Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1843-03-16

at an advance which is fixed by the gov
ernar.
Fort Vancouver, the principal tradin.
post OF tlte Oregon, stands on the nortI
bank of the river about ninety miles from
its mouth. The Fort consists of severa
dwellings, stotehouses, workshops, &c
all of frame. arranged together in quad
ransular form, and surrounded by {
t.stoeRade of pine: logs, about twenty fee
n+height. The fort has no bastions, ant
contains no armament. There are, to BIZ
sure, four great guns frowning in from
of the governors mansion. two lor@ eieh
teens, and two nine Founders, but TWO o.
these have long been spiked, and the~cth'
ers are .unet for service.
| The rainy season coT.nences.herea a.
bout the middle of October. and contin-
ues until April. During this period the
weather is almost uniformly dull. foggy.
or rainy. Sometimes rain falls lnces:
/ sastly for the scace of two or. three
! weeks. Occasionally, during the winter
months. there will be light fall of snow.
and in the winter of 1866 the river
was frozen over.
In the vicinity Of Fort Vancouver the
cattle Craze during the whole winter; no
stablng or stall feeding is ever requisite,
as the extensive plains produce the finest
and most abundant crop Of excellent
prairie grass. Neat cattle, sheep ard
horses arebrol sht FROM California, where
/ they can be purchased at very low pr-
ces, and to the visiter at Vancouver the
conclusion is irresis tible that this district
is one Of the'siinest in the world for gra-
Zing.
In choosing site for settlement on the
main river. it isalways necessary to bear
/ in mind the periodical foundations to
which the country is subject, and to
choose spot sufficiently elevated. The
soil here or both sides of the river is a
rich black loan. the base teing basaltic
! rock. There is not usually great depth.
so that it is probable the crops might in
few years exhaust the soih,but the land
is abundant, and the asriculturalist is
therefore not compelled to wait for its
renovation.
The face Of the country from Fort
George (Astoria) to Vancouver-a dis
lance of eighty miles-is very much of a
Uniform character. consisting Of alluvial
meadows along the river banks. alterna-
ting with forests of pine, oak, &c; while
behind are extensive plains, some Of
which receive estuaries of the rivers.
while others are watered by lakes and
ponds, many of them so large as to re-
main filed during the whole sumner
The pine forests are very extensive, the
trees being of great size, and the timber
extraordinarily beautiful, straight, and
free from knots. All the timber of the
genus panus, of which there are a great
number of species, is gigantic, when com
pared with our trees i'll this part OF the
world, but occasionally one is met with
huge almost beyond comparison. ; | mea
sured with DR.. Gardner, surgeon of the
fort. a pine of the species DougJaso.
which bad been Frustrated by the wind
Its height was above fwo hundred feet, and
its circumference forty flee feet! Large
as was this specimen, its dimensions are
much exceeded by one on the Umptqua
river, measured by the late Mr.. David
| Douglas. The height of this tree was,
think, nearly three hundred feet. and its
! circumference .1tfy-sir feet
The prong horned antelope occasional
! ly ranges these plains the back-tailed
Or mule .deer is found il the, vicinity.
grouse of several species are very album
dant. and the large prairie hare is COM
mon. Lower down the river, and nyten-
ding indeed to the rocky cane az its en-
trance, is found the white tailed deer,
the elk. &c. In the autumn and winter,
in the vicinity of Fort Vancouver. ducks,
geese and swans swarm in immense num-
bers. These are kill ed by the Indians
and taken to the fort as articles of trade.
For single duck, one load of powder
and shot is given; for a goose, two: and
for a swan. fear loads For deer. ten
loads of ammunition ora bottle of rum is
the usual price.
Early in May the salmon are first seen
entering the river, and in about fort
night the Columbia and its tributaries
teen with these delicious fish. which are
seen leaping from the water continually
lHC ihuiouS thNC 81 dt iuhlbCio W "Uii-
Gus modes, subsisting almost wholly up
on them during their stay, and drying
and packing them away in matched hats,
to be used for winter store. The sal
mon also forms chief article of food
for the inmates of the fort; and hundreds
of casks are sailed down every season
for the consumption OF the hired men eu
ring. winter.
When Captain Wyetls established his
fort-.on the 'Wappatoo Island, he soon
found himself compelled to depend en-
tirely upon the salmon fishery, being for
ced by the. company to reliaqnish his
trade in furs. He accordingly turned
his attention to this branch of trade, and
when his brig sailed for the U. States
she had about BALI cargo on board.
The fish paid well. and all in connection
,y;th fhn undertaking afterwards rarrptt