Chapter II: Preface

I send forth this book, as sequel to the sketch published three years ago, with many misgivings--rather as if one who, as a lover, had written poems in praise of his mistress, should, as a two years' husband, give to the world his experience of the fireside charms and household excellences of his wife. Perhaps the latter might more faithfully picture her than when she was seen through the glamour of a first love.

Be that as it may, it is true that the questions put from many lands, as to how we fare in this Western country, demand fuller answers than mere letter-writing can convey. I trust that those correspondents who are yet unanswered personally will find herein the knowledge they are seeking, and will accept the assurance that they are themselves to blame for some of the more solid and tedious chapters; as, if I had not known that such information were needed, I would not have ventured to put in print again that which previous and better authors have given to the world.

While I have striven to write what is really a guide-book to Oregon for the intending emigrant, others may be interested in the picture of a young community shaping the details of their common life, and claiming and taking possession of a heritage in the wilderness.

No one can go farther West than we have done: it is fair, then, to suppose that the purposes of the Western movement will be seen here in their fullest operation.

Since 1877 a vast change has taken place in this, that Oregon now shares with older States the benefits of becoming the theatre for large railroad operations.

No apology to American readers is needed for the endeavor to show things in a fairer light and different color from those chosen by persons interested in causing all men to see with their eyes. Transatlantic readers may not have the same concern; but even from them I bespeak a hearing in matters which may indirectly, if not directly, touch their interests.

But I do not wish to suggest that I write as having only a general feeling that certain things would be the better for a more open discussion than they have hitherto received. My own affairs, and those of many friends, both in Oregon and elsewhere, and, indeed, the successful development of this great Willamette Valley, largely depend on our convincing an unprejudiced public that Nature is on our side in the effort we are making to secure a direct and near outlet to the great world.

I only claim in these particulars to be an advocate, but I add to this a full and honest conviction of the justice of the views for which I contend.

To turn again to more general matters, I have the pleasant duty of thanking several friends who have contributed to the information here collected.

To our shame be it said that there was not, among our English immigrants, one naturalist who could rightly name the birds, beasts, fishes, and insects in our Western home. But I was fortunate in finding an American friend, Mr. O. B. Johnson, of Salem, whose complete and accurate knowledge of these subjects only rendered more easy his kindly endeavors to give me the benefit of all his stores.

I wish to acknowledge also the care with which, ever since our visit in 1877, the professors at the Corvallis Agricultural College have kept the records of climate and rainfall, the results of which are now published.

I trust that, if any sketches in these pages are recognized as portraits, not one grain of offense will be taken by those who have unwittingly served as models in the life-studio.

Or that, if any effect is produced, it may be as good and lasting as that which followed on a fancy picture in the former book, in which many stray touches were collected. Whether the cap fitted, or was pressed on his head by too officious neighbors, I know not; but this I know, that cleared fields, neat fences, new barn, clean house, and fitting furniture, rendered it impossible for me to recognize a tumbledown place which then served to point a warning. These improvements, I am told, the owner lays at my unconscious door.

WALLIS NASH.

CORVALLIS, OREGON, _April_ 14, 1881.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

CHAPTER I.

Personal reasons for coming to Oregon--Plans of colonizing--Who came--Who have returned--Who remain--Bowie-knives and revolvers--A sheriff in danger--No tragedy--Our landing at Corvallis--Frail houses--Pleasant welcome--The barber's shop--Its customers--Given names--New acquaintances--Bright dresses--Religious denominations. 17

CHAPTER II.

Where we live--Snow-peaks and distant prospects--Forest-fires--The Coast Mountains and Mary's Peak--Sunset in Oregon--Farmhouses: the log-cabin, the box-house, the frame-house--Dinner at the farm--Slay and eat--A rash chicken--Bread-making by amateurs--Thrift and unthrift--Butter and cheese--Products of the "range," farm, and garden--Wheat-growing. 26

CHAPTER III.

The land-office; its object and functionaries--How to find your land--Section 33--The great conflagration--The survivors of the fire--The burnt timber and the brush--The clearing-party--Chopping by beginners--Cooking, amateur and professional--The wild-cat--Deer and hunting--Piling brush--Dear and cheap clearing--The skillful axeman--Clearing by Chinamen--Dragging out stumps--What profits the farmer may expect on a valley farm--On a foot-hills farm. 36

CHAPTER IV.

