Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/243

192 flowed the Willamette between banks verdant with lowland vegetation. Beyond rose the beautiful Polk county hills, while to the south-east was the line of the Waldo heights, whose softer crests melted into the horizon. On the east a forest stretched away toward the purple shadows of the Cascade Range, overtopped here and there by a snowy peak; groves of fir and oak at intervals studded the great plain toward the north. A stream furnished mill privileges; and the whole was central to the great Valley Willamette. The late reënforcement, except the portion detailed elsewhere, as hereinbefore narrated, had been reserved for service at French Prairie, and to his new and charming Place of Rest, on his return from the east, Jason Lee immediately removed his people. Between two thousand and three thousand acres were selected, and a part put under cultivation, but owing to the scarcity of men accustomed to farm labor and to the inexperience of those present, they were obliged to leave the larger part untouched. A mill was greatly needed, and nearly the whole summer was consumed in getting milling and farming machinery on the ground. And when the mill was there, the missionaries could not put it together. The stones were set running the wrong way, and when at work threw out all the wheat. The sagacious superintendent had