1. 1- i 1. ^s-^ t *. f .:r fu t*:*.!' riit"*:i;.m;> 11.^'* *■ a i»: f r $i: *: t . « ^: J- f . f J ..*-,^..*'- ^^WEllNIVER% ^^lOSMElfj^ ^-OFCAllFOfti^ ^OFCAllFOi?;^ ^- ^^M ^^^ ^^ ^.— '^ •',^ ^ ^tUBRARYQ<- ^^^IUBRARYOa A\^EUNIVERS'/^ ^lOSANCElfj> '^OJIWDJO't^ , >.^iOSANCnij> ;;in-# ^^^AaV}|8IT#^ ^X7T5nw^m^ '^/.?M3A!Nfl-3WV' o^lLiBRARYQr, -oAlllBRARYOc, ^ — ^ g' OSANCElfj> .-A^OFCAllFO^fc, "OSANCElfj> "^''^)J3AlNn}WV t= 1 1:^^' ^v ^^^UBRARY^?^ -;5^l•llBRARY<^ \\VM\ JIVER% ^VOSANGafj> ^OffAllFO/?^ ^OFCALIFOff^;, g ^ ^SOV il3AINn-3V\'-^ ^^mm^^ "^"^AHVjjaii-T^ ?ARY^/v ^ILIBRARYft fVOJO^' ^tfOJIlVD JO^' :.\\EUNIVERy, mi % ^- ,\T•^RRAR^ IIFO/?^> ,4,.OF-CAllF0/?.j, n * i >- ^ r\FrAiiPnr «? ^ x^ IVERy/A e .^ ^lOSANCELfx^ 1a ,4^"" 'ym> IVERJ/A ^lOSANCElfj o "^AaaAiNiVd^ '''i:?iJQNViov<^ tARYd?/;^ S V y^ M S ^6.. ^ >t ^lOSANCEl^;^ A^ ALL OVER OREGON /VND WASHINGTON. OBSERVATIONS ON THE COUNTRY, p fccncri], ^oil, |llim:iic, fcuinxf.'', ami \ m^m\m\\s, WITH AN OUTLINE OF ITS EARLY HISTORY, AND REMARKS ON ITS GEOLOGY, BOTANY, MINERALOGY, ETC. ALSO, HINTS TO IMMIGRANTS AND TRAVELERS CONCERNING ROUTES, THE COST OF TRAVEL, THE PRICE OF LAND, ETC. MRS. FRANCES FULLER VICTOR, AXJTHOn OF " ItrVEE OF THE WEST." SAN FRANCISCO: PRINTED BY JOHN H. CARMANY & CO., 409 WASHINGTON ST. 1872. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, By FRANCES FULLER VICTOR, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C Printed by Stereotyped at JOHN H. OAIt&L\NT It ,COi . , , •, TBV. CATJFOBMIA TYPS FOUTDEI. F88I PREFACE. After a residence of five years on the Pacific Coast — three of Avhich were spent in Oregon — a visit of several months was made to the Atlantic States, during which time I was called upon to do volumes of talk about the West Coast, especially about Ore- gon and Washington. — questions concerning which every body I met was sure to ask. The great dearth of information concern- ing these countries there, suggested to me the need of books which should faithfully and familiarly treat of them, their natural features and resources, together with their business and social condition. Although every summer of my residence in Oregon had here- to tofore been spent in excursions to different parts of Uie country, ^ I resolved on my return to repeat some of my previous journeys, ^ and make others in new directions, until all was perfectly famil- g iar, and thoroughly understood, which related to the geography, -^ topography, scenery, soil, climate, productions, and improve- ^ ments of the several sections of the two divisions of the North- S west Coast treated of in this volume. While it was a pleasm-e to me to familiarize myself with the country, the object of it was to enable me to answer, in print, all the various questions which had been asked me concerning it by Eastern people. If the reader follows my summer wander- ings as here given, he will, especially with any thing of a map before him, be able to obtain quite a complete picture of all that magnificent territory, now being rapidly brought into communi- cation with the East, through the enterprise of the several great railroad companies. Besides the general information thus given, I have thought it best to furnish many details of the condition of ti tSHD.'^ IV PREFACE. the agricultural districts, and their population, for the guidance of those persons who may be looking out for farms; and of the situation and pojiulation of towns, with a view to aid immigrants in the selection of homes. It is difficult to write with absolute correctness of those countries whose rapid development outruns the printer and publisher. Since this volume was put in the hands of the compositor, numerous con'ections have been made; and, between that time and this, new town -sites have been laid out, and other improvements commenced, which do not appear in these pages. But these slight omissions do not affect the general faithfulness of their contents; the whole constituting an amount of infonnation which could only be obtained, otherwise, by a considerable etpenditure of time and money. The beautiful and favored region of the North-west Coast is about to assume a commercial importance which is sure to stim- ulate inquiiy concerning the matters herein treated of. I trust enough is contained between the covers of this book to induce the very curious to come and see for themselves, PoETLAND, March, 1872. CONTENTS. PAGE. Preface iii Inteoduction 7 Chapter I. — Discovery 9 Chapter II. — Early History 17 Chapter III. — About the Mouth of the Columbia 35 Chapter IV. — Astoria and its Surroundings 45 Chapter V. — Among the Fisheries 57 Chapter VI. — Tributaries of the Lower Columbia C-t Chapter VII. — The Gorge of the Columbia 77 Chapter VIII. — From Dalles to Wallula 91 Chapter IX. — Walla Walla Valley 105 Chapter X. — A Glimpse at Idaho and Washington 119 Chapter XI. — A Brief Survey of Eastern Oregon 130 Chapter XII. — Up the Wallamet to Portland 145 Chapter XIII. —Oregon City 158 Chapter XIV. — Salem and its Surroundings 168 Chapter XV. — Albany, and other Eiver Towns 176 Chapter XVI. — The Wallamet Prairies 183 Chapter XVII. — Counties Compared 194 Chapter XVIII. — The Umpqua Valley 210 Chapter XIX. — Eogue Eiver Valley 217 CH.VPTER XX.— The Coast Country 224 Chapter XXI. — From the Columbia to the Sound 230 Chapter XXII. —Down the Sound 213 Chapter XXIII. — Bays and Islands 255 Chapter XXIV. — The Washington Coast 262 Chapter XXV. — Summary of Washington Territory 267 Chapter XXVI. — Climate of Oregon and Washington 272 VI CONTENTS. FAQE. Chapter XXVII. — Forests, and Lumbering 278 Chapter XXVIII. — Botany of the Prairies 294 Chapter XXIX, — Wild Sports 300 Chapter XXX. — Among the Mountains 310 Chapter XXXI. — Geological Formation of Oregon 321 Chapter XXXTI. — lilineralogy of Oregon 333 Chapter XXXIII. — About Farming, and Other Business. 343 Chapter XXXIV. — Land and Land Laws, Railroads, Eoutes, etc.... ....356 INTRODUCTION. The River is the Soul of the land to which it be- longs. Fringing its banks, floating upon its waters, are the interests, the history, and the romance of the people. Our ideas of every nation are intimately associated with our ideas of its rivers. To mention the name of one, is to suggest the characteristics of the other. How the word Euphrates recalls the earliest ages of man's history on this globe ! The Nile reminds us of a civilization on which the whole of Europe depended for whatever was enlightened or refined anterior to the Christian Era. The Tiber is rich in historic associa- tions of the proudest empire the world ever knew. What romances of Moorish power and splendor are conjured up by the mention of the Guadalquivir! The Rhine is so enwreathed with flowers of song, that the actual history of its battlemented towers is lost from view; and yet the mention of its name gives us a sat- isfying conception of the ideal Germany, past and present. So the Thames, the Rhone, the Danube, are so many words for the English, the French, and the Austrian peoples. In our own country, what different ideas attach to Connecticut, Hudson, Savannah, and Missis- sippi ! How quickly the pictures are shifted in the stereoscope of imagination by changing Orinoco for San Joaquin, Amazon for Sacramento, or Rio de la Plata for Columbia, upon our tongues. It is not that one is 8 INTRODUCTION. longer or shorter, or wider or deeper, than another : it is that each conveys a thought of the country, the people, the history, and the commerce of its own peculiar region. In comparison with other rivers of equal size and geographical importance, the Columbia is very little known. That generation is yet in its prime which was taught that the whole of the North-west Territory was Oregon — that it had one river, the Columbia, and one town, Portland, situated on the Columbia. It is the object of this volume to correct these effete notions of one of the most genial and beautiful portions of our Republic ; and to connect with the name of the Columbia some proper ideas of its history, geography, commerce, and scenery, as well as to describe the ex- tensive country which it drains. ALL OYER OPiEGON AND WASHINGTON. CHAPTER I DISCOVERY.' From the year 1513, wlicn Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean at Panama, the navigators of Spain, and of every rival naval power which arose for the follow- ing two hundred and seventy-nine years, were search- ing for some strait, or river, which should furnish water communication between the two great oceans which border the American continent. The Strait of Magel- lan, discovered soon after the Pacific, afforded a way by which vessels could enter this ocean from the west- ern side of the Atlantic; but it was far to the south, crooked, and dangerous. After the discovery by the English buccaneer, Drake, of the passage around Cape Horn, the search was continued with redoubled inter- est. Not only the Spanish and Portuguese entered into it; but the English, who had found the great inland sea of Hudson's Bay penetrating the continent toward the west, endeavored, by offering prizes, to stimulate the zeal of navigators in looking for the North-west Passage. A rumor continued to circulate through the world, vague, mystical, and romantic, of half discoveries by 2 10 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. one and another power; and tales, wilder than any thing but pure fiction, were soberly listened to by crowned heads — all of which went to confirm the be- lief in the hoped-for straits, which one pretender to discovery even went so far as to name, and give lati- tude and lonsritude. The Straits of Anian he called them; and so, all the world was looking for Fretum Anian. All this agitation could not go for nothing. By dint of sailing up and down the west coast of the continent, some actual discoveries of importance were made, and other hints of things not yet discovered were received. There even appeared upon the Spanish charts the name of a river somewhere between the 40th and 50th par- allels—the San Roque — supposed to be a large river, possibly the long -sought channel of communication with the Atlantic ; but no account of having entered it was ever given. Then, vague mention began to be made of the " River of the West," whose latitude and longitude nobody knew. Just before the War of the Revolution, a Colonial Captain, one Jonathan Carver, being inspired with a desire to know more of the interior of the continent, traveled as far west as the headwaters of the Missis- sippi. While on this tour, he heard, from the Indians with whom he conversed, some mention of other In- dians to the west, who told tales of a range of mount- ains called Stony Mountains, and of a great river rising in them, and flowing westward to the sea, which they called Oregon. After the War of the Revolution, Great Britain re- sumed her voyages of discovery. A fleet was fitted out to survey the North-west coast of America, which it was thought might be claimed by her on account of DISCOVERY. 