The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-08-18
THE NEW NORTHWEST.

is worthy OF general perusal-
PORTLAND, Oregon, July 29.-To my great
surprise, when / arrived here on the 9Th
instant, found the thermometer above 30
degrees. 1t reached that point every day
from the Sd to the 18th, but went down every
night below Go degrees. In justice to the
climate, must say this degree of heat is very
rare. At Astoria, and all along the coast, it
is entirely unknown. There, 80 degrees is
seldom reached in summer, and the freezing
point not often in winter; and this, mind
you, under the 46th parallel.
The mean temperature of last January was
Al degrees and a fraction; that of July, 60
degrees; August, 5Sa degrees September,
54t Degrees October, 50 degrees; November,
as degrees; December, AZ degrees; February,
42J degrees; March, Al degrees; April 4S1
degrees; May, 50 degrees; June, 57I degrees.
People living in the same latitude, near the
Atlantic coast, at Montreal, for instance can
scarcely credit these fgures-January de-
grees above freezing, and July 16 below
<'summer heat" But they are the result of
careful observations made at Astoria by the
Government.
The rainfall is not less remarkable. 1 will
give it to you in inches and tenths:-In the
last fourteen years the smallest quantity in
one year was 81 inches in 1868, and the largest
100 inches eight feet four inches) in 1866.
The heaviest fall in any month was two feet
and seven-tenths of an inch in December,
1867; the lightest one-tenth of an inch in
June, 1869. No wonder these people are
web-footed. Away from the coast the rain
fall is less, and the temperature more vari-
able.
Last Sunday was compelled to remain all
day at Astoria. Being unacquainted with the
calibre of the preachers, and not liking to
take heavy risks in that direction, took to
the weeds in company with an old settler. 1
was well repaid for the temporary sacrifice of
any usual devotional amusements.
On steep hill sides, several hundred feet
above the river, were trees six, eight and ten
feet in diameter, and more than two hundred
feet high, and so close together that the ant
Tered elk cannot move among them except by
circuitous paths 1 am reluctantly compelled
to admit that aCe haze no forests IN tile East
We have some scattered saplings, and few
runted pines and oaks, and a good many
thickets of underbrush, out of which, from
necessity, we make saw-logs; but forests and
full-grown trees we have not. What think
you of trees that will cut thirty thousand feet
of lumber? and what think you of square
mile containing at least three hundred trees
three hundred feet in height, and two hun
dred without limb?
In coming across 1900 miles of unshaded
desert, wondered what had become of all
the trees. have found them. They are
+ba ;fa
vulsion has swept them from the lands centre
to its western rim. Nature in one of her
mighty HtroeS has MrOaon them here, and by
some magic realizing our spread-eagle Latin,
t'E Pluribus Unum, out of many little trees
made one big one.
My Oregonian, speaking of certain wood,
said it never grew big, not more than three
or four feet in diameter If we had not been
among frs and spruces and hemlocks that ex-
ceeded this measurement 100 feet from the
ground, would have looked upon my friend
as Joker. But here they were all around me
like a sodH, with their comminged branches
shutting out the light of day; more than half
the eaath'S surface coyered By Meir gigantjc
bases. 1 measured trunk that had been
felled inside of the town. 1t was twenty -one
stump, while this measured thirty-three feet
above the inequalities of the roots. gen.
tleman told me of a fir, sixty-two feet in
girth as far up as he could reach; and this is
on the hills. General Crook told me that
even this is surpassed by the red wood
forests, further south, and near the shore.
OF the last named variety are the exceptional
big trees of California.
The moment entered the Columbia river /
was amazed at the arboreal luxuriance of the
on natures favorite hue, after passing four
days on the desert and three more on the
ocean.
In all fruits but tropical ones, this country
is equal to California. Its cherries and plums
1 have seen; its apples and pears have heard
of, and they are just about in proportion to
the trees. The cherries are nearly gone, and
the plums have begun to come in. One early
variety is already exhausted. The curculio
has not discovered this country yet, and you
can generally tell how many plums you are
going to get by counting the blossoms. The
size of them will depend upon the space they
have to grow in.
What would you think of pear mot a
pair of plums) weighing tiOe pounds? 1 have
heard of such, and from what have seen of
other things, l am persuaded to believe it.
If you show this letter to any one you had
better suppress the writer's name, for there
are people who will credit all sorts of ghost