Benton County, Oregon - Chapter 36: Benton County, 1885

the wild waves of this ancient bay ; clouds and storms waged war ; glaciers scoured down the Cascades ; avalanches swept over and abraded the mountain sides depositing, what was then but crude materials for future chemical action to convert into extended tracts of rich, level lands. Here, on this then lonely and far-off field of water, thousands upon thousands of swans, ducks, brants, pelicans, cranes, etc., frolicked on its bosom or reveled on its shores. These primitive ages have left their impress on the new Tualatin plains, Yamhill valleys, Polk, Benton, Linn, Marion and Lane county prairies. We marvel at the foresight, adaptation and power of these persistent forces, used as means to ends. Their convulsions, their wars, the heat, the " central power " which lifted the mountains, shook the earth and made the ocean boil. How vast ! The immeasurable eternity which has elapsed since old Hood, St. Helens, the Three Sisters, et aL, were " holes in the ground !" How long did their deep-mouthed bellowings roar? How long did molten land, smoke and flame pour forth these "vent holes/' through which rich materials and surplus power found exit ? No answer can be made to these profound questions.

The theory of great geologists, such as Hutton, Lyell, Hitchcock, Murchison, Smith, MacCulloch, De la Roche, Webster, Buckland, Mantell, Rogers, Phillips, Dana, and a host of writers of the new school who have not altered, but simply modified, those fundamental principles advocated by Hutton, Lyell, Playfair, etc., seems to be this : Along the ocean line of continents chains of mountains are formed. The agencies are these : First, the weight or pressure of the ocean ; secondly, the internal heat combined with external or oceanic pressure ; thirdly, chemical or mechanical action or pressure. Now, the immense weight or pressure of the ocean - as the Pacific - along the water line of this coast, produces heat in the molten land below. This being extra heat, causes, through both chemical and mechanical action, expansion ; through this expansion the earth along the water line is gradually - sometimes suddenly - upheaved. This upheaval raises a chain of mountains parallel with the ocean. The pressure continues so great that not only is a chain of mountains formed, but the internal forces burst up through the earth's crust, creating " vent holes," these become volcanoes. The volcanoes lessen the pressure and hence the chain of mountains cease to become elevated. The internal and external forces are in equilibrium. During this volcanic era the ocean's pressure diminishes immediately and it becomes concentrated according to its depth, out at sea, sometimes seventy-five and sometimes one hundred and fifty or more miles opposite, and parallel with the former chain of mountains. Hence chains of mountains are formed in succession, but not always so.

Now, let it be clearly, distinctly understood, that as the forces cease in one portion, they become active in another. Ages ago, the Cascades lessened in their activity ; as a consequence, then, the pressure being from the west, in the ocean, wherever these concentrated a second time, a new chain must arise ; hence the origin of the now Coast chain. Of course, between the Cascades and Coast chain, there must be a basin or valley. This was covered by water and was a bay surrounded by the Cascades to the east, the Calapooia on the south and westwards the Coast chain. On the north it was open to the ocean, for where the Columbia now flows once rolled the Pacific. It was the lateral pressure of the water which produced the Calapooia mountains and those across, or north of, the Columbia and at the now falls of the Willamette. When from gradual pressure the Coast chain was elevated to its present height, the pressure ceased westward and concentrated under the waters of the now Willamette and upheaved the red hills of the valley. This sublevation caused the waters to flow over and break through below at the Willamette falls.

The gradual elevation of the valley under notice was a means of draining off its water ; and thus the " dry land appeared." For an eternity this process was going on : - First, the elevation of the Cascades and their volcanic era ; second, the elevation of the Coast chain - its gradual uplifting and its less volcanic era ; third, the lateral pressure resulting in the elevation of the Calapooia and Northern chain at Oregon City ; fourth, the latest and last volcanic action of the Cascades and upheaval of the red hills, in the district ; and, finally, the filling up and drying off of the now beautiful Willamette valley.