11 the voyage to it by Captain Cook some years previous. The surveys conducted b}^ Captain Vancouver were elaborate and scientific. He, too, like those who had gone before him, was looking for the " River of the West," or the North-west Passage. But that obtuseness of perception, which sometimes overtakes the most sharp -sighted, overtook Captain Vancouver when his vessel passed the legendary river; for it was broad daylight and clear weather, so that he saw the headlands, and still he declared that there was no river there — only a sort of a bay. Fortunately, a sharper eye than his had scanned the same opening not long before: the eye of one of that proverbially sharp nation, the Yankee. Captain Rob- ert Gray, sailing a vessel in the emplo}^ of a firm of Boston traders, in taking a look at the inlet, and no- ticing the color of the water, did think there was a river there, and so told the English Captain when his vessel was spoken. Finding that his impressions were treated with superior skepticism, the Yankee Captain turned back to take another look. This second obser- vation was conclusive. He sailed in on the 11th of May, 1792. From the log-book of the Coluiitbia, Captain Cray's ship, we take the following extracts : At four o'clock, on the morning of the 11th, "beheld our desired port, bearing east-south-east, distant six leagues. At eight A.M., being a little to the windward of the entrance of the harbor, bore away, and ran in east-north-east, be- tween the breakers, having from five to seven fathoms of water. When we were over the bar, we found this to be a large river of fresh water, up which we steered. Many canoes came alongside. At one p.m., came to, with the small bower, in ten fathoms; black and white 12 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. sand. The entrance between the bars bore west-south- west, distant ten miles ; the north side of the river, dis- tant a half mile from the. ship; the south side of the same, two and a half miles distant; a village on the north side of the river, west by north, distant three- quarters of a mile. Vast numbers of the natives came alongside: people employed pumping the salt water out of our water casks, in order to fill with fresh, while the ship floated in. So ends.'' No, not so ends, modest Captain Gray, of the ship Columhia! The end is not j^et, nor will be, until all the vast territory, rich with every production of the earth, which is drained by the waters of the new-found river, shall have yielded up its illimitable wealth to dis- tant generations. The Columhia s log-book certainly does not betray any great elation of mind in her officers on reaching the "desired port." Everything is recorded calmly and simply — quite in the way of business. Only from chance expressions, and the determination to make the "desired port," does it appear that Gray's heart was set on discovering the San Roque of the Spanish nav- igators — the "River of the West" of the rest of man- kind. No explorer he, talking grandly of "minute inspections" and of "unalterable opinions ! " Only an adventurous, and, withal, a prudent trader, looking out for the main chance, and, perhaps, emulous of a little glory. No doubt his stout heart quaked a little with ex- citement, as he ran in for the " opening." We could pardon him if it shrank somewhat at sight of the hungry breakers; but it must have been a poor and pulseless affair of a heart that did not give a throb of exultation, as his good sliip, dashing the foam from DISCOVERY. 13 her prow, sailed between the wliite lines of surf safely — througli the proper channel, thank God! — out upon the broad bosom of the mo^ magnificent of rivers. We trust the morning was fine, and that Captain Gray had a perfect view of the noble scenery surround- ing him: of a golden sunrise from a horizon fretted by the peaks of lofty hills, bearing tliick unbroken forests of giant trees; of low shores embowered in flowering shrubber}^; of numerous mountain -spurs putting out into the wide bay, extending miles cast and west, and north and south, forming numerous other bays and .coves, where boats might lie in safety from any storm outside; of other streams dividing the mountains into ridges, and poinding their tributary waters into the great river, through narrow gaps that half revealed and half concealed the fertile valle3's nestled away from inquisitive eyes: and that, as he tried in vain to look beyond the dark ridge of Tongue Point, around whose foot flowed the broad, deep current whose ori- gin was still a mystery, he realized by a prophetic sense the importance of that morning's transaction. No other reward had he in his lifetime, and we trust he had that. From the ship's log-book, we learn that he did not leave the river for ten days, during which time the men were employed calking the pinnace; paying the ship's side with tar, painting the same, and doing such carpenter -work as was needed to put the vessel in re- pair after her long voyage out from Boston. All this time, "vast numbers" of natives were alongside con- tinually, and the Captain must have driven a thriving ti'^ide in furs, salmon, and the like. On the 14th, he sailed up the river about fifteen miles, getting aground just above Tongue Point, where he mistook the chau- 14 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. iiel among the many islands; but the ship ''coming off without any assistance," he dropped down to a better anchoring place. « On the 15th, in the afternoon. Captain Gray, and Mr. Hoskins, the first officer, "went on shore in the jolly-boat, to take a short view of the country." On the IGtli, the ship returned to her first position off the Chinook village, and was again surrounded by the canoes of that people. Just as it w^as seventy-nine years ago, the Chinook village remains to-day — a clus- ter of huts on the north side of the river; but its peo- ple are no longer numerous. It is rare to see a single canoe, where they used to swarm in fleets on this por- tion of the river. Captain Gray was thinking of getting to sea again by the 18th; but on standing dowm the river toward the bar, the wind came light and fluttering, and again the anchor was dropped. He must now decide upon a name for this great stream, which from its volume he knew must come from the heart of the continent. The log of the 19th says : "Fresh and clear weather. Early a number of canoes came alongside : seamen and trades- men employed in their various departments. Captain Gray gave the river the name of Columbia's River; and the north side of the entrance. Cape Hancock ; that on the south side. Point Adams." On the 20 til of May, the sliip took up anchor, made sail, and stood down the river, coming, as the follow- ing extract will show, near being wrecked: "At two, the wind left us, we being on the bar with a very strong tide, which set on the breakers. It was now not possible to get out without a breeze to shoot her across the tide; so, we were obliged to bring up in three and a half fathoms, the tide running five knots. DISCOVERY. 15 At three-quarters past two, a fresh wind came in from seaward; we immediately came to sail and beat over the bar, having from five to seven fathoms water in the channel. At five p.m., we were out, clear of all the bars, and in twenty fathoms water." Captain Gray proceeded from Columbia's River to Nootka Sound, a favorite harbor for trading vessels, but in dispute at that time between Spain and Great Britain. Here he reported his discovery to the Span- ish Comandante, Quadra, and gave him a copy of his charts. In the controversy which afterward happened between Great Britain and the United States, concern- ing the title to the Oregon territory, the value of this precaution became apparent: for in that controversy the Comandante' s evidence destroyed the pretensions of Vancouver's lieutenant, Broughton, who, on having heard of Gray's discovery, returned to the Columbia River, and made a survey of it up as far as the mouth of the "Wallamet, founding upon this survey the claim of Great Britain to a discovery -title. The subterfuge was resorted to of denying that the Columbia was a river below Tongue Point; but it was claimed that it was an inlet or sound. Were it not a fact patent to every one, that a river must extend as far as the force of its current is felt, the pretense would still be per- fectly transparent, since Gray must have passed Tongue Point, and been in what Broughton claimed to be the actual river before he grounded^ Yeai-^ afterward, the log-book of the obscure Yankee trader, and the evi- dence of Comandante Quadra, overbore all strained pre- tenses, and manifest destiny made Oregon and its great river a portion of the American Republic. Captain Robert Gray was the first man to carry the flas; of the United States around the world, having. 16 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. in the .spring of 1792, just returned from a vo^^age from Xootka to Canton, and from Canton to Boston, by way of the Cape of Good Hope. He continued to command a trading vessel up to the time of his death, in 1809. Gray's Harbor, on the coast of Washington Territory, was discovered and named by him, the name remaining as a memorial. Ought he not have some other ? In October, 1792, Vancouver having finished the survey of Puget Sound, in which the Spanish fleet was also engaged, Broughton was dispatched to the Columbia River, with the Chatham^ which grounded just inside Cape Hancock; was got off, and anchored in a small bay on the north side of the river, known as Baker's Bay. In this cove he found, to his surprise, another vessel, the brig Jenny, from Bristol, England, commanded by Captain Baker, from whom he had parted in Nootka Sound. The cove was thence named Baker's Bay. From this time, the Columbia continued to be visited by trading vessels up to the war of 1812, which interrupted this sort of traffic for the time. CHAPTER II. EARLY HISTORY. In the commencement of the present century, when we paid for our teas and silks with seal-skins, cocoa- nut oil, and sandal-wood, not to mention turtle and a])alone shells, the United States were bounded by the British provinces on the north, by the Spanish possessions, called Florida, on the south, and by the French possessions, called . Louisiana, on the west. Our sea-coast extended only from the northern bound- ary of Maine to the southern boundary of Georgia; and the Mississippi River represented our western water-front, although the settlements in that part of our territory were chiefly French. Beyond the Mis- sissippi was an expanse of country whose extent was undreamed of, as its geographical configuration was unknown. The explorations of the British Fur Com- panies in the north had revealed the existence of high mountains, and great rivers in that direction; while the little knowledge obtained of the sources of the Missouri, the Columbia, and the Colorado, together with the immense volumes of these rivers, at so great an apparent distance from their springs, was sufficient to stimulate public inquiry and scientific rosearch. How long such inquiry would have been deferred, but for a fortunate turn in the public affairs of the United States, can only be conjectured. Our 3^oung Republic had barely established her in- dependence, and shaken off the lingering grasp of 18 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. Great Britain from the forts and towns bordering on the Great Lakes ; had only just begun to feel the young giant's blood in her veins, and to trust her own strength when measured with that of an older and adroit foe — when the nineteenth century dawned, in .which so much has already been accomplished, though its seventh decade is but just completed. The first event of importance marking this period, and bearing upon the history of Oregon, was the pur- chase from France of the Louisiana territory. This was a vast area of country, drained by the waters of the Mississippi, and originally settled by the French from Canada, especially in its more northern parts. Not- withstanding the Spaniards had discovered the lower Mississippi, and claimed a great extent of country un- der the general name of Florida, King Louis XI Y. of France, in consideration of the fact that the region of the Mississippi remained unoccupied by Spain, while it was gradually being settled by his own peo- ple, thought proper to grant to Antoine Crozat, in 1712, the exclusive trade of the whole of southern Louisiana, the country included in this grant extend- ing "from the sea-shore to the Illinois, together with the Rivers St. Philip (the Missouri), and the St. Je- rome (the Ohio), witli all the countries, territories, lakes in the land, and rivers emptying directly or in- directly into that part of the River St. Louis " (the Mississippi). Spain not being able to offer any suc- cessful opposition to this extensive land-grant of terri- tories to which she laid claim by the right of dis- covery, Crozat remained in possession of Louisiana, under the general government of New France, until 1717, when, not finding the principality such a mine of wealth as he expected it to be, and having sufl'ercd a EARLY HISTORY. 