Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1888-05-10
OUR OREGON LETTER.
LspssI.l csrrs.psad.ns. Of u. sor.hvs...l


the delightful spring weather which /
iound In full possession Of Oregon dur
ing months of February and March.
Green grass, growing grain and budding
fruit trees greeted my eye at a season
which / know, from long experience,
Is surrendered up to snow, ice and
wintery blasts in the entire region
from the Rocky mountains to the At
lantic ocean. To the newcomer, this
almost unexpected finding of spring at
q time when he is accustomed TO
winter, is so pleasant that it arouses
his keenest enthusiasm; but, as the
Of the weather wears off, his
mind begins to grasp something be-
sides climate, and he observes more of
the industrial features Of the country.
In addition to the climate, in weighing
the advantages of q new country, the
farmer will consider the quality of the
soil, the location of tracts of land suita-
BILE for agriculture, facilities for trans
portation, primary markets, prices of
land and products, and sundFy other
matters. 1 have made several trips
through the famous Willamette valley,
south of Portland, and am impressed
with the many agricultural advantages
that were found to exist, and the de-
gree of enterprise manifested in de-
veloping the farming interests. Wheat
growing valleys, fruit raising districts
and grazing lands compare very favor
ably with the best of their class in the
East, Notwithstanding the fact that the
country is new and has not had the
systematic culture that many older
regions have had. OF course, climate
has much to do with this difference. 1t
is an element which no amount of
scientific cultivation can entirely neu-
tralize. Natures forces must be de-
pended upon by the most successful
agriculturists, and where these are
most favorable, farming is most profit
able and satisfactory. The favorable
climate of Oregon must account, i'll q
large degree, for the advancement that
agriculture has made in the State in so
short time. Instead of studying and
experimenting with measures and
crops, to mitigate the effects of damag-
ing climatic conditions, the agricultur-
ist is free to expend his energies in
unision with natural forces, and the re-
suit is correspondingly augmented.
The State has much territory that can
not be profitably cultivated. The sub
systems of the Cascade and Coast
mountains occupy q large extent OF
country that is profitable only for its
mining and timber productions. The
foot hills furnish excellent grazing
lands, and the rich valleys respond to
intelligent tilling with abundant yields
of cereals, fruits and root crops of all
sorts. When say abundant yields"
I do not mean simply little more than
the average product in sections where
the crops are sometimes entire failures
and the harvest frequently meagre.
With the same tillage that is bestowed
upon crops in eastern States, a product
fully twice as great may be safely re.
lied upon in Oregon. The principal
cereal produced is wheat, fully seventy.
five per cent. of which is sown in the
fall. When reasonable attention is
given to this crop, the yield is from
thirty to forty bushels per acre, and in
some instances fifty bushels per acre
have been harvested, The shiftless
habit that obtains, in some localities
of raising volunteer crops from the
accidental seeding during the previous
harvest time, and also the practice o
raising the first crop more to subdue
the land than for the gain, brings the
average yield of wheat in the State
down to about twenty-five bushels pei
acre. This is not the only crop that
produces we'll here. 1t is cited only as
an instance to show the fertility of the
soil, and each item of the whole cata-
logue of farm products may be gone
through with similar results.
The valley of the Willamette river is
termed the "Garden of Oregon" II
includes the land between the Cascades
and Coast range, extending as far south
as the Calipooia mountains, and has an
area of about four million acres. 1t is
the best settled portion of the State,
because the Willamette river furnished
a natural means for reaching it and for
carrying away the produce before the
advent of railroads, and the valley was
too rich to escape the notice of the
most careless visitor. But it Is only be-
ginning to be developed in o thorough
manner. More diversified farming is
now coming into practice, and the re-
suits are most gratifying. Linn county
is one of the oldest, and in the very
center Of the valley, and its present
rapid progress will make it as important
in agricultural productions as any
county in the Empire State before long.
A canal fourteen miles in length, from
the Calipooia river to the Willamette,
furnishes o never-failing water power
at Albany, and the prospects are that
mills, in addition to those now there,
for manufacturing wool, wheat, flax,
etc., will be established to work up the
products of the region, thus adding to
its prosperity and Importance. YAM
hill county, on the west side of the
river, is another rich one, mcre suited
to extensive fruit growing. 1t is the
orchard of Oregon. The Chehalem and
North and South Yamhill valleys are
branches of the Willamette valleys, as
the streams that drain them are
tributaries of the Willamette river. The
Quaker village ofNewberg is the largest
in the Chehalem valley, and is in the
midst of pleasant farms and large
orchards and q prosperous people. The
railroads on either side of the William
ette river render communication with
any part of the valley easy, and there is
active competition in the carrying