Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/389

 Grays Harbor 15 miles, besides a number of other long tramps and my foot was not well enough to do it. But Mr. Allen, and a Mr. Hale, went up about 30 miles up the Chehalees and looked at the country on each side of the river, and the latter gentleman told me on his return that he was well suited with the country. He said that the river was the clearest that he ever saw, that there was a large number of small streams that flowed in the river of the purest water that he ever see, many of them comeing from springs and small lakes that are back in the prairia or timber. Hale said that along the streams was narrow bottoms of very rich soil, generally covered with vine maple, (about the size of your alder) which is very easy cleared, which he says will make the very best of gardens, back of this, on land some 10 or twenty feet above the bottom land, is generally a narrow strip of timber and then back of that is as handsom prairais as he ever see in the east, anywhere. The prairais he says is covered with fern and grass. The soil he says, is first-rate, and all that a man has to do is to take a team brake the ground and put his seed rite in, Hale said that he could not make a place, (if he had the power) to suit him better than many places that he could find on that river. He has a claim up on the Clackamas but think he shall give it up and go there, The great objection to that country now is a market. There is but a few settlers there so there is no vessels goes into the harbor, unless it is by mistake and the people are obliged to go to the Cowletz, Olimpa or into Shoal Water, to get their groceries or what provisions they have to get.

While they were up the Chehalees, I was on Bakers Bay, or up the Walaca river, about two miles. I was very well pleased with this part of the country, it is on a narrow neck of land, betwene Bakers Bay, and Shoal Water Bay. A small river puts in at the North west corner of the bay, called the Walaca, which branches, one coming from the N. east the other from the N. west and west. It was on this last named stream that I stayed while they were gon. I cut a few tons of hay to bring up as we come, it being very plenty there, and very good, for it grows upon the tide land, which makes it a little salt.

The tide land is the best, on this end of the bay of any that I have seen yet, it is high, with but a very few ditches and as