612 



OREGON. 



means of spears or poles with hooks ; a special 

 law for Clatsop, Columbia, Wasco, and Mult- 

 nomah Counties for a reward for scalps of seals 

 or sea lions, and a change in the fish commission 

 law to the effect that there be but one commis- 

 sioner. They also recommend the establishment 

 by the State of hatcheries in the Coquille and 

 Urnpqua rivers. Four steamers, 10 sloops, and 

 949 fishing boats are employed in the industry, 

 and the apparatus used in fishing is valued at 

 $521,570. On the Columbia river are 14 can- 

 neries, employing a capital of $640,000, with 

 buildings and machinery valued at $482,055. In 

 the State are 23 factories, valued at $557,055, 

 and employing cash capital of $815,000. There 

 are 3,829 men, including Chinamen, employed 

 as fishermen, who were paid $794,830. 



The entire crop of hops harvested was from 

 24,000 to 25,000 bales, the average yield per acre 

 being from 700 to 800 pounds. The output of 

 wool is estimated at 16,000,000 pounds. 



On the basis of returns from circulars sent out 

 by the Secretary of the Board of Horticulture, it 

 is estimated that there are upward of 100,000 

 acres of fruit lands in the State at the present 

 time, of which half is planted in prunes, one 

 quarter in apples, one tenth in pears, and the 

 remainder in other fruits. The total number of 

 fruit trees is estimated approximately at 10,000,- 

 000. This estimate is for orchards only. There 

 are 36 nurseries in the State, covering about 

 1,576 acres, and capitalized at $236,658. The 

 fruit crop for the past season was the smallest 

 ever known in Oregon. The partial failure is 

 accounted for by the unusually cold rains during 

 the latter part of April. 



Since the year 1886, Oregon's production of 

 flour has been greatly increasing. During that 

 year, her exports amounted to $1,688,000, show- 

 ing an improvement this year of over $420,000 

 in the amount exported. 



Tobacco has been raised on the bottom lands 

 of John Day river, in Grant County, with 

 leaves 33 inches long and 17 inches wide. The 

 soil is light, warm, and quick, and the summer 

 climate is well adapted to the cultivation of 

 tobacco. In the Yaquina country, where the 

 conditions are substantially the same as along 

 the John Day, an excellent quality of tobacco is 

 produced. 



Commerce. From the report of the Collector 

 of Customs for the fiscal year ending June 30, 

 the following items are taken : Number .of ves- 

 sels entered from foreign ports, 106 ; number of 

 vessels cleared for foreign ports, 141 ; number of 

 vessels cleared for domestic ports, 135 ; entries 

 of merchandise for duty, 857 ; entries of mer- 

 chandise free of duty, 285 ; entries for ware- 

 house, 100 ; entries for warehouse and transpor- 

 tation, 1 ; entries for rewarehouse, 6 ; entries 

 from warehouse for consumption, 255 ; entries 

 for transportation and export to Canada, 69 ; 

 entries from warehouse for exportation to adja- 

 cent British provinces, 11 ; entries for immediate 

 transportation without appraisement, 205 ; en- 

 tries for consumption liquidated, 1,149 ; entries 

 for warehouse liquidated, 93; certificates of 

 registry granted, 8; licenses for coasting trade 

 granted, 95 ; licenses to vessels under 20 tons 

 granted, 9. Value of exports: domestic, " 

 240; foreign, $6,350.18. 



Irrigation. A Government bulletin shows 

 that in Oregon there are 3,150 farms that are 

 irrigated out of 25,885 in the State. The total 

 area of land upon which crops were raised by 

 irrigation in the census year ending May 31, 

 1890, was 177,944 acres, in addition to which 

 there were approximately 72,000 acres irrigated 

 for grazing. 



The Griletz Reservation. The work of the 

 commissioners on the Giletz Indian reservation 

 is completed, and 180,000 acres will be opened 

 to settlers under the land laws. The lands were 

 allotted to the 532 Indians in severally, each 

 one receiving 80 acres. There are 178 adults, 

 among them being Indians from nearly all the 

 tribes of western Oregon. There are no longer 

 any tribal chiefs, and, to secure the contract, 

 signatures of a majority of the male adults had 

 to be secured. It was for this purpose and to 

 make an agreement satisfactory to the Indians 

 that the commission was sent out. After the 

 allotments were made, the commissioners nego- 

 tiated the purchase of the remaining 180,000 

 acres for $142,600. A great deal of this is fine 

 timber land, the farming land of this reserva- 

 tion having all been allotted. The Government 

 pays for this land $75,000 cash, and the balance 

 is on interest for the benefit of the Indians. 

 The reservation is near Yaquina Bay, and is 

 surrounded by settlements of whites. 



Immigration. The number of immigrants 

 registered during the year ending April 2 was 

 somewhat smaller than that of the preceding 

 year, but it is estimated that a much larger 

 number came for permanent settlement, and 

 brought means to provide themselves with homes. 

 The whole number was estimated at 108,140. 

 The Immigration Board sent out a car, " Oregon 

 on Wheels," which was transported free of charge 

 over many railroads in the Middle and East- 

 ern States. The car was gone twenty-nine 

 weeks; it visited 24 States, traveled 11,625 miles 

 on 30 lines of railway, and had more than 250,- 

 000 visitors. The Board of Immigration report 

 that " it has been a most satisfactory mode of 

 advertising the resources of our great State." 



Judicial Decisions. A decision affecting 

 the interpretation of the term " timber land " 

 was rendered by Judge Hanford, and confirmed 

 by the Supreme Court of the United States. 

 The timber-land act was passed in 1878, and 

 provided that lands chiefly valuable for timber 

 could be sold in Oregon, Washington, Califor- 

 nia, and Nevada for $2.50 an acre. In 1885, 

 Sparks, Land Commissioner, held that land that 

 could grow grass or anything after the timber 

 was off was agricultural land, notwithstanding 

 that the timber was worth .much more than the 

 land ever would be, and that it cost more to 

 clear the land than it was worth. Sparks's suc- 

 cessor, Groff, held the same view, and the un- 

 certainty has led to much trouble and litigation. 

 The decision is, that land heavily covered with 

 timber is timber land. 



In the case of the United States vs. the Wil- 

 lamette Valley and Cascade Mountain Wagon 

 Road Company, a suit brought to forfeit the 

 land grant of the company on the ground that 

 the road was not completed within the proper 

 time, Judge Gilbert, in the United States Circuit 

 Court, rendered a decision dismissing the bill, on 



