, 1858-07-30

went there; they became acquainted with
the country; they became acquainted with
the climate and California stands forth
this day confessed a great agricultural
community. Her wealth consists not SC
much in her mines as to her rich aud re.
numerative soil. If you will examine the
records Of the Land Office, among the
slopes Of the Sierra, which, but short time
since, was supposed to be, and simply fiji
to be, the home of the grizzly bear and the
California lion, you will find rich agricul
tural tracts adapted to settlement aud oc
cupation. The land surveys have shown
that California, east of the Sierra, the
western portion of the Great Basin, is
arabic, and will reward cultivation. In
all portions of California the cereals and
vegetables thrive well, and she now invites
people to her borders, more by her agricul
tural resources than by her mineral wealth,
Go farther north, 60 to the Oregon Of
song, and to the present Oregon and Wash.
ington. That country was regarded as O
magnificent country, not in its resources,
but in its scenery There was the beauti,
full Oregon winding its way to the ocean
there were the snow-capped Cascades,
the Blue and the Rocky Mountains invt-
ing admiration by the grandeur of their
scenery. But an agricultural, grazing
community-a community having large re-
sources, it was not admitted to be- Ore
is now seeking admittance into the Union
as a sovereign State, glorying in her eighty
thousand people, with well ordered po-
pulation, and a well-settled country-a
country having great wealth in her soil !;
great wealth in her timber; great wealth in
her genial aud delightful climate.
If go further north to Washington
why it is but few years since-within the
the last four or five Washington
has been regarded as terra inoogniIG
Puget Sound was almost unknown 1t
was frequently confounded with Nootka
Sound 1t was supposed to be some far
of body ofwater, lying somewhere under
the artic circle. Yet there we have Puget
Sound, and the country west Of the Cas-
cade Mountains, in Washington Territory,
equaling the State of New York, almost,
in extent, having two thirds the area of
the State Of New York, and, in proportion
to her area, having as much arabic land
and having climate as mild in the winter
as the climate Of the CarolinaS. We have
that splendid and capacious Puget Sound,
the most magnificent roadstead on the
shores of all the oceans, with her sixteen
hundred miles Of share-lne, atd her numer-
Gus harbors, defensible, land-locked, and
commodious. We have on the shores of
that Sound forest growth which will sup
ply the market of all the ports of the Pa
ci6c with lumber, and the navies of the
earth with spars, for all time to come.
The Territory is rich in coal, and in the
fisheries of her coast-fsheres of cod, hal
ibut, and salmon. If we go east to the
Cascade Mountains, either in Oregon or
Washington, we come there to delightful
pastoral and agricultural country, inviting
not only the grazier and the wool.grower,
but the husbandman, suppose that,
within the limits of our Union, there is no
portion Of the country where wOol-growing
will be so profitable as it will be on the in-
terror plains Of these two Territories In
southern Oregon and northean Washing
ton there are extensive and rich gold fields
Thus, that country, which was supposed to
be simply country for miners and for a
few traders, is this day country of great
agricultural capacity, as well as of great
mineral wealth. Its mineral wealth have
not dwelt upon, because it is known Of all
men. The numbering and timber l need
not do more than merely allude to, as l
have done. On another branch Of the sub
ject, / shall come back to Puget Sound and
San Francisco, in connection with the
trade Of the Pacific, and shall then take
occasion to present some more observations
in regard to their resources
We will now examine, for few moments
the interior. l recollect that years ago,
when | first gave my attention to the in
terror, the impression was made upon my
mind by the narratives of the trappers
(and that impression has been made gener-
ally in the public mind) that the interior
was worthless and uninhabitablo. i wish
to redeem the interior from this reproach.
desire to present the interior as it is in
the light Of exploration, and to show that
it can be occupied aud is inabitable. do
not approach the subject as sectional mau
or as the partisan of route, but looking
to the whole interior, from the thirty-second
to the forty-ninth parallel.
will commence my observations about
the interior at the thirty-second parallel
the parallel Of the Gila and its tributaries
1t has been described in former reports,
and especially in the narratives of the trap
pers. as a barren, sandy, desert waste, ut
terly incapable Of occupation and utterly
incapable of supporting civilized commu-
nifty. But as exploring parties passed ov-
er it, arabic tracts we're developed, timber
was found, and the admission was at last
made that on this barren and desert route
oases were to be found, and that there was
here place and there place which invit-
cd not to repose, but to the occupation Of
the country by our hardy people.
But as the matter has become more fully
developed, we find that the country changes
its aspect entirely; not that there is not
| ,,,nh nd which 10 nncultivahlo NOT that