News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-09-10
Letter from Stowe.
STOWE, VT, Aug. 20, 1885.
Editors Mems and Citizen

having just returned from the "a
cific coast, l thought would write a
short sketch to my friends through
the columns of your paper. 1 wish
to give brief description of the far
west and the people that inhabit it..
Many Vermont people have an idea
that the people as far west as the Pa
cific line are almost uncivilized, but it
is not so. But we must ''live and
learn" You that have never been out
of Vermont know very little of the
wide world, and you cannot learn all
from books. Experience is sometimes
better than advice, and one must start
out and learn for himself. Leaving
home and friends one year ago last
March started for the Pacific coast.
Here left bleak winter; there l
found spring, but did not find all sun
shine, as l had anticipated, and learned
| had many hard paths TO tread. You
have all heard more or less of the
far west and some of you have visited
the country, but what have written
l know to be so; it is my own expe-
rience. l have seen nearly the entire
State of Oregon. All through the
eastern part the land is very poor for
farming very rocky and sandy. The
southern part is the same, but in the
western part, from the Willamette
river to the coast, there is no better
land to be found in the United States.
In the Willamette and Columbia River
vallies you cannot find its equal. On
the beautiful Willamette river, from
its source to its mouth, can be seen
on either side large orchards loaded
with fruit of all kinds. Orange trees,
with ripe and green oranges aud bios
SONS at the same time. Oregon is
much further advanced in farming
than Vermont. Here people are cut
ting their grain, while in Oregon the
harvesting season has gone by long
ago. The people of Oregon are much
different than they are in New Eng
land. If you wish to see about all
the different races of people you
should go to Oregon. Why can they
all be found there? L think the main
reason is that the climate is so warm
and of even temperature. l think it
poor plan for people to go there and
travel around, here and there; no
place satisfies them, and very soon
they get discouraged, and if they have
enough to get home with they start
back, and then they run down the
country. The only way is to know
about what you want to do, and can
do, and then settle down and stick to
it. Here the land is running out and
growing poorer, while there the more
you cultivate the better it is. To be
sure, it is hard times there just now,
as we'll as here. A great many of the
people that go there invest their mon
ey in real estate, and city property is
in the hands of certain few and can
not be bought for a song. The labor
ing classes do not get any higher
wages than they do here, and people
that have to earn their living by days
work had better stay where they are.
All the States have some drawbacks.
Here we have severe winters; the
Middle States are not as cold, but
you are liable to be blown to atoms by
cyclones, or your crops destroyed by
floods or drouth. Oregon has no cold
winters or cyclones. 1t has its rainy
season, but it is not four or five
months, or as long as winter lasts
here. After the rainy season passes
then comes spring. Some plant their
potatoes in February, dig them in
July and then plant another crop.
Fruit of all kind is ripe in July.
There are splendid schools in most
places in the State. In Salem there
has lately been erected building for
the sole purpose Of educating the In
dians. Take the State through, the
Society is not what it is in the New
England States, but the people are
good hearted, and if you are sick or
in trouble you will find friends with
them. l found quite a number of
Vermont people there, among them
being Mr.. Quimby, from Hyde Park,
l believe. He told me that for the
first two or three years he was here
he done almost every kind of work,
even to working on the streets in Port
land, and now he is the owner of one
of the finest hotels in that city.
Mr.. S. Scribner, whom many of
you know, owns farm of 120 acres,
30 acres of which is under cultivation,
and four city lots in Portland. His
farm is situated II miles from Oregon
City and FL miles from one of the
largest cities in Oregon. There is
just as cold spring water in some
parts of Oregon as there is in Yer
mont. An evenings entertainment is
cheaper there than it is here, and
more of it. There you can go on a
steamer, which gives excursions twice
n week, to all parts of the river, with
a brass band aboard to furnish music
for all who wish to trip the slight fan
tastic, while on shore the waving of
and loud cheers from !