A spring ride in Oregon--The start--The equipment--Horses and saddlery--Packs--The roadside--Bird fellow-travelers--Snakes--The nearest farm--Bees--The great pasture--The poisonous larkspur-- Market-gardening--The Cardwell Hill--The hill-top--The water-shed --Mary River--Crain's--The Yaquina Valley--Brush, grass, and fern --The young Englishmen's new home--A rustic bridge--"Chuck-holes"-- The road supervisor--Trapp's--The mill-dam--Salmon-pass law--Minnows and crawfish--The Pacific at rest--Yaquina--Newport. 48

CHAPTER V.

Hay-harvest--Timothy-grass--Permanent pasture--Hay-making by express--The mower and reaper--Hay-stacks as novelties-- Wheat-harvest--Thrashing--The "thrashing crowd"--"Headers" and "self-binders"--Twine-binders and home-grown flax--Green food for cows--Indian corn, vetches--Wild-oats in wheat--Tar-weed the new enemy--Cost of harvesting--By hired machines--By purchased machines--Cost of wheat-growing in the Willamette Valley. 62

CHAPTER VI.

The farmer's sports and pastimes--Deer-hunting tales--A roadside yarn--Still-hunting--Hunting with hounds--An early morning's sport--Elk--The pursuit--The kill--Camp on Beaver Creek-- Flounder-spearing by torchlight--Flounder-fishing by day--In the bay--Rock oysters--The evening view--The general store--Skins-- Sea-otters--Their habits--The sea-otter hunters--Common otter--The mink and his prey. 72

CHAPTER VII.

Birds in Oregon--Lark--Quail--Grouse--Ruffed grouse--Wild-geese-- Manoeuvres in the air--Wild-ducks--Mallard--Teal--Pintail-- Wheat-duck--Black-duck--Wood-duck--Snipe--Flight-shooting-- Stewart's Slough--Bitterns--Eagles--Hawks--Horned owls--Woodpeckers --Blue-jays--Canaries--The canary that had seen the world--Blue-birds --Bullfinches--Snow-bunting--Humming-birds at home. 91

CHAPTER VIII.

Up to the Cascades--Farming by happy-go-lucky--The foot-hills--Sweet Home Valley--Its name, and how deserved and proved--The road by the Santiam--Eastward and upward--Timber--Lower Soda Springs--Different vegetation--Upper Soda Springs--Mr. Keith--Our reception--His home and surroundings--Emigrants on the road--The emigrant's dog--Off to the Spokane--Whence they came--Where they were bound--Still eastward-- Fish Lake--Clear Lake--Fly-fishing in still water--The down slope east--Lava-beds--Bunch-grass--The valleys in Eastern Oregon--Their products--Wheat-growing there--Cattle-ranchers--Their home--Their life--In the saddle and away--Branding-time--Hay for the winter--The Malheur reservation--The Indians' outbreak--The building of the road--When, how, and by whom built--The opening of the pass--The history of the road--Squatters--The special agent from Washington--A sham survey. 100

CHAPTER IX.

Indian fair at Brownsville--Ponies--The lasso--Breaking-in--The purchase--"Bucking" extraordinary--Sheep-farming in Eastern Oregon-- Merinos--The sheep-herder--Muttons for company--A good offer refused--Exports of wool from Oregon-Price and value of Oregon wool--Grading wool--Price of sheep--Their food--Coyotes--The wolf-hunt--Shearing--Increase of flocks--"Corraling" the sheep-- Sheep as brush-clearers. 118

CHAPTER X.

The trail to the Siletz Reserve--Rock Creek--Isolation--Getting a road--The surveying-party--Entrance at last--Road-making--Hut-building in the wilds--What will he do with it?--Choice of homestead--Fencing wild land--Its method and cost--Splitting cedar boards and shingles-- House-building--The China boy and the mules--Picnicking in earnest--Log-burning--Berrying-parties--Salting cattle--An active cow--A year's work--Mesquit-grass on the hills. 127

CHAPTER XI.

The Indians at home--The reservation--The Upper Farm--Log-cabins-- Women must work while men will play--The agency--The boarding-house --Sunday on the reservation--Indian Sun day-school--Galeese Creek Jem--The store-Indian farmers--As to the settlement of the Indians --Suggestions--A crime--Its origin--Its history--The criminals-- What became of them--Indian teamsters--Numbers on the reservation --The powers and duties of the agent--Special application. 136

CHAPTER XII.

