, 1881-04-30
A GREAT ENTERPRISE
The Oregon Improvement CON-
pany
Visit to the Thielsen Flume.

A Visit to the Thielsen Flumc.
A more enjoyable morning for country
ride We never experienced than ON TUESDAY
LAST. when Mr.. Ed Stone, Commissary Gener-
al and Major Domo of the Oregon improve
mspt Ceau,.any, drove up to the STATESMAN
| Office door and said that he was ready to carry
into effect his long promised trip to the Norlh
| Fork Of the Walla Walla river, where the
| Thielson Aume is in operation. Fishing taeHie
| wss close at hand and So sIia,chins up an over
coat which by the way MAS not used on tne
whole trip. We jumped into the wagon and
| drove eff behind as fine span Of bays Is were
ever h;tched to a wagon As We drove along
| one could not but feel q sensation of enjoyment
and thankfulness; the weather was so delicious
and everything impresnated with tne YER
nal freshness of the merry Spring time that
the Shakesnsrian assertion There is good
in everything" could not bat be brought 10
| memory.
THE GRAIN FIELDS
On every side were looking well, and
the comfortable looking farm houses
surrounded with fruit trees literally covered
| with perfumed bloSs,.ms gave variety t0 the
charming scenery for which our productive
valley is 30 famous From the time We left
the city limits until the was reached,
over l. miles, there was nSsDsn acre OF land
but was in cultivation.
On reaching the river, which runs in a can
yon along the base OF the Blue Mountains, the
country became more rocky, but not 80 much
so as To prevent the land from being well set
tied by a very thrifty and industrious class OF
citizens We have often times noticed that
where the country will not admit OF wheat
raising ON = large and extensive scale that the
settlers always appear to be better on and
more comfortable in every respect, and We
have recently discovered that the true inward
ness of this state of affairs consist in the fact
that these settlers have by necessity IN the
first place been forced to turn their attention
To other branches Of farming industry, and IN
consequence always have something to sell.
This is the sole secret Of their prosperity and
We often times think that it would he better
for the whole community II MANY Others were
similarly situated and their immense acreage
curtailed so that they could not be, 10 all In
tents and purposes, wheat gamblers
ROUGH EoAD.
Now commenced the rough part Of the jour
ney. For the whole distance Of about twelve
miles the road lies along the river bank or else
along its very bed. 1t was n rocky road to
travel to say the very least The river was so
| high that occasionally the torrent swung our
| vehicle partially a-ound, but strong and
faithful animals quickly pulled Us out q; dan
ger This river We crossed about twenty
| times and sometimes the mere excuse for
| road led straight up the stream. The freShet
| few weeks ago had completely wiped out the
| old road in many places and so wagons had to
| 20 wherever they could find place. The
| hume had been washed away in so many
| places that no less than 2S new bridges were in
| course Of erection.
WRECHED fLUME.
This flume is the one which WAS pu. up
| some months since by Dr. Blalock for the pur-
pose OF delivering ties to the railroad company
| at Milton. It was evidently put together in a
hurry, for it Was total wreck in many
places, but more especially where it WAS across
| or adjacent to the stream. For - years such
| high water had never been experienced rs this
| last season. The oldest settler was caught as
well as the newcomer, and all suffered alike.
About p n. We reacned .he camp "l Ine
MI LII a. ,r;,S ~.
roor or rxnrsrxy
Wb;.b ,.ry,5sJ svsrvtb;n,. around II WAS
evident that svsrv man knew hi, work and did
.h-s,ur The MAN Ia .,ood
-, III. U-ho ,rI.;,
, -. a.. .ho,. Ill r..o;r. ,be;r ,,orev
=. st. ,,.,,,. In. ..,.. ,,,as,
-: IL. t.. 49,,
| dov md thew are very disappointins IL has
been too often the case on the frontier that
men rush hiindiy mt" enterprises ana persuade
men W "S.n 10 I,, faroa5 - r.. r, ~
dare not leave fo- fear Of losing what they
have already earned; but put these same men
u u "1rh Wiie'e pay = A'''' "t '
| THE CAMP
JS merely a tmpor.ry arrangement, being
composed of tents and a few boards nailed
together for shelter from the dews and rains.
In one shanty the fume ran right through the
! buii,Iiny where a dozen men slept There are
a few cabins built Lv the married men, and the
deft fingers of woman are to be seen in the at
tempt to make everything look cleanly and
-. r.. ,h.n IT,. ho,-,,;n, tent i v.rr
ii .h .h.r,.. cool .ool.
= H.
~----. -, IT,, ,,l d.,I :, III.
~. .,,,,,,o- -.
-. .... 49,, T., -.
turned I't' ou"N ~ 'A' '-Au ''eP' S"e
sleep of the list until A. n next morning,
when. after attending t. the wants Of our AMI
,a ,,,,r ,v,., c,r,,I ;,tsr;o,s we bncLled
mas A"' o"i
On Tor ciiino up the mountain !" tiie heAa "i
| the huMe. Although but l. miles up the
mountain some idea of It's steepness NAV be
-, H., ~. ..,.s tho, from, ,b. h.nts of
io'"'e- 49,, oon
the river 10 the mil the eie'atioh Il i''V ieeI.
| Up this distance we had tn climb, 81, on the
,r;,,o;,.. that ,ban there i difficult thing
|
10 do 'he sooner We S''is ~ II Inc oe.' VIC
| pitched right ia after breakfast. The old
| sume WAS in such a dilapidated condition as to
~ L.I.t
-: ,,L, :; a.. -, ,,r;, =, ,,.o.,. -,
- ar.r.,;o,s u..rs .om,nsnesa i, ,br.s
g.. - s,,,- .,,, r,.,,.n,.1 bv ons foo, ,s s,,l;d
=. r,a.-rs.,b which was c,,,ss5 lv thu