710 



OREGON. 



more than any other agricultural product raised 

 in Oregon on account of the wide difference in 

 prices between one year and another, caused 

 by there being a large or small crop of oats for 

 the time being in California. In the lesser 

 agricultural productions, such as barley, hay, 

 potatoes, and corn, during the last ten years, 

 equally favorable progress has been made. 

 For instance, in 1860, there was raised 26,254 

 bushels of barley ; in 1870, 210,736, averaging 

 29 bushels per acre. Of rye there was raised, 

 in 1870, 3,820 bushels, and in 1875, 17,263 

 bushels. In 1860 there was raised only 27,386 

 tons of hay, and in 1875, 161,433 tons, which 

 realized $1,937,196. Oregon has always been 

 famed as a good potato country. In 1870 Ore- 

 gon raised 303,319 bushels of potatoes, and 

 in 1875, 527,829 bushels. Of Indian corn or 

 maize there was raised only 72,183 bushels, and 

 in 1875, 96,720 bushels; but Oregon is no corn 

 country, owing to the cool nights of summer. 

 It may be noticed that the average per acre of 

 each product raised is small compared with the 

 amount raised in Great Britain. This is quite 

 true, but in Oregon the low average is due to a 

 very superficial knowledge often no knowl- 

 edge at all of farming, and to volunteer crops. 

 But while this is so, the United States Com- 

 missioner of Agriculture at Washington, D. C., 

 in his annual report to Congress for 1876, says 

 that in all crops (except Indian corn) which 

 have been raised in the United States, Oregon 

 far exceeded the average of every other State 

 in the Union, and has continued to do so year 

 after year. The same officer estimated the 

 value of farm products in Oregon annually per 

 head of farming population to be $539, and 

 per head of the entire population of the State, 

 $78.06 ; while he estimated the value of farm 

 property owned by persons engaged in agricul- 

 ture to be $2,300 per head. The amount of 

 exports is $100 to every person in the State. 



The increase in stock is to be found chiefly 

 in eastern Oregon. There are in that part of 

 the State 57,416 square miles of land, which, 

 with the exception of a very limited portion, 

 is all fit either for grazing or agriculture. In 

 1870 there were 318,123 sheep in the State, 

 one fourth of which were located in eastern 

 Oregon, one half in the Willamette Valley, and 

 the remainder in Douglas County and southern 

 Oregon. These flocks kept increasing very 

 materially in eastern Oregon, until there were 

 in 1877 about 1,963,556 sheep in the State, of 

 which eastern Oregon possessed nearly two 

 thirds, and the remainder were in western or 

 southern Oregon. These figures are tested by 

 the wool product of 1878, which realized up- 

 ward of 6,000,000 pounds of wool ; and as the 

 average yield is but three pounds of wool per 

 sheep, the figures above given are thus below 

 the correct number of sheep. This industry 

 promises to develop itself enormously during 

 the next ten years, as evinced by what has 

 taken place in California. That State twenty 

 years ago only produced 1,000,000 pounds of 



wool, or less than one fifth of what Oregon 

 now produces, and it was then stated of Cal- 

 ifornia, as is frequently said now of Oregon, 

 that she could not produce much more ; yet in 

 1876 California produced the enormous quan- 

 tity of 56,550,970 pounds of wool, as shown 

 by the statistics of the Chamber of Commerce 

 of San Francisco. The vast public domain in 

 eastern Oregon and eastern Washington, con- 

 taining together upward of 100,000 square miles 

 of land preeminently suited for sheep-pasturage, 

 may therefore be, as in California, eventually 

 occupied by sheep-ranches ; and if, as statistics 

 have shown, Oregon wool increased 750 per 

 cent, the last eight years, it is reasonable to 

 suppose the pame increase may follow in the 

 next ten years, in which case the production 

 of wool would then amount to 58,960,000 

 pounds. In 1870 there were 120,197 cattle in 

 the State ; in 1875, 276,466 ; the number in 

 1878 is estimated at 425,000. The prices real- 

 ized in 1874 and 1875 were poor, but now that 

 cattle from the eastern ranges are transported 

 to the Union and Central Pacific Railroads for 

 shipment to the Western States, prices have 

 advanced considerably and given cattle and 

 stock men greater encouragement to increase 

 their herds. In 1870 there were raised 119,455 

 hogs ; in 1875, 181,500. Wheat had attained 

 such a high figure during these five years that 

 farmers, instead of putting it into hogs, sold it, 

 and no inducement was thus afforded to culti- 

 vate or increase the production of hogs. A 

 noticeable feature is the increase of milch cows. 

 In 1870 there were 62,400 milch cows ; in 1875, 

 80,900; and in 1878 (estimated), 93,000. The 

 United States Commissioner of Agriculture 

 points out that since 1872 Oregon has given 

 more attention to dairying, and shows, com- 

 pared with other States, the largest increase in 

 numbers (per population) of cattle and milch 

 cows. The raising of horses has become an- 

 other favorite industry, developing gradually. 

 In 1870 there were 52,802 horses in the State ; 

 in 1875, 75,966; and (estimated) in 1878, 106,- 

 850. 



Beyond a very large number of flour and saw 

 mills, four woolen-mills, a number of furniture 

 and sash and door factories, eight or ten foun- 

 dries and machine-shops, one iron-smelting 

 works, one oil-works, one flax and one paper 

 mill, a shoe factory, and a few other lesser 

 factories, there are no great manufacturing 

 enterprises, except ship-building at Coos Bay, 

 where 43 vessels, including two large ships, 

 the latter of the value of $80,000 each, have 

 been built. At Portland the majority of the 

 river-steamers (there are 72 in number) have 

 been built, and a United States steamer ; the 

 cutter Tom Corwin was also built in 1877. 

 The flour manufactured in the State is of the 

 finest quality, and finds a good increasing mar- 

 ket in San Francisco, British Columbia, and 

 Great Britain, the exports of flour having in- 

 creased since 1872. The several coal-mines on 

 the coast of Oregon export annually about 55,- 