The Legislative Assembly--The Governor--His duties--Payment of the members--Aspect of the city; the Legislature in session--The lobbyist--How bills pass--How bills do not pass--Questions of the day--Common carriers--Woman's suffrage--Some of the acts of 1878--Judicial system of the State--Taxes--Assessments--County officers--The justice of the peace--Quick work. 145

CHAPTER XIII.

Land laws--Homesteads and preemption--How to choose and obtain Government land--University land--School land--Swamp land--Railroad and wagon-road grants--Lieu lands--Acreages owned by the various companies. 157

CHAPTER XIV.

The "Web-foot State"--Average rainfall in various parts--The rainy days in 1879 and 1880--Temperature--Seasons--Accounts and figures from three points--Afternoon sea-breezes--A "cold snap"--Winter-- Floods--Damage to the river-side country--Rare thunder--Rarer wind-storms--The storm of January, 1880. 164

CHAPTER XV.

The State Fair of 1880--Salem--The ladies' pavilion--Knock-em-downs _a l'Americaine_--Self-binders--Thrashing-machines--Rates of speed--Cost--Workmanship--Prize sheep--Fleeces--Pure _versus_ graded sheep--California short-horns--Horses--American breed or Percheron--Comparative measurements--The races--Runners--Trotters-- Cricket in public--Unruly spectators. 174

CHAPTER XVI.

History of Oregon--First discoverers--Changes of government-- Recognition as a Territory--Entrance as a State--Individual histories--"Jottings"--"Sitting around"--A pioneer in Benton County--How to serve Indian thieves--The white squaw and the chief--Immigration in company--Rafting on the Columbia--The first winter--Early settlement--Indian friends--Indian houses and customs--The Presbyterian colony--The start--Across the plains-- Arrival in Oregon--The "whaler" settler--A rough journey--"Ho for the Umpqua!"--A backwoodsman--Compliments--School-teacher provided for--Uncle Lazarus--Rogue River Canyon--Valley of Death--Pleasant homes--Changed circumstances. 183

CHAPTER XVII.

State and county elections--The Chinese question--Chinese house-servants--Washermen--Laborers--A large camp--Supper--Chinese trading--The scissors--Cost of Chinese labor--Its results--Chinese treaties--Household servants--Chee and his mistress--"Heap debble-y in there"--The photo album--Temptation--A sin and its reward--Good advice on whipping--Chung and the crockery--Chinese New Year--Gifts-- "Hoodlums"--Town police--Opium. 201

CHAPTER XVIII.

Life in the town--Sociables--Religious sects--Sabbath-schools-- Christmas festivities--Education, how far compulsory--Colleges-- Student-life and education--Common schools--Teachers' institutes-- Newspapers--Patent outsides-"The Oregonian"--Other journals--Charities --Paupers--Secret societies. 209

CHAPTER XIX.

Industries other than farming--Iron-ores--Coal--Coos Bay mines-- Seattle mines--Other deposits--Lead and copper--Limestone--Marbles-- Gold, where found and worked--Silver, where found and worked--Gold in sea-sand--Timber--Its area and distribution--Spars--Lumber--Size of trees--Hard woods--Cost of production and sale of lumber--Tanneries --Woolen-mills--Flax-works--Invitation to Irish--Salmon--Statistics of the trade--Methods--Varieties of salmon--When and where caught-- Salmon-poisoning of dogs--Indians fishing--Traps--Salmon-smoking. 219

CHAPTER XX.

Eastern Oregon--Going "east of the mountains"--Its attractions-- Encroaching sheep--First experiments in agriculture and planting-- General description of Eastern Oregon--Boundaries--Alkaline plains-- Their productions--The valleys--Powder River Valley--Description-- The Snake River and its tributaries--The Malheur Valley--Harney Lake Valley--Its size--Productions--Wild grasses--Hay-making--The winters in Eastern Oregon--Wagon-roads--Prineville--Silver Creek--Grindstone Creek Valley--Crooked River--Settlers' descriptions and experiences-- Ascent of the Cascades going west--Eastern Oregon towns--Baker City--Prineville--Warnings to settlers--Growing wheat for the railroads to carry. 231

CHAPTER XXI.

Southern Oregon--Its boundaries--The western counties--Population-- Ports--Rogue River--Coos Bay--Coal--Lumber--Practicable railroad routes--The harbor--Shifting and blowing sands--A quoted description --Cost of transportation--Harbor improvements--Their progress and results--The Umpqua--Douglas County--Jackson County--The lake-country --Linkville--Water-powers--Indian reservations--The great mountains-- Southeastern Oregon--General description--Industries. 243