We have thus seen what means have been used to produce ends. The end and ultimatum of the means used is a home for man in the Willamette valley.

The prairies of the Willamette are various, rolling, flat, with low swales, and without, many being of a dark rich mold, others, whitish or aluminous, some siliceous, as Baker's prairie, to the north of Molalla. The prairies or plains of Clatsop also, are siliceous. All others, so far as the knowledge of the writer extends, are mostly diluvium, as follows : French Prairie, Howell, Salem, Mill creek, Santiam, Cheholpura (which means pleasant), Albany (the largest in the Willamette), La Creole (the Creole) now called Rickreal, La Camas (an esculent root) now written Luckiamute, Soap creek (so called because the clay - alumnious - is soft and miry along its margins). The prairies are extensive in the Willamette below and above Corvallis (heart of the valley), on Oak creek, above Mary's river, on Long Tom (so called from a mountain man of that name who, in crossing with his companions, rode a low animal and his long legs reached down into the water, so that he " waded and rode " across the river, making the crowd merry - this was over thirty-six years ago). The last named prairies are low and miry in winter, having swales, or clay lands, almost destitute of silicia, lime, potassa and soda. Nearly all of the white, low strips through the prairies of the Willamette, are like the Long Tom flats or swales.

There are some of the prairies slightly gravelly, as the Santiam and the prairie south of and along the Willamette river below and around Eugene City. Except the small portion of gravel and clay swales, the prairies of the Willamette are the finest agricultural lands known. They are diluvium ; and were made, in a large measure, during the glaceous, or glaceo-aqueous period, sometimes called the drift period. This is demonstrated by the deep gravelly beds below the surface, by logs and other dSbris, often found in digging wells, ditches, etc., by erratic blocks of granite and basaltic bowlders, gneiss, clay-slate, mica slate, greenstone and felspar. * The last are of a drift origin, and decomposing, have formed the prairie soil.

Whenever granite inolders away, there is a strong wheat soil. The yellowish white soils on the northern sides of the hills are all diluvium and were in a large measure brought down from the great gi*anite mountains, north, during the drift era, on masses of ice, which, scouring the mountain sides, rocks and other debris, fell on the ice, floated south, until the warmth melted it, and, when in a state of solution, or broken by storms, eddies, strong current, etc., were deposited on the now prairies, but then submerged valleys. How wonderful the means used to accomplish ends !

Howell Prairie was like Labash is now - a bog - hence its richness. The surface is now, not as when the " waters dried up," smooth, turfy and muddy, but undulating, picturesque and dry. It was through corrugation and slight pressure from below, that this beautiful valley now presents its exquisite wave-like appearance.

Well may the residents of Oregon be proud of the prairies of the Willamette ; proud of its hills ; its copses of oak ; its groves of fir and pine, hemlock and spruce ; its unequaled climate; its eternal snow-clad mountain chains ; its vast resources, and its illimitable grandeur !

The soil of Benton county, especially, may be considered as consisting of three varieties : an alluvial deposit of vegetable mold along the bottoms of the Willamette and Mary's rivers and their branches, which is very rich, and when brought under cultivation produces grass, grain and vegetables of the most luxuriant growth. Leaving the river bottoms the soil of the praries and the land along the base of the foot-hills, although perhaps properly speaking alluvial, has a base of clay with a liberal mixture of Siberian lime, peroxide of iron, ammonia and sand loam, with many other ingredients favorable to the production of wheat, oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes, turnips, and all the different varieties of garden vegetables. The various kinds of fruit generally raised in the eastern climate do well here, while all kinds of small fruits may be produced in abundance. The peach, maize and tobacco can be raised successfully in many localities in the county, when properly cultivated and well cared for. Grass of the most fecund growth, both of the tuni and native varieties is produced in abundance making it well adapted to the rearing of cattle, sheep and horses. The various kinds of timber exist in sufficient quantities in the eastern part of the county to more than supply the home demand for lumber and fuel, while along the Coast Range and Western portions the timber lands largely predominate. The quality of the water in the county, like almost all other inhabited portions of Oregon, is soft and pure, and for general, domestic and mechanical purposes is abundant, being supplied by brooks, springs and running streams from the hills and Coast range of mountains, while it can also be obtained by digging wells of moderate depth, when not existing in living springs.

