272 PREVAILING ROCK. 



fruit are indigenous to this region, and it is generally supposed that wheat, 

 baney, oats, buckwheat, flax, and other articles of Hke nature, might be 

 raised within it. Of course, these remarks apply only to the valleys. 



The Middle Division affords a finer soil and a more favorable climate 

 than the Eastern t; but, in regard to productions, it is much the same. All 

 the northern fruits, grains, and vegetables, may be produced in great abun- 

 dance, with the exception of corn — the land being generally too dry and 

 too much subject to unseasonable frosts ; corn, however, has been success- 

 fully cultivated on the VVallawalla. 



There are several varieties of wild fruits found here, among which are 

 included cherries, with larb, bufTal , goose, and service berries, and cur- 

 rants, plums, and grapes, together with several other species not recollect- 

 ed, as well as vegetables and roots. 



The Western Division not only maintains its pre-eminence in relation to 

 soil and climate, but stands equally conspicuous in the variety and abun- 

 dance of its productions. It is thought, and not without reason, that cotton, 

 sugar-cane, and various other productions of a warm and even tropical 

 climate might here be raised without difficulty. 



When the ground is in a suitable condition, the avarage crop of wheat 

 is from twenty to twenty-five bushels to the acre. Vast quantities of it are 

 annually produced by settlers in different parts of the country. A surplus 

 of one hundred thousand bushels is reported to have been grown, in the 

 region adjoining the Wallammette, during the summer of 1844. 



The Hudson Bay Company, at Fort Vancouvre, have several very ex- 

 tensive farms under improvement, upon which they raise nearly every va- 

 riety of grain and vegetables, with flattering success. 



In the garden of McLaughlin, the chief factor of this company, are found 

 almost every species of fruits and flowers indigenous to this country and 

 to foreign soils of the same latitude, with several varieties produced only 

 in warm climates. 



We barely allude to the above facts, in order to prove the adaptation of 

 Western Oregon to agricultural pursuits. The data relative to its extraor- 

 dinary facilities for rearing countless herds of cattle, horses, and sheep, 

 have already been placed before the reader, and need not here a repetition. 



The components of the soils of Oregon are equally varied in character, 

 according to their situation. The bottoms are usually of a deep, sandy 

 alluvion, intermixed with vegetable and organic matter. The valleys are 

 of a heavy loam, enriched by the debris and other fertilizing properties 

 borne irom the high grounds by the annual rains, together with the con- 

 stant accumulation of decayed herbage and grass so lavishly bestrewn at 

 each returning season. 



The prairies are possessed of either a light sandy superfice, or a mixture 

 of gravel and stilT clay. The superstratum of the hills and mountains 

 varies from wastes of naked sand, sun-baked clay, and spreads of denuded 

 rock, to a thin vegetable mould, and a light marly loam of greater or less 

 fecundity. 



The rock of this territory also presents many difl^erent specimens ; the 

 prominent classifications, however, are volcanic, viz : basalt, (columnar and 

 scoriated,) trap, lava, pumicestone, limestone (fossiliferous, bituminous, 

 and earthy,) and mica slate, witli sandstone, puddingstone, granular quartz, 



