The Holt County sentinel., 1875-04-09
ROM THE PACIFIC


EUGENE CITY. LANE Co., OREGON.
MARCH 18th, 1875.
EDITOR OF THE SENTINEL; DEAR SIR :
II had the pleasure sometime ago OF
perusing the pages of the SENTINEL. 1
was a resident of Holt good many
years ago, and the SENTINEL seemed
like an old friend. thought perhaps
some of your many readers would like
to know something about this state, and
If you can find a spare corner some
where In your paper, you can insert
this letter il you wish. Well-we have
had some winter here too. and among
other things "snov;" just the idea of
snow in this country. "where the keen.
fierce blasts of winter, and the burn
ing, scorching sun Of Summer are alike
unteh and unknopn." Those are the
words of an enthusiast soon after arri-
wing in this State. Bnt you must re-
member that winters like the past one.
are the exception and not the rule. for |
don't want any one who reads this to
receive u wrong imp ession about Ore
gon, like a great many do. A young
man from st. Jocscph. Mo. came here
last summer who had given away about
all his winter clothes. except an over
coat that he had kept to wear in the
rain, and another family from Virgil
mia, arrived here last October. who had
actually given away all their woolen
clothes before starting-cxccpt what they
had on their feet. think when fcl-
low starts on such q journey as that. he
ought to know something about the
country he Is going too. tor let me tell
you 1t costs something to come to Ore.
gou. but suppose fellow has to learn
sometime, Tho weather Is little dis
agreeable at present on account OF the
rain, but with all the rain We have
here. the roads do not get as bad as /
have seen them in Mo. There Is plen-
ty Of grass now. and don't feed any Of
my stock now except my work horses.
Some of my neighbors lost some of
their stock during the cold snap we
had the past winter. The farmers here
don't feed their stock In the winter
they depend on the grass. and If 1t
should snow, the stock have pretty
rough time of it--for rs general thing.
the farmers don't put up any more feed
than they will need for their work-hor-
scs.
Vegetation grows here all the winter
Il had lettuce for dinner on new-years
day. never saw such splendid fruit
country anywhere us this-all things
considered. I think, If the same care
and attention were bestowed here as
elsewhere. that Oregon as fruit-grow-
ing State would be ahead of any State
in the Union. but the orchards gene
rally are sadly neglected here. There
is almost an endless variety of wild
berries here: Black berries. Rasp-ber-
ries, Huckle-berries, Sal-al-berries.
Thimble- berries. .Salmon-berries. Straw
berries and grapes. but the grapes are
different from any ever saw in other
countries, and are not fit for anything
except vinegar. The wild straw-ber-
ries are the finest ever saw. l won't
say ho,D fine. for fear You will think
am exaggerating. Hazle-nuts grow on
trees here instead of bushes. Farmers
are busy ploughing and putting in their
grain-the wheat that is up looks splen-
did, failure Of the crops is something
unknown here. But my letter Is get
ting too lcng and ] must stop.
The sincere friend and yell-wisher of
the SENTINEL.
LUIS. J. ARNAULT.