Terms, Five Dollars a Year. ) 

 Ten Cents a Copy. p 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1875. 



( Volume 5, Number 10. 



1 17 Chatham St. (City Hall isqr.) 



For Forest and Stream. 



^nmhlinqB in 0rqgon. 



— » — 



PART II. 

 ■ ■ ♦ 



FROM the time of startiDg until moved by the drowsy 

 god late at night, I noticed that the topography of 

 the country was constantly changing, for we would sud- 

 denly find ourselves hemmed in by rugged hills, then tra. 

 versing dense forests, plutonian in their darkness, or ca- 

 reering at full speed over vales level as a floor. During the 

 early portion of the evening I had an opportunity of noting 

 the geological formation of the country, and found that the 

 substratum was composed entirely of metamorphic rocks. 

 The only exceptions was an eccentric plateau of trap called 

 Table Rock, that springs abruptly from the plain a few 

 miles outside Jacksonville. This, from its contour, alti- 

 tude, and the fact that it was the scene of a battle between 

 Indians and whites in the war of 1855-6, makes it a marked 

 spot, and it is therefore pointed out to the tourist. The 

 botany of the country also changed as we progressed north- 

 ward, for the coniferse took the place of the deciduous 

 trees. One of the finest of the latter, the Madrona laurel, 

 is a peculiarity of the Pacific flora, and the most tropical 

 looking tree in the country. It has broad, green glaucous 

 leaves, and the trunk is generally crooked. It would be a 

 very ornamental appendage to parks and the gardens of 

 gentlemen, and is therefore well worthy of cultivation in 

 the East. The most striking tree in the region is the silver 

 fir (Picea amabilis), whose towering, heavy trunk is relieved 

 by the graceful festoons which droop from the branches. 

 Half a dozen species of firs grow in the southern section, 

 but as the coast is approached they give place to gigantic 

 forests of spruce. The smaller shrubs, which form the 

 ■undergrowth, are composed of manzanita and several va- 

 rieties of edible berries. Deciduous trees, principally alders, 

 willows, cornels, and poplars, are quite numerous through- 

 out Central and Southern Oregon, but as one proceeds 

 north they become scarcer. The only oak of any import- 

 ance encountered is the Quercus garrymia, which is the 

 only indigenous variety of any prominence. My route led 

 through forests of these various trees all night, and on 

 being aroused from my broken slumber the next morning 

 I found myself in the Umpqua Valley, a region which is 

 composed of rounded, wooded hills and narrow vales. 

 This is the great sheep raising section of Western Oregon, 

 hence one sees the white flocks browsing on every hillock. 

 The valley was apparently formed by erosion, as fossilifer- 

 ous shales are found in many places, and the general for- 

 mation is composed of primitive and metamorphic rocks, 

 the most characteristic being a hard talcose slate. It pre- 

 sents a very picturesque appearance, as it displays wooded 

 hill and rolling plain in alternate succession. Several of 

 the vales have most euphonious names, showing that their 

 occupants have an idea of natural beauty, for one hears of 

 such places as Paradise Valley, Pleasant Valley, Mirror 

 Valley, and kindred titles. These deserve their cognomens, 

 for they are typical of fertility. Crops average as well 

 there as in the more southern portion, and the climate is 

 equally good. Useful minerals are also abundant, and, 

 were capital employed to develop them, they could be 

 worked with profit. Placer mines are worked in a few 

 places, and yield from three to ten dollars per diem to the 

 man. Grazing ought, however, to be the most prominent 

 enterprise, owing to the facilities at command. Another 

 important industry is the production of honey. This needs 

 but little care, as the bees find plenty of food until late in 

 the season by following the blooming of the flowers from 

 the valley to the higher hills. Thus, when the whortle- 

 berry is in fruit in the valley, it is only in flower on the 

 mountain tops, and the same with other plants. This cli- 

 matic and topographical change enables the busy creatures 

 to secure all the working material they require up to No- 

 vember, and as they have a large number of the best 

 shrubs to select this from, the result is that they produce 

 honey that cannot be excelled in transparency or delicacy 

 of flavor. 



