A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Part 73

_The climate_ varies in the three sections of country we have described, exactly in the ratio of soil and timber. On the coast, contiguous to the ocean, we have more rain than we require. Like our superabundance of the tallest and best of fir-timber, there is so much of it that we would be glad if we could divide with the second and third places we have described. We have enough rain and timber to supply all the country; and perhaps, when we can cut down our tall trees, that filter the rain out of the clouds, they may get more and we less. Be that as it may, our winters are mild and rainy, our summers cool and pleasant, with sufficient rain and ocean mist to supply the vegetable creation with abundant moisture.

In middle Oregon the winters are mild and frosty, with a small amount of snow--seldom severe; farmers should feed stock a month or six weeks; summers warm, and sometimes sultry in July and August; rains in the spring and late in the fall, scarcely enough for the farmers' use.

In the eastern plain or great mountain basin, the winters are cold and dry, snow and frost severe. Snow seldom falls to exceed two feet in depth,--average winters, eighteen inches,--but it falls deep upon the mountains and remains till it is melted by the warm winds and sun of early summer, causing the summer floods. The princ.i.p.al rise in the rivers is during the mouths of June and July. Less rain, spring and fall, than in middle Oregon; summers dry and hot. In the northern part, the country is better supplied with rain. This may arise from the ranges of the mountain currents of air and the winds from the South Pacific Ocean along the inland plains, and the cool atmosphere around our snow-clad mountains. We will leave further speculation on this point to those who have had more experience in such matters than ourselves.

Taking the country as a whole, with our inexhaustible gold, silver, and other minerals; our extensive farming valleys; our vast forests of timber upon the borders of an ocean comparatively dest.i.tute of this essential element of civilization; there is no plausible reason why this western portion of the United States may not in a few years become the abode of industrious and thriving millions.

_The Northern Pacific Railroad._

The following article on the Northern Pacific Railroad is from the pen of Mr. Philip Ritz:--

"Having spent most of the last year in traveling through Washington, Idaho, and Montana Territories, and having crossed the continent in midwinter, partly on both of the great railroad routes, and at the earnest request of Ex-Governor Smith, of Ma.s.sachusetts, who is president of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and of some members of Congress, I compiled, while in Washington, the following statistics, on the practicability of the Northern route:--

"On the first section of the country from Puget Sound, there are two routes, both practicable; one _via_ the Columbia River, to the mouth of Snake River; the other _via_ Snoqualmie Pa.s.s and Yakima River, to the same point. On either route there will not be much heavy grading. There is on this section an abundance of the finest timber, excepting on that part of the Columbia from the Dalles to Snake River, and a short distance of the route from Yakima to the mouth of Snake River.

"The second section, lying between the Columbia River and the Bitter Root Mountains, a distance of about two hundred and twenty miles, is over a rolling prairie country, with splendid grazing, and fine timber on the Spokan River, a distance of about one hundred miles.

"On the third section, which includes the mountainous part, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, and lying between the 116th and 112th degrees of longitude, the grading will, in places, be heavy, and will require three or four short tunnels. This will include the entire Rocky Mountain district, the work on which will be heavy, but not more difficult than on the Baltimore and Ohio road, between the Ohio River and Harper's Ferry. On this entire section there is an abundance of the finest timber. On this section there is considerable good wheat land, as has been proven by the fine crops raised in h.e.l.l Gate Valley last season.

"This extends from the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains to Lake Superior, a distance of about one thousand and ten miles. The route here pa.s.ses over a rolling prairie, susceptible of settlement the entire distance.

"It will be seen that the entire distance on this route, between the head of Lake Superior and Puget Sound, is about 1,810 miles, and that there is scarcely a mile of the entire country but will eventually be settled. It is much shorter than any other route across the continent, connecting navigable waters. The mountains are much lower and the country much more fertile. It is really the only easy pa.s.s across the American continent, for it is the only part of the continent where two large rivers rise immediately together and flow in opposite directions--the Columbia cutting its way entirely through the mountains on a water level to the Pacific; and the Missouri connecting with the great plains bordering on the lakes.

