Year: 1861

South.


PORTLAND, Dec 3, 1861.


DEAR STATEsMAN-Rain, rain, rain! 1t has
been raining slightly for a few weeks past. 1t
would seem as though Dame Nature was endeav-
oring to Guido the great feat she performed in
father Noah's time or it may be that vexed and
sorrowtul at the sad state Of affairs in our country
she has retired to this out-oftheway place for the
purpose of giving vent to her sorrows in a flood Of
tears. Whichever is the cause, | hope the old
lady will soon become convinced Of the utter tu-
tility of the effort and will Immediately dry up.
Rain Why, you have no idea how it has rained.
In the morning, for weeks past, the good people
.of Portland would look out and assure their good
wives as they turned back, that it was raining a
little;' at noon and at night they would come
home soaking wet and in the nighttime, if they
happened to awaken through Over-anxiety for
their country or their debtors, they could still hear
that same eternal sound Of rain, which at the last
would lull them to sleep. l have not time to de-
scribe all the phenomena of this great raln-storm,
suffice it to say that it has been severe and long
continued and as a consequence the Willamette
has risen rapidly, and has done and is still doing
much damage. The wharves Of the city are over
flown except those which are built for use during
the time of the spring freshets, and the cellars
underneath the stores and warehouses have had
to be emptied of their contents. On Sunday night
Harbaugh & Stitzel, of the lower saw mill, lost
six thousand dollars worth of saw-logs, by then
boom giving way. The wharf thatis being erect
ed by the o. S. n. Company has been nearly de
molished by the flood. The dry-dOck that has
Just been completed by Mr.. Clinton, broke from
its moOrings, and went down stream. The
amount of drift-wood in the river is immense, anC
the wonder is where so much can come from, un
til we recollect that there has been such fresh
ct as this for seven or eight years. The water
now is nearly as high as it ever has been and Is
constantly rising When or where it will stop
/" deponent saith not"


1t is a sight and no mistake to see the angry
food of waters as it moves along, bearing with i
a perfect array of logs trees, etc. There is nt
one manifestation of nature which can convey tC
US so complete a sense of her vast power and o
our own insgnifcance, as a river swollen to it
full extent Nearly everybody that has not beer
relieving the wharyes and cellars of their goods
has been standing out on the bank enjoying the
sight


The ocean steamer which was expected Sunday
has not arrived yet, and as a consequence we arr
not in the receipt of very late news from the East
l am anxious to learn the success of the great ma
val expedition. Our reports so far in relation
thereto, have been most meager and unsatisfacto
ry. It would seem as though that was considered
the dernIer resort of our government. Our huge
army of two hundred and forty thousand men ap
pear to indulge in " mastery inactivity" at o.
near Washington. The huge anaconda mus
prepare once more his coils for stroke, or W.
shall begin to believe that he is too well fed
which state you know always occasions torpor anC
stupidity This unfortunate difficulty is constant
ly receiving new complications, and where we ART
drifting TO, Heaven only knows but it becomes
every loyal citizen at this time to keep in full view
the constitution of our government, that sacred
charter of our liberty, for if we cut loose from
that, we are adrft on an unknown sea withou
chart or compass. The unity Of the goyernmen
and the inviolability of the great charter of ou
liberty, must be maintained; and those traitors il
the south that wish to destroy our Union because
they believe the institution of slavery endangered
thereby, and those traitors in the north that wsl
to destroy the constitution because it recognizes
slaves, must both be- rebuked, and the government
must be preserved by strict obedience to tht
laws of the land.


learn that your first issue has reached town
but have not seen it. HONEST JOHN.


BGg- Mill Creek hiss again rendered itseI
obnoxious to many Of our citizens, by es
/


tablishing its main current through theil
dcor-yards, and making itself generally fa
milior with their wood piles and other prop
erty which it found in its course in a con
dition to float. AS if to exceed all former
attempts at getting ''high," last Sunday
evening, when it had but barely fallen with



in its proper bounds and was quietly gliding
down its usual channel it commencel rising
and at day-break ou Monday morning its
gigantic proportions would suggest to q
timid mind at least, the prOpriety of engag-
ing in an enterprise similar to that which
occupied father Noah's attention a shor
time previous to the flood. Persons who
have resided here for number of years
tell us that for the time in the season the
creek is unusually high However, we car
see no impropriety about its getting higl
at present, as it only makes it in unison witt
other things; but we do think that so much
water passing through this city is entirely
unnecessary, especially, while SO little o
that fluid is used for drinking purposes.


Letter from Touchet.


! MEssRs. EDITORS: I received the first numbe
of your paper, and feel proud that the town o
Walla Walla can boast of newspaper, and es
pecially such an one as the Statesman 1t is JUS
the kind of paper that is needed in this rapid,
growing country. 1t is much larger than l ex
pected it would be when first subscribed for it
Your paper should be taken by every actual resi-
dent in the Walla Walla valley. An enterpris
of this kind, so beneficial to every person living il
this section, is deserving of liberal patronage
1 hope that the best of success may attend yol
as publishers and editors of a newspaper.