One great advantage the Umpqua Valley possesses over 



the more southern portion of the State is its means of com- 

 munication with the different sections. It is connected 

 with the metropolis by a line of railroad, and with the 

 Pacific Ocean by the Umpqua River, which is navigable 

 for light draught boats for a short distance, and a road 

 which is passable in Summer, but in Winter only pedes- 

 trians or horsemen can plough through its sea of mud. 

 The bad condition of the roads in the more remote parts is 

 the greatest discomfort attending travel in Oregon during 

 the rainy season. In fact, the residents of Curry county, 

 which" adjoins the ocean, have no roads at all, so that all 

 their traveling is done on foot or on horseback. It is prob- 

 ably the only county in any State in the Union which can- 

 not show a wagon; but such a vehicle would be useless 

 there, owing to the wooded and hilly character of the 

 country. The dwellers in these Alpine retreats live princi- 

 pally by their flocks and herds, and the fruits of the chase. 

 Some have cleared small farms along the course of streams, 

 but the valleys are usually so narrow that the quantity of 

 land fit for agricultural purposes is very limited. Along 

 the coast there are several open valleys which produce good 

 crops, except maize, the climate being too cool and humid 

 to bring this cereal to perfection. Several of these forest 

 dwellers devote their attention to agriculture and stock- 

 raising in Summer, and in Winter engage in mining along 

 the seashore, where a black sand is spread out in fresh lay- 

 ers every morning. This is popularly supposed to be 

 washed ashore every day by the waves, and to be, there- 

 fore, unlimited in extent; but time has proved both to be 

 fallacies, for an examination has shown that the auriferous 

 metal which it contains has been -pilfered from the bluffs 

 along the shore by the energetic billows which constantly 

 lash them with ponderous blows. This sand yielded fabu- 

 lous sums in former times, it being no extraordinary thing 

 for a person to cull from it in a day dust worth from fifty 

 to one thousand dollars. It is, however, comparatively un- 

 productive at present, as the gold-bearing shales of which 

 it is composed are now less subject to the action of the 

 ocean. Several of the farmer- miner class also hunt the 

 sea otter (Enhydra marina), which is very common along 

 the coast. This pursuit requires great patience, good 

 marksmanship, and fair nautical skill to make it success- 

 ful, for the animal keeps far to sea in its ramblings, and if 

 it is not killed immediately it will sink and be lost, for it 

 will face any danger rather than encounter its human foe. 

 As its skin is worth from forty to one hundred dollars in 

 the markets of China, its pursuit is quite profitable. Some 

 men clear from five hundred to two thousand dollars in a 

 single season. Sea lions are also abundant on the coast, 

 and their hoarse, rough roar is heard above the din of the 

 surges that loudly brawl in anger as they lash the dark, 

 adamantine, rocky islets that guard the shore in many 

 places; but they are seldom hunted, except by a few hun- 

 gry Indians. 



The only industries of any importance in which the 

 denizens of the coast region are employed are coal min- 

 ing, lumbering and ship building, and these are increasing 

 in importance every year, owing to the introduction of 

 capital and the securing of good markets in Australia and 

 the Oriental nations. The facilities for ship-building can 

 scarcely be surpassed, as the towering Douglass spruce, 

 several varieties of fir, the laurel, pitch pine, and other 

 species of valuable trees grow along the coast in tropical 

 luxuriance, and can readily be cut down on the shore 

 where the vessels are to be built. 



The gigantic redwood {Sequoia sempervirens) is also found 

 in this portion of Oregon, but its habitat does not extend 

 far into the interior. Another fine botanical production is 

 the Oregon cypress (Gupressus Lawsoniana), which equals 

 the best varieties of Italian cypress in gracefulness, and 

 excels them in density and picturesqueness of foliage. 

 The most marked arboreal characteristic of the region is 

 its towering spruces, which exceed in altitude, thickness, 

 and leafage their congeners in any other portion of the 

 world, except those of Washington Territory, and rank 

 next to the redwood in dimensions, while they surpass all, 

 except the firs, in abundance. The wealth oi the section 

 * in timber alone cannot be estimated, and when that com- 



modity becomes scarcer, by the felling of the Eastern for- 

 ests, Oregon will find her most profitable revenues in her 

 grand old woods. 



