Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/278



256 LEWIS A. MCARTHUR

The scenery is beautiful and in some places and some points of view the grandest that the eye ever beheld. 8

"Lt. Blunt who is now with me has traveled considerably through the country and is so much pleased with it, that he has taken a section of land and made a regular claim to it, he has also taken one for myself and one for Lt. Bartlett, both ad- joining his ! What do you think of that? I intend to have my claim registered according to the custom of the country, and protect it as long as I may be on the coast. I may be able to sell it this fall to the emigrants. It lies in the Willammette Val- ley and is represented to be a beautiful location. If I could hold it for 5 years it would be a fortune.

"You can scarcely imagine the change in the prospects of this country since the discovery of the new south channel, and the arrival for the first time of the Pacific Mail Steamers. Property has advanced materially, and points along the river are of much importance, which have hither passed unnoticed.

"The greatest difficulty existing here at present is the want of acts of Congress to define the extent of land claims and to regulate all matters attending the surveying and giving titles, etc. Nothing exists in the shape of law. There already exists much confusion, which is not likely to decrease till laws be passed.

"The great probability is that Oregon will develop more rapidly for the next ten years than any other part of the United States except California. You will soon be startled with the cry that gold is found in Oregon. I have no doubt of its existence myself. It has already been found as far north as Rogues River and the mines on that River are being worked successfully. Several exploring expeditions are scouring the different directions. Their return is looked for with intense interest. You may depend upon receiving letters by every op-

8 Among those who made the trip from San Francisco to the Columbia River on the Ewing was William H. Packwood, now of Baker, Oregon, who is the sole survivor of the Oregon Constitutional Convention of 1857. Judge Packwood was one of a small party of the First U. S. Mounted Rifles that was transported from San Francisco to Oregon in the Ewing. For his description of the trip, see the Oregonian for February 20, 1915.