LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ShelfJi/.;^... UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. r* NORTHWEST HOMES, B E I N O A BRIEF BUT COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF II IN WHICH ALL THE COUNTIES ARE DESCRIBED SEPARATELY, OREOON AND WASHINOTON. ii^tiK LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 6|itp. ®xip|rig|i ^u. Shelf UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Compiled by Alex. C. Wallace, COPYEiailT APl'i.lKD FOR. CLire homes and grow rich. A FEW REAS First. Its nearness to market and consequent in this particular. Every cent per ton saved on freigl Second. Extra quaHty of soil, being able to i Third. The great adaptability ot^ the soil to p making it the great dairy county of the State. Fourth. Its abundance of never falling spring Fifth. Protection from too much sea breeze. Sixth, Great educational advanta ges and exc cation. Below Is given a list of a (e\v of the many tract according to location and improvements. Pan No. 3. :i«6,700.— 130 acres, one mile north of For*^st Grove. Well improve outbuildings; in a good community. A fine location for g-ain, hay and t) balance on time. No. 4. $3,200.-162 HCres, 6^4 miles northwest of Forest Grove. 60 acres i wild grass, which makes splendid feed, 50 acres in hazel brush and wiliow. e timber ; all level land, a good orchard ; plenty of small fruit ; fair house ai bargain. Terms, $1,300 cash, balance on time at S per cent, interest. No. 5. $2,500.-160 acres, 83^ miles northwest of Forest Grove ; 75 acres i light hazel brush and young fir ; can be cleared at from $5 to $8 per acre. Pie well, and i.s a cheap farm. Terms. $1,600 cash, balance ©ii time. No. 6 $1,.S00.— S-t acres, 7 miles northwest of Forest Grove; 15 acres in cul hazel brush ; can be cleared at an expense of from $5 to $8 per acre. Very goo: two barns, plenty of fruit, such its apples, pears and plums. Terms, $1,000 cas No. 7. $2,400.-90 acres 6 miles northwest of Forest (rrove ; 40 acres in cuh brush; can be cleared ior $5 per acre. Good young orchard; fair house i\ buildings ; all kinds of small fruits ; 10 acres in "wheal. Terms, $1,500 cash, bti No. 10 $520.-52 ueres, 3 miles west of Forest Grove, covered with young paid for by hauling wood to town. Would be a fine fruit farm. Terms, $.300 c No. 11. $700.-52 acres, 13/2 miles from Forest Grove railroad statien; all li tion ; 8 acres slashed, balance in light brush; lair house and barn ; good y water. Terms, half cash, balance on time. No. 20. $1,550.-36 acres, l'^ miles southwest of Forest Grove, V^ mile i cultivation, balance in willow ; about 30 acres of this place is beaver-dam , a s. very desirable location and cheap. No. 16. $1,600.-160 acres 214 miles south of Forest Grove ; brush and timb No. 21. $1,680.-42 acres, 4 miles northwest of Forest Grove ; 25 acres in ci all slashed and briish burnt and sosved to timothy; is :^pendid pasture. Good ( fruit ; very good house and barn. Terms, $1,180 cash, balance to suit purchase No. 25. $3,330.-74 acres, % mile from Forest Grove ; all under fence and ii tion. Will sell for $45 per acre and give a lot, with house and barn in town o a number one bargain. Terms, one hlaf cash, balance on time. No. 27. $2,600.-75 acres, % mile south of Forest Grove; 37 acres clear; 4 ance in willow not hard to clear; V<> mile from railroad station. All fenced. and cheap. Terms, one-half down,''balance on time No. 30. $5,000.-160 acres, 7 miles north of Forest B qaiq.u Suoum 'XiunoD a,'!!^" S.no^uaoo snq; •pBoj,,«>r BUuojq„3 p,^ ,, HI!q ooj Su,puno.,.,ns sqj u, s^^inos uly AUmo^ MnoB.rnE puH ;.[,„3j ,,ou, aq, .^.o^sf i"^ ur IV'r "•" ""^^ """ P"'^ AqiinLv . o s 3q" en j^ ^U3q 9qi p sn 9A3 *2a3a3 ■p^AojcImjun puH psAOJckur I Hioq 'SLU.IQ4 9I< e pu-. aquiu 9"!l \ f urpiiuqnio JO kuwi^ ■ J 'OT -09 . --^^ -^'"'^ '^''*?^I^^ '^^^■^'•^^^ OS • inks u ''^ AV t- H -s -z \L 'or -085; "• uv -~o1S,S---^;-- .^^^^ .0,.,,, ,,.,- tI.U( III pi NORTHWESTERN HOMES. BEING A BRIEF BUT COMPREHENSIVE YIEAV OF Oi'ejon and Wa^iing^on Temtoi^j. X AVHICH ALL THE COUNTIES ARE DESCRIBED SEPARATELY BOTH IN OREGON AND WASHINGTON. " A home is a home if ever so poor." COMPILED BY ALEX. C. WALLACE. ' COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR. POETLAND, OEEGON: F. A. DUNHAM, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER. 1888. J' "Copyrighted 18S8." INTRODUCTION In introducing this little work to the public, the au- thor begs leave to state that he is not a college graduate, but that he only received a country school education, and therefore he hopes that his readers will excuse all ungrammatical sentences that may occur in this little volume. This work was not written for the benefit of Harvard graduates, or college professors, but solely for the benefit of homeseekers, who may be interested in this particular section of Uncle Sam's domain. There have been several small pamphlets published concerning Ore- gon, some gotten up by the railroad companies, and some by the immigration bureau. It is a well known fact that the railroad company will brag up and make a paradise out of any place, where their road leads into, so they can sell tickets and railroad lands; while immigration bureaus generally exalt certain localities at the expense of others. The author is not interested in either railroad or immi- gration bureau. A great portion of this work is derived from my own personel experience and observations, and the rest is from perfectly reliable sources. I am under obligations to the Oregonian for aid in this work, also to the Coos County Herald, and, last but INTRODUCTION. not least to Mr. Clayton Packard, editor ofthe Eye, at Snohomish City, AV. T. Hoping this work will be received