19 great private grief which took away the love of power, he relinquished his title, and Louisiana reverted to the crown. The Illinois country was afterward added to the original Louisiana territory, and the whole once more granted to Laivs 3fississippi Compamj^ which com- pany lield it until 1732, when, the bubble of specu- lation being hopelessly flattened, Louisiana once more reverted to the French crown, and remained a French province until 17G9, In the meantime, however, certain negotiations were being carried forward which were to decide the future boundaries of the United States. In 1TG2, on the 3d of November, a convention was held at Paris, to settle the preliminaries of peace between France and Spain on the one part, and England and Portugal on the other, in which convention it was agreed that France should cede to Spain ''all tho countr}^ known under the name of Louisiana, as also New Orleans and the island on which that city is situated." On the 23d of the same montli, this cession was formally concluded, giving to Spain, with the consent of Great Britain and Portugal, all the country drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, except a small portion north of the Illinois country, which was never mentioned in the boundaries of Louisiana. In less than three months after the cession of Louisiana to Spain, a treaty was concluded in Paris between the same high contracting parties, by which Great Britain obtained from France Canada, and from Spain Florida, and that portion of Louisiana east of a line drawn along the middle of the Mississippi, "from its source to the River Iberville, and thence along the middle of the Iberville, and the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea." 20 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. This treaty defined the limits of the territories be- longing to Great Britain, and set aside any former grants of English Kings, made when the extent of the continent was not even surmised. Thus, at the close of the Revolutionary War, when the United States became heirs of all the British possessions south of Canada, their western boundary, as before mentioned, was the Mississippi, as far south as the River Iberville and Lake Pontchartrain — New Orleans and the mouths of the Mississippi belonging to Spain. Florida, during the time it was in the hands of Great Britain, had been divided into two provinces, separated by the Appalachicola River, and settled chiefly by emi- grants from the south of Europe, to whose numbers, also, a few Carolinians were added. This colony of foreigners was used, in connection with the savage na- tives of Florida, with great effect against the southern colonies during the War of Independence. However, while they were directing their energies against Geor- gia, the Spaniards of Louisiana seized the opportunity for making incursions into these nondescript British provinces, and captured their chief towns, thereby ren- dering them worthless to Great Britain; and in 1783, Florida was retroceded to Spain, in whose hands it was in the beginning of the nineteenth century, then form- ing the southern boundary of the United States In all these transactions the limits of neither Flor- ida nor Louisiana had ever been distinctly defined ; the southern boundaries of the latter infringing upon the western boundaries of the former territory. In 1800, when Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, it was described in the treaty as being the "same in extent that it now is in the hands of Spain, and that, it had been ivlien France possessed it" — that is, embracing the EARLY HISTORY. 21 whole territory drained by the Mississippi and its trib- utaries, ''directly or indirectly," In 1803, April 30th, this vast extent of country was ceded to the United States by France, "with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully, and in the same manner, as they had been acquired by the French Republic," by the retrocession of Spain. By this transfer on the part of France, the Spanish govern- ment seemed at first disposed to be ollfended, and to offer obstacles to the settlement of the ximericans in their newly acquired territory. Doubtless, this feeling arose from the unsettled condition of the boundary questions, and a fear that the United States would, as they did, demand the surrender of the whole of the original territory of Louisiana, called for by the treaty. Spain then undertook to prove that the pretensions of France to any territories west of the Mississippi could not bo supported, and that the French settlements were only tolerated by Spain for the sake of peace. Such a discrepancy between the views of the two na- tions forbade negotiation at that time, and the matter rested, not to be revived until 1817. In the mean- time, however, the United States, in 1811, feeling the necessity of holding the principal posts in the disputed territory against all other powers, took possession of the country west of the Perdido River, which was un- derstood to be the western limit of Florida. But a British expeditioii having fitted out from Pensacola during the second war with Great Britain, the United States sent General Jackson to capture it, which he did in 1814, and again in 1818, as also the Fort of St. Mark. Those repeated demonstrations of the spirit of the United States led to further and more successful negotiations with Spain, which power finally ceded to 22 OREGON AND TTASHINGTON. the American Government the whole of the territory claimed to belong to Florida, February 22, 1819, the boundaries being settled as follows : "Article 3. The boundary line between the two countries west of the Mississippi shall begin on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine, in the sea, continuing north, along the western bank of that river, to the 2od degree of latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of JS^atchitoches, or Red River; then, following the course of the Rio Roxo westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London and 23 from Washington; then, crossing said Red River, and running thence, by a line due north, to the River Arkansas ; thence, following the course of the south- ern bank of the Arkansas, to its source in latitude 42 north ; and thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea." Other particulars are added in the article quoted, the meaning of which is the same as the foregoing: intended to fix the western boundary of the United States, as regarded the Spanish possessions, and the eastern and northern boundaries of the Spanish pos- sessions, as regarded the United States. Spain had never withdrawn her pretensions to the North-west Coast; but, being unable to colonize this distant territory, and still less able to hold it by garri- sons in forts, she tacitly relinquished her claim to the United States, by making the forty-second parallel the northern limit of her possessions on the Pacific. The United States were then at liberty to take possession of that which Spain relinquished in tlicir favor; in fact, had the same right to this remote territory that they EARLY HISTORY. 23 had to the Florida and Louisiana territories, which were obtained by treaty from nations claiming them by the right of discovery. But the claims of the United States to the so-called Oregon territory had even better foundations than this, if it be considered that Spain had actually abandoned her possessions in the north-west; for, in that case, the Oregon territory was theirs by the right of dis- covery and actual occupation, as well as by contiguity, by treaty, etc. At the time that Gray discovered and named Columbia's River, important as the discovery was, it awakened but little thought in the American mind; because, as yet, we had not acquired Louisiana, stretching to the Rocky Mountains, nor even secured the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, which was much more of an object, at that time, than the coast of the Pacific. However, when Louisiana became ours, the national mind awoke to the splendid possibilities of the nation's future. It was not for naught that a com- pany of Boston merchants had opened a trade between China and the North-west Coast; albeit, their captains gathered up trinkets of all sorts to add to their stock in trade, should furs fall short of the market. Not in vain had the prying Boston traders peered into all in- lets, bays, and rivers on the North-west Coast. When it came to discovery-rights, they had more claims than any people, the original discoverers excepted; and when Captain Vancouver's journal was published, it only con^■inced them that they should be fools not to profit by what it was so evidently fair they should profit by, though they did not quite see the way clear to the occupancy of the country which Columbia's River was believed to drain, nor of the islands and bays which their trading ships had explored. If Spain 24 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. chose to hold possession of these coasts, they would not interfere; but if Great Britain attempted to over- ride both Spain and America, in laying claim to the Pacific side of the continent, something might be done by way of preventing this attempt. Such must have been the thought, half-indulged, half- repressed, in the American mind, previous to the ac- quisition of the great Louisiana territory. After that acquisition, it became more decided. The fact that Gray had discovered the great River of the West, which for a century had been sought after, the in- creasing evidences of the incapacity of Spain to hold this far-off coast against intruders, the feeling that Great Britain had no ria;ht to the countries she had so pompously taken possession of in the face of their actual discoverers — all these reasons, joined to the probable fact that the Louisiana territory bordered upon that drained by the great western river, which an American was first to enter and explore, at length shaped the policy of a few leading minds among Amer- ican statesmen. It was even contended by some, that, as the west- ern boundary of Louisiana had never been fixed, and, indeed, was entirely unknown — since the Missouri and its tributaries had -never been explored — the limits of the newly -acquired territory might be considered as extending to the Pacific; and if one were to consult the old French maps for confirmation of such an opin- ion, he would find New France^ to which Louisiana belonged, extending from ocean to ocean. Yet, a per- fectly candid mind would ignore the authority of maps drawn from rumor and imagination, and wish to found an opinion upon facts, it was to secure such facts and to carry out, as far as possible, the lately formed policy EARLY HISTORY. 25 of loading statesmen, that President Jefferson, even be- fore the transfer of Louisiana was completed, addressed a confidential message to Congress, urging that means should be immediately taken to explore the sources of the Missouri and the Platte, and to ascertain whether the Columbia, the Oregon, the Colorado, or any other river, offered a direct and practicable water -communi- cation across the continent, for purposes of commerce. The suggestions of the President being approved, com- missions were issued to Captains Merriwcther Lewis and William Clarke to perform this service. Captain Lewis made immediate preparations, and, by the time that the news of the ratification of the treaty had been received, was ready to commence his journey to the unknown West. It was already summer when this news was received, and, although the party were ready to advance into the Indian country, it was too late to accomplish much of their journey before winter ; besides which, some delay occurring in the surrender of the country west of the Mississippi, the party were not able to cross that river until December — in consequence of which detention, the ascent of the Missouri could not be un- dertaken before the middle of May, of the following year. The exploring party consisted of but forty-four men — an insignificant force to send into an Indian country — yet, perhaps, all the safer for its insignifi- cance. They had to make the ascent against the cur- rent of the Mad lliver in boats, three of which suf- ficed to accommodate this adventurous expedition. By the end of October, they had arrived in the Mandan country, near the forty-eighth degree of latitude, or sixteen hundred miles from the Mississippi, where they made their winter camp. As every school -library is 3 26 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. furnished with the printed journal of Lewis and Clarke, it is unnecessary to dwell upon the incidents of their memorable journey across the continent. It is only with its results that we have to deal in this sketch. One of its results was developed at this early period, or during their stay at the Mandan village: which was, to alarm the North-west Fur Company, and, through them, the English Government, as to the designs of the Americans concerning the northern coast of the Pacific. It has been before stated, that the North-west Company had been compelled reluctantly to resign the posts along the Great Lakes, belonging to the United States, after the Revolutionary War. They still con- tinued to hunt and trap, and had established their trading-posts in all that country lying about the head- waters of the Mississippi; and their employees were scattered throughout the region east of the Missouri, and west of the Lakes — even having penetrated, on one occasion, to the foot of the Rocky Mountains. It happened that, while Lewis and Clarke were at the Mandan villages, the fact of their visit, and the object of it, which had been explained to the Indians, were communicated to some members of the North-west Company, who had a post about three days' journey from there. So much alarmed was Mr. Chaboillez, who resided at this post, that he wrote immediately to another partner, Mr. D. W. Harmon, a native of New England ; and, upon receiving a visit from him, urged Mr. Harmon to set out in the following spring upon the same route pursued by Lewis and Clarke, accom- panied by Indian guides, doubtless with the intention of arriving at the head-waters of the Missouri, in ad- vance of the American expedition ; but, in this praise- worthy strife for jDrecedence they were in this instance EARLY HISTORY. 