The Illinois free trader and LaSalle County commercial advertiser. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1841-1843, 1843-03-10
Orcgou--.Thc New El Dorado.

OrcgOu---Thc New Ei Dorado.
We derive from long letter in the National
1ntelligencer, the following sketch ofthc Territory
beyond the Rocky Mountains, which has recently
been the theme Of debate in the U. S. Senate:
Within few years several Americans,
of whom the writer of this notice is one,
have crossed the Rocky Mountains to the
mouth of the Columbia, with objects en-
tirely unconnected with trade or COM
merce. Mine was the desire to see n
new country, love of adventure for It's
own sake, and an enthusiastic fondness
for natural history.
The party with which travelled left
Independence, Missouri. about the latter
part of April, 1894, and arrived at the Bri-
fish fort Vancouver in September, having
performed the whole journey on horse
back. From this time until October,
1886, with the exception of the first win
ter, which | passed at the Sandwich
Islands, my residence was in the Terri
tory of Oregon. DR.. Mclaughlin, the
chief factor. treated me with uniform and
singular kindness, supplying all my wants,
and furnishing me with every facility in
the prosecution of my plans. This is, |
believe, the uniform character of the SUI
perintendents of British forts in that coun-
try.-Travellers, naturalists, and all who
are not traders, are kindly and most hos
pitably treated, but the moment the visi-
tor is known to trade beaver skin from
an Indian, that moment he is elected from
the community. The Company has a
sum OF money, amounting TO several hun
dred thousand pounds sterling, laid aside
at Vancouver, for the sole purpose Of OPP
posing all who may come to interfere with
its monopoly, by purchasing at exorbitant
prices all the iurs in possession of the In
dans, and thus forcing the settler to come
to terms, or driving him from the country.
II il be an individual who is thus starved
into submission, he then usually clears a
piece Of land on the Wallammet river,
takes an Indian wife, and purchases furs
ofthe natives, which, by previous contract,
he is bound to sell to the Company at an
advance which is fixed by the Governor.
Fort Vancouver, the principal trading
post of the Oregon, stands on the north
bank of the river, about ninety miles from
its mouth. The fort consists Of several
dwellings, storehouses, workshops, &c,
all of frame, arranged together in a qua
ii al Ey,rI, l,I h.yp
stockade Of pine logs, about twenty feet
in height. The fort has no bastions, and
contains no armament. There are, to be
sure, four great guns frowning in front Of
the Governors mansion, two long eigh-
teens, and two nine Founders, but two Of
these have long been spiked, and the 9th
ers are unfit for service.
The rainy season commences here about
the middle Of October, and continues until
the first Of April. During this period the
weather is almost uniformly dull, foggy or
rainy. Sometimes rain falls necessarily
for the space Of two or three weeks. Oc-
casonally, during the winter months,
there will be light fall Of snow, and in
the winter Of 1885 and g, the river was
frozen over. This intensity of cold,
however, continued but few days, and
was said to be very unusual. The gene
raj range Of the thermometer (Fahren-
het's) during that season was from SO to
4s deg, but for three or four days the
mercury was as low as 25 degrees.
In the vicinity Of Fort Vancouver the
cattle Craze during the whole winter; no
stablng or stall feeding is ever required,
as the extensive plains produce the finest
and most abundant crops ofexcellent prai-
rie grass.
In choosing a site for settlement on the
main river, it is always necessary TO bear
in mind the periodical foundations. Fort
Vancouver itself, although built upon a
high piece Of land, at the distance of six
hundred yards from the common rise OF
the tides, is sometimes almost reached by
the freshets in early spring. The soil
here on both sides of the river is rich
black loan, the base being basaltic rock.
The face of the country from Fort
George (Astoria) to Vancouver--a dis
lance of eighty miles-is very much of q
Uniform character, consisting Of alluvia
meadows along the river banks, alternating
with forests of pine, oak, &C.; while be-
hind are extensive plains, some Of which
receive es,uaries of the river, while other:
are watered by lakes Or ponds. The pine
forests are very extensive, the trees being
of great size, and the timber being extra
ordinarily beautiful. All the timber of thu
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