The Rocky Mountains at this point are really so low, that the miners, last summer, actually took large streams in ditches from the waters of the Missouri, over the divide to the Pacific side for mining purposes. In consequence of the low pa.s.ses through to the Pacific, the climate is warmer than it is in the mountains in the lat.i.tude of Salt Lake City, 400 miles due south. I crossed the summit of the Rocky Mountains near Deer Lodge Valley, in Montana, on the 17th of December. There was no snow; the roads dry and dusty, and the weather mild and pleasant, and none of the streams frozen over. When I reached Salt Lake City, the snow on the Wasatch and Rocky Mountain ranges was twenty-six inches deep, and the night we crossed the Wasatch range, the thermometer stood at ten degrees below zero, and Green River and all those streams in the mountains had been frozen over six weeks, so that the stage rolled over on the ice. Such was the difference in the climate of the two routes. The differences in the real wealth and resources of the two routes is perhaps even greater than that of climate. The central route, after it leaves the mining country of Nevada, around Virginia City, pa.s.ses up the Humboldt country toward Salt Lake, for a distance of 500 or 600 miles, over the most desolate and barren country on the American continent. The country has neither mines, timber, nor any other redeemable quality about it. Salt Lake Valley is a small and rather fertile valley; the only fertile spot for hundreds of miles. From Salt Lake City to Denver, a distance of six hundred miles, the route lies over an alkali and sage plain. On the other hand, there is not one mile on the northern route that does not either furnish timber, grazing, agricultural lands, or minerals, and, in some instances, all together. Montana is just in its infancy; its mines scarcely prospected; and yet, last season, according to the report of the Treasury Department, Montana stood second on the list in the amount of gold produced; California producing $25,000,000; Montana, $18,000,000; Idaho and Colorado, $17,000,000 each; and Nevada, $16,000,000.

"The mountains of Montana are a perfect net-work of quartz ledges, immensely rich in gold and silver. Five years from this time, I believe there will be as much as $40,000,000 of gold and silver taken from the mines of Montana per year; more than one-fourth enough to build and equip the Northern Pacific Road, ready for use.

There are also immense mines of coal, iron, copper, and lead, in the country. The northern route crosses but one range of mountains, and that at a point which, so far as the experience of white men have gone, is known to be as pa.s.sable in winter as the Michigan Central Railroad. In deciding the question of relative distance, we must consider the entire distance between Liverpool and Canton. Say the mean lat.i.tude of the North Pacific route is 46 degrees, and of the Central 37-1/4, and a difference of nine degrees exists. Now a degree of longitude (longitude contracting as we approach the poles) is about six miles shorter on the former than the latter. There are 240 degrees of longitude between Liverpool and Canton; this makes the navigator's distance, on the line of the North Pacific, 1,440 miles less than the Central. This longitudinal difference is quite an item. This difference in distance is not the only item in favor of the northern route. It is an established fact that every sailing vessel, bound directly from San Francisco to Hong Kong, comes up to, and even beyond, the lat.i.tude of Puget Sound, before striking directly west, in order to take advantage of the wind currents of the Pacific Ocean. Time, these days, being an important consideration in commercial transactions, the argument would still be in favor of the North Pacific route, admitting rates of transportation to be equal on both lines. But these rates would not be the same, even if the distance of the two were equal, for the reason that the country would be self-supporting on nearly every mile of the Northern route, while on the Central, for hundreds of miles between Salt Lake and Nevada, not a tie for the track, nor a stick, nor a pound of coal for fuel can be had. All these things must be brought from abroad.

"Now, owing to advent.i.tious circ.u.mstances,--the discovery of the precious metals in California, Nevada, and Colorado, and the settlement of Mormons in Utah,--the bulk of local business seems to be on the side of the Central route. But Montana will soon outstrip California in the yield of gold; besides, the route pa.s.ses through a country susceptible of settlement all the way from Lake Superior to Puget Sound, and there is no doubt but that five years hence there will be as much local business through Minnesota, Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, as through Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and California. Accident gives the Central route the present pre-eminence; nature insures the Northern the final victory.

