w 



269 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Climate of Oregon ; its variableness ; its rains ; a southern climate m a northern 

 latitude. — Productiveness ; grain, fruits, and flowers, wild and cultivated. — Geo- 

 logical characteristics. — Soils and prevailing rock. — Minerals, &c. — Variety of 

 game. — Wolves. — Horses, and other domestic animals. — Population, white and na- 

 tives ; Indian tribes, their character and condition. — 3Iissionary stations, and their 

 improvements. — Present trade of Oregon. — Posts of the Hudson Bay Compai y. — 

 Settlements. — Oregon City, its situation and advantages ; about Linnton ; about 

 Wallammette valley, Fualitine Plains, and Umpqua river ; Vancouvre, and its su- 

 perior advantages. — Kindness of Hudson Bay Company to settlers. 



The next which seems to demand our notice, in due order, is the climate 

 of this interesting country. ' 



We need only bear in mind the geographical position and diversified 

 character of Oregon, to satisfy ourselves of the true merits of the subject 

 now before us. A mountainous country like this must necessarily em- 

 brace every variety of climate, from that of the ice-bound coasts and ever* 

 scathing frosts of the polar regions, to the burning heat of the equator, — 

 from the mild atmosphere of Italian skies, to the genial temperature which 

 paints the wild-flowers in their primeval beauty, while month succeeding 

 month doles out the year, nor feels nor knows the chill-breath of winter. 



A short jaunt at any time translates the traveller, at his own option, 

 to regions of winter, spring, summer, or fall, and spreads before him ail the 

 varied beauties and deformities of either. 



As a general thing, however, the winters of Oregon are much more tem- 

 perate than those of countries in the same latitude bordering upon the 

 Atlantic — a fact which may be attributed to the usual prevalence of wes- 

 terly winds at that season. 



These winds, on passing the mountains and traversing the vast extent 

 of snowy prairie and open land in their course, become vested with a chill- 

 ing severity unknown to its incipiency, when, from the warm bosom of the 

 broad Pacific, fhey first waft themselves o'er the blooming valleys, smiling 

 plains, grass-clad hills, and mountains garbed in stately forests, commingled 

 with stern desolation, to lavish upon all these varied scenes the soft blan- 

 dishments of the Indies, and engender the interesting phenomenon of a south- 

 em climate in a high northern latitude. 



The country contiguous to Frasier's river, and even below it for some 

 distance, is usually visited with long and severe winters, and enjoys com- 

 paratively but a short interval of genial weather during the spring and* 

 summer months. 



The valleys, however, not unfrequently afford exceptions to this remark, 

 when favorably located in regard to the wind and sun. In this section il 

 seldom rains, a circumstance causing an unproductive and arid soil. 

 23* 



