The northern galaxy. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1844-1848, 1844-04-03
THE OREGON COUNTRY

THE OREGON COUNTRY
Prentice, of the Louisville Journal, does
not seem fully to have determined to pull up
stakes and print his paper at the Falls of the
Columbia, instead of the Falls Of the Ohio.
See how he paints Oregon, that earthly par
adise of Senator BENToN's waking Dreams
He has not dipped his pencil in eOuleur de
rose, but his thinning, we apprehend, is quite
as faithful as the honorable Senator's:
''Of all the countries on the face of this earth,
it is one of the least favored of heaven. 1t is
the mere riddlings of creation. 1t is almost
as barren as the Desert of Africa, and quite as
unearthly as the Campania of Italy. To leave
the fertile and salubrious lands on this side OF
the Rocky Mountains, and togo beyond their
snowy submits a thousand miles, TO be eXiled
from law and society, and to endeavor to ex-
tort food from the unwilling sandheaps which
are there called earth, is The maddest enter
prise that ever deluded foolish man. We
would notbe subjected to the innumerable and
indescribable tortures Of a journey to Oregon
for all the soil that its savage hunters ever
wandered over The journey thither, from all
accounts. is horrible enough,but it is paradise
an when contrasted with the wasting mseres
which beset the wretched emigrant when he
has reached the point where he fancied his
unutterable woes were TO cease, but where he
/ finds they are 10 be increased beyond all en-
durance. OF the last party of emigrants that
left Missouri for Oregon, only eight died of
starvation before reaching Fort Hall, which
is but half wayto the country that is reckoned
inhabitable by those who are afflicted with the
Oregon mania. q
We have already intmated that the journey
TO the Columbia river from this country is
attended with starvation and thousand other
felicities. If the emigrant is so lucky as to
escape the panPs of famine and the bullets of
the Cumanches on this side of the Rocky
Mountains, he may perhaps survive the long
| and tedious ascent of the mountains. When
he surmounts the summit and begins his down
ward journey, the land of promise. the delec-
table Canaan, the land flowing with milk and
honey, spreads out iimitably before him.
And most ravishing prospect it is There
is not tree to limit the reach Of unparalleled
vision. His enchanted eye wanders in costa
cy over piles of vocanic rocks and sand-stones,
interspersed with Gases of wild NORWOOD and
prckly pears, dd Ebitum. Nothing else can
be seen to the right or left, or in front. Be
hind him, the snow-clad peaks of the noun
tains lift theirheads sublimely above the clouds,
from whose dizzy heights avalanches of rocks
come tumbling down, giving the traveller rare
opportunities of exhibiting his dexterity IN
getting out OF the line they take amusement
in pursuing. This is the first glimpse the
happy emigrants gets of the blissful Oregon.
As he decends tho everlasting Western slopes
of the mountains, the rocks seem to diminish,
while the only green things. NORWOOD and
prickly pear, seem TO increase. Even here
nothing seems TO be created in vain; for the
NORWOOD, if a man have courage to swal-
low it, affords some relief TO the infrm and
shrivelled stomachs which invariably prevail
in that part of the journey. while the prickly
pear not only scratches his shins which itch
most intolerably in consequence of the bite OF
innumerable sand-ticks, but afford him agree
able diversion before the camp fire at night i'll
pulling out the egregious thons which are ev-
err ready TO exchange their hold on the parent
pear for a softer location on the legs of man.
The traveller on this part of his journey has
nothing to fear from Indians or panthers, or
red-mouthed catamounts, as these animals are
so gluttenous in their natures that they will
not stray where the hope of full stomach is
] gross ueluSlOn 10 tne 1dDcy-
Those sections of Oregon, that are most ad-
vantageously situated for culture and profit.
are unhealthy, and abound in reptiles and in
sects, which render life almost insupportabe.
There are moccasins, copperheads, rattle
snakes, scorpions, Lizards, tarantulas, fleas,
ticks, musquetoes, galinippers, & other pests,
of which neither entomology nor zoology nor
herpetology gives any account. OF all these
h.
said to be the most uncomfortable from their
numbers and Unsuitable voracity. Whenever
enterprise, fate, or hOrse-flesh carries an un-
fortunate wretch to the romantic shores Of the
Columbia river, the musquetoes pay their re-
spects to him in countless mutitudes, and at
tach themselves with unremitting and unre-
lenting closeness TO him as long as he, or any
eatble and orinkable portion of his body re-
mains. Wherever the mud is sufficiently
oleaginous to produce musquetoes, they swarm
fromitn hocks which obscure the sun at noon
day. After these rapacious insects have ca
ten all the flesh from the bones, the autumnal
agues commence theirinteresting experiments.
Persons who reside in the swamps OF Illinois,
ON the Wabash bottom in Indiana. or on the
lowlands of Red river, flatter themselves that
their know ledge Of the ague is consummate :;
but it is reserved to those fortunate individu-
ais, who reside in the smiling valley of the
WalIammett, to be carried to the seventh heav-
en- of delight on the wings of immortal agues.
There are parts Of Arabia Felix OF which
the heart ola lover of nature never wearies-
the happy valley, according to the unauestion-
able authority of Doctor johnson, is an ex-
quisite garden spot-on some OF the high Ia
bic lands in South America the blush of spring
is perennial, and the scenery is lovely beyond
descripton-the vale of Temple, the isle of
Nyssus, the grove Of Daphne by Orontes, and
the field of Emma, live in the luxurious verse
of old heather poets, but, were the splendors
of all these places congregated and concentra-
ted on one. that one would not, in the mag