27 defeated — Mr. Ilarmon proceeding no further than the Mandan vilhiges, while Lewis and Clarke prosecuted their undertaking with diligence, leaving the Mandan country on the 7th of April, 1805, and arriving at the Great Falls of the Missouri on the 13th of June. The reader need not be reminded of the difficulties attend- ing such a journey as the one undertaken by our ex- ploring party : when, the course of navigation being in- terrupted, boats had to be abandoned, toilsome portages made, new boats constructed, and all the novel hard- ships of the wilderness endured. Such tests of cour- age have been encountered by thousands since that time, in the settlement of the Pacific Coast; but that fi\ct does not lessen the glory which attaches to the fame of the great pioneers commissioned to discover the hidden sources of America's greatest rivers. Those faithful services secured to us inestimable blessings, in extended territories, salubrious climates, and exhaust- less wealth of natural resources. Lewis and Clarke, having re -embarked m canoes hollowed out of logs, arrived at the Gate of the Mount- ains on the 19th of July, in the very neighborhood where thousands of men are to-day probing the earth for her concealed treasures of gold and silver. Pro- ceeding on to the several forks of the Missouri — the Jefferson, the Madison, and the Gallatin — and finding themselves in the midst of the mountains, the two captains left a portion of their men to explore the largest of these, while they, with the remainder of the party, pushed on through the mountains until they came to streams flowing toward the west. At this intimation that their labors were about to be crowned with success, they rejoined tlieir party at the head of the Jefferson Fork, and prepared for the rugged work 28 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. of crossing that majestic range, now become so familiar. Cdncealing their goods and canoes in caches, after the fashion of all knowing mountaineers, and being fur- nished with horses and guides by the Shoshones, or Snake Indians, whose later hostility to the whites makes us wonder at their early friendship for Lewis and Clarke, the party commenced the passage of the Rocky Mountains on the 30th of August. Severe was their toil, and great were the sufferings they endured from hunger and cold; but, at length, their trials passed, they arrived at a stream on which their Indian guides allowed them to embark. This was the Clear- water River, the banks of which have since become historic ground. The party were glad again to be able to resume water navigation, and hastened to build their canoes, and place their horses in charge of the Chopunish, or Nez Perce tribe of Indians, whose extraordinary fidel- ity to the treaty formed at that time with Lewis and Clarke is one of the wonders of history. On the 7tli of October, they began to descend the Clearwater, and three days later entered upon that great branch of the Columbia, whose springs they had, indeed, tasted in the mountains, but upon whose bosom no party of civilized men had ever before embarked. Men are apt to dwell with enthusiasm upon the pride of a conqueror; but, certainl}^, there must be that in the exultation of a discoverer, which is far more pure, elevated, and happifying. To have suc- ceeded, by patient research and energetic toil, in secur- ing that which others secure by blood and devastation only, is justly a subject of self-congratulation, as it is also deserving of praise. The choicest wine, from the costliest chalice, could hardly have been so sweet to EARLY HISTORY. 29 the taste of our hardy exploring party, as the ice-cold draught of living water dipped from the mountain res- ervoirs whose streams "flowed toward the west." With equal pride must they have launched their frail canoes on that river which now bears the name of the chief of the expedition. As they descended to the junction with the northern branch, and found themselves at last fairly embarked on the main Columbia, when they beheld the beauty and magnitude of this King of Riv- ers, and remembered that their errand, so successfully carried out, was to find a "highway for commerce," their toils and privations must have appeared to them rather in the light of pleasures than of griefs. As the first party of white men to pass through the magnifi- cent mountain-gap where the great river breaks through the Cascade Range, and to meet the tides of the Pacif- ic just on the westward side, the party of Lewis and Clarke have won, and ever must retain, an honorable renown. The voyage from this point to the mouth of the Columbia was soon accomplished. On the 15th of November, the expedition landed at Cape Hancock, commonly called "Disappointment," on the north side of the river, having traveled a distance of more than four thousand miles from the Mississippi River. The rainy season, which usually sets in about the 18th of November, had already commenced, so that our ex- plorers had some difficulty in finding a suitable winter camping -ground. At first, they tried the peninsula north of Cape Hancock, but were driven from their ground by the floods. Then they resorted to the south side of the river, somewhat ffirther back from the ocean, building a log fort on a small stream which is still called "Lewis and Clarke River." There they 30 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. contrived to pass the winter without actual starvation, though they were often threatened with it, from the difficulty of obtaining food at this season of the year. Game was scarce, except in the coast mountains, which are very rugged and thickly wooded ; while fishing could not be carried on successfully except w^ith other boats than their slight canoes, which were entirely unfit for the winter winds and waves of the lower Columbia. The Indians, among whom the}^ wintered, called them- selves ''Clatsops," and were sufficiently friendly, but had no food to spare save at the very highest prices. The Chinooks on the north side of the Columbia, the same people Captain Gray had traded with thirteen years before, were equally exorbitant in their prices, and exercised a monopoly of the necessaries of life quite equal to that of the most practiced extortionists. Nothing could be effected in the way of explorations of the country during the winter of 1805-6, on account of the rains, which were constant and excessive; and the party, however unwillingly, remained at Fort Clat- sop until the middle of March, going no farther away than to Cape Lookout, about fifty miles down the coast. As soon as the rainy season had closed, Lewis and Clarke re -embarked their men, and returned up the river, surveying the shores in their voyage. In this passage they discovered the Cowlitz River, the princi- pal tributary emptying into the Columbia from the nortli side anywhere west of tlie Cascades. The Wal- lamet River was also discovered, but remained unex- plored, from the anxiety of the expedition to return to the United States. By the middle of April, the party had abandoned their canoes at the gap in the Cascade Mountains, wlicre the river forms dangerous rapids; and, pur- EARLY HISTORY. 31 chasing Indian horses, continued the journey on horse- back to the Nez Perces country, where these faithful allies met them on their return, not witli friendship only, but with the animals confided to their care the preceding autumn — an example of Indian integrity worthy of mention, and, as it proved, indicative of a character shown in the events of succeeding years. After crossing the Rocky Mountains to Clarke's River, the two leaders of the expedition separated — Captain Lewis going northward, down the Clarke Riv- er, and Captain Clarke proceeding toward its source. On the 12th of August, the two captains met at the mouth of the Yellowstone, having explored that riv- er, as well as the Clarke, and traversed a great extent of country then unknown to white men, but where white men, to-day, are suffering the flushes and the rigors of that most infectious and fatal complaint — the gold-fever — ^^in the Territory of Montana. At about the mouth of the Maria River, Captain Lewis had an encounter with the Blackfeet, the most savage and dreaded of the mountain tribes. In this conflict one of the Indians was killed, which caused the others to desist at that time ; yet, no doubt, many a white man's scalp has been taken in revenge, accord- ing to savage custom — and the wonder still remains that the party escaped alive out of the countr3^ After re -uniting their forces — their mission being accomplished — the expedition once more embarked on the Missouri River, and arrived at &t. Louis Sep- tember 2Dd, having traveled in less than three years, by canoe and saddle, carrying their own supplies, more than nine thousand miles. Of the results of the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, it ma}^ be said, that it was the first great act, wisely 32 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. conceived and well executed, which secured the Ore- gon territory to the United States. It was the begin- ning, too, of a struggle for possession between this country and Great Britain, dating from the meeting of the North' west Company's men with the men of the American expedition at the Mandan villages. Happily, all these struggles for precedence are matters of past history now; and, to-day, both English and American citizens seek and find homes on Oregon soil, where, according to a wise act of Congress, one may be had for the taking. The first attempt that was made to form a settlement on the Columbia River was by the Winship brothers, in ISIO. On the 7th of July, 1809, there sailed from Boston two ships — the O'Ca'ui, Captain Jonathan Win- ship, and the Albatross, Captain Xathan Winship. The GCain proceeded direct to California, to trade out a cargo of goods with the padres of the Missions, and their converts; and the Albatross sailed for the Sand- wich Islands, with twenty -five persons on board. At the Islands she provisioned, and took on board twenty- five more men, leaving port for the Columbia, March 25th, 1810. Arriving in the river early in the spring. Captain Winship cruised along up, for ten days, finally select- ing a site on the south side, about forty miles from its mouth, and opposite the place now known as "Oak Point," though its name is borrowed from Captain Winsliip's place. Here he commenced founding an establishment, and, for a time, every thing progressed satisfactorily. A tract of ground, being cleared, was planted with vegetables; a building was erected; and, wliile the river banks were gay with the blossoming shrubbery of early summer, our captain and his fifty EARLY HISTORY. 