Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/725

 the west side of the Willamette River, south of Polk county and north of the northern boundary line of California. On the loth of January, 1851, the present southern boundary was fixed. It contains 1,870 square miles, extending to the Pacific ocean, and including the harbor of Yaquina Bay. Population in 1879, 6,403. The amount of land under improvement in this year was 138,654 acres, valued at $3,188,251. The value of farm products was $716,096; of live-stock, $423,682; of orchard products, $16,404. Assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county, $1,726,387. Grain-raising is the chief feature of Benton county farming, but dairying, sheep-raising, and fruit-culture are successfully carried on. Coal was discovered in 1869, but has not been worked.

Corvallis, called Marysville for five or six years by its founder, J. C. Avery, is Benton's county seat, and was incorporated January 28, 1857. It is beautifully situated in the heart of the valley, as its name indicates, and has a population of about 1,200. It is the seat of the state agricultural college, and has connection with the Columbia, and the Pacific ocean at Yaquina Bay, and also with the southern part of the state by railroad. It is more favorably located in all respects than any other inland town. Philomath, a collegiate town, is distant about eleven miles from Corvallis, on the Yaquina road. It was incorporated in October 1882. Monroe, named after a president, on the Oregon Central railroad, Alseya on the head-waters of Alseya River, Newport on Yaquina Bay near the ocean, Elk City at the head of the bay, Oysterville on the south side of the bay, Toledo, Yaquina, Pioneer, Summit, Newton, Tidewater, Waldoport, and Wells are all small settlements, those that are situated on Yaquina Bay having, it is believed, some prospects in the future.

Clackamas county, named from the tribe of Indians inhabiting the shores of a small tributary to the Willamette coming in below the falls, was one of the four districts into which Oregon was divided by the first legislative committee of the provisional government, in July 1843, and comprehended all the territory not included in the other three districts, the other three taking in all south of the Columbia except that portion of Clackamas lying north of the 'Anchiyoke River.' Pudding River is the stream here meant. Its boundaries were more particularly described in an act approved December 19. 1845, and still further altered by acts dated January 30, 1856, October 17, 1860, and October 17, 1862, when its present limits were established. ''Or. Archives, 26; Or. Gen. Laws'', 537-8. It contains 1,434 square miles, about 71,000 acres of which is under improvement. The surface being hilly, and much of it covered with heavy forest, this county is less advanced in agricultural wealth than might be expected of the older settled districts; yet the soil when cleared is excellent, and only time is required to bring it up to its proper rank. The value of its farms and buildings is considerably over three millions, of live-stock a little over four hundred thousand, and of farm products something over six hundred thousand dollars. In manufactures it has been perhaps the third county in the state, but should, on account of its facilities, exceed its rivals in the future. It is difficult to say whether it is the second or third, Multnomah county being first, and Marion probably second. But the difference in the amount of capital expended and results produced leave it almost a tie between the latter county and Clackamas. Marion has $608,330 invested in manufactures, pays out for labor $147,945 annually, uses $1,095,920 in materials, and produces $1,424, 979; while Clackamas has invested $787,475, pays out for labor $156,927, uses $816,625 in materials, and produces $1,251,691. Marion has a little the most capital invested, and produces a little the most, but uses $278,295 more capital in materials, while paying only $8,982 less for labor. ''Comp. X. Census'', ii. 1007-8. The principal factories are of woollen goods. Assessed valuation considerably over six millions. Population, 9,260. Oregon City, founded by John McLoughlin in 1842, is the county seat, whose history for a number of years was an important part of the territorial history, being the first, and for several years the only, town in the Willamette Valley. It was incorporated Septem-