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TRAVELS IN OREGON, NO. 2 . 
reach, and it being quickly carried down, the fish who 
are running up in a contrary direction are caught. Some¬ 
times twenty large fish are taken by a single person in 
an hour, and it is only surprising that more should not 
be caught. 
Passing above the falls, Captain Wilkes came to 
Champooing, where, in a log hut, he found Mr. Johnson 
living with his children and a wife whom he considered 
equal to half a dozen of the matrons of the civilized 
world. Cleanliness, however, was not one of her virtues, 
although her husband may not have accounted that as 
one of the cardinal virtues. Passing several farms of old 
servants of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which generally 
appeared thriving and comfortable, Captain Wilkes vis¬ 
ited successively the Catholic and Methodist missions. 
Of the latter he says, it seemed an out-of-the-way place 
to find persons of delicate habits struggling with diffi¬ 
culties such as they have to encounter, and overcoming 
them with cheerfulness and good temper. 
Of the different settlers in the valley of the Willamette, 
those of French descent appeared the most happy, con¬ 
tented and comfortable; while those of the Anglo-Saxon 
race manifested the eternally going ahead principle of 
the American citizen. This part of the country has 
great advantages for raising crops, pasturage of stock, 
and facilities for the settlers to become rich; but there is 
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. 
Returning from the Willamette, Captain Wilkes set 
out upon a new expedition, for the purpose of exploring 
the Wallawalla valley and river. They set out in com¬ 
pany with one of the company’s agents, Mr. Ogden, 
who led them first to the cascades of the Columbia, 
where his men astonished the Americans by their dis- 
