New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-10-10


The gold mines of Oregon at For. Colville are
undou btediy to great extent sell, got up by
spectators for their own profit. No ore in
dorses the exports. All is vague ,umor; and
, the talk Of " $500 day u q hand and "big
"lumps" il mere buncOmbe. Some owners of
canoes, horse. fesh, mules, and barrels of pork
up st the Dalles, have made good thing OF it
no doubt That there is gold about Fort Col
vile and on the Pen d'Oceille River there is no
question; but there is no we'll authenticated
account of the actual produce and value of the
mines. The journey there is some 60 miles
from Astoria, and great part OF it lowing viii
derDess, with no travelling facilities and much Of
! the way without water. lfthey "turo up" well
unquestionabIy there viii be enough to wash them
! The Indians now put in their 4" claim" and say,
Americans shall not 90 there. They haze been
; tempered with by British SCENTS Pierre Jerome
the Chief of the Kettle Falls Indians near Fort
Colville was very friendly TO our people, till
Gregorie" and Landre,' Chiefs OF the Lake
| Indians in the British territory, came over aud
| had long talk with aim, and then he told the
| Americans they should not go to the mines and
| If thew did he would not be answersble for whas
his people might do He said all the tribes round
about were to meet and hold big talk" and
then they would determine what course to pursue
| with regard TO the Americans working these
mines This is the old game of the British and
British agents raising aDimOsity and hostile feed
| ipcs among the frontier Indians toward the Amer
| icaus II was begun long before the
massacre at Fort William Henry in the old
French war, and is kept up by the Hudsons Bay
| Company TO this hour, and Will be till every
! treacherous raccOOn hunting "Britsher is driven
off of the continent OF North America. Were | in
the po stion at Washington once occupied by one
! Andrew jackson, and a clear case of melting 10
bostilites were proved against this graspng COM
paDy of fur-traders would send body OF troops
and literally drive them of of their own trading
posts as at Of selfdefense and justitiibe cas-
| tigstion.
Astoria, where | write, has not progressed marh
since old John Jacob opened bis speculstions here,
| and Washington Irving immortalizei the inder-
| taking in his classic narrative. l fancy knev
| lust how Astoria 10 )ked before l saw it. Not at
the mouth, but five six miles above, on the south
| side-less than hundred houses-and overriding
| by dark forest of pine and spruce the land
| rising as il recedes from the river On getting
ashore here find it lazy, listlessloOking place,
with slight, spasmOdic hustle at the time of the
arrival or departure ola steamer. The houses are
| all built of wood and the only sgn Of manufactures
| is a large saw MILL propelled by steam. few
garden patches, two or three stores, small strip
of grazing land for CATTLE and place OF some
/
Upper Astoria" and you have the city aud it's
resources before you. 1t may some day be a great
cty-so may Spuyten Duyvel Creek float the
whole British Navy at some future time, but not
Just yet. The Columbia River is very large; it
appears to me larger than the Sississ )pl. Az the
| mouth il is four or five miles wide here, at As
toris, nearly three, should think; and hundred
miles up more than mile in width. Its depth,
| too, is enOrmOus-the last hundred miles Of its
course, OF from the mouth of the Willamette to
| the ocean, from fifteen to thirty fathoms.
Oregon could supply lumber for the world. To
msny a far distant day Will the wealth of the Ore
CON forests 90 across the Pacific to the islands to
| China and Japan, to California, Mexico and South
| America and be built into tall ships and powerful
| steamers A tale is told right here, and over
true tale too, Of the suddenly increasing wealth OF
such lucky ones who are on the spot aud take adj
vantage Of the period" of crisis. When San
| Francisco was burned dOwn-One Of the burnings,
| forget which-lumber was $500 thousand for
some time A large ship was sent here and freighted
at some place up the river at less than $40
thousand / have forgotten how many million feet
| Of lumber there were on board, but enough to
rake the owners, agents and every body connected
with the transaction Independently rich They
started down in the greatest spirits, OverjOyed at
! the certain large profits that awaited them. The
navigation was considered safe, pilot en-
gagged, and nearly oil on board, from the owner
ard captain down to the cabin-boy, got gloriously
Jolly" The ship ran on sand bar and went TO
pieces, not one penny worth being saved. IL is the
old story runs doings. Loes the world grow
wiser by experience 1t progresses, for see the
cu1eAt of the mighty Columbia silently flowing
| dast my window.
The Columbia Bar, SO formidable to navgatOrs,
still stretches its sandy course across the mouth Of
the river. As our little steamer-drawing only
seven feet of water-passed in, saw the ribs of
the old war-slOop Peacock, that was wrecked hero
in the time of Wilkess Exploring Expedition.
One would suppose that Government, ere this
had done all that good lighthouses and buoys
| could accomplish to make the navigation safe
Well they have positively built a light on
Cape disappointment, north of the mouth Of the
river. There it stands, no doubt very good
lighthouse it is lighthouse, but it has no light
Like an impregnable fortress minus the cannon
like cannon with neither powder or bas-here lie
a pile Of stone, but no illumination. II his
been so nearly two years There could
Down the coast is another in exactly
the same condition. Dangerous coast, great
" country" glorious government, splendid
lighthouses, but no light. You may think there
are no light-keepers Not so; there are keepers
for both the lighthouses. You may think there are
no lanterns Mistaken again; there is q good
lantern adapted to the Fresnel light for each light
house, and they are safely slowed away 10 ware
house in San Francisco The Lighthouse Inspector
was ordered by the Treasury Department to set
up the lanterns in a revenue cutter; but it was
found that no revenue cutter here could take them.
The Steamship Company offered to take them mp
ard land them safely at just the cost of shipment
as they were much needed But no; there ~er
no orders for going to that expenpe. But there 10
an expense the Governme mt has gore to. That is
the expense of warehousing the lanterns for some