Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/206

 198 THOMAS W. PROSCH.

are probably rougher than any that have ever been sect ionized in the Territories of the United States. Scarcely an unsur- veyed township of land can be found without canyons, ravines, or precipitous hills; and most of the unsurveyed territory abounds in heavy timber, (often standing and fallen,) dense tangled undergrowth of bushes, briars, fern, and grass, in many places covering a rocky surface almost impassable. A deputy surveyor (Mr. J. W. Trutch) informs that, in a dis- tance of 100 miles, in prosecuting contract No. 61, it was found impossible to convey provisions except by packing on the backs of men. Actual experience in the field of operations alone can give an adequate idea of the energy and perseverance indis- pensable to the successful prosecution of a surveying contract in such a region of country. To realize large profits from the best contract that can now be let is out of the question; and to reduce the rates of surveying would be ruinous to con- tractors, if any could be found to undertake the work. "Should the present expectation of peace with the Indians of Oregon be realized, and no unforeseen obstacles present themselves, I think the surveys of all the public lands west of the Cascade range of mountains, fit for residence and cultiva- tion, may be completed by the end of the year 1858. If any should remain, they will consist of small fractional townships along basses of mountains, or in mountain gaps, or on mountain summits, apart and detached from the surveyed lands. "Believing that the proper period has arrived to authorize the extension of the Oregon surveying district east of the Cascade Mountains, I renew the recommendation to that effect found in the last annual report from this office. The lands lying between the Cascade and Blue mountains, and particu- larly those on the Des Chutes, John Day, and Umatilla, are valuable and desirable, especially for stock farming. At the Dalles of the Columbia a business town (Dalles) has sprung np : a. number of enterprising settlers have taken claims, and made considerable improvements. Settlements had also been made before the war at Whitman's Station and on the Uma- tilla. These will be soon resumed and increased in number; and on the positive restoration of peace, emigrants will repair to other noints on the banks of the Columbia and the above- named rivers. The surveys should precede the settlements, nnrl fhe amount necessary for this purpose is named in Esti- mate E."
 * ' The public lands which remain to be surveyed in Oregon