Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1919-04-12
LETTER FROM WASHINGTON
The Highlands. Monse. wn

Editor Capital journal: This is April
LIST. all Fools Day. Why ii has come
to be known as such ] am not informed
All the fools are not born on the first
day of April. I for one was not. So
hand the conundrum to the Foo
Killer and IL not too busy he may be
able to solve IL.
November 26th our first snow came
and now an occasional white spot here
and there is visible, the lingering rem.
nant of a 3 or 4 foot drift. -Four
months Of continuous SNOW may NOT
seem pleasant to persons not used Ia
It, but we up here rather like it, we
think it better than carrying an um.
brella for that length of time or long.
err in, for instance, the Willamette
valley. IN. b. No disparagement to
said valley is intended. J / have been
here since last October and am getting
a little used to this somewhat peculiar
country-to its coyotes, its high hills
and winding roads, its distances meas
ured by leagues. its ~sagebrush and
crossword, its "hay stack" rocks
some twenty feet high.
How they got here and when, nobody
seems to know. They are scattered ov.
er the country every where. They arc
neither granite, nor sandstone, nor lime
stone-just plain black rock-possibly
basalt.
The fall sown grain is coming on
nicely and now that the snow is gone
it makes n pretty sight acres and
acres Of IT,. A grain field here less
than a hundred acres is not thOt much
Of as to extent. The farmers here last
fall were wishing for heavy SHOWS TO
insure from the moisture, u good grain
crop and they got 4 long months Of it
and you ought TO see them hitch up
their suspendcrs and smile. ! see BY
the Capital Journal cows about Salem
advertised for sale as low as s35. No
COW here can be bought for that price
If some one down there could bring
a herd Of cows up here he could more
than double his money. The poorest
kind of COW here Will bring 500 and on
up to 800 and 800 for a better grade.
AT a sale here one COW was bid off at
$l42 and nothing very extra at that.
People seem COW crazy. Country but
ter sells at the stores ut Coo per pound,
and eggs f0c per dozen.
Farmers are beginning 10 prov.
Some will use tractors. Spring is here,
birds are singing, green grass is max.
ing its appearance. The weather is
warm and balmy. We have fine sun
rises here. II rises right up ont of the
ground, at the periphery Of the great
wagon wheel Of this plateau and sinks
behind the "saw tooth range" at the
west-this vast wheel Is 50 miles across
We are beginning TO agitate for a
phone line and II. p. d. will come
sometime.
We bring our fire wood from 7 to
10 miles. This winter we brought IL
in four horse sled loads. Pine rs inch
wood. | have seen no hard wood here,
no oak nor ash. Last fall we got wood
from the Columbia river, drift, mostly
cedar Of all sizes and lengths. The riv-
or leaves acres Of such wood when the
water settles. We went about 10 miles
for this. We got IL Of "Long Jim" an
ex-ehief Of the ~Okanoguns. He owns a
lot Of land on the Columbia. He deals
in horses also, and is said 70 be veal.
thy. He has the name Of being strict.
BY honest in business matters, which
can hardly be said Of s0me Of his white
brothers. Jim is quite friendly and
speaks good English. Why he is called
I" long, I eannot say. He does not ap-
pear TO be more than SIS or 0. His
place is At the confluence Of the Co.
|lumbia and Okunogon. Hero is where
John Jacob Astor located for a time
before going to Astoria where he es.
tablished headquarters for the Ameri
can Fur company. At the first lOca-
ton a flag pole marks the spot. Here