The climate of the coast region differs materially from 

 that of the remainder of the State, it being more humid 

 and equable. The temperature of Port Orford shows the 

 Spring to average 52°, Summer, 60°, Autumn, 55°, and 

 Winter 47°. 5; which gives an annual mean of 53°. 5,- and 

 only a difference of five degrees between Spnnr and Win- 

 ter. This is an equability of temperature that no other 

 portion of the Pacific coast can show; hence we find little 

 sickness in the country, and scarcely any of that class pro- 

 duced by severe weather, such as pneumonia and consump- 

 tion. The invigorating ocean breezes keep the heat of 

 Summer down to 60°, so that woolen blankets are required 

 upon the bed every night throughout the year, and warm 

 clothing is worn, generally, both morning and evening. 

 The most prevalent diseases are rheumatism and intermit- 

 tent fever, which are produced by the heavy rains that 

 prevail throughout the Winter and Spring, but the latter 

 is usually of a very mild type, so that it rarely causes 

 death. 



The only means of communication between this wooded 

 Alpine country and the interior is a single road, which is 

 almost impassable in Winter, so I was compelled to return 

 by the same horrible route iu order to continue my jour- 

 ney. Were it not for the luxuriance of the forests, the 

 many varieties of trees they contain, and the tropical pro- 

 fusion of the shrubbery, a trip over this route would prove 

 the acme of painful lassitude, but these accessories relieve 

 its monotony and interest the traveler if he has any idea of 

 arboreal beauty. 



On reaching Roseburg, the chief town in the Umpqua 

 Valley, I took the cars and hastened northward, glad to 

 escape from the muddy roads and jolting stages which 

 prove such an inducement for indulging in a mild profani- 

 ty, that jumps forth ere it can be checked. I left this 

 town, or rather city — for a hamlet of tw r o houses through- 

 out the Northwest is usually denominated a city — at four 

 A. M., and in an hour the train had left the mound like 

 hills and narrow vales of the Umpqua region behind, and 

 was dashing over the table like Willamette Valley, that lay 

 in quiet repose beneath the protecting shelter of two moun- 

 tain ranges that environ it on the east and west. This is 

 called the "Garden of Oregon," and the name is most ap- 

 propriate, as it produces cereals, vegetables, tuberous roots, 

 and fruits, except peaches, in great abundance, while their 

 quality cannot be excelled. It has a length of one hundred 

 and forty miles, and a width of fifty miles, or 4,480,000 

 acres— an area as large as Massachusetts, and larger than 

 the States of Connecticut and Delaware combined. It is 

 one of the handsomest portions of the American continent 

 in Summer, being one mass of verdure, as every spot in 

 sight is rich in growing grain, except those used for pastu- 

 rage and the space occupied by coppices of deciduous and 

 coniferous trees. Pretty towns, white and fresh-looking^ 

 nestle together every few miles, while far as the eye can 

 discern one sees picturesque farm houses dotting the land- 

 scape. There is an air of thrift, comfort, and pastoral 

 beauty about the entire valley that the traveler is impressed 

 with it at once. The contrast between the freshness of the 

 houses and their neat appearance, and the rickety, unkempt 

 aspect of similar structures in Eastern towns, is apparent 

 at a glance. Even the people seemed to be superior in in- 

 telligence to their rustic kindred of the East, and certainly 

 far better clad. I saw no indications of poverty any where, 

 for the reason that such a thing is unknown in the country. 

 No man is out of employment there, provided he is willing 

 to work, and as all receive good wages, and the necessaries 

 of life are cheap, pinching want, often the common lot 

 of laborers in other countries, is never experienced. It ia 

 the paradise of farmers, for they are never subject to the 

 varying fortunes of their kindred of the East. In the first 

 place, the seasons are so regular that there is no danger 

 that crops will be injured by storms or suffer from drought; 

 and attacks from blight or insects a»e not known. The 

 Summers are long and dry, so that crops can be left stand- 

 ing iu the field till November, and the Winters being rainj 



