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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1903)
THE MORNING ' OEEGONIAN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 1903. HOW THE PIONEERS LIVED Everyday Life of the Early Settlers Social, Re ligious and Educational Conditions. IT hu become the "habit to think and speak of pioneer times and conditions as they prevailed in the Pacific Northwest JO year ago as replete with hardship and privation and shadowed constantly by ap prehension of danger. That this view docs net properly present the conditions un 'dtr -which the early settlers lived is & feet -well established by the testimony of genial pioneers, many of whom at this flsy refer to the life and environment of t time with lively satisfaction. It is true that, in solving the ordinary ques tions of dally life, it was necessary to resort to the shifts and makeshifts com mon to the settlement of a new country. tnit after 1S30, at least, the pioneers or , the "Willamette Valley were in the main ; comfortably sheltered and abundantly Zed by means Ot tneir OWn enori.3, mum i as to clothing, it may be said that one i was clad as well as another, thrift and 1 Industry then as now fixing the standard of cleanliness and comfort In this re- epect. Indeed, at no time in the his- , tory of the settlement of Oregon were I the hardships and privations Incident to j the settlement of the Middle West en- j ontmtorM Vo "native son" of Oregon. ' however lowly his surroundings In early ; life, was called upon to endure themlser- les that fell to the lot of Abraham Lin- j riurinir hit cinched cloomy. half- ctnrvpd bovhood in Indiana, or In his struggling uncultivated young manhood j in Illinois in the early years of the nine teenth century.- There was a wide divergence In the pioneer conditions of these two sections which, with 30 or 40 years Intervening, were Invaded by the advance guards of civilization. In this divergence every point was in favor of the Pacific section. This was due chiefly to two causes. First to the" .relative mildness of ' tho Coast climate, and second to the fact that even our earliest pioneers had tho advantage of an ocean highway over which ships came to them at intervals lnden with tho bounty of an older civi lization. "'Around the Horn" and "across the Isthmus" were commercial terms that in those days means adequate though slow means of transportation for domestic supplies which it -was not then possible to transport across the continent, and which, tut for the sailing vossels of a vigorous shipping era, the early settlers must have gone without, as did the early eettlers of Ohio, Indiana and other In land states that were first carved out of the great Northwest Territory. Hence It was that to the Pacific pioneers woolen cloths and cotton stuffs, staple groceries and the farming implements of that day and date found their way in response to the limited demand. Tho hand loom and the spinning wheel; the flax--hatchel and tho dye-pot,, were not found In the frontier homes of Oregon, but almost from the-flrst-ertalnly full 0 years ago manufactured goods were td ie had by the settlers and few were too poor to purchase them according to their needs, even at the rather high prices set upon them by the legitimate requirements of transportation and trade. In stha towns that formed the centers of the civilization of those days Oregon City, Salem, X.a Fayette .and some-others were modest stocks of merchandise suited to individual and family needs. Cramped and narrow, as viewed from ' the standpoint at the present., the,, sop- plies iurnlshed were still iiinple .for tho requirements- 'ot tho times"-.,.. '.More - than this cannot be said Of the abounding fa-i clllties for 'meeting' the wants of a later era and civilization." l?ioneters had what they needed, in those .first year and as nearly whatftaey wanted, perhaps, as do the people of :th present time, the. dif ference between needs and wants being no sreater- then than now. Each was wjth his share; upon- the whole, content. Perhaps It is due to this fact that the old prosaie'days arc invested with peace as with a garment. The chief characteristics of the Ore gon ploneer-perhaps of all pioneers were an abounding-hospitality and an abiding cheerfulness and contentment. No cabin home was too small to admit a -wayfarer to its shelter and to such cheer "as it possessed. If necessary to make room for an unbidden- but always' -welcome guest, the children could be huddled a little closer together and a "shake down" improvised with the spare bedding