, 1863-05-23
Umatilla Landing.

the COIumOla river valley Will centre
This point is UmatilIa Landing. But two
months since and the picturesque spot, re-
ferred to, was a small village, of one small
shanty, built in no particular style of ar
chitecture and of no imaginable use to any
human being. At times forlorn Indian
might have been seen, mounted on an ema-
ciated, white-eyed Cayuse-horse, riding
slowly along the banks of the mighty Col
umbia, cycling wistfully the site of what is
now looked upon as an embryo city. Oc-
casicnally an Indian canoe landed at that
point, and sometimes band of stray hOr-
ses came down to drink from the pebbly
margin of the river. Save these signs of
life Umatilla Landing was then the slow
est place of these, or any other, times
But suddenly a change comes over the spot
speculative characters arrive on steam
boat, view the place, and decide at once
that there is fine field for improvement,
requiring nothing but business talent and
capital to make it the largest town on the
Columbia and now there are considerable
signs of improvement at that point Many
persons interested in Lewiston have rushed
wildly into this new town-site speculation,
and are spending money on the last and
greatest "sell'' of all the paper cities of
this north-w west region.
We assume that where the staple neces-
saries of life are produced, and the import
ed articles of commerce are sold on as IA
vorable terms as elsewhere, there trade will
centre. It is this, and this alone, which
has kept Portland in advance of Oregon
towns. There is no doubt that means of
communication can be devised by which
imported goods can be laid down cheaper
at Dalles by not touching at Portland, than
by coming through that place; but all
buyers who go as low down as Dalles to
purchase imported articles find it necessary
to complete their stocks by buying Will
lamette valley produce. Hence they go on
to Portland, and would continue to do so,
even if ''direct trade" was established be-
tween Dall5s and San Francisco.
To explain this we can put Walla Walla
in the place of Portland. Here, we will
have a vast quantity of flour, stock feed
and agricultural products generally, after
the coming harvest. This we can and will
produce cheaper shan Oregon produce can
be brought here and sold, and then make
large profits. At the same time we can
afford to sell, to those who carry away oar
produce, imported goods at a smaller profit
than any purely commercial town; because
we have large, and increasing local trade
which is very profitable, and, for the better
reason that the freight of these imported
goods is not an important part Of their TO-
tai value The heavy articles are the very
things which we produce hundreds Of miles
nearer the points Of consumption than any
other community on the waters of the Col
umbia east of the Cascades.
The settlement at Umatilla Landing is
almost exclusively commercial, and must
have a profit on all its sales of heavy arti-
cles or lose money, while we propose to sell
all these things for just little less than
Portland cost and steamer freights. Then
by dint of being the wealthiest and oldest
community we propose to buy all imported
goods as cheap and sell them as cheap
as Umatilla Landing can sell them, except
ing the cost of transporting from that
place to point as close to the mines as
Walla Walla.
Umatilla Landing is forty-fve miles be-
low Wallula, and no goods can be car
ried by land from that place and laid down
in the mines, commercially speaking, any
cheaper than they can be sold in this place
Every mile that is saved in ascending the
Columbia river, from Umatilla Landing to
Wallula, is talf a mile added to the land
carriage of goods From this fact the even
tual fate of spectators in Umatilla Land
ing stock is obvious.
Up to the present time, however, the
steamboat companies are carrying goods as
cheap to N'allula as to Umatilla Landing.
SO that there is not really the slightest ad-
vantage in favor of Umatilla, as far as the
river carriage is concerned; and as for the
land carriage, the cost from that place to
the mines is greater, for the best reason in
the world, because it is farther off
We assume, in relation to this matter,
that the advantage of the extensive and
profitable local trade of Walla Walla its
central position, in relation to the mines in
general; its superior advantages in the
sale and purchase of horses and cattle, and
the equal facilities for supplying the mines
with imported goods, will keep it in ad-
vance of any place above the Dalles in the
Columbia river valley.
Wool Clip.
Mr.. A. Frank of this city has shipped to
Portland 10000 pounds Of wool, and about
1000 more is to come in. Three years
aoo the entire c1in of OREGON did NOT ex-