FEINBERG/WHITMAN      NOTES and NOTEBOOKS    NOTES--literary   Oct. 1870   Webfoots
Box 39 Folder 1445
1870 October Webfoots: note. A.MS. (1p. 8 1/2 x 13 1/2 cm.)
Written in ink on a scrap of paper, to which is pasted a clipping,
12 words:
The Oregonese are called "Webfoots"
from a letter Salem, Oregon Oct. 1870
The newspaper clipping reads:
WEBFOOTS.
"And first and foremost, the people. Webfoots they are called,
from a tradition that exists in California and other envious localities, 
that it rains here sometimes; indeed, that it rains so
much that the inhabitants, on the 'natural longing theory,' receive
web feet, that they may paddle around comfortably. I believe this
to be a slander. But the people, the masses, are out in force.
With a population of less than one tenth that of Wisconsin, with
but one little piece of railroad of fifty miles, there are here to-45A

day not less than twenty thousand people. From ten, from twenty,
from a hundred, from a hundred and fifty miles away, men, women
and children are here, in covered wagons, with tents and provisions
--they have come up here, some of them having been eight
days in making the journey.The Oregonese are
called "Webfoots"
from a letter 'Salem, Oregon
Oct. 1870
WEBFOOTS.
"And first and foremost, the people. Webfoots
they are called, from a tradition that exists in
California and other envious localities, that it
rains here sometimes; indeed, that it rains
so much that the inhabitants, on the 'natural 
longing theory,' receive web feet, that they may
paddle around comfortably. I believe this to be
a slander. But the people, the masses, are out
in force. With a population of less than one
tenth of that of Wisconsin, with but one little
piece of railroad of fifty miles, there are here today 
not less than twenty thousand people. From
ten, from twenty, from a hundred, from a hundred 
and fifty miles away, men, women and children
are here, in covered wagons, with tents and provisions
--they have come up here, some of them
having been eight days in making the journey.Deho

[???] not be subject to the usual inconveniences at 
mas time.
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81
offer
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