Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/178

172 splendid view of the country is obtained, with four snowy peaks in the distance. The university is in a good condition financially, and ranks among the ablest institutions of learning on the Northern Coast.

The Catholics have a seminary in a flourishing condition, and there are fine public-school buildings for the accommodation of the public generally; but the free-school system is not yet put in operation in any part of Oregon. Salem has nine churches, comprising all the usual denominations; a musical society; three lodges of Odd Fellows, and one of Masons, and a Good Templars organization.

The State Penitentiary is located east of town on a tract of seventy-five acres, belonging to Government, where also the Insane Asylum is ultimately to be built. None of the State buildings yet erected are of a permanent character. The contracts for these structures will be a "bone to pick" between rival contractors at some future day, and will give Salem a chance to make something out of them.

The value of property has considerably increased since the opening of the Oregon and California Railroad, and must continue to increase for an indefinite period, as the growth of Salem is assured. The gradual settlement of the choice farming lands by which it is surrounded, and the opening up of the mineral deposits known to exist in the Cascade Mountains to the east, would alone give a sure, if gradual, rise to property in Salem. Its population is order-loving, social, and industrious; and its climate healthful. Intermittents prevail to some extent on the margin of the river, as in all countries, especially new ones; but they are of a light character, and easily broken up, or what is better, prevented.