Natural Wealth of the State 279 
tensive iron works are in progress at Oswego, in that county, 
located on the Willamette river 18 miles from its mouth and 7 
miles from Portland, and large amounts of pig-iron are produced 
annually. 
Grains and Fruits; Rivers, Harbors, Railroads, ete. 
The resources of Oregon are not confined to her mountains or 
her rivers. Her valleys: are fertility itself. Wheat, oats, corn, 
barley, hops, flax, hay and other grains and grasses; apples, 
pears, peaches, apricots, plums, prunes, cherries, nectarines, 
grapes and other varieties of small fruits and berries, are all 
products of her soil. The natural advantages of the state are 
all that could be desired. A seacoast of more than 400 miles, 
indented with numerous capacious bays and storm-protected 
deep-water harbors; the Columbia, the Tillamook, the Neha- 
lem, the Yaquina, the Alsea, the Siuslaw, the Umpqua, the 
Coquille, Coos bay and port Orford, capacious enough to protect 
in safety all the navies of the world; a mighty river on its 
north draining a basin of 395,000 square miles, including its 
tributaries, which combine twelve degrees of latitude and thir- 
teen of longitude. The main Columbia is navigable 725 miles 
from its mouth, with two interruptions—the first at the Cascades, 
150 miles from the mouth, where there is a fall of 500 feet in four 
miles and where a canal and locks, being constructed by the 
general government, will be completed in the present year; and 
another at The Dalles of twelve miles, where the general govern- 
ment has taken steps looking to the construction of a boat rail- 
way. Willamette river is navigable for 140 miles; the Snake 
for 150 miles. The falls of the Willamette at Oregon City are 
estimated at 1,000,000 horse power; the fall is forty feet. Here 
a great electric plant has been established within the past two 
years at an expenditure of several millions of dollars, and this 
vast water power is being utilized in Oregon City and in Portland, 
twelve miles distant, in manufactories of various kinds and in 
electric lighting. 
The Salmon Fisheries of Columbia River. 
The salmon fisheries of Columbia river are the most extensive 
and profitable in the world, and a source of immense wealth. It 
is but thirty-three years since the first fishery for catching and 
