Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/22

12 however, must, with every year, give less of place to what the earlier historians felt was most important. Periods of conflict in the broad view of social growth are as stimulating and vital to social progress as they are annoying to those who had to undergo the experiences. Conscious efforts were made to discourage the immigration by the creation of impressions unfavorable to the resources of the country and its accessibility. Immigrants already on the way were skillfully diverted wherever possible, and wagons were laid aside at the advice of interested officers of the company.

Efforts to conceal the agricultural resources of the region, however, were of no avail. The fitness of the country for agriculture and the abode of population was destined to be revealed. Everything was tending to make it known. Speeches in congress might reveal an ignorance that would lead to a sacrifice of the country, but other forces were stronger in the opposite direction. The well kept farm of the fur company in the valley of the Cowlitz, adjoining the fort, was itself a demonstration of what could be done. Under the direction of the old Scotch gardener the soil of Oregon produced as responsively as the better known soil of the Royal Gardens at Kew, where he had learned his art. The settlement of the company's ex-employees upon the French Prairie was another proof. The well kept farms of the missionaries, both of the Willamette Valley and east of the mountains, were further indication. The world might not hear of the former, but it was bound to know of the latter. From many sources the news was spread. Letters to friends in the East, articles written to the local press, narratives from travelers, accounts given by fur traders who had been driven from the field, reports made by officers of the government sent to visit the region,