thus secured. It was always possible to make room at the family board for another plate, -white of the homely viands there was -enough -and to spore. Isolation no doubt contributed largely to this gen erous hospitality. The coming of . the chance guest -was -eh-event in the lives of settlers, whose homes were 'separated by wide stretches of" fdrest and plain, and his welcome" was assured In advance. The early pioneers were not overworked. An ample supply of food for their dally needs could be raised without strenubus effort, and there was no market for a large surplus, hence no Incentive to its production. The small surplus of the early grain' fields and" orchards found pur chasers in tho Immigrants that each year swelled the population by some hundreds, at prices that forbade the necessity of greater efforts at farming; In the Fall ot 1S52, for example, wheat in the Willam ette, "Valley brought $5 and potatoes $t n bushel. ' and nork dressed 25 cents a pound. There was little or no hay to be had at that time for the half-famished oxen of the immigrants and straw was held at a prohibitive price, so the poor beasts were turned out .to. browse for a living, and notwithstanding the iait that the Winter was unusually severe most of them, came through In tolerable condition, proving to their owners the truth of the alluring statement that it was not neces- Krr to feed stock in Oregon, an idea -that was afterward disproved at great cost to the livestock Interest of the state. Christian missions were early in the Oregon .field, with outposts at various places, the routes between covered by enrgejtlc circut-rlders, who iiever failed to met their, appointments. In the -ab sence of church buildings tne "meetings" were h;el4 .in. cabln homes designated for that purpose and to them from miles around flocked the sturdy pioneers with their families in. wagons rdra.wn by oxen or horses,., as the case might be. The writer .'recalls a Tellglous meeting "held In one of these rude log cabins on. a farm in Yamhill County In the Fall of 1882. The immigration was large that year and mingling with the placid plo nkers of an earlier date -were many new comers, Testless still from the moving habit that had brought them "across the' pteliu." The cabin was crowded and the overflow extended into the dooryard, in which Jrade -benches .had been placed. The preacher (ministers' came at a later date) stood In tho low doorway, the Bible in his left hand and his right employed In impressive gesticulation as he deliv ered his message of divine wrath to his respectful listeners. The theology of 50 years ago, here as elsewhere, was stern and unbending. It had been, brought to 'the .frontier by missionaries zealous In their work and still sacred to memory. It was softened here, as In the centers of civilization from which it had been trans planted, by the sweet voices of women rising and falling: to the simple 'melody of "Dundee," "Uxbrldge" and "Amherst," and swelling at last In Joyful chorus In the words, "Praise Cod from whom all blessings flow." Taxis tables were spread under trees from which the Autumn leaves were falling and around them gathered tne. company, decorously inanKiui. mm i appetites that the fear of future punish- J ment had not served to diminish In the j least. This was a typical religious meet- lng of those early years, modified as to numoers, accoraing 10 jocauon ana 10 meet the conditions of the weather. In a Clackamas County community a few j J caia iai icub .""- i found expression In a series of neighbor- j hood meetings, upon each of which occa- j slons a feast was spread In the ample I barn of the generous and zealous host, to j which a congregation, gathered from j many miles around, did ample justice, Whether these meetings represented an 6verflow of religion or of hospitality or j both the chronicler Is not able at this i distance to determine. They were pleas- j ant occasions, however. "That fact stands ; out undimmed by time. A combination of i the religious and social elements In plo- , neer life, these meetings took on after j a time the more extended form of the , camp meeting. This later became almost wholly a festal occasion and was finally abandoned as a means of grace that had been outgrown. The pioneers of Oregon early eet up the schoolhouse In their midst. Neither i not a modern one, even for that time. J history nor folklore is silent upon this . but it was effective as far as It went, j subject. The beginnings of Willamette Perhaps the greatest disadvantage un Universlty were early laid at Salem in . der which the pioneers of Oregon la- j the mission house of Methodism. Those l bored was the lack of transportation fa- j of Pacific University were established In . clllties. There was no road system and . a little log house by Congregatlonallst few bridges, and the appliances for trav- j missionaries, while at Oregon City and at ellng and teaming consisted chiefly In the St. Paul, In Marlon County, the Catholics ' wagons that had been brought across the j were zealous In the cause of education. 