Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 21.djvu/52



42 ROBERT MOULTON GATKE

extent, but I do not yet see any way at all, with our present means to supply the Tualatin Plains or Clatsop or the extreme upper part of the Valley, much less any hope of touching any point North of the Columbia River, so that if you have received my former letter calling for two young men to come next season either over the mountains or by way of Panama, my mind as to the necessity remains unchanged.

Campbellism is rampant in this country at present. I wish you would send me a few copies of Phillips Strictures on it, or any better work you know of, with 1 copy of Rice and Campbell's Debate.

The prices of a few articles in this country are as follows Flour $4. per hnd. Beef 5@6 Pork 8@10 Oil from $1.25 to $2. Sugar 12c Tea $1.50@$2. and poor at that Coffee 25c but none to be had. Fir wood $3. Oak & Ash $4. butter 25c per Ib. Wheat is very scarce and worth $1. Cash. Fodder impos- sible to get except a few bundles of oats in the sheaf at 75c per dozen &c. &C.

I ought not to forget Hardware Glass and paint for the said house. Nails cost 20c per lib. I think of building a house 32 by 24 Cottage form one and a half stories with Kitchen 14 by 16 the ground plan would be something of this form and I allude to it only to indicate to you the hardware &C necessary there are 5 inside and 2 outside doors on the Lower floor, and Carpenter would give directions in a moment as to the kind and No. of Locks fastenings hinges screws nails (4d are used for shingling here) glass (I want 8 by 10) Paint and a keg of oil. If by any means I can avoid building or have to do it before you can send these items or there should be a surplusage, they are worth here all they cost and 100 per ct. more. I name the above sized glass not because it is the best but because in any contingency it is sometimes possible to get it in this country.

A few remarks on the Oregon Institute and I have done, the claim on which the building is located is now held by Wm. H. Wilson 1 in trust for a Board of Managers and excepting the Buildings and a reserve of 60 acres 2 he is to have one third of all the claim for holding it &C. This arrangement

1 Made necessary by the failure of the Provisional Government to provide for property holding by corporations.

2 The Willamette University Campus and the Capitol grounds at Salem occupy part of this grant.