POPULATION OF THE TERRITORY. 273 



calcareous tufa, and agglomerated boulders of various kinds, particularly 

 in the Eastern Division. The varieties of some parts present strong char* 

 •cteristics of the oolite formation. The "lills contain many excellent quar- 

 ries for the structure of buildings or other useful purposes. 



Hitherto but little investigation has been had relative to tlie mineral re- 

 lources of Oregon ; though sufficient is known to warrant the statement, 

 •iiat copper, lead, iron, coal, salt, soda, sulphur, nitre, and alum, are abundant , 

 in some parts ; and, from the nature of the country, we may safely infer that 

 jret more valuable metals are waiting to reward with their hidden treasures 

 the researches of man. 



Game, in the Eastern and Middle Divisions, is not generally plentiful ; 

 yet, in places, there are an abundance of deer, elk, antelope, bear, wolve* 

 and foxes ; — buffalo are also found occasionally in the vicinity of the Rocky 

 Mountains. In the Northern Division, moose, deer, elk, bear, foxes, and 

 wolves, are the varieties most common. Game is more abundant in the 

 Western than in the other Divisions, and is nearly of the same kind. 



Ducks, geese, brants, pheasants, partridges, &c., are common throughout 

 the whole territory. 



Wolves are very numerous in the neighborhood of the settlements, and 

 prove a great source of annoyance to the inhabitants by preying upon their 

 cattle and other stock. These wolves consist of three kinds — the blaclt, 

 gray, and prairie wolf, oi vhich, as in California, the black wolf is the largest 

 and most ferocious. 



As a grazing country, the available lands of the three divisions of Oregon, 

 south of tlie Columbia and the one immediately north of that river, are little 

 inferior, if, indeed, not fully equal, to the far-famed meadows and lawns of 

 CaUfomia. 



Horses are reared in vast numbers by the Indians, among whom it is not 

 uncommon to find a single individual owning three or four hundred head. 

 Select horses may be bought at prices ranging from twelve to twenty dol- 

 lars each. 



These animals are generally stout an<l hardy, capable of enduring a vast 

 amount of fatigue, and are but little inferior in point of size to our American 

 nags. 



Large herds of horses are also raised by the settlers, and at the Hudson 

 Bay Company's establishments. 



Latterly, cattle, hogs, and sheep, are beginning to receive the attention 

 of the farming community, and, without doubt, soon will become immensely 

 numerous. It needs only the operation of time to render Oregon as fa- 

 mous for its countless herds, as for the abundance and variety of its p^o- 

 dacticns. 



The entire population of the territory at this time, may be estimated at 

 thirty-five thousand, of which about seven thousand are whites and half- 

 breeds, and the balance Indians. 



The Indians principally consist of the following tribes: the Snakes, 

 Blackfeet, Flatheadrs, Nesperces, Bonarks, Cyuses, Wallawallas, Chinooks, 

 Shatchets, Chalams, Killamucs, Squamishes, Clasets, Tonandos, Klacka- 

 mos, ClatMup, Umpquas, KlackatatSjKaliapuyas.Tlaraatlis, and Chilkeelia. 