1 plains, the oxen and horses that had I Schools that made no pretensions beyond the effort to meet the present needs of the times wore taught a few months of each year In every settlement that gave Itself a name, almost from the very first. A number of men and women whose J. I1UU1UC1 UL UU nUUlCll ilUG ( names have become familiar in the an- nals of our later civilization were em nlnvpfl us teachers In these schools. Rev. E. R. Geary, scholarly, dignified and be- ) nlgn. taught, as the writer recalls, a j school In La Fayette In the Winter of , 52-'53, giving to the 12 6r 15 pupils that j gathered in a room on the second floor j of a flimsy frame house as careful In- structlon In the simple arts of reading, j writing, spelling and arithmetic as he j himself had had In his boyhood home In New England. Others equally devoted though less scholarly, taught the rural and the village schools In the various settlements, so that at no time after 1S50 were school privileges ample for the time denfed to the children of the pioneers. A special effort In this line may be noted In a grammar-school kept In La Fayette, Yamhill County, In tho Winter of 1S53-54 by a forceful sort of man named Harris. He was a genius In his way uncouth in dress and manner, but so thoroughly fa miliar wUh his subjebt as "to inspire the respect and confidence of his pupils. He brought to his task a familiarity with LIndley Murray that Impressed even the dullest among them with his learning. His energy was contagious and his' tern- dullest among them with his learning, ter. Farmers' wives, mounted on the will Tiot- consider this feature as one of- ceed with the. projects they have under-' "The irrigated farm has back of it .His energy was contagious and his' tem. broad backs of the plow-horses (released ' its greatest attractions? C. A. C, ' taken. In a large and broad sense, the the mine, the furnace and factory, and o.. I fioAP OF THE OREGON W r rK " W ACL. !'V&7Zft'r& tl . j!&&?Z WlT I: COUNTRY jT The first ever ' " V 'tKw&k J ' ''--, LEWIS AND GLASSES ITINERAEY. TABULATED. S - . - 1 lVr4iW yfiV , MONTH. YEAK , . . f 6fSS fSW' ' I . July 2i -.1504 At mmth flf nkiV " flS tP-' I y ( f4I.wMm0?s . t i"2 vm At council BTE::.r::::::::: v-: . x iwif - I April 7 isos xiH.rt" 4SK . V L vimS' 'Zms ? April 2G 1 At mouth of Yellowstone River . I;:: " 1SS0 ' , iTtVW 1 llB . , '"PiT T . I . tvi.ae funs, mum........ I3 i vise - J '. s -y ft&Uc&77-77Z'-'Z J . Jul' 1805 At Three Forks of Missouri River . V VS sfUS S? Aug- 12 1S05 At headwater of Missouri River 3096 1 ) .J I T I X i' i rxrJ 1 -tiL rooum oi uiearwaier xixvcr l i , ' a - . I - V vol 'Hi vrf-7of . i Oct- 1? 1 At mouth of Snake River 3721 ... V.- ' - -f VA 'faM -ktOC-. I! "ct. m isos At cascade of Columbia River 3950 ' . A ; ' ' -f u Ho" f. . Pec 7. im Arrived at Fort Clatsop 4133 '? 4 Vi - f. . JF f' ' ' H " i ilar. 23 1S0G Left Fort Clatsop 4135 i Vf TV l S i " April 27 1S0C At mouth of Walla Walla River , l-J - f ', ' - r 4 June 30....... 1606 At mouth of Lolo Creek ' -li vj v fr----- ' S , . if Aug. a 1E06 I At mouth of Yellowstone River .... . - . - f I 7 I i ai mouui w xeiiowsione itiver .-. .... i . - - , -u vi , . J Sept. 23 ' 1S0S Arrived at St Louis. ,. ' . .'. . v " . ' . ' per somewhat irascible. The room In which the school was" kept was warmed (not heated) by an open fire. It was cramped as to space, 111 lighted and with the most primitive seating accommoda tions, yet the 25 or SO pupils who gath ered therein from day to day took real enjoyment in the competitive system of "parsing," t.o which rules, caught by word of mouth from the master, were applied at every step. The only book used was sanaers' Fourth Reader, one of a' series of school readers then In vogue, j It Is within bounds to say that every sentence In that book was transposed. :a, t explained and duly "parsed" a dozen times during the 12 weeks of the school continuance an exercise by no means to ; be despised as mental discipline and drill, j 10 mi:uuuiii.