33 workmen rejoiced in the promise of a speedy consum- mation of their plans of colonization. Their hopes, however, were soon overthrown by an unlooked-for occurrence; and the daring pioneers, who feared the face of neither man nor beast in all that wilderness, found themselves confronted with an adversary against which it was useless to contend. The snows had melt- ed in the mountains a thousand miles eastward, and the summer flood came down upon their new planta- tion, washing the seeds out of the earth and covering the floors of their houses two feet deep with water — demonstrating conclusively the unfitness of the site selected for their settlement. Without doubt, this company of adventurers -were by turns wroth and sorrowful. Their seeds were lost; their residences made uninhabitable, even had they desired to remain, which they did not. Captain Win- ship at once re -embarked his men, and sailed for Cal- ifornia to consult with his brother. Here he was met by the intelligence of the formation of the Pacific Fur Company, with John Jacob Astor at its head, and the intention of this company to occupy the Columbia River. Competition witli so powerful an association was not to be thought of, and the brothers Winship abandoned their enterprise. As men of large ideas and fearless action, they should be remembered in connection with the history of the Columbia River. In March of the following year, that portion of Mr. Aster's expedition which was to come by sea, did ar- rive on the Columbia — not, however, without the loss of eight men on the bar, through the impatience and overbearing temper of the commander of" the Tonqiim, Captain Thorne. Subsequently, the Indians of the Straits of Fuca destroyed the Tonquin, massacring all 34 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. her ofScers and crew, twenty -three in number. The land expedition suffered incredible hardships: supply vessels failed to arrive; war with Great Britain broke outj preventing Mr. Astor from carrying out his plans; the Canadian partners took advantage of the situation to betray Mr. Aster's interests; and, after two years of hope deferred, the establishment at Astoria was sold out to a British company, and the enterprise aban- doned — the place having been "captured" by the British. After the close of the war of 1812, Astoria was re- stored to the United States, and Mr. Astor would have renewed his enterprise, notwithstanding his heavy losses, had Congress guaranteed him protection, and lent its aid ; but the Government pursued a cautious policy at this time, and the Oregon territory remained in the hands of the British fur traders exclusively for the twenty j^ears following, notwithstanding a treaty of joint occupation c To follow the chain of events, and record the inci- dents of a long struggle between Great Britain and the United States to substantiate a claim to Oregon, is the work of tlie historian. Enough for us, that we know which claim prevailed; and we shall jDroceed to the more congenial contemplation of the physical features which the country presents, touching lightly now and then upon its history, as tourists may. CHArTER in. ABOUT THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA. Where the Columbia meets the sea, in an ahnost continuous line of surf, is some distance outside the capes ; but from the one to the other of these — that is, from Cape Ilancock to Point Adams — is seven miles. Should the sea be calm on making the entrance, noth- ing more than a long, white line will indicate the bar. If the wind be fresh, the surf will dash up handsomely; and if it be stormy, great walls of foam will rear them- selves threateningly on either side, and your breath will be abated while the quivering ship, with a most "uneasy motion," plunges into the thick of it, dashes through the white -crested tumult, and emerges tri- umphantly upon the smooth bosom of the river. Of the two channels, the south is most used. Should you happen to go in. by the north one, you will find yourself pretty close under a handsome promontory, with a white tower, in which a first-class Fresnel-light is burning from sunset to sunrise, all the year round. This promontory is the Cape Ilancock of Captain Gray and the United States Government, and the Cape Dis- appointment of the English navigators and of common usage, since the long residence in the country of the Hudson's Bay Company. The steamers of the North Pacific Transportation Company will not land you before reaching Astoria, a dozen miles inside the bar. But, for this once, we will 36 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. ''subsidize" our captain with many fair words, and per- suade him to send us ashore in a ship's boat, that we may miss nothing in our voyage up this river we have come a long way to see. As we round the base of the cape, we find ourselves in a pretty little harbor called Baker's Ba}^, with an island or two in it, and surrounded by heights of slop- ing ground covered with a dense growth of spruce, fir, and hemlock, with many varieties of lesser trees and shrubs. Along the strip of low land, crescent-shaped and edged with a sandy beach, are the oiB.cers' quarters and soldiers' barracks ; for the cape has been fortified, and has three powerful batteries on the channel side. Nearest of all is the residence of the light-house keeper — a modest mansion under the shelter of the cape. At this place wo will call and get our bearings. We wish to pay our respects to the post-commander, and have the quarters pointed out to us. That formality — a very pleasant one — disposed of, we gladly accept a proffered escort to the fortifications. If the day be warm, we take the path through the thick woods, wind- ing around and about up to the top of the promon- tory. What fine trees! What a dense and luxuriant undergrowth ! Sauntering, pulling ferns and wild vines, exclaiming at the shadows, the coolness, the magnificence of the forests, we come at last to the summit, and emerge into open ground. Here all is military precision .and neatness: graveled walks, grassy slopes and terraces, whitened walls. As for the guns and earth-works, they are of the first order. When we have done with these, we turn eagerly to gaze at the sea; to watcli the rest- less surf dashing itself against the bar; to catch that wonderful monotone — ''ever, forever." ABOUT THE IsrOUTH OF THE COLmfBIA. 37 The fascination of looking and listening would keep us long spell-bound; but our escort, who understands the symptoms, politely compels us "to move on," and directly — very opportunely — we are confronted with the light-house keeper, who offers to show us his tower and light. Clambering up and up, at last we stand within the great lantern, with its intense reflections; and hear all about the life of its keeper — how he scours and polishes by day, and tends the burning oil by night. When we ask him if the storm-winds do not threaten his tower, he shakes his head and smiles, and says, it is an "eerie" place up there when the sou'- westers are blowing. But, somehow, he likes it; he would not like to leave his place for another. Then we clim.b a little higher, going out upon the iron balcony, where the keeper stands to do his out- side polishing of the glass. The view is grand; but what charms us most, is a miniature landscape reflect- ed in one of the facets of the lantern. It is a com- plete copy of the north-western shore of the cape, a hundred times more perfect and beautiful than a painter could make it, with the features of a score of rods concentrated into a picture of a dozen inches in diameter, with the real life, and motion, and atmos- phere of Nature in it. While you gaze enchanted, the surf creeps up the sandy beach, the sea-birds circle 'about the rocks, the giant firs move gently in the breeze, shadows flit over the sea, a cloud moves in the sky; in short, it is the loveliest picture jJ'our eyes ever rested on. The friendly keeper explains to you, as you turn to look up the coast, that the beach north of the cape extends, in one unbroken level, about twenty miles; and that it is a long, narrow neck, divided from the :u r-M^^^ 38 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. main-land by an arm of Shoalwater Bay, extending al- most down to the light-house. A splendid drive down from the bay! It is in the sandy marshes up along this arm of Shoalwater Bay, too, that we may go to find cranberries. When we ask, ''What does he do when the thick fogs hang over the coast?" he shows us a great bell, which, when the machinery is wound up, tolls, tolls, tolls, solemnly in the darkness, to warn vessels off the coast. "But," he says, "it is not large enough, and can not be heard any great distance. Vessels usually keep out to sea in a fog, and ring their own bells to keep off" other vessels." Then he shows us, at our request, Peacock Spit, where the United States vessel of that name was wrecked, in 1841; and the South Spit, nearly two miles outside the cape, where the Shark, another United States vessel, was lost in 1846. The bones of many a gallant sailor, and many a noble ship, are laid on the sands, not half a dozen miles from the spot where we now stand and look at a tranquil ocean. Nor was it in storms that these shipping disasters happened. It was the treacherous calm that met them on the bar, when the current or the tide carried them upon the sands, where they lay helpless until the flood -tide met the current, and the. ship was broken up in the breakers. Pilotage and steam have done away with shipwrecks on the bar. We are glad to think that it is so. Having exhausted local topics for conversation, we descend the winding stairs, which remind us of those in the " Spider and the Fly" — so hard are they to "come down again.'" How still and warm it is down under the shelter of the earth- works! Descending by the military road, which ABOUT THE MOUTH OF THE COLUJfBIA. 30 is shorter than the one we came by, we come out near the life-boat house, and, being invited, go in to look at it. It seems well furnished and commodious, and wo are told it is safe, but, happily, has seldom been needed. Lastly, we take a look at the fishing-tackle, witli which the light- house keeper goes out to troll for salmon. Glorious sport ! The great, delicious fellows, to be caught by a fly! But we, humans, need not sermonize about being taken by small bait! Baker's Bay is not without its little history; albeit, it is nothing romantic. In 1850, a company conceived tlie plan of building up a city, under shelter of the cape, and expended a hundred thousand dollars, more or less, before they became aware of the fruitlessness of their imdcrtaking. By mistake, portions of their improve- ments were placed on the Government Reserve, to which, of course, they could have no title. Yet, this •error, although a hinderance, was not the real cause of the company's failure, which was founded in the ineli- gibility of the situation for a town of importance. Nothing remains of the buildings there erected, their sites being already grown over with a 3'oung forest of alders, spruce, and hemlock. There being nothing more of interest to be seen at the cape, we take the little steamer XT. 8. Grants which has run over from Astoria with the mail for the garri- son, for Point Adams on the opposite side of the riv- er. The wind has freshened, and the steamer rolls a good deal, the river here feeling the ocean- breezes very sensibly. Such is its expanse, that, although our course brings us off Chinook Point, we have but an in- distinct view of it. Not as it was seventy years ago — a populous Indian village ; the dwellings of white settlers are now overshadowing the ancient wigwams. Even its 40 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. burial-ground — its memelose illihee, or "land of spirits" — is profaned. Alas! nothing of one race is sacred to another ; leastof all, are the poor Indians' bones sacred to white men. Several localities are pointed out to us, while we cross the river; but, at this distance, we can not see much more than that to the north of us is a range of high, wooded bluffs, with a narrow strip of level ground along the river, more or less inhabited. That which does attract our attention is Sand Island, close to which we pass. It is scarcely above the level of the water, at mean tide, and presents a waste of sand, in which a few dead trees are embedded. It is fringed with a colony of eagles, who sit motionless, but keen -eyed, watching for their prey — their pre-emptive title being disputed only by a shoal of seals, whose antics furnish a pleasing contrast to the gravit}^ of their feathered rivals. In little more than half an hour, we are landed at Fort Stevens, on Point Adams. There is nothing handsome in the situation of Fort Stevens. It occupies a low, sandy plain, and is just a little inside of the actual point of this cape; but the fort itself is one of the strongest and best- armed on the Pacific Coast. Its shape is a nonagon, surrounded by a ditch, thirty feet wide. Tliis ditch is again sur- rounded by earth -works, intended to protect the wall of the fort, from which rise the earth -works support- ing the ordnance. Viewed from the outside, nothing is seen but the gently inclined banks of earth, smooth- ly sodded. The officers' quarters, outside the fort, are very pleasant; and, althougli there is nothing attractive in the appearance of the fort, or its surroundings, it is a pleasant enough place to those who have the good fortune to have the entree of its society. ABOUT THE MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA. 41 The view from the embankment is extensive, com- manding the entrance to the river, the opposite forti- fications, and the handsome highlands of the north side, as well as a portion of Young's Bay. A system of signals is established between the two forts, and signal - practice is made a portion of the daily duty of the officers. Standing on this eminence, our curiosity is excited, to know why a certain small sailing-craft keeps anchored out near the bar, and are told that it belongs to the United States Surveying Service, and that its business is to observe the tides and currents on this station. Point Adams is the northern projection of a sandy