"It is not generally known, the large amount of business that was done in Montana last season. From May, 1866, to October 1, 1866, C.

C. Huntley carried, on his line of stages between Fort Benton and Helena, 2,500 pa.s.sengers, and during the same period 9,500 tons of freight pa.s.sed from Benton to Helena; 4,375 freight-wagons pa.s.sed over the same route; 45 steamboats, with pa.s.sengers and freight, arrived at Fort Benton from St. Louis and other points in the east, and this, be it remembered, is the first season that this trade has been carried on to any extent, and also, that this is but one point in the Territory. It is really the commencement of a great trade, that will require a vast capital, and employ the energy and industry of a large number of persons.

"There are no less than four lofty ranges of mountains to cross on the Central route, the Rocky Mountains, at Bridger's Pa.s.s, being the most pa.s.sable crossing; the Wasatch, the Humboldt, and the Sierra Nevada are barely pa.s.sable in summer. By the way of Pen d'Oreille Lake, on the Northern route, freight can be taken from the Columbia to the Missouri nearly all winter. Another advantage possessed by the Northern route is, that at present the distance is less than 600 miles between the head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri and Snake rivers, and when the boats are completed which are now building on the Pen d'Oreille Lake and Clarke's fork of the Columbia, the land travel will be reduced to about 390 miles.

"Did time and s.p.a.ce permit, I might give further proof of the superiority of the Northern route. In my comparative reasoning, I have made these distinctions with no invidious feeling. The sooner San Francisco is connected by rail with New York, the better for Washington and Montana, in common with all the mountain regions. It is gratifying to see our friends to the southward prosecuting their enterprise with so much vigor. But I am perfectly satisfied in my own mind that the time will come when the trafficking wealth of Europe and Asia will be poured across the mountains and valleys of Washington and Montana Territories.

"Our prospects, it is true, look rather dull here at present, the whole energy of the Pacific coast being concentrated in building the Central road, and for a short time we may expect dull times. The attention of capitalists can not be diverted from this enterprise much longer, and when once fully examined, there will be millions of capital ready to invest in it.

"Let us open up the Mullan road and the lake route, and all other routes to the Missouri River, and invite travelers and emigrants to come this way and see the advantages of this northern country, and then we will have no trouble in getting money to build a railroad."

CONCLUSION.

As the reader will have discovered, we commenced our history with Oregon as it was in 1792. With the single exception of the feeble effort made by Mr. Astor in 1810-11, and Captain Wyeth in 1834-5, no one ever attempted any thing like an organized opposition to the British fur companies on the Pacific coast.

In regard to Captain Wyeth, we admit with Mr. Newell that he was driven from the country "not by fair and open compet.i.tion in the trade," and that he is ent.i.tled to much credit for his discernment and forethought in leaving when he did, for if he had not accepted the terms offered to him by Dr. McLaughlin, that gentleman said to us that the company would have insisted on other means being used to relieve its trade from his compet.i.tion, so that whatever credit or honor there is due in the case belongs to Captain Wyeth's judgment and decision in accepting such compensation as the company chose to give, and not to the company for giving it; for it was that, or a crime to be committed in getting rid of him and his party; and, as in the case of Smith and Dr. Whitman, to be charged upon the Indians.

As Americans, we must not conclude that it could do a dishonorable or mean act to our traders, hunters, missionaries, or even settlers. No one must presume to think that the Honorable Hudson's Bay Company would ever conduct any but an honorable trade, or engage in any but an honorable business, in the country; notwithstanding, its own countrymen charge it with having seized and sunk vessels belonging to them, by running them ash.o.r.e in Hudson's Bay; robbed and fought with the Northwest Company before they combined their interests; and had its own Governor Semple killed in fighting for its interests, besides all its transactions with its own countrymen; this would be ungenerous and mean in the estimation of men unable to distinguish between a selfish and a generous act, or a cause and a crime of civilized and savage men.