-u xs u. oamiJiu ui. iuc j unique and somewhat strenuous. If priml- . tive, educational methods of the pioneer ! era, and It may be doubted whether the processes now pursued In teaching Eng- l.sh in our preparatory schools are more! effective In developing an understanding i of the language than was that of Master Harris. He sat, as memory recalls, at 1 the left of the large fireplace, his hat upon the back of his head, his legs ' crossed, a reference book (to which ho i seldom referred) In one hand, .Indicating j with the gaunt forefinger of the other ' the pupil least likely to respond cor- J rectly to his demand for the rule gov- ( ernlng the objective case, the agreement of the verb with Its nominative, or what- 1 ever point In his system the relation of i the word In hand to the ether words In . the sentence called out. His method was drawn them and the Indian ponies that ; had been broken to work. There were J canoes and flatboats for water transpor- tatlon, anil steamboat building began at to get In touch with each other upon oc Orecon Citv and Mllwauklc In the early cflsIo.n and enjoyed immensely, visits that SVS, UUl KCll",b "ULIUC t.UD UUfc JiUOUl.n. especially with heavily-laden wagons. In '50s, but getting about was not a pastime, especially with heavily-laden wagons, m i"ia, muu uuiu iuwam iert as a legacy to ruture generations, m the Winter season it was. indeed, lmpos- ; each other than now, having not yet the very nature of events, the state hav slble except in a limited degree, and the : come Into the strenuous pursuits of life ins -waived Its rights by neglecting to early settlers soon learned to lay In their supplies, whether from Vancouver In the earlier days, or subsequently from Oregon . City, and later still from Portland, be- j fore the Fall rains set In. Long trips ' were, however, taken on horseback oven j in the worst weather. It having been recalled that the news ot tne aamtssion ; t In that manner carried to Salem from, i I Oregon City in March, 1S59, the journey occupying 3G hours, the most of which time the courier spent in the saddle. Horsemanshlp was an accomplishment that was almost universal. With a de sire to go as the incentive, Indian ponies as the motive power. Mexican saddles and bridles with the Spanish bit as ac coutrements and campmeeting as the goal, the young people of that time were well equipped for a pleasure ride and well satisfied with their equipment. Court- snips were .not mirequeniiy conauctea on horseback, sometimes at a mad gal l-lop, oftcnor perhaps at a meditative can ter. Farmers' wives, mounted on the broad backs of the plow-horses (released j from field service for the purpose), car j ried the surplus butter and eggs to the J country store. Grain that had, perhaps. been threshed with a flail was hauled i long distances to mill, the farmer carry ing the provisions for the trip in a basket and his bedding in a roll, well satisfied If he could return on the evening of the second day with his grist. Examples of i the shifts and makeshifts Incident to i pioneer life might be multiplied, but these i will suffice to give a general idea of i them. There was nothing at all romantic ' about it nothing. Indeed, but the most GOVERNORS OF WASHING TON. XcaAC I. Stevens 1S53-57 Fayette McMulIen . 1857-50 It. D. Gholfon 18G9-G1 W. H. Wallace 1SS1 William Plckerlny 1SC2-G0 Geerse E. Cole 16C0-C7 ilarrtial F. Moore..... .18S7-C9 Alvln Flanders '. 1603-70 X. Salomon 1870-72 Ellshn. P. Ferry 1572-80 William" A. Newell 1SS0-84 Watson C. Squire 1SS4-S7 Eugene Semple 1SS7-S9 Miles C. Moore 1SS3 Ellaha I Ferry .'. 1SS9-83 John H. McQraw 1833-07 John It. Rogers 1897-02 Henry McBrlde 1002 -t 1 ordinary commonplace. Perhaps It Is this feature that makes It restful in rotro- spect. It had some special attractions, ! one of which was freedom from conven- ! tlonalltics. The pioneers were content with little because their wants were few. Congenial persons made special efforts - 1 " .-; OREGON: A territory August 14. 1843. A state February 14. 1S39. WASHINGTON: A territory .March 2. 