440 
TRAVELS IN OREGON, NO. 1. 
ceptible of producing all that would be necessary for the 
comfort and convenience of man. They were sadly 
disappointed when they found a large part of it barren 
and destitute even of pasturage, and that even the fertile 
portion was annually overflowed. The high prairie was 
equally gravelly and sterile. But Captain Wilkes con¬ 
siders that there is a sufficient quantity of good soil for 
a valuable agricultural country, and that it would be 
capable of affording subsistence to a large number of in¬ 
habitants, more, however, from the extraordinary fertility 
of these grounds than from their extent. 
While he was at Nisqually with the Exploring Expe¬ 
dition, Captain Wilkes organized two parties for the pur¬ 
pose of penetrating into the interior of Oregon. The 
fort at Nisqually is constructed of pickets enclosing a 
long square space, each side about two hundred feet, 
with four corner bastions. Within the enclosure are the 
agent’s stores, and half a dozen houses built of logs and 
roofed with bark. Its situation is not well chosen, being 
too far distant from good water, and its arrangements 
are on too small a scale for its importance as a trading 
and agricultural post. The appearance of the soil in its 
vicinity, covered with a profusion of all kinds of flowers, 
give an impression o.f extreme fertility, but upon exam¬ 
ination it proves to be extremely thin, composed of a 
light brown earth, intermixed with a large proportion of 
gravel and stones, an abundance of rain, which never 
falls during the summer months, being required to bring 
any crop to perfection. 
The Hudson’s Bay Company’s charter precludes it from 
engaging in farming operations, and they were for many 
years obliged to purchase agricultural products from the 
settlers in the country, and to import largely from Cali¬ 
fornia. This demand raised the price of wheat as high 
as seventy-five cents per bushel, and the small farmers 
exulted in good prospects, which were destined to a 
