Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 22.djvu/166



156 S. H. TAYLOR

The closest vigilance was insufficient to prevent the theft of cattle. The property of emigrants is probably no safer there than in the country of the Pawnee. I thought our road over the mountains by the Bear river was the worst possible, but I would advise those having any more than a small number of cattle, to come that way rather than run the hazards by Salt Lake. But I am digressing here. More of this anon.

The wood of the valley is mainly pitch pine, fir, cedar and burr oak. This pine cannot be split at all, and is too heavy for convenience heavier than water. It however makes our lumber, while a mammoth pine of the mountain summits, called the sugar pine, makes our shingles and the shakes with which frame houses are generally covered. Our rail timber is the cedar and fir. The oak is a short, tough, gnarled tree like your burr oak, used only for fuel. The poplar and poorer species of the elm flourish along the streams, and in many places every thing is covered with the grape vine. The yew tree grows here and there on the mountains and so does the laurel. The alder grows to a tree 18 inches in diameter but it is useless. There is a tree representing the butternut - but it has no fruit save a seed like that of the maple, and one called the mansimeter, a more splendid tree than you ever saw; the "misseltoe bough" too, rendering the oak classic with its associations. The maple, linn and hickory are unknown here though the hazel, a brittle thing in your country, by its singular toughness supplies the place of the latter for some purposes. The mapparel, the crookedest, ugliest and most obstinate bush you ever saw, forms the upland undergrowth.

The best informed men put the population of the valley at three to four thousand three to four hundred being in the village of Jacksonville and among them our old friend, Dr. E. H. Cleveland, of Watertown. He is the only old acquaintance I have seen except Mr. Warren, of Hartland, whom I met on the plains and who called on you at your place. The Doctor is doing well first rate and sends his respects to all who remember him. He has actually driven out all competition