in a kindly spirit. I remain, the home-seekers friend, Respectfully Yonrs, ALEXANDER C. AVALLACE, O H E G M AVESTERN OREGON. What is commonly called AYestern Oregon is that part of the state west of the Cascade mountains and south from the Columbia river to the Umpqua river valley. It is divided into four natural sections, called the east and west sides, the Columbia river section and the coast section, and comprises thirteen counties, namely: Multomah, Clackamas, Marion. Linn, Lane, Douglass, Columbia, Clatsop, Washington, Yam- hill, Tillamook, Polk and Benton. Western Oregon is the famed webfoot country, so nicknamed for its moist climate, but the banter is easily endured when it is considered that the frequent rains se- cure a mild and equable climate and all the advantages of constant fertility. This is the section occupied by the original settlers of the country and it has always been the most populous and advanced part of Oregon. It has four general lines of railroad, two on each side of the \\^illamette river, possesses all but three or four of the considerable towns of the state, has various fine educa- tional institutions, and is in all respects a thoroughly established country with little of the new element of pop- ulation and nothing of the reckless spirit of a new country. 6 OEEGON. The chief county in point of wealth and population in Western Oregon is MULTNOMAH. The area of Multnomah is least of any county in the state, and its percentage of good land is less than any other county in Oregon, but it contains the City of Port- land which alone puts it at the he ad of the list. Multno- mah, however, is not without agricultural resources; the low lands extending along the Columbia river are not sufficiently broad for the raising of grain in profitable quantities, but they are highly fertile and well adapted for small fruits, market gardening and dairying, and their nearness to Portland, and its constant market for produce are great advantages. No agricultural lands in Oregon are so profitably worked as are the fields of this narrow district, and yet, there is space for a much greater pro- duction, for which there is a sure market in Portland at high prices. The hills west and south of Portland though rough are rich and thrifty, orchards and farms abound in them. In this mild climate it is not necessary to seek for sheltered nooks. Multnomah county has little or no farming land in the ordinary sense, but it has consider- able areas finely adapted to the most profitable class of rural industries. There is great need of market garden- ers and dairymen in this county. The Portland market is so illy furnished with produce and dairy products that it imports fully half of its annual supply from California. Butter is even brought across the continent. Prices for all kinds of produce are high, fully forty per cent, higher than in Eastern and Western States, and the misfit of the supply and the demand is due almost wholly to the lim- ited number of producers, and to their lack of enterprise. The City of Portland is treated of elsewhere in this book and need not be mentioned here. OKEGON. CLACKAMAS County lies directly south of Multnomah. It is much larger than its neighbor, covering an area of nearly 1500 square miles. The greater part of this wide territory is hilly or mountainous and much of it is of but little value except for timber, and as a stock range. It has much good valley and prairie land however, and its annual surplus of grain is large. The level tracts of Clackamas county are occupied, but in the foothills there is still much valuable space open to settlement under the govern- ment land laws, or to be bought on easy terms from the 0. & C. R. R. Co. which acquired its lands by grant from Congress. A considerable district of Clackamas County is within easy drive of Portland, and so available as a field of domestic production. Market gardening, for the products of which there is so great a demand, can be car- ried on with profit as well in Clackamas as Multnomah, and the hill and foothill lands in the northern and east- ern part of the county are admirably adapted to dairying. The range is good throughout the year so that but little feed is used in winter, excepting for milch cows, and from the rough character of the country much of it will remain unsettled, and free open range for many years. Clacka- mas has several towns, but none of much importance ex- cept Oregon City. It was the pioneer town of Oregon, and though its destiny is not in keeping with the ambiti- ous hopes of its founders who expected to see it rival San Francisco, it is a place of considerable and growing im- portance. It has twenty or more stores, a large woolen mill, two large merchant flouring mills and a general assortment of the trades. But it is destined in time, and we hope the time is not to be long, to become a seat of manufacture. The Willamette Falls, just at hand afford a water power Avhich never fails or freezes, and which is sufficient to turn the mills of the gods; the woolen and 8 OREGON. other mills of Oregon City are all run by the power of the falls. In the western part of the county and about mid- way between Oregon City and Portland there are large iron deposits which have been worked successfully for several years. The works at a village called Oswego, on the banks of the Willamette are soon to be enlarged, machinery for an establishment to employ a thousand men being now on the ground. The population of Clack- amas County is not far below 18,000, and the county is well provided with schools and churches. Clackamas has four rivers running through it, viz: Willamette, Clackamas, Molalla and Pudding rivers, and the three named are full of