New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-08-28


Near by. family of movers were camped for the
night, their covered wagon, serving as
house and home, standing by the roadside the VIE
cooking the supper over brush wood fire, the
husband sitting on u log smoking his pipe aud four
children and two dogs tumbling about In the grass
These people belonged to class of which l. met
many other representatives in the course OF tho
Journey N0mads by disposition they rarely live
long in one place. They move from California to
Oregon because California is too dry and year or
no later will be found going back TO California
because Oregon is too wet. Much If their lives ls
spent upon the road. They seem always To Do
looking for better place further on. store
keeper told me that the mgratIons OF THESE
peculiar people along the wagon road connecting
California and Oregon were almost as regular as
those of the wild geese. When family passed
north in the spring he expected them Dack III tue
fall or ut the furthest the next year. The wonder
is how they manage to suDsist and how they
replace tnclr raw-DOned teams when tDey dle ny
the way.
The second dav ont we crossed the Rogue River
Mountains, stopping for dinner with man VINO
lived in rude. Imprinted mousse and s1Osls'od on
n garden and small meadow, the hay from when
lie sold TO passing teamsters at the rate oil 9fO
ton. He had numerous family, CONSIDERABLY
augmented by the arrival of a female relation VINO
had come from California with five small children
10 spend the simmer in the mountains: We tray
elIers dined ham. small potat Ss and dried apple
sauce, and afterward saw tho family SIT down 10
big chicken pie. We reflected after paying 80 cents
apiece for our dinner that no doubt the man be-
evod that hospitality rs well as charity begins az
home, aud rs there was not chicken pie enough 10
go around, had wisely saved it for his own table.
FARMING WITHOUT MARKET.
Toward evening Of the second day we dropped
into Rogue RIvor Valley and passed the night on
farm tnat stretched IN narrow strip between the
river and the steep mountain side for four miles.
The occupant was only tenant. The owner had
brought n wife from the East, and the two had
lived happily for few years, leading pleasant
lire together planting fruit trees and the shrubs
and flowers the woman loved in her old home in
New-York State then she died, and the man had
no heart to stay longer and went back to his KIN
dred in Ohio. The tenant lank. glizzly bachelor
who said he used to play marbles with James VI.
Blaine when Il boy IN Washington County, fehn-
syIvania, told me he could raise lorty bushels OF
wheat to the acre on the place bat that ne very
seldom harvested II crop. W ny not = III dOeslU
paw We have no market here. We are shut IN,
as you see by high mountains, and there's no proht
hauling grain over them tor % or 90 Ger Is Dushel
on the other side so | turn my hogs into my
wheat field aud let them eat the grain. we can sell
hams a.m bacon to better advantage than wheat"
1t seemed sinful waste OF good breadstutts to see
the swine trampling down the wheat fields but
the farmer knew his business best. | afterward
found 1t to DC the custom IN the valley to raise Doth
wheat and barley for hogs When the barley ~
ripe it is set ire. and the flames sweeping swiftly
over field bum Oft the beard, leaving the heads
only little scOrched
THE ITALY OF OREGON.
The third days journey brought Us ont of the
narrow shank of che valleys western end, where 1t
naTTOWS TO canon, into Tue DrOdu cAp''hSo VI VIZ
valley proper-a lovely body of land twenty-five
miles long by about twenty broad mainly under
fence Indian corn, barley, wheat and oats are the
crops The farms are large and rather careIessly
titled Most of the farmers have big houses ana
barns and excellent orchards Of apple and peach
trees The Rogue River Valley is the richest ana
most attractive to the eve of all the minor valleys
of the State. IL is sometimes called the ltay OF
OREGON Its climate is about half way between
that OF California and that or the Columbia RIVER
country. The summers are warm but rarely OBJ
pGcssiye. and the winters are mild without the eX-
cessiye rainfall which - a serious drawback TO the
region further north. All tie fruits Of the tenn
perate zone flourish. The soil IS uniformly good,
invigOratIng 1reeZcs blow from the mountains, the
water Is pure and cold, there no malaria and there
are no mosquitoes Seventeen miles apart IN the
valley are two thriving little towns, curi0uslV
contrasting in their views OF public morals. In
Jacksonville. which lives largely on the trade or
the placer gold miners who wash art near by IN
the wet season, whiskey iOws freely; IN Ashland,
farmers town with little college, no saloons are
tolerated. Each has about 500 inhabitants. l
spent the middle OF "a hot Sunday in Jacksonville
and found nearly al the male population congre-
gated On the shady side of the saloons In Ashland
which reached the same evening, the streets were
deserted and the people all nc church. Pubic
opinion in theivaey differs To which Is the better
way 10 run town One place observes the preva-
lent Western fashion, the other mas broken away
from it and lOurishes in spite of predictions that
its trade would be ruined.
NV fourth days Journey led over the Slskyou
Mountains and across the boundary line into Cali
fornia. OF this and the follow ing days until the
railroad is reached at RcddIng another letter must
tell