1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



187 



Literature, Travels I Personal Notes. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



FROM OREGON TO WASHINCTON-A 

 GLIMPSE OF THREE RIVERS. 



BY FANNY E. BRIGGS. 



From Salem to Portland by rail, Feb. 16th. 

 The country that, last August, was so refresh- 

 ing to the eye after the scorched plains of Cali- 

 fornia was now promisirg, rather than beautiful, 

 presenting chietly an alternation of newl3'-sown 

 wheat-tields, and forest lands in process of clear- 

 ing. 



Oregon City, one of the oldest towns in the 

 State, is the most picturesque in situation I have 

 yet met with. Here are the falls of the Willa- 

 niette,and aline of high, rocky bluffs rise abruptly, 

 leaving only a narrow strip of level ground 

 along the river. The railroad is built on this. 

 The town is wholly on the bluffs, and is reached 

 by long flights of stairs, some of them set zig-zag 

 in upright frames. The town is neat and pretty, 

 with gardens, shade and fruit trees in abundance. 

 The rocky face of the bluff is covered with 

 mosses, ferns, and vines, and two or three little 

 silver ribbons of mountain streams leap spark- 

 ling from its brow. 



From Portland twelve miles down the Willa- 

 mette to its confluence with the Columbia. The 

 meeting of two such rivers is a theme for the 

 poet's pen. Leaving their native mountains so 

 far asunder, flowing onward through rocky 

 gorges and dark forests, gathering tribute as they 

 go, here they unite at last, and the great Ocean 

 rolls m its waves to meet and embraco them. 



Twenty-five miles more down the Columbia, 

 its banks rising in bold precipitous cliffs, or 

 clothed with dark fir forests to the water's edge, 

 the sea-gulls sweeping round us, or diving for 

 their prey. Scenery too lonely and sombre to 

 be termed beautiful, yet nowhere unworthy the 

 majestic river. Now we turn northward into 

 l>^wis river. It is a small stream, and very 

 crooked in its course. Oaks and other forest 

 trees mingle with the ever-present firs. Above 

 high-water mark every trunk and busb is clothed 

 with moss, and old trees are so dcnsel}' matted 

 with this moss, that great tufts of fern find root 

 in its masses. 



The little Hydra, true to its name, winds in 

 and out the nan-ow, crooked river, and lands us 

 Bafely at La Center, eight miles from its mouth. 



The bank is steep and high, and there is just 

 enough level ground for tbe street and its row of 

 buildings, and the town lots run up the hill, and 

 look over the tops of the houses. 



Now we are out among the giant firs, three 

 miles from the river. A young growth of fir is 

 60 closely set, and densely branched as to form 

 a perfect hedge, almost impervious to light, or 

 to any living creature. Asgrowtb advances, the 

 lower branches die until the wood becomes only 

 a collection of bare poles, with each a little tuft of 

 green at the ton. Then I suppose that Nature 

 begins the course of selection that results in "the 

 survival of the fittest," and a fir tree in its perfect 

 maturity is a noble and beautiful object. Tow- 

 ering straigbt upward, two hundred, and even 

 three hundred feet, with a regular and beautiful 

 taper of which the eye never tires, and though 

 really large in gh'th, they are so tall that they 

 seem slender, and have even an appearance of 

 airy lightness as they wavp to and fro in the w ind. 



At some time long past fires have swept over 

 great tracts of these Fir Forests. A dense 

 growth of underbrush has covered the ground,, 

 and the huge cliarred trunks encumber it, yet 

 many still remain standing, black and liideous. 

 These "burned districts," however, are preferred,, 

 as being much easier to clear. 



The climate is mild, such hardy flowers as dai- 

 sies blooming in gardens all winter. Now, early 

 in April, deciduous trees are nearly in full leaf^ 

 and many shrubs in flower, the most conspicuous 

 being the Dog-wood (Cornus Nuttalli); the most 

 beautiful tbe Oregon Currant (llibes sanguin- 

 ea). Of smaller flowers, Trillium grandiflorum 

 is most noticeable, and Golden Club (Oroutium^ 



in low places. 



•••► — 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



European Notes, by the Editor. — No. 10^ 



— As we walk through the streets of our leading 

 American cities in these, our times, it is not un- 

 usual to read that Ilong Wing, or Hang Lee has 

 a " Laundry," and you may enjoy from the 

 street the sight of a pig-tailed head, placed* on 

 the top of a sort of nether garment, squirting 

 water from its mouth on the whitened linen 

 before it. In Paris you read it as " M. Blanc,, 

 blancliiseuse" and tlu; frequency of these "Blan- 

 chisseries" is suggestive of a very cleanly set of 

 people. Wliat struck me as singular was that 