good fish, and plenty of wild game such as ducks and geese, and there are pheasants, grouse and quail, and plenty of deer and bear out in the mountains. Improved farms are cheap in this county, $1,500 will buy a good 80 acre farm with buildings and improvements; farm laborers receive from twenty to thirty dollars per month and board. School teachers get thirty to forty- five dollars per month and board. There are also eleven saw-mills in this county. MARION. Is another of the east side counties and is situated direct- ly south of Clackamas. Its eastern boundary is the Cas- cade range of mountains, and the Willamette river separates it on the west from Polk and Yamhill Counties. It extends for about sixty-five miles north and south along the river and its north and south boundary lines almost meet at the mountains. Marion strictly speaking is an agricultural county. Its general character is flat, though it has a good area of foothill country in its eastern and northern sections. It is finely wooded and watered throughout. Its chief product is vv^heat, of which it is one of the largest producers in the State. It has long been OKEGOX. 9 settled, and throughout presents the settled features of an established country. Except in the foothills it has not much vacant land. The prairie sections are all owned by individuals, and almost the entire area is under cultivation. Like all the counties of Vf estern Oregon, Marion is finely adapted for dairying. The unfailing moisture keeps the pastures green the season through. Vegetables and fruits yield magnificent crops. The prin- ciple town in Marion county is Salem, which is the capi- tal of the state, and the seat of all the state institutions. The city has about 7000 people and takes rank in the points of population, wealth and volume of business next to Portland. It has a fine water power and is already a seat of manufacture, as well as a large farming center. The Willamette university one of the oldest schools in the state is located at Salem. Good improved farms in Marion county can be bought for from twenty to forty dollars per acre. LANE County lies south of Linn county. It extends east and west from the Pacific ocean to the Cascade mountains a distance of 120 miles and covers an area of 120 town- ships. Fully two-thirds of this great area is capable of cultivation, and not more than one-third of it is occupied. The pupulation of Lane, which is now in the neighbor- hood of 14,000, could with advantage, be multiplied many times over. Most of the county is rough and moun- tainous, but even its highest points are available for pasturage, which is green and good the whole year through. Hops and wheat are th§ chief products of the county. Wool, too, is grown but not in such quantity as would be expected in a country so well adapted to sheep. The opportunities for enterprise in this line are fine. Good sheep ranches may be bought cheap, and the out- side range to be had for nothing is as wide as could be OEEGON. desired. An important and rich section of Lane county lies along the coast. The Siuslaw river, a fine stream, puts into the ocean at the western extreme of the county, and along its valley there are large tracts of excellent land. About seventy families have settled there in the past seven years, and the section is certain in a short time to be well populated. Siuslaw river is easily entered by schooners, but as it has never been regularly sur- veyed by government engineers insurance companies v/ill not underwrite vessels putting in there, and the people have difficulty to receive goods or ship their products. Having to take their own risk vessel owners charge un- usualy high prices, and the hardship falls upon the people. The government ought to survey this bar at once. The Siuslaw is a fine fish stream and the salmon put up there by a local cannery command a high price in the San Francisco market. Land in Lane county is comparatively cheap, and in great supply, while educa- t^ional and other growth of civilization have been long established. Lane county offers a field for more varied industry than any other of the Western Oregon counties. The grain farmer, the stock raiser, the hop grower, the lumberman, the dairyman and a score of others find the conditions for their diff*erent occupations at hand, while the comparative cheapness of lands, its character and a climate somewhat more genial than that of the northern counties are potent inducements. The county is gradu- ally receiving an excellent class of newcomers, and as a consequence business of every kind is prosperous. This is particularly apparent in Eugene, which for many years has gone along in a ^umdrum dead-and-alive state. Eugene is one of the pleasantest places of residence in the state. It has the constant attractions of cheerful and beautiful scenery, and of location near the river, and dur- ing the summer months it enjoys the wholesome ventila- tion of the ocean breeze. Its streets are regularly laid OREGON. 