, 1877-09-01
The KalIewa Valley.

A writer In the Oregon Stdtcsnan fur
nishes an interesting description OF the
Wallowa valley, which We herewith sub
join ::
The Wallowa valley, which is situated
about twenty-five miles east of the Grand
Ronde valley, is composed, properly, OF
three distinct valleys, separated by low
ranges of hills ard are known as the Up
per, Middle and Lower valiies. From the
southern end OF the Upper valley to the
nor.her end Of the Lower valley TIC dis
tance is ahout thirty miles, the whole of
ii being distant from Snake river about
the same The country lying bet.:een n
Nailowa va!lies azld Snake river consis S
,aas5ly OF rolling hills, SD common L
Eastern Oregon, and IS covered with Il
luxuraRt q growth Cf bunch grass az ad"Eli-
:ny portion OF the Pacific coast. lEo.-
is very little natural hay land in the Wa
Iowa, but | s;lw a drove OF tive-yearciI
steers, driven out Uf that valley last sprih;;
that had been there since they We're calve
and had never had mou.hful OF hay i.
their lives.
st the extreme end of the Upper vale.
is the Wa.lowa lake, which is, perhaps,
enc Of the most beautiful inland lakes g.
the Pacific coast Il is four miles iul:.
aLf one vide, AID lis w;.j + Is ~ c.car ~
mountain sl:Uw ooaid lGas- Il. 1t L, Il
decd, The l=:,: of Ike Blue n.va!i ;a;I5. al:t
ii /. a;.s siiila.. Cd where i could beuti!:z L
~ civilization, would be one Of III MIST
popular scinn.ee rssrr;s IN Oregon. 1t is
here Tie EOS d "red FISH IS fo..I.d ard
wJIld nat ,iii-c 20 say how i:aIy ot ti.g:I:
eol..a bc p5it up every year fnr use Tie
lake is fGrm-d by dozen or more sI.ia
streams which runs in.o the uppcr end e.
1t, and its outlet is the NaliOwa river. ~
the mouth of each o. these small streams,
i'll ths summer months, can always be seen
''school' of these fish which extends far
out into the lake and presents a reddish
appearance TO n hooker on Tor hall u niile
distant. These streams are also full Of
these fish, and when was there two years
age, our party killed, with the cars OF our
boat, enoug: to Eli two barrels in less than
half day. They resemble, in both taste
and color, Tie salnen, with the exception
that they look as red in the water as sal
iEon does III the barrel
Now, it cannot be claimed by any ore
who Is az all acquainted with the Waiiowa
valley, that 1t is at al! fitted for asricul
tural purposes. There never can b. = lalf
dozen good farms made IN the entire eoun-
Try. As stock raising country DO not
suppose it can be excited, but It has 10
natural qualifications for L farming coun-
Try, and Sa0, 600 would abundantly ray
for all the improvement that has ever been
made there
And this leads me To another thought,
which is, that tie Cmatilla Reservation,
which is twenty-five miles square, Is tie
best body OF agricultural land on the Pa
esiic coast, for the size OF it, and is capable
Of being made into IL least two Thousand
quarter section farms.
At present this vast body OF land is be-
ing used for nothing but grazing the ponies
of the Umatilla Indians, which could 1--we
Just rs well on thousands of hills in East
ern Oregon which are lit for nothing else
When l WIS in the Wallowa vaIley, it
struck me that nature had made it III In
dian reservation. 1t is suiiicia antiy isolated
to snit the Indian character, and is nat
! urai hunting, fishing and grazing couatry.
1t has ali the natural want, Of a.. Indian
tribe supplied, and Z the United States
government lad !l;if sense on the Indian
question, it wcslld pay the Wallowa settlers
for their improvements, which it proposed
to do Il few years age, give the raliey to
the uma.iiia and other surrounding In
dians, and throw the UmatilIa reservation
open to setjiem mt. This would be strike
III the right direction and one that would
be an advantage to Eastern Oregon in
every particular.