of the stAb', i benodiction upon bin efforts. Huch a reached Tho broad stretch of valley sceno of peaceful beauty and undeniable land lying west of that city, extending prosperity may well evoke exclamations along tho river many mile, and stretch, of surprise and admiration from one un. ing away westward to tho (Wt rang, familiar with tho sight And from ono constitutes the county of Polk, namM in accustomed to the uncertain harvest of honor of lWb-nt James K. Polk.dur. other regions, tho assurance that this ing whose administration tho original busy scene, these miles of grain, the territory of Oregon was organiL It cloudlet days, are repeats year by include more valley and arablo land, in year, at each recurring harvest, can not proportion to tho entire an a, than any but win expression of astonishment, and other county in Oregon. In fact, th'-re convince him that the husbandman who is scarcely a M of land not valtuM enjoys these gift of nature, in this moat for the growth of cereals or the wing favored region, is blessed above all his of tk. Within tU limiU ar upward fellow, no matter in what corner of the of thro-, hundred thousand acre of d-L