11 out; and are better shaded than those of any other in the state. The state university is the chief distinction of Eu- gene, and a great feature in its social hfe. From it the place takes a high nigral and intellectual tone and this is an advantage it will always enjoy. The population of Eugene City is 3,200 and its business is that of a thrifty country center. There are also over a dozen other smaller towns in the county. To the man of limited means I do not think Lane county will fail to suit him, or to the man with capital for there are numerous open- ings for all kinds of business. Land is far cheaper here than in Marion county. I believe I have said all that is necessary concerning Lane county. We will now pass on to a review of LINN • County which lies just south of Marion and which shares with the latter its eastern and western boundaries; is the southernmost of the eastside counties. Like Marion it is an agricultural county, and it has too, some fine water pewer and the beginning of a manufacturing industry. Linn county produces large quantities of wheat and flax, and stock raising is carried on in a limited way in many parts of the county. The principal town in Linn county is Albany, which occupies a pretty, level site on the bank of the Willamette river. It has a population of about 3,500 and is the center of a large farming district. Like Salem it has a fine water power and three large flouring mills are run by it. While Albany cannot be said to be a progressive town, it is a thoroughly established and substantial one, and as the population about it increases its business will increase, and its property values ad- vance. Brownsville, Lebanon, Halsey and Harrisburg are thriving towns, each with its share of local business. The Brownsville woolen mills is one of the best manufac- turing establishments in the state. Most of the prairie 12 OEEGON. land in Linn county and in fact all the land in the neigh- borhood of the railroad is in the hands of individuals who ask high prices — from $15 to $70 per acre — but there are fine locations in the foothills which may be taken up at the cheap state and government rate, under the land laws, or bought from the railroad company. Linn county has more foothill land than any other. It is so common- ly believed that all the land in the Willamette valley is occupied that new comers looking for locations on unim- proved lands are never directed that way. Unless the intending settler has capital and desires to buy an im- proved tract Ke is told on all sides that it is useless to go into Western Oregon. It is a fact which seems not to be generally known that some of the best areas of unsettled land in the Northwest lie in the foothills on both sides of the Willamette river. It has not been occupied because it is from twenty to thirty miles from transportation lines, but this disadvantage of location is not so great as it appears for stock raising, sheep farming and for various other branches of rural industry, the little isolation is no disad- vantage at all, but rather a benefit because of the wider outside range for grazing which it affords. The lands in question are of four classes — government, state, railroad and university — and they may be obtained cheaply and on easy terms. In Lane, Benton, Polk, Yamhill, Clacka- mas and Washington counties, similar opportunities exist. And it may be said that other conditions being equal. Western Oregon offers in its climate and soi]^ abundant timber, good water, and proximity to markets, advantages which are lacking in the great region east of the Cascades. Western Oregon is by no means filled up ' and there is plenty or room for thousands of families to find and enjoy a comfortable home in a land free from tornadoes, cyclones and earthquakes. Here in this part of the country, the industrious immigrant of small means from the east or south may purchase improved lands at OEEGOX. 1 3 from $5 to $25 per acre, upon which a comfortable home for life may be made, no place in America where a living can be'^ more easily made. He may here raise wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed, apples, pears, plums, prunes, qunices, cherries, blackberries, grapes, strawberries and other small fruits and berries, besides garden vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbages, beans, peas, onions, radishes, tomatoes, parsnips, turnips, and in fact every variety of vegetable suitable to the climate of the temperate zone. All of these, cultivated and cared for in the proper man- ner, yield abundant returns. Here, he may have a few hogs for his own meat, besides some bacon to sell. A feiv good miJk cows for butter which, if fine grade, always sells for ready cash. The sluggard will find it hard to make a living here, and should not come. The shiftless will wage an unequal warfare in the battle of life here as he does elsewhere. There is no room for him here. If the intending immigrant has been led to believe that he can live in luxury and ease here without labor, if he has become imbued with the belief that a fortune, or even a good living for his family can be acquired here without the exercise of great care, much hard labor and a spirit of determination to succeed, as well as the greatest in- dustry, let him at once be undeceived. The kind of peo- ple needed here are those who can take off their coats and by hard labor and industry make the wild forest to blossom as the rose. The yield of wheat ranges from fifteen to forty-five bushels per acre, and the quality is unsurpassed even by the choice wheat grown on the famous wheat fields c^ Minnesoto and California. It often weighs as high as sixty-five pounds to the measured bushel. Oats often yield 60 to 70 bushels per acre, and a measured bushel will weigh from 39 to 43 pounds. I will now give a brief review of 14 OREGOK DOUGLAS County, which is the southernmost of the so-called West- ern Oregon counties. Like Lane county which lies directly to the north, it extends from the Cascade moun- tains to the ocean. Its population is thinner in propor- tion to its area than is that of any of the other long settled counties. The long distance from the Portland market and the consequent high freight rate has hindered the general production of grain for export, which in ^all the Willamette valley counties is the chief industry. Still, some hundred of tons of wheat are shipped from the Douglas county warehouse each year.