Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-19
FROM UP NORTH.
TAKING TIE CoNCEIT OF THE WEB
FOOT POPULATION.
The Crsa. Storm in crsgon-The winter
The Crop Acreage Politics
Business Money.
PORTLAND, January l3. lss0.


mankind are knocked from under us. and
we are lowered to the level of common hu-
mainly. Last year the boast that there
never was known failure of Oregon croDs
was laid away in the mantle of rust that
did us out OF several millions of bushels OF
wheat. That took the conceit out of the
average Webfoot more than any event
that our history has cognizance of. We
grieve less over the lost millions than the
lost prestige. 'Pinafore comes to our
relief. for when the world hits its nose in
the air and sneeringly says "Never?' we
can answer, in the words of the poet.
well, hardly ever"
THE GREAT STORM.
Then we have looked with pity on north
western "blizzards" and the southwestern
hurricanes, have read with astonished in
terest about the wind-storms that spread
ruin along the Atlantic coast and scatter
wrecks in staid New England, Quaker
Pennsylvania, and over the rest OF the
United States-excepting Oregon. But the
conceit that storms would never damage us
has been pretty effectuallY blown ont of us.
There has been no telegraphic messages
from anywhere to anybody since Friday the
9th. We know nothing with vengeance.
For all we know the Maine question has
been drowned in bloodshed, or Congress
has admitted Utah. Whether Blaine, OF
Grant, or Sherman, or Washburn is ahead
we can only torn conjectures, with no con-
jectural kilograms to help us out. We
are mix KUN araus" on the DO
litical situation and the moral law.
From far and near we have heard reports
of the tempest, and the streets of Portland
show that the signs of the times had all
come down. They are stacked in con-
venient places, and the popular enthusiasm
has not reached the point OF undertaking
to replace them. Such demolition OF
shanties and downfall of fences is not
often known where billiards. hold their
undisputed revels. Everywhere ruin
marks the pathway of the storm-roofs are
torn Off houses overturned when the wind
had a purchase on them,
CHURCHES AND sCHooL-HoUSEs
Have been overthrown, and one of the
churches of Portland has lost its steeple,
and splinters alone mark the place of its
fall. At Salem, the State House is the
subject of severe damage caused by the
tearing off of the roof and the leaking
in of water. Steamers navigating the
Columbia were treated roughly, and Their
h., ! IL -.
went through terrific ordeal. The
woods were literally moved down, and
the roads are impossible. The railroads
have to be cleared at great labor and ex.
pense, and the ordinary highways are not
to be made passable. The river was whipped
into a cloud of foam for hours, and the
sublimity of the tempest was attested by
phenomena that showed the elemental
strife was no ordinary occurrence. The
vanity with which we reproached Other
ciimes with too passionate outbursts Went
with the rest of the loose stuff, and is lost
in the debris. There are some tales Of
horror coming to us, for we hear that fall
inc trees have caused death as well as dis
a, ter, and that in Washington Territory 6
school-house was crushed and several chill
dren killed. All the history of Oregon
shows no such fearful storm in the Pacifi,
northwest. 1t is the thirtieth winter since
/ landed here, and my experience gives NJ
storm that was anywhere near parallel t.
it. 1t seems to have been an Oregon pro
duction, for its force was mainly spent il
the Willamette valley and on the Columbia
THE WINTER.
The last seventeen days have been al
storm. Christmas came and went and lef
US storm and rain instead Of the clear colo
weather that we had been enjoying The
hurricane of the 9th was only an episode o
continuous tempest. After having to con
TESS to two seasons when the WIllamett,
valley had only very limited productive
ness, we look with apprehension to tn,
effect the weather has on the growing crops
The area of fall wheat exceeds the acreage
of any former year, and if it reaches sprin.
without suffering from frost-being froze
out or drowned out-we shall be fortunate
The present outlook is good. The freeze
up of December was favorable to the whea
plant, as the earth was blanketed with
good snowfall. Since then there have
been no hurtful frosts, and | am nov
writing III room without fire, day. too
without rain, the first of many. 1t look
as if we were to have one of those tladi
tional springs, to begin in January anC
bring bloom in February. Over quarte
of century ago l saw peach trees bloom
here in February, but that does not Otter
happen. If we can escape the alternate
freezing and thawing so destructive to thu
wheat plant, the outlook for heavy yielt
next harvest will be good.
JOHN MUIR.
We have had visit from the naturalis.
who says he keeps his notebooks in Sar
Francisco but has his home anywhere il
the woods. That was the answer he made
awhile ago when the lady of the house
with kindhearted persistence, wanted t.
know where his home was. He has jus
retured from six months trip to Alaska,
where he reveled in glaciers and delighted
IN the breaEIng-up of their foundation:
that results in icebergs. When he hearC
the founders that detonated to denote the
formation of an iceberg every three min
utes, imagine he YVES happy. l heard hin
lecture last evening on the nature of 81;
ciers IN general, and Alaska glaciers in par
ticular.
A BOOM FOR wASHBURNE.
The latest thing in politics here is tn.
effort on the part OF a gentleman who has
recently returned from attendance on the
National Republican Committee, to manu-
facture 8 boom" Tor somebody. HI
went away Blaine man, and seems t,
have Washburne in his mind when h,
comes back. A census is being made o.
the prominent Republicans of this city
and perhaps of thls State, and each one is
asked "Who are you for, for President 2
The question, as answered, generally in
cludes Grant, Sherman and Blaine in the
asks if the prominent individual
has any thought of Washburne
| don't believe anybody can form an in
telligent idea as to what candidate tn,
Oregon Democracy have a prediction for
and | am certain that Oregon Republican.
have no particular candidate in their eye
SEVERAL THINGS.
The hard times in the county is aggra
waited, by the fact that there is no sale fol
real estate, except in the city of Port
land. Salem property cannot be sold al
any price, and probably the same is true O
every town, almost, in the Willamett,
Valley, for the people are poor beyond any
former year. Trade is dull; everybody
tries to live on less than ever, and TIE