In addition to these products there are those of the fisheries along the coast, and the produce of the oyster beds in Yaquina bay, a history of such industry we cull from the San Francisco Bulletin of March 13, 1868.

" Natarch's bay is a small lagoon situated some fifty miles south of the Columbia river. The first oysters were taken from here by Captain Millyer in the schooner Cornelius Terry and proved to be rather superior to the Shoalwaters. But the bed afforded only a limited supply and besides, the entrance to the harbor was very shoal and dangerous, having but eight or nine feet of water on the bar at high tide. The Indians of this vicinity told the oystermen of another oyster " mine " further south, at a place called Yaquina bay. Samples from this locality showed a superior article to any of the former discoveries. The fish were longer and of more delicate flavor than either the Shoalwater or Natarch and the shell not so thick and heavy as the latter. The entrance to Yaquina is in Lat. 44° 40/ The bay and oyster bed proved to be an

Indian Reservation and a collision soon occurred between the oystermen and the Indian agent. The oystermen claimed that they had a right to take oysters from any of the navigable waters of the United States, while on the other hand the agent contended that they were, in this instance, part of the Indians' subsistence and demanded a subsidy or impost of fifteen cents for every bushel taken away. In the winter of 1862 a lease of the privilege of working this bed was obtained by Winant & Co., of San Francisco, by which it was stipulated that the lessee should have the exclusive right to gather and ship the oysters by paying to the agent the sum of fifteen cents per bushel. Other parties attempted to make common property of the bed. The agent was compelled to drive them off by force, using United States troops for the purpose. The interloping oystermen brought suit against the agent to recover heavy damages. Important questions were raised involving the rights of navigation of fisheries and of Indian reservations. The result was carried to the Supreme Courtof Oregon when it was eventually decided in favor of the agent. Winant & Co., under their lease, gathered and shipped a large quantity of Yaquina oysters, employing two or three vessels andsupplying nearly the whole California market for a year or two. Their first venture from there was the shipment of some eighteen hundred bushels, which was brought down to San Francisco and planted near Ship Island, up the bay. These succeeded very well and wa# sold at prices ranging from one to two dollars per hundred. In the meantime during the diversion from Shoal water bay, the bed there in a good measure recovered from its depletion and by planting and cultivation a better supply of oysters is now afforded.

" The three foregoing places are the only ones where oysters have been obtained north of San Francisco, except that a few are brought occasionally from Vancouver's Island. Of the vessels engaged in the oyster trade, the schooners Ann O. Doyle and Cornelia Terry have been lost at Yaquina bay."

Among the vast resources of the county none, perhaps, are more notable and at the same time more neglected than the lumber interests. For a number of years the finest and best lumber was procured from the forests contiguous to Mary's river. In addition there are the vast timbered districts of Yaquina and Alsea, which are very extensive and consist of the best quality of oak, maple, pine, spruce, cedar, fir, etc., while at the head-waters of the Luckiamute, in the vicinity of and west from King's valley is another fine body of trees. In the county there are several saw-mills (descriptions of which will be found elsewhere in this work) which turn out a large quantity of lumber annually.

