Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 18.djvu/326



290 Pm^ WnjBim Powell

full accounts are already supplied by Mr. Slacnm. I will only add a few facts in regard to this subject. I saw at Vancouver a large and splendid bam, in which was a thrashing machine that cost $1,500, and was worked by oxen. Connected with the same farming establishment I saw also more than 1,000 head of neat cattle, grazing on the ever-verdant prairie, and flocks of sheep, swine and horses, and domestic fowls of various kinds, both in and around the village.

The stocks of grain on that farm exceeded anything of the kind that I had evei* seen in the United States. Twelve thou- sand bushels of wheat, at a very moderate computation^ re- mained in the sheaf at the time of my leaving Vancouver in the spring.

Six miles above Vancouver, on the same side of the river, was a lai^e sawmill, capable of cutting from 20 to 25 thousand feet of boards per day, throughout the year. It can be readily inferred that, with this and other such mills, vast havoc would soon be made in the timber of this region, and the banks of the rivers and streams be cleared of that which is at once the most valuable and the most accessible.

The town of Vancouver, as I have stated, stands on a high and healthy [58] spot. I might, with propriety, dwell for a moment upon its picturesque and beautiful landscape. Directly back of the village the ground rises considerably, forming a kind of "steppe" or pUieau, from which the prospect is one of the loveliest oft which my eye ever r^ed, diversified by all that is wild, rugged and sublime, m forest and mountain scenery, or soft and smiling in lowland and meadow, river and plain ; all that the bounty of nature or the skill of man combined can furnish to surprise of delight th^ eye and the taste of the beholder. In the distance, yet lo(4dng as though withm reach, are the snowy peaks of the Rbcfcy mountains, whose frosty mantle defies the hottest sun of summer. Nearer at hand is a vast ocean of forest, variegated with every hue known to the foliage of trees, whether deciduous or evergreen. At your feet are a thousand appearances of industry, wealth and pros-