The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-04-23
OREGON LANDS.

The Willamette Valley is traversed
it's entire langth by the Oregon & Cal
ifornia railroad. Three parallel lines
extend almost the entire length. All
these lines are controlled by one COM
pany, viz: the Southern Pacific, the
only competitor for traffic being the
Willamette river, navigable for light
draught steamers most of the year.
Only one railroad crosses the valley
the Oregon Pacific-its western term
mus is Yakima Bay, it's eastern being
yet in the Cascade mountains. It is
not yet of much Importance as COM
mercial factor. So we have no COM
munication with the east except by very
circuitous routes, and this is very
great disadvantage to the rapid settle
ment and prosperity of Western Ore
gon. Another serious drawback is in
the boundary lines of land ownership,
which originated in the first settlement
of the country under the old donation
law. Under this law each head of
family was allowed 800 acres, the wife
the same amount, and 80 acres for
each child under II years of age, and
as the country was not surveyed at that
time, each claimant was allowed to To-
cate for himself, and in any shape de-
sired. The lands for each family to lie
c: ntiguous and to be mar, / by not
more than sixteen outside corners.
These claims were recorded and pat
ented, and when the government sur
vey was made not one claim in hun
dred came anywhere near correspond
ing to the lines of the survey, so the
government lines and corners arc only
used to establish a beginning point
from which to describe a tract which
is done by metes and bounds, the lines
running in every conceivable direction
and very apt to land you into the mid
die of next week before you get back
to the place of beginning. Attempts
are being made in some places to ad-
just the lines by large land companies
buying up several of those old dona-
ton claims lying together, resurvey-
ing and plating in tracts of S to 10
acres and selling in this way to people
who want to engage in fruit raising.
This is great improvement in the
looks of the country, but it complexities
land titles and will make a rich har-
vest for lawyers and abstract men in
the future.
Real estate men are doing a thriving
business in this valley at present, and
the prospects are that they will con-
tinue to do SO for some time to come,
as the indications are that there will
be greater influx of immigration this
year than ever before, owing to crop
failures in some of the western states,
notably Kansas, Nebraska and the
Dakotas. In spite of some serious
drawbacks, this valley is destined to
become one of the most densely popu-
lated sections on the face of the globe,
for people come here from every sec
ton of the United States, as we'll as
from nearly every other country in the
world and all find a congenial cline
I have talked with people from Maine
who say the climate here suits them
better than native state, and few days
ago | talked with a gentleman who
had lived in Florida for several years
and who says this beats Florida in his
estimation. He says there is colony
OF several families coming here from
Florida this spring. What is mostly
to be feared is too great a rush at once
and the reaction which is sure to fol
low. ELI WEIR.