Not very long ago the belief was almost universal that Oregon was a barbarous, uncivilized country, full of Indians and ferocious wild beasts, where no person was secure from the fatal tomahawk and disfiguring scalping-knife. It was also put down as a fact that the climate was extremely cold and people in the latitude of New Jersey, Southern New York and Pennsylvania, where the rivers are blocked with ice during several months of the year, shuddered at the idea of going so far north as Oregon, for with these, and such as these, the only criterion of temperature is latitude and north is cold while south means warm.

impression that the "rainy season" is a long dreary period of many months duration, which renders life a burden and so accustoms the people to constant rain and damp that they become web-footed. From November to April - five months of what is usually called the rainy season - there are not more than a hundred wet days, and an average of fifty of them, out of the one hundred and fifty, are dry and bright. This rainy season that comes with such remarkable regularity, is the foundation of the agricultural wealth of the State and the guarantee that their crops will never fail of rewarding the labor of the diligent. During these five months the climate is so mild that it does not interfere with stock grazing out all the time, and very partially with the cultivation of the land by good farmers. Frost and snow are never excessive, except in the Cascade Range of mountains and snow peaks; the former from three thousand to seven thousand feet high and the latter from nine thousand to fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Contrast this state of facts with the frost and snow blockade of the Eastern and Western States, Canada and many parts of Europe, where the land is locked up for the entire winter and where it takes the six months of a hot summer to provide for the six months of a hard winter.

The climate of the spring, summer and fall, commencing with April and terminating with October - seven months - is not excelled on the American continent for mildness, cheerfulness and healthfulness. Every variety of climate can be had within the bounds of the State, from the mild and gentle air of the great valleys of Western Oregon, the warm genial heat of Southern Oregon, the refreshing and comfortable atmosphere of Eastern Oregon, to tJ e bracing air from the north and the invigorating and life-giving breeze from the Pacii -* ocean. The material and latent resources and wealth of the State, consisting of rich son, agricultural lands of great productiveness, extensive grazing and profitable stock-raising; vast water power for manufacturing purposes, forests for lumber and wood- work of all kinds to an almost unlimited extent; mineral, beds of coal, iron, lead, copper and gold of great extent and richness; salmon fisheries of incalculable value, and fruit raising to a great extent must make Oregon an irresistible attraction to the friends of industry, the sons of toil and men of capital, to the end of time.

The crowning attractions of Oregon, however, are its mild winters and delighuul summers; these will ever give her the ascendency above all competitors as an attractive place for visitors, tourists, invalids and permanent settlers. Her summer resorts make an important item in favor of Oregon for variety, extent, beauty and grandeur. The valley, mountain, river, lake and forest scenery cannot be easily surpassed. The hunter can find deer, antelope, elk, bear and hare in the forests and woods. If other game is preferred, there are grouse, snipe, woodcock, partridge, geese and duck. The angler has in the numerous rivers, creeks and mountain streams salmon and trout in vast profusion. The bays and sea coast abound in delightful places for bathing, boating, fishing or* riding, with numerous hotels and boarding-houses of great comfort, where the tables are supplied with all the good things that land and sea can provide in the shape of game, fish, oysters, clams and crabs.

With respect to Benton county the climate in the eastern portion is of about the same temperature as in other portions of the Willamette valley, while in the western part it is not so warm in summer nor so cold in winter, the atmosphere being tempered in a great degree by the mild sea-breeze from the Pacific Ocean.

From " Two Years in Oregon " an interesting, truthful and well-written work by Mr. Wallis Nash of Corvallis we find him stating : The average rainfall for four years reported by the United States Signal-Service Station at Portland is 52 82-100 inches. At Eola near Salem (the State Capitol) the average of seven years is 37 98-100 inches. At Corvallis (the county seat of Benton) the average of the last three years (1879, 1880, 1881), taken at the Agricultural College by Professor Hawthorne, is 31 62-100 inches ; but this last low average is produced by the fact of the months of October and November, 1880, being unusually dry. The average rainfall for October, in 1878 and 1879, was 2 86-100 inches, and for November 4 12-100 inches; while in 1880 the rainfall for those months was only 80-100 and 50-100 of an inch.

