Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/281



"The Later Character of Oregon a Product of Pioneer Life.

Habits of Oregon in the Early Time.

Retrospect and Outlook.

The Pioneer Spirit. Merits and Demerits.

The Sluggish Willamette Valley.

Contrasts, Oregon and Washington."

Oregon, from the circumstances of its settlement and its long isolation, and through natural interaction of the materials slowly brought together, has a character peculiarly its own. In some respects that character is admirable; in others it is open to criticism. Our situation has made for us a little world in which strong traits of character peculiarly our own have been developed; it has also left us somewhat—indeed, too much—out of touch with the world at large. We do not adjust ourselves readily to the conditions that surround us in the world of opinion and action—forces now pressing in upon us, steadily, from all sides.

Under operation of forces that press upon us from contact with the world at large, and under the law of our own internal development, we are moving rapidly away from old conditions. Pioneer life is now but a memory; it will soon be but a legend or tradition. Modern society has no fixity. Nothing abides in present forms. See how complete has been the transformation