1853. A state Kovember 11, 1S80. IDAHp: . A territory March 2, 1SC3. A state July 3, 1830. ere necessarily iew ana iar Detween. , , A werc. perhaps, more cordial toward nicn wait upon moaern civilization, True they had to work to live, but the duties of life were never so insistent of the moment that they could not wait I cp;vATnp'; PrniM WA;Hliwr: TON. Vat5on C. Squire 18S9-07 John B. Allen 1SS0-03 John L. Wilson -....1805-00 George Turner 1897-03 Addison G. Foster 1609-05 upon the attractions of a Fourth of July celebration or the district campmeeting. There- Is very little now of the sort of leisure that finds rest and enjoyment in simple social pleasures. There was much of it then, and glancing back over the years of endeavor that Ho betweenwho .that recalls the events of the pioneer era will iot- consider this feature as one of Its greatest attractions? C. A. C, WHAT IRRIGATION WILL DO -; Oregon's Great Extent of Arid Land and the Fain Promise of Its Ultimate Cultivation. P ORTLAND, Or., Dec. 26. The irrlga- , tlon of arid America and the resultant j conversion of once supposedly barren tracts into fruitful areas Is the most stu- j r pendoua. undertaking In the United States! since tne aaoption oi me uonsmuuon. . The vast region lying west of the S3th meridian, once reclaimed, will make homes for many millions ot people. To j effect this result, Elwootl Mead says In j an article In ono of the year books of ! the Department of Agriculture, "Is a task Inferior to no other In the realm of statesmanship or social economics. Arid America Is tho Nation's farm. It contains practically all that Is left of the public domain, and Is the chief hope of a .free homo for those who dream of enjoying landed Independence, but who have little besides Industry and self denial with which to secure 1L" Though Irrigation will prove the salva tion of Oregon, it is a subject that must be approached with care and considered j farming with great care in the appllca- with fairness tfnd Impartiality. looking j tion of water, followed by thorough cul to the utilization of all legitimate meth- j tlvatlon of the moistened soil. In no ods for the reclamation of arid lands, the sense is it tho lazy man's way of farm encouragement of enterprise, and the pro- j lng. It is work and the work that pays, tectlon of 'invested capital. It is new j but it involves a multitude of perplcxl to us and until lately has not received ties that the farmer of the humid re serious attention. When our Constitu- j glons never dreams of. In the first place, tlon was adopted, the Irrigable sections j care must be used In the application of of our state had been traversed from i water, for over-lrrlsatlon Is just as ln- east to wst only by the pioneers bound for the Willamette Valley and by the i Fremont expedition which, leaving tho ! Columbia River In the vicinity of The . Dalles, penetrated Central Oregon In Its march to California. The makers of our ; fundamental laws werc mainly from the j zaion. and as the irrigator wills, ho division west of tho Cascades. The re- j may simply water the ground or the wat glon east of tho Cascades received but er may be made to carry fertilizers in scant notice from them. It was part of . the Great American Desert and Httlo thought was given to It as an agrlcul- : tural possibility. So abundant was tho ' rainfall In tho region from which the I delegates had been elected and so little j danger was there of , drouth or scanti- i ness - of water, that tho Constitutional ; Convention did not think It worth while j to reserve the water supply to the state i which it was molding into form. Irrlga- i tlon, and all aspects of It, the meat Ira- portant and complex of which must nat- I urally be distribution of water, was thus assert them, the legislation on the sub ject must be National In character; that Is, cpme from Congress. Two enactments by Congress In recent years have directed attention to irrlga- tlon and from them has -proceeded the present movement for the reclamation of arid lands. One of these is the Carey act and the other Is the National irrigi- tlon law of 1002. Under the former the state, through Irrigation companies or sub-contractors, reclaims the arid lands and under the latter the National Gov- ernment does the work. Our arid lands were so long getting any recognition from-Congress that we thought, when the Carev act was clven us. our cun of ban- plness was as near full as we cdulu ever Companies have begun the reclamation of rld lands In the several states. They have acted In good faith and entered into contracts with the states In which they are operating, and Justice requires that they be given ample opportunity to pro ceed with the. projects they have under taken. In a large and broad sense, the best results will come from co-ordination of the National law and the Carey act. There "are 3.000.000 acreS of Irrigable land In Oregon and to reclaim them would require from $7 50 to 535 an acre, ora ioiui expenauure oi irom 'zj.ow.uw iu J105.000.000. Even if the cost averaged so low as $10 an acre, the total would be 530,000,000. It is out of reason to expect the Government to put this vast amount of money Into