Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 29).djvu/97

 resort to the Kamas plains, a fine grazing country, but a few miles distant. The wolves make sad depredations with the increase of their flock, if not well watched.

The hilly portion of the country, although its soil in many places is very good, is yet so heavily timbered as to make it, in the present state of the country, valueless: this is also the case with many fine portions of {300} level ground. There are, however, large tracts of fine prairie, suitable for cultivation, and ready for the plough.

The Willamette valley is supposed to be the finest portion of the country, though I am of opinion that many parts of the southern portion of the territory will be found far superior to it. The largest settlement is in the northern part of the valley, some fifteen miles above the falls. About sixty families are settled there, the industrious of whom appear to be thriving. They are composed of American missionaries, trappers, and Canadians, who were formerly servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. All of them appeared to be doing well; but I was on the whole disappointed, from the reports that had been made to me, not to find the settlement in a state of greater forwardness, considering the advantages the missionaries have had.

In comparison with our own country, I would say that the labour necessary in this territory to acquire wealth or subsistence is in the proportion of one to three; or in other words, a man must work through the year three times as much in the United States, to gain the like competency. The care of stock, which occupies so much time {301} with us, requires no attention there, and on the increase only a man might find support.

The wheat of this valley yields thirty-five to forty bushels for one sown, or twenty to thirty bushels to the acre; its quality is superior to that grown in the United States, and its weight nearly four pounds to the bushel heavier.