Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1880-05-28

Friend of Oregon. IAN Emigrant's
Letter Written in 1914 10 His Eastern
Friends.
Oldtime "reminiscences possess n
peculiar interest for those accus-
toned to pioneer life, and the follow
ing morceau, will, therefore doubt
less be received with much delight
by many Of our readers who can
point to a score or more years resi-
dence as n credential to the title of
ODD Settler" 1t is found in Il
bound volume of Tie New York Her.
cid, published during the year 1915,
which has recently been placed i'll
the Odd Fellows Library, of Port
land The volume was discovered
in an old building undergoing de-
molition, and was rescued from Il
pile Of rubbish to enter upon a new
era of usefulness 10y supplying one
of tho many missing links in the
h story of the past
Turning over the wel,-..humbed
and yellow pages of the journal, one
finds a large amount of space devoted
to Oregon, then just coming into
notice. The message of President
Polk concerning the right of the
United States to the territory, the
speeches made in the English parlia-
ment on Oregon, ana the great
speech of Daniel Webster on the
same subject, all appear as various
dates in the volume. But what is
more interesting than these are the
scores of letters appearing, written
by the early emGrants to Oregon
to james Gordon Bennett, the then
proprietor of the Herald, which to-
day stands as the greatest newspa-
per in the world. Mr.. Bennett, ST..
during all the excitement over the
Oregon question, was true and
staunch friend to the Territory, and
even ut that early period of its exist
ence the He,uid made It's influence
felt not alone in its own country,
but over the ocean where 5 + Robert
Peel and others were vigorously
clamoring for either Oregon or war.
From among the many letters, we
extract from one appearing in that
paper, May q, 1915, thirty-tive
years ago; written by an emf
grant to Oregon to friend in
Arkansas. The letter is dated L" Ore
gon Territory, Willamette Falls,
March 10, 1914" and reached Ar
kans rs in November of the same year.
The writer says: THE Willamette
river runs through the principal part
of this country, forming the VILLAIN
cite valley, which is made up of
beautiful prairies, with intervening
groves of fir and oak, with beautiful
creeks and branches, flowing gently
through them to the river. The
land lies level. and is we'll suited to
cultivation. In this valley the col
ony is settled where they have some
large and beautiful farms. They
cultivate wheat, oats, pears and po-
tatoes, cabbage, onions, Parsnips,
carrots, turnips. all of which grow
finely. Indian corn don't do we'll.
There is some raised in the colony;
it grows quite small but can be i'm
proved greatly. Wheat produces
from Is to 80 bushels per acre, aud
grows to perfection. I measured
one head which I found to be six
inches long, filed with the largest
grains ever saw. There are some
very fine young orchards in cultiva-
ton in the colony which have fruit
in great abundance, both peach and
apple. The general course of the
Willamette river is from southwest
to northwest, and twenty-five miles
below the colony on this river, are
the falls, The river falls some twen-
ty-five or thirty feet perpendicular,
and spreads to the width of six hun
dred yards. Its general width is
from three to four hundred yards
. wide. These falls are very beauti-
full, and the grandest place for ma
chinery have ever seen. There
are now in operation two saw mills
aud one -four mill, and one -four and
one saw mill more building. Ma
} +ure has destined this place, at no