" During 1879, from May to December, there were at Corvallis thirty-five rainy days and five snowy. During 1880 there were sixty-nine rainy days and nine snowy. In these figures are taken in several days which were only showery at intervals, and there are omitted several days when a slight shower or two fell, with bright sun in between, but which it would not be fair to call rainy days. But the distribution of the rain is of more consequence, both to the farmer and to the mere resident, than the aggregate. So I will set out the rainy and snowy days for the several months at Corvallis :

" At Eola, near Salem, about forty miles north of this (Corvallis), the figures differ slightly, as will be seen from the following table. But this is an average of the seven, years, from 1871 to 1878 :

" The next question is as to temperature. The following figures speak for themselves - the highest and lowest temperature in each monthly range, reported by the United States Signal-Service Station, Portland, Oregon.

" The difference between the extremes is therefore for Portland, 25.2°; for Eola, 25.5°; for Corvallis 26°. Contrast this with similar figures from Davenport, in the State of Iowa. The mean winter there is 19.9°, the summer 75.2°; showing a difference of 55.3°."

"The coldest winter known in Benton county was that of 1867-68, when sleighing was indulged in for two whole weeks, but compare the following registration made during the month of January, 1868, with that of some of the States on the Atlantic seaboard and the advantage is very much in favor of Oregon.

It may be that some of our readers who take an interest in natural phenomena will feel interested in the fact that the great earthquake in South America, which occurred August 13, 1868, was distinctly felt on the coast of Benton county in the shape of a tidal wave at Yaquina bay. This billow, on the coast of Equador and Peru reached an altitude of forty feet. Traveling northward, it got to the coast of California on the morning of the fourteenth, and was observed at the tide-gauge of the Coast Survey, at San Pedro. It rose and fell there five feet in eight minutes. It passed San Francisco the same day and reached Yaquina bay on the morning of the fifteenth, its force greatly diminished. It was observed at the tidal-gauge there that the water, on an ebb tide, rose and fell alternately from 1 30-100 feet to 1 50-100 feet in five minutes - one-fifth of a foot. The pulsation of the wave, therefore, commencing at forty feet, extended in forty-five hours from Arequipa, South America, to Yaquina bay, Benton county, Oregon, a distance of over four thousand miles.

For the benefit of the sportsman into whose hands this work may perchance fall we would state that the deer hunting in Benton county is restricted to that portion through which the Coast Range runs. At no very distant date deer were to be found anywhere in the Willamette valley, but the influx of settlers and the irresistible advance of civilization have driven them into the wilder recesses of the mountains.

Though at times, and especially in the early spring, deer may be seen traveling from the mountains to the sloughs, and densely timbered spots bordering directly on the Willamette these same deer are observed in the autumn on their homeward journey. But they are few and far between and as years advance the likelihood of meeting with any migrating will be considerably lessened.

The white-tailed deer (cervus leucurus) though plentiful in early days is now becoming very rare, owing probably to the fact that they seem to prefer to range the more open country of the foot-hilis and so fall easier victims to the deadly rifle. He is easily recognized from his black-tailed cousin from the fact that when running, instead of keeping his tail erect, he alternately lowers and raises it. But the principal sport in the mountains is afforded by the black-tailed deer (cervus Columbianus). He is a fine beast, well worth the trouble of hunting. Two means are used, the one by running him with hounds till he takes refuge in the water and then shooting him from a stand ; the other, the older and more sportsman-like method of " still hunting."

It is carried on to an alarming extent and shows signs of exterminating the deer at no distant period. Surely the State of Oregon should follow the example of others and pass and enforce a strict law to abolish the evil. One thing at any rate should be done, and that is, to declare the death penalty on those self-hunting curs who run through the hills, chiefly at night and in the early dawn, killing the weaker does and fawns and chasing many grown deer far from the district. It is not hard to stand hidden on some commanding spot and at fifteen or twenty paces murder with rifle or buckshot a wretched animal that has been hunted by the baying hounds. A few more years of this style of hunting and the next generation will not see a 'deer except in a wild beast show.