peninsula, formed by the Pacific Ocean and Young's Bay. It is a narrow neck of sand - ridges, or irregular sand-hills, interspersed with ponds and swamps, and thickly overgrown with spruce, hemlock, and other trees of similar species. Where the trees have been cleared away, thickets of wild roses, willows, and sjpircea have sprung up, covering the ground. Below this swampy point, the sand -ridges continue for sixteen miles to Tillamook Head, a promontory four or five hundred feet in height. A species of wild clover grows in the sand, flourishing until mid- summer, when it- is succeeded by a good crop of grass. Tlie wild strawberry grows finel}^ here ; and, wherever cultiv^ated, vegetables do well. This narrow sand -belt is known by the name of Clatsop Plains, and is no- where more than a mile in width. Back of it, toward Young's Bay and Skippanon Creek, the land is heav- ily timbered, the timber extending back to the Coast Mountains. Clatsop Plains, and all the level country between i 42 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. them and the Coast Range, together form the county of that name. It is famous for its dairies, its straw- berries, its vegetables, but, most of all, for its sea- bathing. Xo one is presumed to be in the fashion, who has not been to Clatsop Beach : therefore, to Clat- sop we are going — have gone. We like the place, though it is as little like Newport or Long Branch as possible, having for an hotel a one -storied wooden building, brilliant externally with whitewash, inter- nally not brilliant at all, nor elegantly furnished, being the residence of a family of French half- breeds. The cuisine is all that a Frenchman could desire ; but the house and grounds are decidedly of a by -gone order of architecture and arrangement. When the house is overrun with visitors, the later comers are domiciled in tents. Perhaps it is this very lack of conventional luxury which makes the place popular; for it never is deserted during the warm season, but every year in- creases the number of its visitors. Sea -air, bathing, riding, hunting, good living, and the absence of those usual conventionalities which make life refined and monotonous, continue to "draw" more and more largely, so that shortly some sharp - sighted party will be found erecting the hotels and cottages of a crowd- ed watering-place. There are certainly here many attractions lacking inmost sea-bathing resorts: a trout- stream, a forest for hunting in, whei'e any thmg may be found, from a deer to an elk, or a bear. Geese, ducks, plover, and snipe frequent the mouth of the creek, while sea-gulls, cranes, and eagles give picturesqucness to the beach- views. Three or four miles to the east, the peaks of the Coast Range fret the blue of the summer sky, a spur from which range comes down quite to the sea, ABOUT THE MOUTH OP THE COLUMBIA. 43 in a bold promontory called Tillamook Head, closing in the southern view. Having taken in all these features of tlie place, and pronounced it good, let us take the light wagon, and, driving across the plain and through the woods nearly sixteen miles, find the Grant — ubiquitous little steam- er — waiting for us in Young's Bay. As we steam toward Astoria, the accomplished Captain of the Grant — the first white male child born west of the Rocky Mountains — becomes our guide, and points out the mouth of Lewis and Clarke's River, on the south side of the bay, where those hardy explorers spent the winter of 1805-G in a log -hut, to which the severe rains confined them nearly all those dreary months, in imminent danger of starving. Not only have sixty years effaced all traces of their encampment, but a house, which stood on the same site in 1853, has quite disappeared, the site being overgrown with trees now twenty feet in height. Of a saw -mill that fur- nished lumber to San Francisco, in the same 3'ear, nothing now remains except immense beds of half- rotted sawdust, embedding one or two charred foun- dation timbers. A dense growth of vegetation covers the wholo ground. At the eastern extremity of the bay is the mouth of Young's River, a handsome stream, with densely wooded shores, and a fall, at one place, of fifty feet perpendicular, furnishing one of the attractions to boating parties of summer visitors at Astoria. From the deck of the steamer we have a fine view of the Coast Range, and of one double peak higher than the range, which goes by the ugly misnomer of Saddle Mountain. Not snow-capped in summer, it is still very lofty and very picturesque, reminding us of 44 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. "castled crags of Drachenfels." We, for our private satisfaction, name it Castle Mountain, and try to for- get that it has another name. As we round the high, wooded point which hides Astoria from sight, as it must, also, shelter it from south-west storms, we observe that the banks are covered with a most luxuriant growth of shrubs of many varieties, and promise ourselves a ramble along a just visible "trail" at an early day, in order to as- certain whether or not they are as beautiful close at hand, as they are in the distance. Our eyes are engaged, in another moment, with some glimpses of our destined port. Very shortly, the Grant comes alongside a great wharf, and seeking her own slip, makes fast; and, the tide being out, we clam- ber up cautiously a steep incline, to the level of the Astorians. CHAPTER lY. ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. The situation of Astoria, in point of beauty, is cer- tainly a very fine one. The neck of land occupied by the town, is made a peninsula by Young's Bay on one side and the Columbia River on the other, and points to the north-west. A small cove makes in at the east side of the neck, just back of which the ground rises much more gently and smoothly than it does a little farther toward the sea. The whole point was origi- nally covered with heavy timber, which came quite down to high -water mark; and whatever there is un- lovely in the present aspect of Astoria, arises from the roughness always attendant upon the clearing up of timbered lands. Standing, facing the sea or the river, with your back to half- cleared lots, made unsightly by the blackened stumps of trees, the view is one of unsurpassed beau- ty. Toward the sea, the low, green point on which Fort Stevens stands — the Capo Frondosa (leafy cape) of the Spanish navigators — and the high one of Cape Hancock, topped by the light -house tower, mark the entrance to the river. Above them is a blue sky; between them, a blue river, celebrating eternally its union with the sea by the roar of its breakers, whose white crests are often distinctly visible. There is a sail or two in the offing, and a pilot -boat going out to bring them over the bar. 46 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. Opposite US, and distant between three and four miles, is the northern shore — a line of rounded high- lands, covered with trees, with a narrow, low, and level strip of land between them and the beach. The village of Chinook is a little to the north-west ; anoth- er village, Knappton, a little to the north-east. Fol- lowing the opposite shore -line with the eye, as far to the east as the view extends, a considerable indenta-"' tion in the shore marks Gray's Bay, where the discov- erer of the river went ashore with his mate, to "view the country." On the Astoria side the shore curves beautifully, in a north-east direction, quite to Tongue Point, four miles up the river. This, point is one of the hand- somest projections on the river. Connected with the main -land by a low, narrow isthmus, it rises gradually to the height of fifty or sixty feet, and is crowned with a splendid growth of trees. In the little bay formed by Tongue Point, lies the hulk of a vessel — a memen- to of the exciting times of 1849, when lumber was worth, in San Francisco, six hundred dollars a thou- sand feet. The ship Silvie de Grace had come to Oregon for a cargo of the precious material, and proceeded as far as this on her return-voyage, when, through ignorance or mismanagement, she was allowed to strike on a rock, with such force that she was actually spitted, and never could be got off, even to sink. So she lies a dismantled hulk in this pretty cove, not unpictur- csque, with her handsomely modeled deck half- over- grown with grass and shrubs, and the headless figure of a woman ''to the fore." Between Tongue Point and tlie present town is a cluster of rather dilapidated buildings, known as Up- ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. ' 4/ per Astoria. They were erected by the first Receiver of Customs for Oregon; but the old custom-house and wharf are rapidly going to decay. Directly back of this place, begins a "military road" to the State Capital, on which was supposed to be expended, in the years ]855-G, an appropriation of $80,000. It was never fit for use, and is now quite choked up with ''fallen timber and a now growth of trees. Following the curving and beautifully wooded shore back to the Astoria of to-day, we naturally inquire for the site of the Astor establishment of 1811. This is it, just back of the little bay before mentioned, where you see a long, one -storied house in a state of decay. There was built the fort of Mr. Aster's company. It consisted of a square, inclosing ninety by a hundred feet of ground, with palisades in front and rear, one of the sides protected by the warehouse fronting on a ravine, and the other by the dwelling-house and shops, with a bastion at each corner, north and south, on which were mounted four small cannon. As all the buildings were constructed of hewn logs, roofed with cedar -bark, they constituted a very good defense against the Indian arrows, especiall}^ as they were made formidable by the four small cannon. On the 2Gth of September, 1811, the buildings in- side the fort were completed. The dwelling-house contained a sitting-room and dining-room, with sleep- ing apartments for the officers and men. The ware- house and smiths' shops were also there ready for occupation. In the following year a hospital was erected; and these constituted the improvements of the Pacific I'ur Company, if we except their garden, where nothing came to maturity the first year, except the radishes, turnips, and potatoes. 48 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. In the cove, in front of the fort, was built the first vessel ever launched on Oregon waters — the little schooner Dolhj, whose frame was brought out from New York in the Tonquin. She proved too small for the coasting service, for which she was intended, and, like every thing else connected with this ill-starred enterprise, a failure. In 1813 the Astoria of the Pacific Fur Compan}^ passed into the hands of the North-west Fur Com- pany, by whom it was re-named Fort George. After- ward it passed to the Hudson's Bay Compan)'-, and was known as Fort George, until it was abandoned by them, and came once more into American possession, when it resumed its original name. Such are the changes of sixty years. Nothing now remains to re- mind us of these events in history, except some slight indentations in the ground where were once the cel- lars of the now vanished fort, and a few graves. Per- haps the only enduring memorial is the smooth turf and fine grass of civilization, which Time does not eradicate, and which grows here in strong contrast to the rank, wild grasses of the uncultivated country. If we turn to the modern town, we fmd it neatly built, and containing four or five hundred inhabitants. The chief improvement going on at present, is the new custom-house — a costly, but ill-looking structure, built of sandstone from the opposite side of the river. The present custom-house is a wooden build- ing near the river, occupying the ground chosen by the officers and men of the United States schooner Shark, to erect their temporary shelter upon, after the wreck on the bar, in 184G. From drift-wood and cedar planks they constructed a substantial house, which, afterwards, was turned to account by others in ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 49 almost equal straits. One of its last and best uses was as a ball-room, where, on the Fourth of July, 1849, the gold-seekers on their way to California, and a company of United States artillery - men, celebrated the day with patriotic enthusiasm. Even as late as that year, the canoes of eight hun- dred native warriors of the Chinooks covered the water in Astor Bay, curious, as savages always are, to watch the acts, and note the customs, of civilized men. Not a canoe is now in sight. The white race are to the red as sun to snow: as silently and surely the red men