* The famous Umpqua river runs its v/hole length through Douglas county, and in its valleys are found the best farming lands of the county. The general character of Douglas county is rolling, and it affords for sheep the finest range in the world. Not even the famous highlands of Scot- land are better adapted for the production of fine and firm wools. The climate is somewhat dryer and warmer than that of the northern counties, and all the conditions of range are favorable. So marked is the superior! ty^of the Umpqua valley wool, that it has always been a favor- ite in ihe market, and brings from two to six cents per pound more than the ordinary wools of the country. The liocks of the Umpqua valley form a large feature of its wealth, but the free public range would easily support 10 sheep for every one now upon it. Fruits of all the temp- erate kind grow well in the Umpqua valley as elsewhere in Western Oregon. There are fine patches of timber in ^1 parts of the county, and along the coast are magnifi- cent forests of fir and spruce. The latter are fast being worked up in the large export mills- at Gardiner, a village on the lower Umpqua river near the ocean. The exports of Douglas county are lumber, fruit, wheat, wool, cattle and general produce. In every branch of production OEEGOX. 15 there is room for tenfold expansion. Land is niiich cheaper than in the Willamette valley, and the country is fairly well provided with school and church facilities. The chief town of Douglas county is Roseburg which is near the center and on the line of the Oregon and Cali- fornia railroad. A railroad to connect Roseburg with the coast part of Coos Bay is projected, and this will certainly add largely to its importance. The population of Rose- burg is about 1500. A large portion of the vast territory embraced in this county remains unsettled and unsur- veyed, and nearly all of it will be valuable either for tim- ber, agriculture or grazing. East of Roseburg is a vast section of country undeveloped, and we might add, unex- plored, as but little is known of it. The Smith river country, lying north and west of Drain station, is perhaps the best part of the unsettled portion of the county. The river heads in the mountains some fifteen miles due north of the town of Drain, and flows nearly due west, and empties into the bay or inlet at the mouth of the Umpqua, two miles below the town of Scottsburg. The east fork some five miles above its junction flows through a beauti- ful level plain, from one-half to two miles wide on either side of the stream, with small fir timber near the banks, showing that the country has once been a burn. The land close to the banks of the stream is higher than back near the hills, where numerous prairies of swamp grass, with scarcely any timber abound, some of them contain- ing from fifty to one hundred acres, in a place which to make them first class farming lands, needs nothing but a drain to the river. From the forks down to tidewater, a distance of eighteen or twenty miles, the bottoms on each side are similar, save that the growth of timber is larger. Considerable logging has been done on the lower part of the stream. The foothills or bench land next to the bot- toms are covered for nearly the entire length of the river 16 OEEGOX. with a large growth of heavy fir timber of the best quali- ty. The drifts have been cleared out so that saw-logs can be floated down the entire length of the stream. There are numerous small streams flowing from the mountains on either side of the river, with bottoms in many places sufficiently wide to make good farms. Within the past year a number of persons have settled on the* east fork of the river and are about to commence building a wagon road from Drain across the mountains to their settlement, which will in time be extended down the river to tidewater We will now proceed to a description of COLUMBIA County. Public estimation has held the county south ^of the Columbia river, and north and west of Port- land, as a rough, mountainous district, excepting in spots near the river, almost valueless but for its timber. On the contrary it is a region of surpassing excellence, and affords opportunities for a .great variety of enterprises. The first interest of any region is, of course, in its adapt- ability for general settlement, and the country lying along the Columbia river is naturally highly favored in this re- spect. For fifty miles north from the foot of Sauvie's island, along the river, and for several miles back from the river the country is wooded, but not \\ holly with the dense forest growth, seen in passing up and down on the boats, and which seem to extend inland indefinitely. Each of the many creeks, w^hich find their way into the Columbia, drains a wide area of bottom land, generally lightly overgrown with ash o!r maple, and the higher lands which nowhere rise into mountains, are fertile and easily susceptable of cultivation. These lands are not at- tractive to general immigrants from a prairie country, but they meet the taste of comers from timber countries. It costs more to get a farm under way there than a prai- OKEGON. 