The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-03-27

three months. He likes the country
and his rheumatism does not trouble
him; he can out walk me. Oysters are
handled in sacks, same as we handle
potatoes. I got all could eat for 81
cents, and think ate enough to satisfy
any healthy man. Potatoes are sold
in sacks of. 100 pounds for $1.3O. All
kinds of garden truck is hauled in by
the wagon load. I saw more in one
day than I ever saw in Princeton alto.
gether. 1t is not an orange growing
country; they sell about the same as
here. Flowers grow in great profus.
ion. I saw oleanders which looked
like trees, and had to look twice before
I knew what they were. The city con.
tains many Cinnamon, who have joss
house with all modern improvements.
Fish are plentiful, great and small. !
saw what they call halibut, which
weighed 80 pounds; there were several
small ones weighing twenty or thirty
pounds. Columbia. river smelt sell at
rs cents for 8 pounds. Salmon and
trout are plentiful. There is plenty OF
work for carpenters and masons at
good wages, but rent is very high, $35
per month for a small house. The
street cars run out of the city as far as
twenty miles in some directions.
Along the line tracts of from five to
ten acres can be bought for 800 per
acre. Dry goods seem to be about the
same as here, as near as could Judge.
A great deal of shipping is done at
Portland. Large shipments of lumber
are made; a large English ship was in
port while was there. I saw two
timbers two feet square and sixty feet
long, without knot in them. visited
the museum, where saw many curl
osities, among them a whales skull,
which weighed 800 pounds, and half of
a whales jaw bone, nineteen feet
eight inches in length. They show
knife marks on this bone to prove this
was the whale that swallowed Jonah.
During my stay in Portland it rained
on an average half the time, but the
showers were not of long duration. 1t
was cloudy the greater part of the
time. When the sun shone it did not
seem so hot here, not much difference
between sunshine and shade. The ther-
mometer ranged from 43 to So degrees
above, during the two weeks.
At 8 p: m. on the 2lst, Harry and I
took steamer for Marshfeld, Coos
county, near the southern line of the
State, and reached the mouth of the
Columbia, about 100 miles from Port.
land, the next morning. The trip
down the coast was pleasant, but our
walking on deck was little jerky,
Harry said he wasn't sick, but
thought 1 felt as we'll as he looked
and my stomach wasn't any too com
Portable. We crossed the bar at the
mouth of Coos bay just ahead of 8
storm which kept boats locked in TO,
five days. We looked back over oul
course and could see the breakers anG
foam dashing many feet in the air
The men said we got in just in time.
We reached Marshfield at noon or
the 23rd, and took train to Coquille
twenty miles away. J. G. and Angu!
Varney are located here. This place
is in valley of the coast range, bu
the hills near the town are not YER.
high. The valley is about two miles
wide where the town is located, ani
runs back probably twenty miles, will
other smaller valleys branching from
it. The soil is black and rich; they
say it is too wet on the low ground fol
fruit, but saw some nice orchards o
prunes,. pears, cherries and apples
here. The hills are covered with red
white and yellow fir, with some cedar
This land has been cut over, but there
is enough good timber left to make
Bill Frazier think it a paradise. An
gus and his father cut hollow ceda,
eight feet in diameter, and Angus says
that one chopped inside and the othe,
outside, and worked six hours in fell
ing it. ....." ......'-.. -
A railroad runs through this valley
with spurs to different numbering
and mining points. Considerable coal
and large quantities of lumber are
taken down to Marshfield for shipment
There are about forty miles of this
road, which is equipped with three
engines. The whole outfit must have
been taken there by boat, as it could
not have been taken over the hills, and
the trains can not get out unless thew
ran into the bay. The hills are Of nc
use for farming, but they can be clear
ed and then make good sheep pastures
My impression is that not more thar
one-tenth of the country around Co