disappear, dissipated by the beams of civilization. Among those who came to gaze at the overpowering white race on that occasion, was an old Chinook chief, the number of whose years was one hundred. His picture, which some one gave to us, shows a shrewd character. So, no doubt, looked Com- com-ly, the chief whom Washington Irving describes in his "Astoria," and whose contemporary tkis ven- erable savage must have been. His sightless eyes, in his early manhood, beheld the entrance into the river of that vessel whose name it bears. Between that time and the day of his death, he saw the Columbia Biver tribes, which once numbered thirty thousand, decimated again and again, until they scarcely counted up one -tenth of that number. If you ask an Astorian, what constitutes the wealth and commercial importance of his town, present and future, he will tell you, that it has a commodious harbor, with depth of water enough to accommodate vessels of the deepest draft, with good anchorage, and shelter from south-west (winter) storms. He will point to the forts at the mouth of the river, and say that they make business; to the custom-house, and 50 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. that it makes business. He will jemind you of the pilotage of all the incoming and outgoing vessels, and that it brings in a great deal of money. He will point to the villages growing up on the north side of the river, and tell you they bring trade; that the men employed at Knappton, in making cement, lumber, etc., spend their wages in Astoria. If you inquire what back country it has to support it, he will point to Clatsop, and the valley of the Ne- halem, south of it; and tell you, that it is but seventy miles into the great valle}^ of Western Oregon — the Wallamet; and that a railroad is to be built into it from Astoria, through the coast mountains. He men- tions, besides, that there are numerous small valleys of streams running into tho Columbia within twenty miles, which are of the best of rich bottom-lands, and only need opening up. This is the Astorian's view of his town, and we know nothing to the contrary. In- deed, fr(fm inquiry we are convinced that there are in the neighborhood of Astoria many elements of wealth, both mineral and agricultural, which only require time and capital to develop. Having satisfied ourselves of the material prospects of tho town, let us take a friendl}^ guide, and go upon an exploring expedition on our own account. We want to go on foot around the point, by the trail through the woods: but, no; our guide sa^^s we must not at- tempt it, tho trail is in such a condition! "It is low tide, and we will go by the beach." By tlie beach we go, then, stopping now and tlicn to fillip a jelly-fish back into the water on the end of our alpenstock. A beach, indeed! we had always thought that sand, or fine gravel, at least, was essential to that delightful thing in Nature — a beach. But here are ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 51 bowlders^ growing larger and larger as we near Young's Bay, until just at the extremity of the point they re- quire much exertion to scramble over. But our guide is entertaining, which compensates for great exertion. In stories of ''peril by land and water," of ship- wrecks, and legends of treasure-trove — that should be — he drowns all thoughts of mutiny, and we toil ahead. *'To be sure there have been wrecks at the mouth of the Columbia — a century — two centuries ago." Then he takes from his pocket, where he must have placed it for this purpose, and shows to us a thin cake of bees- wax, well sanded over, which he avers was portion of the cargo of a Japanese junk, cast ashore near the Columbia in some time out of mind. When we have wondered over this, to us, singular evidence of wreck- ing, he produces another, in the form of a waxen tube. At this we are more stultified than before, and then are told that this was a large wax candle, such as the Japanese priest, as well as the Roman, uses to burn before altays. The wick is entirely' rotted out, leav- ing the candle a hollow cylinder of wax. by this self-evident explanation, we are convinced. Certain it is that for years, whenever there has been an unusually violent storm, portions of this waxen cargo are washed ashore, ground full of sand. As bees-wax is a common commodity in Japan, we see no reason to doubt that this, which the sea gives up from time to time, originally came from there. The suppo- sition is tlie more natural, as the mouth of the Colum- bia is exactly opposite the northern extremity of that Island Empire; and a junk, once disabled, would nat- urally drift this way. The thing has been known to occur in later years; and that other wrecks, probalily Spanish, have happened on this coast, is evidenced by 52 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. the light -haired and freckle - faced natives of some portions of it farther north, discovered by the earliest traders. Our hour of toil, at length, brings us to a pretty piece of level, grassy land away from the beach, where are lofty trees, and lower thickets of wild roses, white spircea, woodbine, and mock -orange. Here, in this charming solitude, is an Indian lodge, the resi- dence of the native Clatsop; and we have a strong desire to see its interior. Exteriorly, the Clatsop residence can not be praised for its beauty, being made of cedar planks, set upright and fastened to a square or oblong frame of poles, and roofed with cedar bark. Outside are numberless dogs, and two pretty girls, of ten and twelve years of age, with glo- rious great, black, smiling eyes. Peeping inside, we see three squaws of various ages, braiding baskets and tending a baby of tender age, with two "warriors" sitting on their haunches and doing nothing; and salmon ever}'^vhere — on the lire, on the walls, overhead, dripping grease and smelling villainously, arc salmon — nothing but salmon. Our guide holds a conversation with the mother of the lit- tle stranger, in jargon, which he informs us relates to the fair complexion of tlie tillicum. One of the war- riors, presumed to be its papa, laughs, and declares it is all as it should be. Such are the benefits of civili- zation to the savage! A little fiirther on, we fall in with a different sort of savage — an Irishman, on a little patch of ground which he cultivates after a fashion of his own, at the same time doing liis housekeeping in preference to being "botliercd Avith :i woman." lie is cooking his afternoon meal, which consists of a soup made from ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 53 boiling a ham-bone, with thistles for greens, and a cup of spruce tea. Think of this, unlucky men, bothered with women, who, but for them, might bo subsisting yourselves on thistles and spruce tea! Our guide points out to us the peculiar features of Young's Bay, and the adjoining country. While we admire again the peaks of Castle (Saddle) Mountain, we listen to a legend, or tradition, which the Nehalem Indians relate of a vessel once cast ashore near the mouth of their river, the crew of which wero saved, together with their private property, and a box which they carried ashore, and buried on Mount Neah-car-ny, with much care, leaving two swords placed on it in the form of a cross. Another version is, that one of their own number was slain, and his bones laid on top of the box when it was buried. This, were it true, would more eflfectu- ally keep away the Indians than all the swords in Spain. The story sounds very well, and is firmly believed by the Indians, who can not be induced to go near the spot, because their ancestors were told by those who buried the box, that, should they ever go near it, they would provoke the wrath of the Great Spirit. The tale corresponds with that told by the Indians of the upper Columbia, who say that some shipwrecked men, one of whom was called Soto, lived two or three years with their tribe, and then left them to try to reach the Spanish countries overland. It is probable enough that a Spanish galleon may have gone ashore near tlie mouth of the Columbia, and it agrees with the char- acter of the early explorers of that nation, that they should undertake to reach Mexico by land. That they never did, we feel sure, and give a sigh to their memory. 54 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. Some treasure - seekers have endeavored to find the hidden box, but without result. One enthusiast ex- pressed it as his opinion, that he coukl go right to the spot where it is hidden ; but why he did not do so, he failed to explain. Like the treasure of Captain Kidd, it would probably cost as much as it is worth to find it. Casting backward glances at the beautiful mount- ains, with their romantic foreground of forest and river, we turn toward Astoria. All along the edge of the wood which covers the point are hazel, wild cherry, alder, vine-maple, spircea, mock-orange, and elder, be- sides several varieties of ferns, some of a great height. Of the elder there are three varieties, all beautiful. The trees grow to a considerable size, and to a height of thirty feet. The colors of the berries are lavender, scarlet, and orange. We find also some other orange- colored berries, resembling immense raspberries, which our guide tells us arc "salmon -berries." They are so juicy they will liardl}' bear handling, and literally melt in your mouth. Of the trees in sight, the most are fir, hemlock, cedar, and yew. But of whatever species are the trees, their unusual size and beauty make them interesting. When we reach the point of the peninsula again — Point of Bowlders, we should call it — we are just in time to witness the golden changes of the sunset over Cape Hancock, and to see an ocean steamer coming in. She has passed Fort Stevens, and, by the time we have clambered over rocks and drift-wood to a smoother portion of the beach, is abreast of us, and almost with- in a stone's throvv. We wave our handkerchiefs wild- ly, knowing, by experience, how pleasant is any signal from the land when our ship is coming in. Then, as if to answer us, she fires a gun, which stuns us with ASTORIA AND ITS SURROUNDINGS. 55' the report. TVe hasten to tlio wharf and scrutinize her passengers, while her captain exchanges courtesies with custom-house officers. In half an hour she is off again, leaving us to wonder how long it will be before Astoria gets her railroad, and ocean steamers discharge their cargoes within a dozen miles of the sea. The situation of Astoria as a commercial entrepot^ although, in some respects, a fine one, has its draw- backs, being cut off from the interior by the rugged and densel}^ timbered mountains of the Coast Range; and, while it is true that the engineering science of the present day discovers obstacles only to overcome them, a good practical reason must be given capitalists for incurring enormous expenses. What course the railroad companies, now operating in Oregon, will pur- sue with regard to this point, can, at present, hardly be conjectured. The country now tributary to Asto- ria is a narrow strip of coast, which produces, like the Clatsop Plains, excellent vegetables, fruits, and dairy products, but is not usually well adapted to grain- raising. These products are continually increasing, as the numerous small valleys, in the radius of fifty miles, are being settled and improved ; yet, it is our impres- sion that the proper exports of this portion of the Columbia Yalley are lumber, fish, and minerals, among the principal of which are coal and cement. The stone of which the new custom-house is built is taken from a quarry on the Washington side of the river, but is, b}^ no means, handsome in color, or regular in stratification, being, apparently, formed from a deposit of sand around other bowlders, which are as hard as flint, and, occurring frequently, seriously interfere with the quarrying of reguhir blocks. The Columbia, opposite Astoria, is six miles in width, 56 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. being one mile less than between the capes. The stage of water on the bar, is, mean low water, twenty -four feet; high water, thirty -two: from which it will be seen that there is abundance of deep water, and room for shipping, about Astoria. About mid -river we had, from the pilot-house of the Grant, one of the grandest views to be obtained anywhere, of a magnificent body of water, in conjunction with fine, bold scenery in immediate connection, and distant visions of dazzling snow -peaks. Looking seaward, we beheld the dark headland of Cape Disappointment, and the low neck which constitutes Point Adams, with the broad open- ing of Young's Bay defining it more sharply; toward the