17 rie district, but there are many who deem the special ex- pense more than compensated by the advantages of loca- tion in a timbered region and near water transportation to market. The lands in this river district ought to be public, but they have been gobbled up by speculators till nearly every foot is owned. The greater part of it is for sale at about double the government rate or $4 per acre. They yield fruit and vegetables in abundance, and are finely adapted for dairying. Among the settlers now in the country, not one who in the beginning was able to fairly establish himself has failed to thrive. Aside from farming and stock raising, and the general tradeswork necessary in every community, the chief industry is log- ing. The hea\dest logs are easily floated down the creeks in the wet seasons, and nearly every farmer is, to a great- er or less extent, a logger also. Millions of feet of timber are floated out each yesn, and the proceeds of its sale are largely applied to the development of the country. The logging industry while it cuts down the timber, helps clear the land, leaving it available for all-tke-year-round pasture, even before the stumps and small brush are re- moved. Logging progresses at all seasons, and affords steady employment to all who choose to work at it for wages. Many settlers put in such time as they can there in opening their farms and earn their maintenance in the logging camp. Another industry which engages men of small capital and rewards them fairly, is that of making shingles, There are, too, a few portable sawmills, which with the labor of three or four men can cut three or four thousand feet of ct^dar per day. The resources of this section in iron, coal, and water power are sufliciently ^ell known, and in course of time, things will without d jubt be developed. To the settler however, these advantiges are of no value. The river section is already so well set- tled, as to be provided with school and mail facilities and 18 OEEOOK it is well provided with market and shipping points in St. Helens, Columbia City, Kainier and Westport. A great many of the farmers living on the banks of the Columbia make considerable money in the fishing business. Catch- ing salmon pays well this fall, they get four cents a pound for all they can catch, and some days they catch from five to twenty fish to the man, and each salmon will weigh from 15 to 45 pounds. CLATSOP County is the extreme northwest county of Oregon. Its area is nearly equal to that of Clackamas, but it has comparatively little bad land. Its best agricultural lands are along the tide sloughs which indent its frontage on the Columbia and its bottom lands near its dozens of creeks and rivers. The largest body of level land extends along the coast south of the entrance to the Columbia river, and is known as Clatsop plain. The first agricul- tural settlement in Oregon was here. From Astoria a few settlers found their way to the stretch of rolling prai- rie by the ocean, and from that time, till now, it has been the seat of a fairly prosperous agricultural industry. Clatsop plain is about twenty miles long north and south and varies in width from one to two miles. Its soil is a light loam and sand, easily cultivated and highly pro- ductive. Its climate is the ordinary climate of Western Oregon in winter with a constant moisture in Summer, which keeps its pastures always green. Everywhere it is well watered, and timber in abundance borders the east- ern margin. The chief industry of Clatsop plain is that of butter and cheese manufacture. In no locality in the wide world are the conditions for dairying more favorable than here. An unfailing verdure, a cool an equable cli- mate, rich native grasses, abundance of pure, fresh water, nearness to market, all the conditions are there in per- fection and all made highly valuable by constant demand OKEGON. 19 and high prices for dairy products. But with all these advantages Clatsop plain is only fairly prosperous. It could easily support fifty cows for every one that now grazes upon it. Satisfied with "well enough" the people live along in a quiet way and allow the finest opportuni- ties to pass unimproved. An infusion of enterprise into the "strip by the sea" would make it one of the finest localities in Oregon. The favorite watering place in Oregon is Clatsop beach. Along the tide lands and creek bottoms mentioned above, there are large settlements and all are prosperous. The conditions of life in these locali- ties are not luxurious, but they are by no means hard for those who have industry. Travel everywhere is by water and settlers go by steamboats, or in their own boats pro- pelled by sail or oar. Communication with the market town of Astoria is cheap and easy, and the residents think themselves better off tha.n those, who must get to market by road or rail. The products of the county are the general agricultural products of Western Oregon. In no county in the state is their such variety of employ- ment for the wage worker. It is estimated that a million and a half of dollars is paid out annually for labor in fishing and logging. It is a common thing for immi- grants to settle upon government land, which may be kad for the taking, and to work in the fisheries in sum- mer, or the logging camps in winter, the while making such improvements on their settlements as they can. To clear a place in the timber is the work of half a lifetime, but it may be done by degrees at a comparatively light cost. For dairying — and in this branch we believe the opportunities are more in^dting than in any other — it is not necessary to clear the land. If it be thoroughly burned over and grass seed sown in the ashes, it yields fine crops which cattle easily harvest for themselves. Being near the coast, snows are infrequent and- never lie ■iO OEEGON. on the ground longer than a few hours. Three-fourths of the land of Clatsop county is mountainous and only val- uable for their splendid forests of timber. I have seen a seven acre tract produce $14,000 in saw logs, and 400 cords of wood, which at $3,00 per cord brought $1,200. Of course it took lots of money to put this amount of saw logs in the river, from where they are towed by steamboat to some of the large sawmills in Astoria, Port- land, or some of the mills along the