Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/196

190 remarked, the grass springs up here also, in Autumn, and is green and frequently growing through the Winter, so that animals require no other food. The almost entire absence of timber in the Walawala Valley is attributable to the dry and sandy nature, and to the insufficiency of the soil. The few Cotton Wood and Willow trees which line the margins of some of the streams and rivers, and the Pines which grow at the base of the Mountains, are all the timber which the Valley affords. Where the soil along the streams and near the mountains is rich, the climate favors the production of wheat, rye, oats, etc., the common garden vegetables, and is supposed to be more congenial to the growth of Indian Corn than that of Western Oregon. Corn has been grown for some years in small quantities at Dr. Whitman's Mission, and some of the Walawala Indians have been induced to cultivate small patches of it. But the ears we saw were small, and the quantity produced has also been small, and we are confident of our correctness in saying, that there is no portion of Oregon in which this grain can be profitably produced. The climate of the Walawala Valley, and everything else connected with it; the dryness of its soil, the purity of its waters, and the vicinity of snow covered peaks, are certainly highly favorable to health; and in proof of its healthfulness we have the testimony of those who have resided in it as Traders, or Missionaries, for a number of years, and not only the testimony of words, but also of appearance.

The remaining portion of the Territory of Oregon—the Eastern portion—we have sufficiently noticed in passing through it. Very much the largest portion of Eastern Oregon is at present and must continue for a great number of years to be comparatively valueless. It is a desert, so rugged, so dreary, and so exceedingly sterile that it cannot, until ages have melted its mountains, until the winds