The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-10-27
TEE PACIFIC
SATURDAY. OCTOBER %.
A Tour to Oregon and British
Columbia.
By H Rev. ALEXANDER Macintosh.
CONTINUED from our last issue,

CONTINUED from our last issuel
The climate in Summer and Autumn Is
delightful it is really hot even to an lnnaDilans
of the tropical regions. On some days the ther-
mometer rises to 94o in the shade but this
takes place very seldom. The people residing in
Portland think 100 Fahrenheit very warm, and
were surprised at my racing-as they calleo my
walking pace-and at my feeling cool at MID
day. In the Winter the weather. am told
is cold, with frost and snow; but not at all
severe. When the snow melts in the Spring
| and Summer, the city is often flooded. Traces
now exist of the great food in 1876. Business
men at that time went to their Offices IN boats,
and boats penetrated even into the stores.
Heavy stones were let dow on to the wooden
payements to keep the streets from floating, and
in some streets platforms were raised above the
water, so that all traffic should not cease. One
can imagine how singular it must have appeared
to the residents to have streets above streets, ana
water flowing below. Most of the streets which
were covered with water at that time are fast
rotting away, and the decayed matter is thought
by many to be the cause of the malarious dis
eases which prevail to a great extent IN Portland.
However the authorities are fast repairing the
streets, and there is much agitation about proper
drainage for the whole city. 1t may be q suita-
BILE opportunity to say here that the odours pro-
| ceeding from vegetable matter in Honolulu are
very similar to those producing malaria III Port
land. One cannot be surprised if in a short time
fever and ague appear IN Honolulu, as long as
IO EiCDG LIZ IohSh ~ oSOAA VI ASANOpS sAS 49,
healthy and disagreeable ef1uvia which trouble
not only people who live near the foot of Nuu-
anu valley and elsewhere, but also those who
pass by.
Portland altogether is a prosperous and thriv-
ing city. Every one seems to be busy, and it is
| a common saying that no one need starve in
that locality if he is willing to work. Still it is
not an unfrequent thing to see men of good
family working as labouring hands, on railways,
loading ships, splitting rails for fences. driving
L. ~ -ISa6 Ill -
their way for a living. These are generally
those who have gone out into that part of the
| country thinking that they would soon make a
fortune and that without much difficulty. They
are not long there, before they find out their
mistake, and no where is there a more perfect
exempliication of the saying in Holy Writ-"If
a man work not neither shall he eat"-and also
sc He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of
bread, but he that followeth after vain persons
shall have poverty enough "(Prov. XXVI1I-l9)
than in Oregon.
Travelling in a river boat up the Willamette
River, towards Portland, one sees; several small
villages which seem to be fast decaying. These
have been on paper hOurishing towns, all beautl-
fully marked out. The sites of public buildings,
which never existed, are still pointed out to the
traveller. Thousands of dollars have been inves-
ted by people living in Great Britain and in the
Eastern States, in these paper cities, all of which
were designed to rival Portland but all that
remains of them for their money is the hillside
covered with trees charred and ~blighted, a few
dilapidated houses and some dangerous wooden
streets. The vain persons . have brought
poverty upon many.
In the interior of Oregon the land, when
cleared of wood, is wonderfully rich-in some
instances one hundred bushels of wheat have
been gathered from one acre. 1t is fearfully
Iaborious work to clear the ground of trees
grubbing-as it is called. Cinnamon are largely
employed in this work. The merchants of Port
land expect to load with wheat, and dispatch
this year to Great Britain, forty ships-each
containing on an average about twelve hundred
tons.
Another principal industry of Portland is the
salmon fishing. This of course includes the
whole country on both banks of the River Co
lumbia. The actual fishing stretches out to sea,
over the Bar about nine or ten miles from the
mouth of the river. 1nnumerable boats, strong
ly built and manned by two men, are scattered
all over the river. In each boat is a net which
is worth from three to four hundred dollars.
The boats cost about the same amount of money.
Many men own their boats and nets, and fish on
their own account. In other cases companies
furnish both, and pay the fishermen so much a
head for every fish they catch. In the first part
of the season, the fish are worth twenty-five cents
each, but towards the latter, the fishermen exact
a dollar and often q dollar and a half. The i'm
mense success of the past few years has induced
too many to enter into the cdnneTY speculation,
and the result is, that not a few have closed~up
" AVN oA1O0AICs a dAA hhs Ag
the establishment where the salmon are boiled
down and put in cans ready for exportation-in
full blast is a busy place. Besides the fishermen,
men are employed to attend to the boilers, cut
up the fish and clean them others again label
and then pack the cans in boxes. Then the tin
shop is a remarkable sight. Round benches in
an upper story stand Cinnamon, with all the
tools for can making. The tin, of which the
cans are made, comes in sheets measuring
eighteen inches by twelve ; from each sheet the
sides of two cans are formed-the rest is all
waste. In one Historian cannery, fifteen thou
sand cans-each containing one pound of salmon
are filled daily. This cannery owns twenty
eight boats-each employing two men. The
nets alone cost thirteen thousand dollars.
Other branches of industry are not wanting
in Portland. The Willamette Iron Works is not
so extensive as the Honolulu Iron Works, but it
seems to be in q fourishing condition. There are
three other Foundries in Portland. Ship and
river boat building is carried on. They launch
ed the largest river boat, to ply on the. Willamette
and Columbia Rivers, the other day. 1t meas
ures 900 feet in length, and registered at 1900
ons-irrespectiye of passenger accomodation-
and it will perform the journey from Portland to
Astoria and back in twenty-four hours. The
distance from Portland to Astoria is los miles.
The Oregon Steam Navigation Company are the
owners.
Saw mills and planning mills abound. The
expectation of fruit and salmon gives plenty of
employment to the box manufactures. Alto
gether every one seems to be well occupied,
though one will sometimes hear a murmur that
the wealthy people who have acquired their
riches in Oregon will not put forth their energies
towards the further development of the home
resources, but trust too much to Importation.
Every one allows that both Oregon and Wash
ington Territory abound in minerals-gold, sill
yer, lead, coal and iron-but owing to the lack
of enterprise on the part of the large capitalists,
these minerals are not worked. They say, it
urOn11 aOSk rrsro ; - 1pA1u.11oIo unnrn fhon than
could get. to attempt mining-so at present,
mining is left alone. (lrEEE FU
Ito be continued.)