majestic Columbia. The logs are, after being dumped in the water, construct- ed into a huge raft, held by boom logs, and 600,000 feet is no uncommon size for these rafts. This year the log- gers get $5 per thousand for choice large logs, and less for small logs, and for piling they get six cents a lineal foot, and they are cut from twenty to seventy feet long. Good men are paid the following wages in the Columbia river logging camps. Ox teamsters, called here "bull- whackers"- get the highest wages, from $80 to $120 a month and board. Sawyers get $60 to $70. Swampers and barkers get from $45 to $60 a month, skidders the the same as sawyers, and greasers $50 a month. Young men of the east, do you realize the difference in the wages you receive in the east, and the wages that are paid here, and besides, here you would only work ten hours while in the east a hired man niust work on the farm till sundown, and then milk three or four cows after supper. There are several hundreds of logging camps in Western Washington. Territory alone, and most all of them run nine months in the year, and some of them run the entire year. There are also hundreds of sawmills and they run the year round and furnish employment to thousands of men who receive big wages, and then three out of every five of these men, when they work four or five months, will go to Portland, and in a few days or v/eeks they haven't got a dollar left, then they will go OKEGON. ^:\ back to some other camp or sawmill and go to work again. What is wanted in this country is steady, sober, industrious young men, that know how to save their money when they earn it. We will now give a brief review of TILLAMOOK County, which is a strip along the coast, south of Clatsop county. It is about seventy -five miles long, north and south, with an average width of thirty miles. It is very sparsely settled, owing to its isolation heretofore, but a schooner freight line has been put into service between Tillamook bay and the markets of Astoria and Portland, and the trip is now easily and quickly made and rates for freights and passage are low. The country is finely adapted to small farming and dairying, and stock raising, and land is literally "dirt cheap." Two bays easily approached from the ocean afford ample port facil- ities, and numerous small rivers and inlets make trans- portation cheap and easy. I do not believe that any section of Oregon offers better advantages to the settler of small means than Tillamook county. The county is new and little has been done in the Yv^ay of school house and church building, but the soil is rich and cheap, and the market is easily reached. The timber of Tillamook county will be a source of great wealth, when it shall be made use of and that cannot be long delayed. There is plenty of room for a thousand families to find and pro- cure a comfortable home for themselves in Tillamook county. Uncle Sam's land is there in plenty, only wait- ing to be taken up, so young man why will you toil and sweat, and labor in the east for sixteen dollars a month, with no prospect of bettering your worldlv condition so long as you stay, while if you come here, and take you a home in the forests of Oregon, in three years time you will have a comfortable home of your ov/n, from which no '22 OEEGON. one can drive yon away. I speak from experience as I am not a born Oregonian, but was born in the good old republican state of Ohio in 1856, and I left Ohio in 1875, and I landed in Oregon in 1881, and in the intervening years have lived in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexi- co, x4.rizona, California, Washington Territory, British America, and have finally concluded to make Oregon my future home. I was looking for a country where I could find all the conditions perfect, and without a drawback, but at last I have come to the conclusion that such a country does not exist. What would you people of the east think if I were to tell you the largest town in Tilla- mook will not number 100 souls; yet such is the fact. Yet here is land rich as any in America, a fine salubrious climate, scarcely any winter, and no severe heat in sum- mer no earthquakes or cyclones, no drouths or failures in crops, yet this county is almost uninhabitable, and why is it so? First, because it is some seventy odd miles from the nearest railroad, with the coast range mountains lying between, and therefore somewhat incon- venient to get at, and second, because hundreds of people in the east, who would count this small inconvenience no obstacle at all, do not know there is such a place as Tillamook county, Oregon, and scarcely any of those who may, by chance, have heard the name, know a^nything of the many advantages possessed by this county. It is the aim of the author of this book to give you people of the east this necessary imformation. Tillamook county has several small rivers, all emptying into the ocean, and along these rivers are magnificent forests of fir and cedar. All along the big and little Nestucca river can be found fine bottom land, and some of it very easily cleared, and when once cleared, ten acres of it are worth more than fifty acres of the old worn out land of the east. I know of several farmers here in Oregon who have raised five hun- OREGON. ' 23 dred bushels of potatoes to the acre, I beHeve I have said all that is necessary about Tillamook county. I will only add, that to the home seeker, there is no better opening in Oregon. AVASHINGTON County is the most northernly of the "wesToii-ISesicLea3Lts. We make safe and paying investments. Every investment made through us has returned the investor large profits and been perfectly satisfactory. We handle with equal caie large or small