The Republican journal., 1871-08-17
Letters from the Pacific.
Correspondence of the Journal.I
PORTLAND, OREGON, July 30.

Sacramento. A railroad is now built from |
Sacramento to Sesma, 122 miles, which |
is to be eXtende to meet one from this |
place which is now built to Harrisburg, |
LOG miles, and graded TO Eugene City, IS |
miles--so we had ab out 400 miles to |
travel by stage. And should the midi |
yidual who tempted the Savior, take me
to the top Of Mount Shasta, which we
passed on the way, and say to me CAN
the land within sight will give unto thee
if thou will take anotheroverand Journey
II would say Get behind me, Satan"
For what would it profit a man il he should
gain the whole of California and have his
life pounded out in an old stage coach
Had we known the hardship Of journey
on this route, we certainly should not
have untaken ii, but would have gone up
the coast by steamer.
The Sacramento valley would be one of
the finest in this country We're it not for
the fears of an annual overflow of water.
caused by the melting Of the snow on the
mountains. For more than 100 miles
from Red Bluffs Cat the upper end Of the
Valley to Mount Shasta, and a width Of
country averaging from so to 100 miles,
all the waters centre in the Sacramento
river. No one could pass over ths
country without seeing the great danger
to this valley 1t is very level, and the
soil very productive, having evidently
been formed by what is called the wash
from the higher parts Of the country. On
part of This valley the crop of wheat
| this year is failure, on account Of the
drought On the part nearest the noun
| tains the crop is fur, but not rs good as
| last year, when The average was IS
| bushels to the acre. One man owning
5000 acres put II 900 into wheat. rails
ing ilS, 900 bushels This year the crop
| is not one half as much as last.
From Red Bluffs through to Oregon the
| country is very mountainous, and very
| little of the land is fit for cultivation.
| tt re are some few valleys where small
| settlements have been made by miners,
who have turned their attention some
what to cultvating the soil when mining,
| for any reason, failed them, and u few
have raised very good crops. AS fur rs
my observation went, do not think one
| fourth part Of this country is covered by
| timber OF any value. Though part of
| Siskiyou county, which loins Oregon,
there is q heavy growth of valuable tim
Der, mostly of the Sugar Pine, which *
| Michigan The trees are very large and
| from two to three hundred feet in length.
| The face Of the country, excepting these
climber lands, appears barren and Of little
| value 1t is said that some parts are
| valuable for grazing, but | could not
look on them Us such.
We stopped at Soda Springs one day,
and witnessed what have often read of
but never seen, viz: real Indian life, re-
moved from I'll civilization. Here differ
cnt tribes come from far in the interior to
l tlltll SttlllOll Itul lilt llttltl vi Jllt
mcnto river Seeing great numbers of
them pass the place where we were stop
ping, we inc uired where they We're going,
and were told they would cncamp at some
place up tle river. We struck one Of
their trails, and soon found the place of
| nncanlnnnt The females onlried All
the packs. The males, rs Il general
thing, riding horseback, or going on foot
carrying nothing but their guns and spears,
and perhaps a few skins under their arms
Their manner Of cncamping, mode of ny
ing and method of catching fish We're all
very interesting, which | have not time
now to describe.
The Siskiyou Mountains extend into
Oregon, and fur beyond the county OF the
same name, which is in California Join
ing Oregon. The name here given Is the
Indian name Of an old white bobtailed
horse, left in this country by French
man, the first white person who ever Wis
tied the place The Indians called the
horse by the name of Sishiyou, so that not
only the county (Which is rs large rs the
state of Massachusetts, but the whole
range of mountains is called the Siskiyou
Mountains. After leaving Soda Springs
we passed some small settlements before
reaching Oregon, among which was
Yrela, which was not only settlement
Of miners, but d village Of manufactures
Of different kinds This village has late
IL suffered severely from fire, which burn
cd nearly one-half of all its buildings.
Passing into Oregon, we found the val
leys larger, the mountains not so high
and the appearance Of the country much
better for agriculture and grazing, there
having been much more rain, though the
season has been the dryest for many
years. The Rogue River valley, so call
ed, from six to ten miles wide, and from
twenty-five to thirty miles in length, is
very fertile, producing excellent crops of
| wheat, oats. &c, and here think the eli
mate, from what | could learn, the best |
have seen. The mountains around this
valley are very rich in mines of gold and
silver, so that from the products of these
mines and the soil, the inhabitants seem
TO get good returns for their labor. The
towns Of Oakland and jacksonville, in
this valley, are very ilonrishing villages.
Soon after leaving this valley we came
to timber lands, where the timber is very
large and Of good quality, and all the
way through TO Eugene City there is more
Or less timber, ana the grazing country
better than in the northern part Of Cali
fornia. Still, there is here q great deal
of waste land. From Eugene City to
Portland is what is called the Willamette
valley This is said by Oregonians to be
superior to the Sacramento, and think
they have the advantage this year, as it
has not suffered so much from drought,
there being very fine crops of wheat, oats