390 W I L L A JI E T T E VALLEY. 



tible of cultivation, on account of tlie proximity of the snowy moun- 

 tains, which cause sudden changes, even in the heat of summer, that 

 would destroy the crops. 



His posts are amply supplied with salmon from the neighbouring 

 waters, that empty themselves into the sounds on the coast. These 

 fish are dried, and form the greatest part of the food of those employed 

 by the Company during the whole year. Their small-stores of flour, 

 &c., are all carried from Colville and Vancouver. Furs are very 

 plenty in the northern region, and are purchased at low prices from 

 the Indians : his return, this year, was valued at one hundred thou- 

 sand dollars, and this, he informed me, was much less than the usual 

 amount. 



On the other hand, the southern section of this country, I was here 

 informed, was scarcely worth the expense of an outlay for a party of 

 trappers. 



This southern country, as will be seen from what has been already 

 stated, is very well adapted to the raising of cattle and sheep : of the 

 former, many have been introduced by parties, which trap on their 

 way thither and return with cattle. Although there were but a few 

 head of them four or five years before, in 1841 there were upwards 

 of ten thousand. The whole country is particularly adapted to 

 grazing, w^hich, together with the mildness of the climate, must cause 

 this region to become, in a short time, one of the best-stocked coun- 

 tries in the world. 



The price of cattle may be quoted at ten dollars a head ; but those 

 that are broken in for labour, or milch-cows, command a higher price; 

 and in some places in the Willamette Valley they have been sold for 

 the enormous price of eighty dollars. Every endeavour is made to 

 keep the price of cattle up, as labour is usually paid for in stock. 



The price of labour for a mechanic may be set down at from two 

 dollars and a half, to three dollars a day; and there is much difiiculty 

 to procure them even at that rate. The wages for a common labourer 

 is one dollar per day. The price of wheat is fixed at sixty-two and a 

 half cents per bushel by the Company; for which any thing but 

 spirits may be drawn from the stores, at fifty per cent, advance on the 

 London cost. This is supposed, all things taken into consideration, 

 to be equal to one dollar and twelve cents per bushel ; but it is diffi- 

 cult for the settlers so to understand it, and they are by no means 

 satisfied with the rate. There is a description of currency here, 

 called beaver money ; which seems to be among the whites what 