The more legitimate and sportsman-like way of killing deer is by the timehonored custom of " still hunting." There is little objection to using a dog as the companion of the hunter, just to jump the deer from him for a couple of hundred yards, or so, to give the hunter a fair shot. It is half a day's hounding over the country that does the mischief.

Still hunting is at the best of times hard work and the steep and log-encumbered hills call for endurance, skill and patience. But in a good range, with a stout pair of legs and a good rifle, there is plenty of sport to be seen. Early in the morning is, perhaps, the best time, just as the deer are leaving their night's lair for their morning feed. Some projecting spur of a hill, touched by the rising sun, is one of their favorite resting places. As the huntsman climbs the lofty ridge, pushing aside the dew-laden bushes, he examines with bated breath and anxious gaze each likely spot. He may be deceived in the dim morning light by some old stump, showing amid the fern, and his rifle is raised only to detect his error as the rising sun shows his dazzling beams up the gloomy canyon. He stops for breath, his gaze perhaps rivetted by the glorious panorama which lies stretched before him. He sees the fertile valley and the distant river like a thread of silver showing itself among the line of firs, backed by the snowtopped peaks of the Cascades, all glittering and flashing in the rays of the orb of day. As he glances at each neighboring hill his practised eye catches a well-known form ; a majestic buck stands stretching his stately limbs, snuffing the morning air. As he shakes himself the beaded dew flies from his ruddy coat. One careless step, one cracking twig, and the monarch of the hills, pawing the ground, shows his recognition of danger near. A flash, a sharp report, a wild bound in the air, a sob, a groan, and the hunter's knife has finished the work and the form so lately instinct with life and grace lies at his feet.

There is yet another of the deer tribe to be found in Benton county; the wapiti (cervus Canadensis) or as it is commonly known throughout the west - the elk. This splendid quarry is now only to be met with in the wild and densely timbered spots round Mary's Peak, Table Mountain and a few other mountains of the range. Hard to kill and harder to fiad, the elk hunter must "pack" his blankets on his back and strike into the^wilds after the band (they seldom range except in numbers) which is easily tracked as the ground passed over by them is cut up as by a stampede of wild cattle. On coming up with the drove the hunter can, by judicious maneuvering, such as. keep to windward, and so on, secure several victims to his rifle. The temptation is great to keep on shooting, even when he knows he cannot possibly secure the meat. We have heard of instances where fifteen or twenty of these kings of the forest were left lying to spoil, where they were shot. It is to be hoped that as the game grows scarcer public opinion will utterly scout and frown down such wicked thoughtlessness and waste.

The next in interest among the large game found in Benton county is the black bear. The brown or cinnamon bear is also claimed as a resident by some, but it appears to be a fact in dispute at present. But the black bear is plentiful, too plentiful, as owners of sheep and goats will testify - for Bruin exhibits a civilized liking for mutton. He shows but little sport, being of such a shy disposition that he is rarely met by the hunter. He is generally hunted with dogs - any sort of a cur being good enough - who by their worrying, barking and snarling will annoy Bruin till he breaks cover and gives the rifle a chance. Sometimes, as evening draws on, one may be seen feeding on the skunk-cabbage, which grows with almost tropical luxuriance in many of the mountain streams and marshes on the coast. He rarely shows fight, even when severely wounded, though he will work mischief on any dog plucky enough to attack him. He is more often trapped than shot - spring traps, dead-falls and catch-him-alive ones being the most popular. And when in the latter, on the arrival of the trapper, he shows signs of terrific rage, battering the log walls of his prison and frequently destroying his claws, in his impotent efforts to escape, till a merciful shot ends his misery.