investments either with or without taking an interest in the property. To loan in large or small sums. All information cheerfully given. HAIOHT & DONNBR, \U Washington St., Portland, Or. T7"a,l-a.a,Tole IrLfomcLatiorL Relatiye to a Stopiiing Place When Yon Come to Oregon. TEE INTElATIflML HOTEL. After reading this pamphlet if you desire to migrate to Oregon, about the first thing you will think of is expenses necessarily to be in- curred before reaching your final settlement. Among those expenses that of "hotel bills" always figures conspicuously. On this page you will find a perfect picture of the INTEENATIONAL HOTEL, and we are free to pronounce it the only first-class one dollar a day house in Portland. It is located within three blocks of all railroad and steamer landings, is in a beautiful portion of the city, and it is properly termed the **Home of the Traveler." And it virtually is a "home". Upon ar- riving in the city you are conveyed to the hotel free of charge; your baggage is cared for; you are provided with good rooms; fed with the best the markets can supply; you are given the most valuable informa- tion relative to all parts of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest; made thoroughly acquainted with all details that will be valuable to you, and you are charged only $1 a day; no extra charges being made. The International is to-day the most thoroughly popular hotel in the state, from the fact that Mr. Lewiston, the proprietor, makes it a study to see that all of his guests are not only treated well but that they are saved many a dollar in the way of information that proves of great value to them.' We cheerfully recommend this house to those who may visit Portland on their way to the "Far West". THE OfiEGON PACIFIC RAILeOAD, IN CONNECTION WITH THE OREGON DEVELOPMEKT CO.'S STEAMSHIP LINE, Forms the Only Direct Route between AU POINTS IN CENTRAL m SOUTHERN OREGflN^ AND SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA. SHORTEST ! SAFEST ! CHEAPEST ! BEST ! Swift and finely appointed steamers reaching all points between Port- •?i .??•,! Harnsbiirg, a distance of 167 miles, ply the waters of the beau- itul Willamette Kiver which flows through the largest and most fertile valley in the Pacific Northwest. At Albany on the east side, and Corvallis on the West, the river steamers connect with the Oregon Pacific trains, and the immigrant sportsman or tourist seated in a luxurious coach finds himself rapidly whirled over a smooth, well-ballasted track the blue foothills of the Loast Kauge Mountains, through their grand canyons and past the lotty peaks that form a background of surpassing beauty to the lovely valleys which nestle in their shadows, on to the highly-cultivated fruit and dairy farms that skirt the head waters of the bay to that busv seaport -^ Nature's Sanitarixam, and tlae Only Fastiionable Wa- tering Place on tine Coast of Oregon. being also the point of embarkation for passengers to San Francisco via COMPANY^ ^^^ OF THE OEEGON DEVELOPMENT In the country served by the river and rail lines of this Company are still homes for the million where a diversity of taste may be satis- ted not isolated, as is the case in the more newly settled regions but within easy reach of the civilizing influence of fine schools, colleges and churches : > s j "Better a century of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." The leading papers proclaim, and the people admit, that since the opening of this new outlet for the productions of the valley-more di. rect than the old circuitous one via Portland, this Company by Its w.se and liberal policy in establishing just and reasonable charges has saved to the farmers over $150,000 and to the merchants over $75,- 000 during the season of 1886-7. And the advantages so far gained are but a foretaste ot those which must flow from the completion of the Eastern division of this line. G. A. STEEL & CO., GENERAL AGENTS nm-mm msumiNCE npoRtiioN, AND Stats IflTestnieiit M Insurance Conipny, Fire i Marine Business. IF YOU WANT TO BUY OR SELL It will pay to correspond with or call upon us. Our list of FARMING LxA^NDS is the largest and most com- plete on the Northwest Coast. ^^^^AU information given by us will be reliable and trust- worthy. Address, O. A. SXHBI. & CO., No. 127^ First St., Portland, Oregon. Opposite the Postoffice, PORTLAND, OR. All kinds of Work executed at reasonable rates. VIEWS OF ALL PARTS OF THE COUNTRY on hand constantly. ^|^=^Send for Catalogues. BAKER'S * HOTEL CHAS, BAKER, Proprietor, ETJ-g-eaa-e Oit3r, - - Oregron- Tliis new three-story Brick Hotel is fire-proof, and the best Hotel south of Portland. Board, $1.00 to $2.00 per Day. Special Rates to Immigrants. Particular attention paid to Traveling Men. The table will be supplied with the best the market aflFords. l|^=*»Free Coach to and from the House. // will pay all Farmers to call at the immense warerooms of STATER I WMR, New Market Block, 13 to 29 First St., and 12 to 28 Second St., Portland, : Oregon, Where will be found the Largest and Most Complete Line of the very best and latest improved Farm, Dairy and Mill Machinery, Wagons, Buggies, Carriages and Carts, fflflCHINE SUPPLIES UND SPECIALTIES OF ALL KINDS, At the most favorable terms and prices, quality considered, of any firm on the Coast. All our goods are special lymanufactured'for use in tljis section by the oldest and most reliable manufacturers in the United States, and we guarantee them superior to anv others of their class in the market. >^=-Call and see us, or send for our handsomely illustrated Catalogues and price r.ists, sent free on application. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I I III II I 1 I I 00171875158 | «<•;