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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1889)
THE WEST SHORE. fringed crests in the iky, form it eastern boundary and divide it from Montana. This vast region is oc cupied by only four thousand people, and it taxable property ii less than 11,000.000 00. IU principal BeU tlement ii the Cama prairie country, my own beau tiful home, and Camas prairie ii really only a little trip of good land adjoining the Nn Perce reserva tion, which the Indiana somehow overlooked when they elected their reaerve. In thia little atrip twen ty.flve hundred people have made their homea. It ia without doubt the moat proaperoua agricultural com munity in tbo northwest, and it ahowa evidenoea of improvement and material progroae that are really aUrtling to thoae who know the circumBtancea which have attended ita settlement and occupation. Every poand of freight haa to be hauled over the Craig'a mountain from lewiston; a diatanoe of aixty miles. A bloody Indian war once raged here, and the gravea of seventy-five victims are atill kept green and their memorlea cherished by their aurviving relativea and friend. Houaea and atorea were burned, property destroyed and atork driven off; nor haa the govern ment ever paid a cent for the damagea theu incurred. Hut, in apite of these cruelties and apoliationa, the aturdy eettlers remaiuin!, and in twelve yeara of in dustry and deprivation they have covered the acaraof war with the fruit of peace, and the landscape to-day prewuta to the eye aa beautiful a paatoral picture aa ever wu gnd on by the infiuite in the lovelieat vale of Jodec Wbftt haa been doue on the twelve town ahipa of the Camaa prairie will bo repeated again, with infinitely low of hardship and toil and far leaa f ipeuditure of money and muscle, by the newoomera who are fortunate enough to locate a homestead claim on the aurplua landa of the reservation aoon to be thrown open. It ia a aafe estimate to say that fully three-fourtha of the reservation are arable land, and that the re maining fourth is valuable for iU timber, or for iU minerals, or fur graiing purpose. It U principally prairie land, with a gentle slope from the foothills o! Craig's mountain to the Clearwater. It is a country as large and as fertile as the great Palouae region, and had the reservation never existed it would now contain a larger population, with, more products, en terprise and civilization, than anything the Palonse can boast. Such is a brief, but imperfect, picture of a region which has hitherto been monopolized, to the detri ment of the whole country, by Indians, and now, hap. ily, soon to be brought under the domination of Cau casian energy. There need be no fear that the allot ment will not be made, for these Indians well under stand the situation, and have long been ready and willing to accept the severalty system. For many years they have abandoned their tribal relations and lived without a chief. Many of them are citizens by naturalization. Others are ordained ministers of the Presbyterian church, and the tribe can show more members who can read and write the English lan guage than any other tribe outside the Indian nation. They are by no means blanket Indians, but honest, reliable, enterprising, industrious and loyal. Those people who are coming from the eastern states to find homes in the far northwest should not fail to come to Lewiston and Camas prairie, for here they are most likely to be suited. The Nez Perce country is somewhat isolated, it is true, but it is in such localities that the best public lands yet remaining are to be found, and the Lewiston land district offers more of such than many more pretentious oiTioes. Come to Lewiston, come to Camas prairie, oh, ye home seekers, and see for yourselves that we have soil, climate, produots and resources as good as the best, while the very newness and extent of our conn try give you opportunities and advantages for acquir ing fortunes that older localities can not offer, and which will be greatly increased by the opening up of the last remaining piece of frontier in the United 88. A. F. PAitKEn.