The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1914-11-27
OREGON

give them elaborate answers, ] pro-
/ pose here and now by the kindness of
the editor to answer by giving my
impression of the state,
4 Oregon is the seventh state of the
Union in size, being 94,560 square
miles in area and containing in 1910,
population of 672,76 1t contains
only "a counties as yet, but these will
in time be divided into more and small
er counties As it is there are two
counties larger than the sta a.eofMas-
sachusetts and several of them larger
than Rhode Island or Delaware.
Oregon is between the parallels of
IL degrees and AZ degrees, bounded
on the west by the Pacific; on the
south by California; on the east by
Nevada and Idaho, and on the north
by Washington, the line between
which states, for over $50 miles, is
the beautiful and historic Columbia
River. The scenery on this river,
! through the Cascade mountains is
not equalled in the United States, and
not surpassed by any scenery, cs-
pccially Of river scenes, even in the
old world; so / am told by expert
travellers. The river runs for many
miles in its westward course to the
ocean between high plains on either
side, 50 that IL flows through q can
yon varying in depth from 1000 feet
10 $500 feet in height. Evc' and
anon there are small streams like sill
yer threads pouring over these awful
heights. which are turned into spray
before striking the first terrace. many
Of them having a perpendicular
plunge Of from 300 to 600 feet. But
find myself drifting into an at
tempted description Of that which is
next to impossible to describe. With
its more than 1000 feet Of almost
perpendicular walls on either side as
the river rFsses through the cascades,
which Is here subject to the long
rainy seasons, these high banks are
covered with dense growth of trees,
vines, ferns, flowers, etc, that are
q truly beautiful and must bc seen to be
appreciated.
The state is divided into Eastern
and Western Oregon. by the long
range of mountains known as the
Cascades, which run north-south
direction, parallel with the ocean and
about $50 miles from it, The crest of
this mountain is dotted all along from
north TO south with peaks ranging in
height from 1900 G,OCO feet above
sca level. Mount Hood, near the Col
umbia River, is something over H.
600 feet hiEh Mount jefferson. next,
nearly 600 feet high, and the Three
Sisters Cclosc together, about 5000
feet high. All of these and many
others are covered the year round
with snow, and are conical in shape
and are doubtless extinct volcanoes
shall confne myself mainly 20 a
description Of the places where lived.
The IRIS. year ! lived in Northeast
Oregon. in UmatilIa county, so-callad
because of the tribe Of Umati!!a In
dlans vino have reservation near
pcndlcton. % miles square, or 100
Square miles These Indians are seen
in Pcndlcton, little city, Of 5000,
almost daily. The squaws always
have bright red and light stripped
5hawls on their shoulders. moccasins,
of their own make. on their feet, silk
handkcrchicfs Of some gay color on
their heads. They own their own
farms, drive into town to 10 miles
distant, in their own vehicles, and all
have good teams. In fact, many Of
them are wealthy. The men dress
MS we do, only few Of the older ones
have shawls, and all wear broad
brimed hats
Umatilla county produces more
wheat than any other county in the
United States. Several farmers have
raised as high as 55 bushels per acre.
My step-son, Gilbert Counts, worked
all summer and through harvest for
man who had one and half sec
tions (960 acres) of wheat which the
owner said averaged So bushels per
acre. This sounds "fshy" perhaps
, to Missourian, but if you had seer
the wheat before IT was cut, you would
not doubt it. They cut this wheat
with q "Cobine"--a harvester. which
, cuts, threshes and sacks 1000 to l.
200 bushels per day. To this ma
chine they work 80 to &c horses.
have a photograph of this machine
, with 32 mules and horses attached.
But mind you, said before this is
the best county in the United States
for wheat. The rest of the state don't
average so very much higher thar
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