south, highlands, with Astoria at their foot, and the '^ castled crags" of Saddle Mountain towering over them; and toward the east, Mount Adams and Mount St. Helen, each more than a hundred miles awa}^, but seeming to rise up in their pure whiteness out of the everlasting green of the intermediate forests. On the north side of the river, opposite Astoria, we found the little fishing village of Chinook, where salmon are yearly caught, and put up for export; and the new settlement of Knappton, where is a fine lum- ber-mill, cutting about twenty -five thousand feet per day, and where are also the cement -works, belonging to the enterprising owners of the mill. In a little valley, just over the ridge back of this place, a colony have lately settled, who pronounce the soil to be ex- cellent, and themselves deliglited with their situation, especially as they are each entitled to a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres of the choicest land they can find. But for lack of time we should have availed ourself of the offer of our captain, and paid a visit to tlie settlers of Deep River. CHAPTER V. AMONG THE FISHERIES. IIaytng satisfied ourselves that we kave seen the principal points of interest about the oldest American settlement on the North-west Coast, we take passage, at an early hour of the morning, on board the Dlxia Thojnpson, the elegant steamer which plies between Astoria and Portland. Above Astoria, for some distance, there are no settle- ments on the river. But the grandeur of the wooded highlands, the frequently projecting cliffs covered with forest to their very edges, and embroidered and fes- tooned with mosses, ferns, and vines, together with the far-stretching views of the broad Columbia, suffice to engage the admiring attention of the tourist. In con- sequence of fires, which every year spread through and destroy large tracts of timber, the mountains in many places present a desolated appearance, the naked trunks alone of the towering firs being left standing to decay. After a few years a new growth covers the ground, but the old trees remain unsightly objects still. It is true, however, in compensation for the ugliness of a burnt forest, that the shape of the country is thereby par- tially revealed, and that one discovers fine level bench- es of land fit for farming, in the openings thus made, where before no such variations from the general slope had been apparent. The first point at which the river steamers touch in 58 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. going up, is Cathlamet — a small trading post and salmon fishery, about twenty miles above Astoria, on the north side of the river. Ten miles farther up, on the south side, is Westpcrt, situated upon one of the numerous sloughs which the river forms on the Oregon side. This site was taken up as early as 1851, by Captain John West, who, with his family, has con- tinued to reside here, giving his name to the place. Almost by his individual enterprise he has built up a flourishing settlement, and now owns wharves, ware- houses, a store of general merchandise, a lumber-mill, and a salmon fishery, besides a fine farm and dairy. This slough, or bayou, of the Columbia is a pretty bit of quiet water, with a level, wooded island on one side, and the main -land backed by wooded hills on the other. It is no place for a large town, but an excellent one for what it is — a flourishing trading post. The valley of the Nehalem, a considerable stream that runs nearly parallel with the Columbia, emptying into the ocean near Tillamook Head, is rapidly being set- tled up, and adds to the importance of Westport, which is the only trading post within twelve miles of the new settlement. The steamer being detained for half an hour at this place, gives us an opportunity to step ashore and take a look at the salmon fishery. We find it a busy place, the fishing season, which begins in May and ends in August, being at its height. The manner of taking salmon in the Columbia is usually by drift nets, from twenty to a hundred fathoms long. The boats used by the fishermen are similar to the Whitehall boat. According to laws of their own, the men engaged in taking the fish, where the drift is large, allow each boat a stated time to go back and forth along the drift AMONG THE FISHERIES. 59 to hook up the salmon. The meshes of the nets are just of a size to catch the fisli ])y the gills, when attempting to j)ass through; and their misfortune is betrayed to the watchful eye of tiie hsherman, by the bobbing of the corks on the surface of the water. When brought to the fishery, they are piled up on long tables which project out over the water. Here stand Chinamen, two at each table, armed with long, sharp knives, who, with great celerity and skill, dis- embowel and behead the fresh arrivals, pushing the ofial over the brink into the river at the same time. After cleaning, the fish are thrown into brine vats, where they remain from one to two days to undergo the necessary shrinkage, which is nearly one -half. They are then taken out, washed thoroughly, and packed down in barrels, with the proper quantity of salt. That they may keep perfectly well, it is neces- sary to heap them up in the barrels, and force them down with a screw press. A fishery proper is understood to mean, a barreling establishment; while a cannery, is one where the fish are preserved in cans, both fresh and spiced, or pickled. The establishment of Mr. West is both these in one. This establishment, also, has commenced the business of saving the oil, which, in barreling salmon, is pressed out, and is equal in quality to the best sperm- oil. The method of canning salmon was kept secret /or one or two seasons, and only a few of the fisheries •practiced it. Xo effort is now made to conceal tlii' processes. The result is the main thing in which the public are interested, and this is a delicious prepara- tion of fresh, or spiced and vinegared fish, put up ready for the table. The market for canned salmon is rapid- ly increasing — the principal exports being, at present, 60 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. to California, South America, China, and the Islands. It is expected to find a market for it in New York and London, as soon as the amount produced becomes large enough to supply those cities. The whistle of the Dixie warns us to bring our ob- servation to a close at this point. Turning back down the slough, we emerge once more into the Columbia, and soon arrive at a point in the river known as the ''Narrows," but to which Lieutenant Wilkes gave the name of St. Helen's Reach, from the bold view of that mountain obtained here, at a distance of eighty miles. The Narrows is a famous fishing ground, and the lar- gest drift is here. Traps, or weirs, were also in use about the Narrows, but the high water, this year (1871), destroyed most of them. There are no less than seven fisheries in a distance of three miles, two of them being large establishments. That of Ilapgood & Hume put up, this year, 700,000 pounds of canned salmon; West & Co., 400,000 pounds. Hume & Co., another firm, have also a large cannery, and Reed & Trott, another large establishment opposite these last, on the Oregon side. In all, there are twenty -five of these fisheries, from Chinook up to a point just above the Narrows, employ- ing, altogether, about three hundred men. The profits of the fishing business may be roughly computed by estimating the value of a case of canned salmon. An average salmon fills ten cans. These are put into cases containing forty -eight pounds each, and worth $9. Ilapgood & Hume must then have put up, this year, over 14,583 cases, amounting to $131,247. About twenty men are employed about such an estab- lishment during the fishin<^ season, and eight or ten during the winter months. The winter's work consists in making barrels and cans. The cost of the labor of AMONG THE FISHERIES. 61 twenty men during four months, and of half that num- ber during the remainder of the year, with the first cost of material, must be deducted from the total results, the remainder showing a handsome balance. And this is for only one cannery. Besides the two or three others, the different fisheries put up, this year, 2,000 barrels of fish. The first drift for salmon catching was cleared in 1851, by Messrs. Ilodgkins and Sanders — afterward continued by Ilodgkins & Reed, now Reed & Trott — and the first canning establishment started, in 1867, by Ilapgood & Ilume. The buildings, erected at any of the fisheries, are of a rude character, being con- structed of unplaned fir lumber. The largest are built about one hundred feet long, by twenty-five feet front, with a deep shod projecting over the river, for con- venience in cleaning the fish as well as to shelter them from the sun. From the platform, extending along the side of the building, stairs run down to the water, where the boats are moored. In the lower story of this building are the vats, or "striking tubs," arranged around the sides. A commodious wharf, at which steamers and sailing vessels may receive freight, is also a necessary appendage. There is no part of the Pacific Coast so well adapted to fish-curing as Oregon and Washington. The climate, either north or south of their latitude, is either too moist or too dry. Wood for barrels is close at hand ; and, not yet utilized, close at hand, too, is the best salt in the world for curing meats of any kind. Seeing to what an immense business salmon fishing is grow- ing, one can not help wishing that Nathaniel Wyeth, who tried so hard, in 1832, to establish a fisher}^ on the Columbia, and failed through a combination of 62 OREGON AND WASHINGTON. causes, could see his dream fulfilled, of making the Columbia famous for its fisheries and its lumber trade. But he, like most enthusiasts, was born too soon to behold the realization of the truths he felt convinced of. There are several species of salmon and salmon- trout which are found in the Columbia. Of these, three species of the silvery spring salmon, known to naturalists as Salmo qidnnat^ S. gairdneri, and S. pauci- dens, are those used for commercial purposes, and known as the "square -tailed" and ''white salmon" — the third species being considered as smaller individu- als of the same kinds, though really distinct in kind. When they enter the river, near its mouth, they may be caught by hook and bait. The Indians use small herring for bait, sinking it with a stone, and trolling, by paddling silently and occasionally jerking the line. Near the mouth of the Columbia they can be taken with the fly; but, as salmon do not feed, on their annual journey up the river to spawn, it is useless to offer them bait. They can only be caught at a distance from the ocean by nets and seines, or by spearing. The natives usually take them by using scoop-nets, which they dip into the water, at random, near the falls and rapids, where large numbers of salmon are collected to jump the fiills. As these falls are all at a considerable distance from the sea, by the time they arrive at them the fish are more or less emaciated, from fasting and the exertion of stemming currents and climbing rapids, and, consequently, not in so good a condition as when caught near the sea. Hence, the superior quality of Chinook salmon. The immense numbers of all kinds of salmon which ascend the Columbia annually, is something wonder- ful. They seem to be seeking quiet and safe places in AilONG THE FISHERIES. 63 which to deposit their spawn, and thousands of thorn Clever stop until they reach the great falls of the Snake River, more than six hundred miles from the sea; or, those of Clarke's Fork, a still greater distance. All the small tributaries of the Snake, Boise, Powder, Burnt, and Payette rivers swarm with them, in the months of September and October. Great numbers of salmon die on having discharged their instinctive dut}^: some of them, evidently, be- cause exhausted by their long journey, and others, apparently, because their term of life ends with arrival and spawning. Their six hundred miles of travel against the current, and exertion in overcoming rapids, or jumping falls, often deprives them of sight, and wears off their noses. Of course, all these mutilated individuals perish, besides very many others; so that the shores of the small lakes and tributaries of both branches of the Columbia are lined, in autumn, with dead and dying fish. But they leave their roe in the beds of these interior rivers, to replace them in their return to the sea by still greater numbers. Besides the salmon of commerce, the Columbia fur- nishes a great many other species of edible fish, in- cluding salmon -trout, sturgeon, tom-