Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1852-1852, 1852-08-31

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tural products, it is not my intention to enter
into detail of those mammoth vegetables which
have become so justly celebrated The fame of
our large Oregon potatoes turnips, and wheat
crops has been repeated in nearly all the papers
in the Union. The soil is excellent, and is not
surpassed, if equalled, by any portion of the
continent in its adaptation to the growth OF
wheat, rye, OATS grass, potatoes, and other vege-
tables Potatoes are produced in great abun-
dance with little cultivation; they are ofa supe-
rior quality, and the potato rot has never yet
appeared in Oregon. Owing to our peculiar eli
mate, wheat natures slow y, and hence the grain
is always full and plump, and the straw unusu-
ally solid and elastic This is the reason that
wheat in this country is subject to none of those
diseases and uncertainties peculiar to it in the
States, and is Invariably a certain crop.
Puget Sound may be called an inland sea. 1t
is about $50 miles long, averaging from five to
ten miles in width, and is connected with the
ocean by the Straits of Juan de Fuca. 1t affords
the best and safest harbors for vessels to be found
on the Pacific coast, not excepting even the bay
Of San Francisco. The water is deep, entirely
free from rocks or other submarine mpedimcnts,
and safe auchorages are to be found in almost
any part of it. The Straits are about ten miles
wide at their narrowest part the water very deep,
and vessels can run from the ocean into the
Sound in gale without risk. In this and many
other respects the Straits differ FROM the mouth
of the Columbia. Vessels destined up that river
are frequently obliged lay out to sea for weeks
in order to avail themselves Of favorable wind,
and even then, with careful and experienced
pilot on board, the entrance is perilous. When
we consider the sand bar at the mouth of that
river the number of vessels that have been there
wrecked, and the consequent loss of human life,
and when we reflect that the Columbia river is
the only avenue by which commerce can pene-
trate the interior of Southern Oregon, or through
which its products can find a foreign market, we
are forced to the conclusion that the valley of
the Willamette can never compete with North
ern Oregon in commercial point of view, and
that nature has destined Puget Sound to be the
grand commercial depot of the Northwest Coast
The Sound is perhaps the most majestic in
land sheet of water in the world for navi cation
by steam vessels In the summer seasons, how
ever, it is subject to long cams, when, its waters
being rut1ed only by the most gentle breezes,
little or nothing can be done by sail vessels
The timber Of this country, Of which there is
a super-abundance, is composed principally Of
the cedar and the fir. The advantages of the
country for furnishing this kind of lumber is un-
surpassed by any other part of the continent
The shores Of the Sound are generally thickly
studded with timber; in some places, however,
the spots of prairie land in which this country
abounds extend down to the water. The land
| f,o,r, +bo to,r,,1, :,
orally level. An active trade is carried on by a
number Of vessels in supplying the San Francis
co market with hewed timber, spars, and piles.
The settlements in this part of the country are
quite young. There are several small towns
growing up on the Sound, and Olympia, on
Bulbs inlet. at the southern end of the Sound,
is the largest town in Northern Oregon. We
have but few saw mills as yet on the Sound !;
but there are several Others in process of erec-
ton, and when they get properly into operation,
there is no doubt of an extensive trade in lumber
with San Francisco, the Sandwich Islands, and
China.
Besides our advantages for commerce, aericul-
ture, and lumber must not forget the fisheries.
In the Sound almost every kind of valuable fish
may be taken in abundance. Among these (al-
though do not pretend to enumerate ally |
might mention the salmon, the ccdfsh, herring,
and halibut, besides oysters, CLAIMS, crabs, DC.
Whales frequently come into the Straits and are
caught The Sound affords the most favorable
ports on the Pacific for whaling vessels to obtain
supplies and spend the winter.
On the 2Gth Of March last the schooner "Ex-
act" returned ftom Queen Charlotte's Island,
with number of specimens of gold quartz on
board. At the time l write she is lying in our
harbor, reports an abundance of the precious
metal on the Island. Puget Sound, being the
nearest point in the American territory from
which vessels can fit out for that place, will com
mand an advantage over all other ports on the
Pacific, should mining operations ever be exten-
sivcly prosecuted on that island.
From the preceding statement of facts in re-
lation to the surface Of the land, from our north
ern latitude and geographical position, one would
naturally conclude that ours was healthy coun-
try. This is emincntly the fact. We have none
ofthat fever and ague, nsalaria, which is to be
found in Southern Oregon, and which prevailed
there to some extent last year. The chief factor
of the Hudson's Bay Company at Nasqually,
Dr. Tolmic has lived on the Sound for the last
nineteen years, with always a considerable num-
Der Of men in his employ, and he tells me that
he has never known of a single case of fever and
aguc originating in the country. No country of
the same latitude on the continent possesses so
mild a climate. During the past winter, which
was an unusually cold one, the thermometer
ranged at about seventeen degrees above zero,