Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/59



LIEUTENANT HOWISON REPORT ON OREGON, 1846 51

The products of the soil depend mainly upon the climate, and the excellence of the latter is indicative of the abundance of the former. Hence we find from the seacoast to the Cas- cade range of mountains, an average breadth of 110 miles, a most vigorous natural vegetable growth; the forest trees are of gigantic stature, while the intervals between them are filled with a rank, impenetrable bushy undergrowth. Where the growth is rapid, maturity and then decay quickly succeed, and the soil is enriched from its own fruits. This region, like that of the United States before it was colonized, "has been gath- ering fertility from the repose of centuries, and lavishes its strength in magnificent but useless vegetation." It is not, however, a woody solitude throughout. Within the limits al- luded to lies the whole Wilhammette valley ; continuous ranges of prairie lands, free from the encumbrance of trees or other heavy obstacles to the plough, stretch along, ready for the hand of the cultivator; in their virgin state these are over- grown with fern, the height of which, say from three to ten feet, indicates the strength of the soil. No felling of trees or grubbing is necessary here. A two-horse plough prostrates the rankest fern, and a fine crop of wheat the very next year succeeds it. The fields, however, continue to improve under cultivation, and are much more prolific the fourth and fifth years tha'n before. Wheat is the staple commodity ; the average yield is twenty bushels to the acre ; and this from very slovenly culture. Those who take much pains, reap forty or fifty. Al- though population is dispersed over these clear lands, and a large portion of them is held by "claims," there is, notwith- standing, a mere fraction cultivated. A fair estimate of all the wheat raised in 1846 does not exceed 160,000 bushels, which, by the average, would grow upon 8,000 acres of land - not a hand's breadth compared to the whole body claimed and held in idleness. The quality of the wheat produced here is, I believe, unequalled throughout the world ; it certainly excels in weight, size of grain, and whiteness of its flour, that of our Atlantic States, Chili, or the Black sea, and is far before any I have seen in California. Oats grow with correspondent lux-