Missionary efforts were first made in the country by Rev. Jason Lee. He, being a Canadian-born subject, was received with less objection than Rev. Messrs. Parker and Spalding, and Dr. Whitman; but, as has been shown, the English people expected to hold the country by the power and influence of their Hudson's Bay Company.

The company, as such, could not act against the American missionaries as it did against American traders and hunters; hence, the Episcopal or Established Church influence from London was made use of, and a clergyman sent to Vancouver. While missionary operations were confined to the Wallamet Valley this was sufficient, but when those efforts were extended to the Cayuses and Nez Perces, and efforts were being made to establish missions further north by another responsible religious society, the company became alarmed for its profits by the fur trade; and by one of its own unprincipled, dishonorable, as well as hypocritical arrangements, under the specious pretense of having religious teachers to look after the moral and religious instructions of its Canadian-French Catholic servants, it sent for, and continued in its service, the very religious order of the Roman Church that was at that time proscribed by the laws of the country from which it held its license. This showed the moral principle by which it was governed in relation to its own country. The interests of its trade were paramount to all moral principles or religious teachings; and while it was professing warm friendship for one religious sect, it was encouraging secretly and openly an opposite and strongly bigoted one, to divide and distract the moral and religious sentiments of the ignorant natives; claiming for itself an exclusive monopoly in trade, as being beneficial to the Indian race, which was admitted by all. This was the moral and religious condition of the whole country when the American settlers came to it. They, with the American missionaries, combined in forming a provisional government, and established a _quasi_ independent American republic, with the condition that, whenever the United States government saw fit to extend its jurisdiction over the country, this temporary government should cease.

The English and French united with us in this organization, on condition that they should not be required to do any thing that would conflict with their duties as subjects of Great Britain.

The reader will perceive that, in carrying out the plan laid down in our preface, we have been obliged to give the Hudson's Bay Company a prominent place in our history, as we have had to meet them in every step of our progress.

No history of Oregon can be written, without acknowledging the immense influence that company held in the country, and the zeal and energy it put forth, in counteracting American ideas and influence. It was its original design to colonize and secure to the British crown all the countries which it might explore and occupy. And had it carried out that design, no American effort could have succeeded in securing the country to the government of the United States. But from a selfish, short-sighted, and mistaken policy; and a blind perception of its a.s.serted commercial rights, privileges, and powers, it "_hunted up_" the country, and expected to secure to itself undisturbed possession of the northwestern part of the continent.

For this purpose, while it was destroying the valuable fur animals in what is now United States territory, it was protecting such as were to be found further north; and by this means continued the enormous profits of its trade, for a series of years longer than it otherwise could have done. The discovery of gold on the Frazer River in 1858, the rush of miners, and the organizing of British Columbia, partially checked this fur company, and led to the formation of a sickly colony strangled in the embrace of an avaricious monopoly. To counteract the American and Protestant missionary efforts, it brought to Oregon the Roman and French Jesuits. To compete with the Americans in stock and agricultural products, it originated the Puget Sound Company. To outnumber the American settlers, it brought on a colony of half-breeds from Red River.

While by the influence of its Jesuits it could destroy one branch of the Protestant missions, and bring on an Indian war, the settlement had gained strength sufficient to maintain independence without its aid.

While the country has increased in population and wealth, this English monopoly has been decreasing in power and influence.

While the Protestant religion has continued to widen and deepen its hold upon the American people, the Papal superst.i.tion has increased among the Indians, thus rendering them more hopelessly depraved, and consigning them and their descendants to unending superst.i.tion and ignorance, or to utter oblivion as a race, to be superseded by an enlightened Christian, American people.

With unfeigned thanks to all who have a.s.sisted us in this work, we take our leave, hoping the facts we have given will be useful, and abundantly reward the reader for his time and money.