Oregon. Some other metb- od. must be used In connection with the National, law and tho only other way Is through private companies working under the Carey act. Neither system can be excluded except to the manifest disad vantage of the entire state, and the im pairment of its productive capacity. We should encourage all the capital offered to us. whether by the Government or private companies. It has been well said that Irrigation properly conducted means intensive jurlous to crons and orchards as no water at all. The sediment carried In the ditches may, according to Its nature, ben- eiit the soil over which the water Is dls- trlbuted, or damage it. Proper manage mcnt can combine Irrigation with fertlll- solution or suspension. Ideal Irrigation is that by large bpdies of people on small farms located near each other and sup piled with water from a common ditch. Diversified farming was resorted to by tho original Mormon settlers in Utah because the territory was so far removed that it had to become absolutely self sustaining. The small farm unit made near neighbors, and It Is In all of arid America today as it was in Utah 0 years ago, the essence of successful lni- gation. Irrigation can do for Oregon what it has done for other communities. Salt Lake City, one of the great trade em porlums of the Pacific west, is a pro duct of Irrigation by Mormons who turned tho water of. little canyon streams upon Its absorbent soil. In California, i the hydraulic ditches which have been j enlarged to meet the requirements of ' agriculture and horticulture, are more i valuable than the days of the mining I excitement. It has been estimated that ! a perpetual water right is worth from 25 to ?50 per acre In a grain or grazing I country, and as high as from $100 to 5500 per acre tor iruit iana, rising in. ooumern California for the best citrus lands even ! to $1000 or more per acre. Oregon's 3,000,000 acres of irrigable land put under I cultivation would represent, at the low ! inside value of $25 per acre" above re- ferred to. an asset of $75,000,000. Tho possibilities in this line are beyond com prehension. Almost before one notices It -tho figures of values run into the millions. What Irrigation means to a community has been aptly told by Elwood-' Mead. and I again quote from him: "The Irrigated farm has back of it the mine, the furnace and factory, and the civilization of Western America can? not fall to have a prosperous and varied industrial life. Here there can he no one-sided development, no community ex clusively devoted to the production of corn, wheat or cotton, to manufactures or to commerce. The farm, the stock ranch, the lumber camp, the mine, the factory and the store are destined to grow up and flourish side by side, each drawing support Xrom and furnishing sustenance to the others." Between 18S9 and 1899 the number of Irrigators In Oregon, as shown by the United States census. Increased from. 3150 to 4636, or 47.2 per cent, a smaller show ing than was. made by any other state In the arid belt. The value of crops produced on Irrigated land was $3,062,926, of which hay and forage represented $2,030,729, cereals 543S.S12, orchard fruits 591,971. vegetables $280,337, small fruits $60,571. and miscellaneous crops, $160,505. The total number of acres Irrigated from ditch systems In Oregon In 1S99 was 3SS.U1, practically all in the eastern part of the state. The average value per acre of ditch systems, was $4 74. varying from $1 Gl in Harney County to $13 79 in Wasco. Irrigation by pumping cuts but small fig ure, being represented by 199 acres and an average of $25 07 per acre. The Irriga tion systems of the state in 1S99 were generally Inexpensive, being operated mostly by Individual owners for their own use. The Government figures should not. therefore, . Da accepted as guides for the cost of future Irrigation enterprises in augurated under the Carey act or tho National act. Tha low average cost of construction per acre Irrigated was large ly due In 1S99 to the simple methods em ployed to Irrigate largo areas used for pasture. A remarkable fact, and one that bodes well for the success of Irrigation projects Irr Oregon, whether begun under one or the other of the laws now In force, is that the value of tho Irrigated crop in the United States in 1SS9 exceeded, by about 30 per cent, tho cost of tha Irri gation systems in operation; that Is to say, taking the 'country as a whole dur ing the census year, the crops produced under irrigation more than repaid the cost of canals, ditches and other hy draulic works used In conducting