The Cougar is another inhabitant of the mountains, his feline majesty likewise having a weakness for mutton and commiting sad havoc among the flocks. He is a cowardly though powerful animal and it will go hard with the dog, or even man, who has a close encounter with it, though generally he will run for it, if he can. The hunter pursues the cougar with dogs - his only chance of a shot is when the game, hard pressed by the hounds, takes refuge up a tree. The nimrod follows the cry of his hound as quickly as he can and is soon rewarded by the sight of the gleaming teeth and flashing eyes of his prey, as safely ensconced behind the limb of some gigantic pine, far from the ground, he grins defiance at his foes. But the wiles of the brute are no match for the skill of the hunter. The ringing rifle shot, mingled with the death yell of the savage beast echoes with a thousand vibrations along the steep sides of the canyon, frightening the deer from their lairs and summoning yonder buzzard, circling there far up in the blue sky, with hopes of a bloody banquet.

The wild-cat, beaver, otter, fisher and mink make up the list. They can hardly, perhaps, be called game, being more the prey of the trapper than the sportsman.

For the lover of the " gentle craft," there is many a crystal stream in the adjacent hills, to tempt him to wear away a summer day. From early April when the swelling buds tell of approaching spring, on through dusty summer, when the very woods seem faint with heat, even until the golden grain and yellowing leaves proclaim that autumn is nigh, the fisherman's toil will be rewarded, by many a speckled beauty. In Beaver creek, some eight miles south of Yaquina, on the coast, there is a certainty of a big take. From the upper waters of the Luckiamute, Mary, Yaquina and Alsea, the fisherman will not return with empty creel. The Willamette itself has a fair proportion of both trout and coarser fish, though few^are taken with the fly. Salmon abound in the Yaquina, Alsea and Siletz. They are often takeu with a spoon-bait, but we have yet to hear of their rising to a fly. Higher up the streams they are speared with ease, but are generally worthless for food, from the injuries they have received in forcing a passage up from their ocean home. Time and space forbids us to enlarge on the delights of flounder fishing and spearing at Yaquina bay, and on the savory rock oyster and luscious clam which are the never-failing pursuit of the merry tribe of pleasureseekers all through the summer there - enough to say that for all, young or old, male or female, sport and pastime abound in this favored county.

As the fall of the year comes round in Benton county, so the face of the sportsman brightens with the thought that after the first rains have come in, so also will the ducks and geese. The latter, which consists of the Canadian, and occasionally a band or two of white, start about the second week in October to fly in bands from their northern homes, where they have spent the breeding season and the summer months. Down they come, the cold being too much for them in the higher latitudes, quantities passing over our heads going into California, and numbers settling down in the adjoining country.

The geese come slightly in advance of the ducks, and about the end of October a sportsman may have much enjoyment. Snipe also are fairly abundant and appear to be much tamer than the British variety.

To sura up, the conveniences in Benton county for immigrants and new settlers to procure all kinds of supplies such as the various kinds of agricultural implements, mechanics' tools, provisions, seeds, groceries, books, stationery, clothing, etc., are as good as any person can wish or reasonably expect. The stores throughout all the set- tlemente in the different parts of the county being well supplied with these articles, at reasonable prices, Oregon being able to boast of an extensive supply of general merchandise, hardware and agricultural appliances, in proportion to the number of her inhabitants as any State in the Union. The facilities for marketing and converting the various industrial productions of the county into cash is as good as could be expected in a comparatively new country like this, and far superior to the advantages enjoyed by almost any of the now thickly settled portions of the Mississippi valley, before railroad enterprise opened up the natural resources and agricultural wealth of these great States to the markets of the world. The Willamette river, forming the entire eastern boundary of the county, furnishes navigable water for river steamers more than half of the time during the year, while the West Side branch of the Oregon and California Railroad affords the means by which flour, wood, bacon, wheat, butter and cheese can be shipped to Portland, a distance of about eighty-six miles, where all these articles find a ready market at remunerative prices.

The harbor at Yaquina bay, in the western portion of the county, bids fair to be the most important seaport in the State and furnishes a point where sailing vessels and ocean steamers can ship produce and lumber to San Francisco, Portland, British Columbia, China, the Sandwich Islands and other foreign ports, all of which will be greatly augmented by the completion of the railroad, now rapidly approaching consummation, between Corvallis and Yaquina.

