The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1869-10-09

Thus saiubrlous climate, these grassy
plains and fertile fields, these wooded
hills and smiling, joyous streams, that
adorn this lovely valley, are yours-yours
in trust for yourselves and coming gen
erations.
Oregon, our noble young common
wealth, is replete with resources of power
and opuience us extensive and diversified
as her vast surface. Her mountains
rising in majesty and clothed with the
most valuable timber, inlock untold treas
ures Of the precious and economical
metals and minerals; while they protect
Us from the storm and thunder, thous-
ands of perennial fountains leap from
their declivities, bearing on their bosom
beauty, health and fertility, and combin-
ing Titan forces Of hydraulic power,
ample for the most extensive manufac-
turing uses.
The focks and herds that might be
subsisted on the grassy plains beyond
the Cascades who shall tell their
number? Or who, in the estimate of
these resources, will forget the numerous
fertile localities, inviting the blended
occupations of the farmer and herdsinan,
and affording pleasant homes to those
seeking competence or wealth on the
wider domain of inexhaustible pastures !?
Even vast tracks of our mountains,
especially those bounding the valley of
the Willamet, have a smoothness of sur
face, an absence of rock, a richness of
soil, Il mildness and equability Of climate:
favorably comparing with a large portion
of New England, and which would be
hailed by the hardy and patient Swede
and Norwegian as a great improvement
on the bleak and barren district of their
nativity.
Moreover, the keen eye Of chemical sci
ence is beginning to descry mex xhaustibie
treasures Of fertilizing reagents amidst
the tracts of alkaline deposits, SO dreary
Ia their aspect, before long to be used
III recupcratiug the soil aud giving it Il
productiyeness perennial us the springs
Of our mountains.
VI ell do [ remember to have stood,
when u boy. near the western base Of the
Alleghanics, and to have followed the
rivulet at my feet, in imagination, till it
mingled with the Ohio The State bear
ing its name was still in its teens, and
regarded as on the frontier. But occa-
sionally Il steamboat furrowed its waters,
and years passed by before Il railroad
trayersed a rood OF territory, and still
more years before the whistle of the
locomotive awoke an echo in our land.
Cincinnati then, as city, was in the
swadling clothes of infancy, and Chicago
unborn. California slept like miser on
her hidden treasures Of gold, as little
valued as i desert by the nation that
claimed her, while Oregon rose like
mist or a vision, on the distant margin Of
thought, priced no more by our govern
ment, though regarded as Il part of the
public domain, than his birth-right was
by hungry Esau. Shall it then be
deemed visionary to predict day for at
least our not remote posterity, when the
products Of our extended and highly
cultivated fields shall find their market
in the shipyards, manufactures, fisheries
and commercial cities, on our rivers and
Ocean harbors, that shall utilize our
resources
Farmers of Linn; this beautiful and
expanded amphitheater of ours was the
other day called by distinguished visitor
8 the agricultural gem of the Pacific"
It is often called. and justly believe,
"tho garden of Oregon" He who gave
a fairer garden to Our great primogenitors
has given this to US as to them, "to dress
it, aud keep it." The voice of the
present and coming generations admonish
US to be faithful TO our trust.
We have fertile soil and salubrious
climate, with the adjuncts of useful ami
l. 4 i
the implements and means Of abundant
productiveness,
What we want is population to produce
and consume our staples capital; facili-
ties Of communication with the marts of
commerce.
To obtain these we must commend
ourselves to the intelligence, wealth,
enterprise and wants of the world, by
our industry and public spirit by our
wisdom and cooperation; by exploring
resource after resource by making each
attainment Introductory to others, and
each step of advance the means of still
further progress.
To illustrate my meaning. How easy
for the people of Linn to have school
that shall secure largely to their children
the benefits Of an agricultural education.
What better could this Society do than
just here on these grounds to establish an
experimental farm. With your resources,
people of Linn, how easily could you buy
proper apparatus and endow two profess
sorships. The right men being in the
right place, they might teach one. term
the least busy of the year in the scientific
and agricultural departments of the col
lege, and spend their remaining time in
lecturing in the villages of the county or
valley; thus teaching all, and giving IA
salutary impulse to industrial and agri-
cultural pursuits.
Or as second illustration let us imi-
tate the enterprise of those sagacious
men who have poured SO much wealth
and thrift into our State capital. A few
thousand dollars judiciously expended in
a canal, without level or lock, will pour
the hydraulic forces Of the South San
tiam-an ornament and gain to the
district it would traverse-to propel your
mills, hundred lathes and thousand
spindles in Albany, or perhaps if she