WILLAMETTEVALLEY. 39I 



blankets are among the Indians. The value of the currency may be 

 estimated from the fact, that a beaver-skin represents about tvs^o dol- 

 lars throiighout the territory. 



In speaking of the Willamette Valley, I have viewed its advan- 

 tages for raising crops, pasturage of stock, and the facilities of settlers 

 becoming rich. There is, however, one objection to its ever becoming 

 a large settlement, in consequence of the interruption of the navigation 

 of its rivers in the dry season ; which renders it difficult to get to a 

 market, as well as to receive supplies. 



The salmon-fishery may be classed as one of the great sources of 

 wealth, for it affords a large amount of food at a very low price, and 

 of the very best quality : it does not extend above the falls. I found 

 it impossible to obtain any data to found a calculation of the quantity 

 taken, but it cannot be short of eight hundred barrels ; and this after 

 the Indian manner of catching them, as before described. The finest 

 of the salmon are those caught nearest the sea. 



The settlers and Indians told us that the salmon as they pass up 

 the river become poorer, and when they reach the tributaries of the 

 upper Columbia, they are exceedingly exhausted, and have their 

 bodies and heads much disfigured and cut, and their tails and fins 

 worn out by contact with the rocks. Many of the salmon in con- 

 sequence die : these the Indians are in the habit of drying for 

 food, by hanging them on the limbs of trees. This is to preserve 

 them from the wolves, and to be used in time of need, when they 

 are devoured, though rotten and full of masfTOts. The fish of the 

 upper waters are said to be hardly edible, and, compared with 

 those caught at the mouth of the Columbia, are totally different in 

 flavour. The latter are the richest and most delicious fish I ever 

 recollect to have tasted : if any thing they were too fat to eat, and one 

 can perceive a diff"erence even in those taken at the Willamette Falls, 

 which, however, are the best kind for salting. There are four dif- 

 ferent kinds of salmon, which frequent this river in different months : 

 the latest appears in October, and is the only kind that frequents the 

 Cowlitz river. The finest sort is a dark silvery fish, of large size, 

 three or four feet long, and weighing forty or fifty pounds. 



There is one point which seems to be still in doubt, namely, where 

 the spawn of this fish is deposited. It is asserted, and generally 

 believed, that none of the old fish ever return to the sea again. It has 

 not been ascertained whether the young fry go to the ocean ; and, if 



