, 1879-11-08
Our Eastern Empire.


ea,tern country. Reading will not enable
person TO acquire knowledge Of the vast wheat
trade which will hereafter pour into the lap OF
the city Of Portland and which will enricn and
build up in the future the states OF Oregon and
Washington. To realize what it is to be one
must come and see for-himsei-
No one can imagine the progress which these
Countries have been making since 1874 IN agri-
cultural and pastoral products, with. the Inn
tied Immigration they have had, nor the great
future in store for this country.
Travelling from Pendleton In Oregon, on to
Lewiston in Idaho, a tract of country SInlies
long, you see the stubble OF continuous w.iea1
fields which have yealded OK an average thirty
bushels Of wheat Ier acre. Vet along this
route not one thirtieth portion of the land ht
for raising wheat has been placed IN cuitiva-
tion. Walla Walla Is doing at present trade
in shipping wheat down the Columbia river,
which taxes all the time and the energies OF
her citizens and yet the cry Is that the "ailuia
| railroad and the q. S. y. Co, cannot supply
! can; nor steamers sufficient to take away the
| grain here waiting for shipment, and As nee
| essary consequence it is said that over 20,OOo
! tons of grain have been sold and are laying
| here to he carried away to your city, and stlii
| farmers wagons are bringing wheat to Walla
| Wal,a at the rate Of 800 tons per day. One
|
| arrived here in wagons freIa- this county and
| Columbia county, and when L went to Dayton
| We counted eishry~oir wagons with wheat en-
tering Walla Walla from one direction. Pro-
| ceedinr again from Colfax to Lewiston You hnd
| during a distance of forty-eight miles every
alternate section has been plowed or partly
plowed, and wheat being hauled TO the Snake
river. From ColfaX to Dayton, distance OF
| fifty miles, you find Except about Deadman's
hollow and along the Snake riyerl that whole
country settled up or partly settled with
| sturdy, industrious immig grants from the west
| ern states, and especially from California
| What has caused these vacant lands to settle
up so rapidIy? The knowledge that the North.
ern Pacific railroad company and the Oregon
Navigation and Railway company will both
Very soon be running wheat trains direct to
| Portland Anticipating this and procuring as
they now do pre- -emption and homestead claims
| from the government to the best wheat lands
| On the north Pacific coast at mere nominal
| Price compared to their value, these i9mi-
| grants are not slow to appreciate the prcspec-
| tive advantages in store for them, and along
almost every road you travel in this country
you pass immigrants with their wagons and
| furniture, g.ng north IN search OF government
lands, mostly to the Palouse country.
An along the 200 miles of road now being
constructed by the Northern Pacific railroad
company except i or 20 miles around Aims
worth, you find good government land, with
very few settlers indeed, and which within one
wear Will have railroad facilities as far north as
Spokan Falls. Here is a chance for the immi-
grant to OBTAIN lands which he cannot lind else
where 81 f;irorab.y located, on the main line
! of the Northern Pacific railroad, too. Lands
which it is no exaseration to say VIII within
ten years command so to S25 per acre, aud
now offered to the settler fol 81 30 per acre by
! the United States What has been secured
without railroad facilities can surely be safely
! ure,ictrd with the certainty, As now seen. OF
| 200 miles being built from Aiilsworth to Spo
kane Falls Here, in this county, and within
| six miles of Walla Walla, the finest wheat
| lands We're selling for 81 30 per acre in cur
rency in 1869, then really costing only 81 10
| in gold ccnl, which to-day cannot be obtained
| for SS5 per acre. So also i'll Columbia county.
! Washington territory. Five ycars .tso the hest
| wheat lands therein could be obtained for 81
per acre, and to-day so per acre would not
| buy them and yet not one-sevepth OF Columbia
! county il III wheat cultivation, and the tpWn OF
| Dayton. its county seat, has a population OF
1909 persons, and six years ago its site was oc-
crpied for sheep grazing. Columbia and Walla
Walia counties haze this year alone raised 3D.,
900 tons If wheat, and in 1870 did not raise one
buShel
There are still open for settlement, as far as
| can ascertain, five or six hundred square
| miles of land. through which railroads will run
within Is months, while the country through
| which | Travelled tSnme 300 miles In esfr.ti is,
all mt, with few exceptions, for the cult zion
| OF wheat, aid capable Of yielding 20 bushels Of
! wheat ON an average per acre, without the
trouble OF clearing in western Oregon
merely requiring the settler to break it up,
fence and SOW it IN wheat
The Willamette valley is not to Portland
enc sixth the importance which this eastern
country is to be- and if, as all Indications point
| to the fact, that Portland is within five years
to have railroad connection with this eastern
country, her commercial future and greatness
as a city will not be much behind San Fran
CISCO Let us prepare for this imminse ship
! ping (export) Of wheat to foreign countries
from Portland, by urging on the government
and our senators and representatives in con-
gress the necessity of continuing their river
| improvements between Portland and Astoria,
which Col. Gillespie. the L. S. engineer, has
this year commenced with the appropriations
| formerly received.
The above is letter written by William
Reid, Secretary Portland Board OF Trade,
| and published in the OregonidE OF November
| lSt The statements contained therein the
STATESMAN fully approves, exeep. that the
trade and export shipments viii insure to
| the benefit OF Portland. Trade and COM
merce, it is well known, Will always seek a
direct channel. and when it is remembered
that Portland is off the direct route, that it
| is situated on the Willamette river II miles
| from its mouth on the Columbia, and that
our exports now 60 by way of Portland,
because there is no other place at present to
ship to- it must be clear to every man of bus
mess that so soon as this section has railroad
communications with tide water, city will
spring up on the Sound of equal Importance
as San Francisco Astoria will also reap a
limited benefit from our export shipments as
no one line will be able to transport our en-
ormous crops to seaport. Portland, a ter
tide water communications have been estab-
hshed, can never aspire to anything higher
than the trade of the Willamette valley will
afford, as every inland town must give way
to superior facilities. With railroads to the
Sound, and direct shipping facilities to As
toria, Portland will haze TO excuse this Sec
ton from paying toll any longer.
OUR RoAspISG HoUsE-Up to the fiscal
year of 1879 the government has expended
Ssh. go 900. on account of the Indians. dis.