the water to the fields. In California tha excess of value of crop over cost of irri gation systems was particularly well marked, being $33,000,000 to $19,000,000. In Oregon the relation of crop values to cost of Irrigation systems vas $3,062,926 to $1,843,757: in Washington, $2,361,838 to $1,722,369; and in Idaho $5,440,962 to $1,120, 399. In Oregon, as In other arid states, more than. 90 per cent of the Irrigation will be from streams. Pumping from wells will not find favor, because of the great ex pense it Involves, except in Isolated sec tions where the gravity, system is im possible. Intimately related to irrigation Is tho protection of the forests. I do not think It will be denied by any fair-minded per son that the destruction of forests causes diminution In the flow of streams drain ing mountain .areas, and that the moun tains must be kept covered with trees in order to assist in regulating the volumo ot the rivers. At the very best, the per manent water supply of Eastern .Oregon,, except In a few favored localities, " is scant., The best Interests of irrigation and the great Industry of agriculture which It will serve, and indeed the best interests of the entire state, demand that the forests shall be preserved and the water supply conserved. This admits of no dispute. "Save the forests and store tho floods" should be our rule. The beginning of what I shall term commercial irrigation gives rise to tho perplexing question of water rights and legislation pertaining thereto. Unless tho greatest care and Judgment are exercised In dealing with this problem, compllca-. tlons will ensue that will involve irriga tion in a tangle such as California had for many years. Irrigation legislation in. other states Is indeed limited and there are no laws that we could adopt that would meet our "requirements. In three states only Is the supervision of water at aircompIete, and there would be as many opinions on the result of such con trol as there might be experts appointed to consider the issue. In Wyoming, one of the youngest of our states, air water is, by constitutional provision, the prop erty of the state. The state Is divided Into four water divisions which conform to natural drainage lines, and over each r ls a water superintendent. The four di vision superintendents and the State En gineer constitute a State Board of Con trol, which has supervision of the waters of the state and of their appropriation, distribution and division. For the ad ministration of the water supplies within the four divisions, these divisions, are separated into water districts presided over by. water commissioners, whose du ties are subordinate to those of tho di vision superintendents. Nebraska's laws are similar to Wyoming's, except that they are not, as in Wyoming, founded upon constitutional reservation of tho water supply as the property of tha state. Colorado has waiter divisions, which are subdivided Into water dis tricts. Over each water district Is a -water commissioner and over each di vision a water superintendent. It Is clearly our- duty, and' a trouble some one at that, to ena6t irrigation laws that will suit our needs. This can not be done hastily and should not be attempted by the Legislature at Its forthcoming session. Tho Legislature should, however, create a commission of fair-minded and disinterested men to be appointed by the Governor, with power to consider carefully the question of water rights and report Irrigation laws for enactment to the Legislature of 1905. The -membera of this commission should be paid reasonable salaries so that they may have no excuse for not making tho fullest Investigation possible. Ample protection should be given to the salmon industry in any legislation that may be enacted. I think also that this Legisla ture should create the office of State Engineer and define his duties. Beyond what is. here respectfully suggested, the Legislature should not attempt to go, for litigation and disaster win be the. Inevi table result of ill-advised legislation. The Importance of a right start must be apparent to all. When we make It then we can go ahead. Irrigation is not an academic proposi tion. It is business from beginning to end. It means ditches, headgates, wat er, crons and money. It is for the prac tical man and not for the theorist. It should be encouraged in every way, no matter who puts money into it, and made to do its best to advance- every Interest and industry of our statei A. H. DEVERS, President Oregon Irrigation Association. Oregon fanners buy no fuel. They can get It for the cutting. ...