The inducements Benton county holds out to the industrious laboring man with small means and indomitable perseverance; who wishes to place himself in the possession of a comfortable home at a cost of only a few years' labor and a sacrifice of a few social enjoyments in a crowded city or densely populated town, where society too often rests upon a money basis, where virtuous industry in rags is made to do penance to aristocratic vice in satin ; are equal to almost any other location on the Pacific Coast. To the wool grower her green hills and mild climate, scarce ever requiring grain or hay for sheep, affords a good opening for this department of industry ; while, to the manufacturer of that article, the ease with which the raw material may be obtained, and the necessary demand for blankets, flannel, tweeds, cassimeres and all kinds of woolen goods, promise rich returns for all capital invested. The extensive valleys of grass, excellent stock range and the ease with which cattle can be reared, promise a full reward to the stock-grower for ordinary care. The immigrant who wishes to engage in general farming, grain raising, or a system of mixed husbandry, will here find the rich soil of the Mississippi valley, impregnated with the various mineral salts, alkaline and marine deposits in soluble form, giving the soil of Oregon, and that of the Willamette valley in particular, its superior capacity for producing every kind of grain and especially the great staple of the country - wheat. The lumberman can find openings for profitable investment in that great department of industry, in different localities scattered all over the county, and especially among the great forests of cedar on the Alsea river and its tributaries, adjacent to the navigable waters of Alsea bay, whence lumber can be exported in sailing vessels to any part of the world. The excellent coal beds discovered in the Yaquina valley and within reach of the navigable waters of Yaquina river and bay need only capital, industry and energy to develop them into resources of great wealth ; while, cod fisheries can be

Government land can be obtained in some parts of the county, but, as a matter of course, the best lands have been taken and the best locations selected. In the western portion of the county, on the Alsea and Yaquina bays and rivers, there is yet some government land well adapted to dairy purposes - the pure air and sea-breeze being favorable to the preservation of all kinds of dairy productions in the most satisfactory manner, and the tide and overflow lands, also the valleys farther up these streams, furnish the best of range for dairy cows and all kinds of neat cattle.

The Siletz valley in this part of the county is said to be one of the finest parts, and capable of furnishing good homes for more than three hundred families. But this glen is as yet occupied as an Indian Reservation and cannot be settled by whites till Government sees fit to open it to enterprise and industry, which will probably be before many years. The invigorating sea-breeze in this portion of the county furnishes a desirable retreat for the invalid in search of health, while those who wish a few months reprieve from the feverish excitements of city life, may here find sports to his taste, for rivers, creeks, and mountain streams are alive with - while elk, bear, deer, beaver, otter, mink and a great variety of water-fowl and small game are abundant in the mountains, valleys, bays and rivers.

The advantages for schooling and religious worship in Benton county - indeed through all the settlements in Oregon - are far superior to what might be expected in so recently and sparsely settled a country. There are school districts organized and schools kept a part of the time during the year, in all the settlements in the county, while, the different religious denominations of almost every persuasion exert their influence to preserve good morals and give tone to society. There are also seminaries and academies in the county for teaching the higher branches, among which may be mentioned the State Agricultural College.

Corvallis, the shire town of Benton county, is a place of considerable trade, located on the Willamette river and occupies one of the handsomest town sites in Oregon. Her numerous stores, busy work-shops, excellent schools and neat churches, her citizens' noted enterprise, industry, refinement and good taste make it a place worthy the attention of the man of business seeking profitable investment for capital in the State. The other towns and post-offices are : Alsea, Collins, Bang's Valley, Little Elk, Newport, Newton, Oneatta, Philomath, Summit, Tidewater, Toledo, Waldport and Wells.

" The speckled Trout in springing pride, The Salmon, monarch of the tide ; The ruthless Pike, intent on war ; The silver Bass, and mottled Par " -