CHAPTER XXIV.
Emigration to Oregon—Who should not come—Free advice and no fees— English emigrants—Farmers—Haste to be rich—Quoted experiences—Cost and ways of coming—Sea-routes—Railroads—Baggage—What not to bring —What not to forget—Heavy property—The Custom-house—San Francisco hotels—Conclusion.
The question most often asked and most difficult to answer is, "Do you advise me to come out to Oregon?" It is easy to say who should not come. We want no waifs and strays of civilization, enervated with excesses, or depressed with failure; men who can find no niche for themselves, who have neither the habit, the disposition, nor the education for work. We want none of those youngsters who have tried this, have failed in that, until their friends say in disgust, "Oh, ship them to Oregon, and let them take their chances!" We desire no younger sons of English or Eastern parents without energy or capital to start them. High birth, aristocratic connections, we value not at all, unless they carry with them the sense of responsibility to honored forefathers—the determination that the stigma of failure shall not stain a proud name. Nor do we desire those young men whose first thought is, "How shall we amuse ourselves?" and whose first aim is the cricket, or base-ball, or lawn-tennis ground, and whose chief luggage is bat, fishing-rod, and shot-gun.
And, on the other hand, we do not want those who, having qualified themselves, as they suppose, for life in Oregon by six months or a year with some scientific farmer, consider that they know everything, despise instruction, neglect advice, are wiser than their elders, and then throw up in disgust as soon as they find that they have sunk their money, that their theories will not work, and that they must here as elsewhere begin at the beginning.
Nor do we propose (and we are certain it is in no way necessary) to charge new-comers an initiation fee of two hundred and fifty dollars, or any other sum, for the privilege of joining our society in Oregon, and profiting by our experience.
And, as I began by saying, the English who have come here have established no colony, in the usual sense, set up no separate society, and claim no common corporate life.
WHO SHOULD COME.Society we have, association we have, common amusements and pursuits we have, but in all these we invite our American neighbors to take their part, and see no reason to regret our course.
True it is that the costume of knickerbockers and gaiters and heather-suit and pot-hat is a very common object in our town, and that we meet in considerable force at the Episcopal church on Sunday to join in the familiar service. But we adhere to our original plan that the newcomer shall settle where he pleases in these counties, shall have the best advice we can bestow in the choice of land, the purchase of stock and implements, and of the other necessaries for a farmer's start in life; and shall have this free of charge. We offer the right hand of friendship; we will do our part to keep up association and kindly relations of all kinds.
But we are more anxious that Oregon should be built up by the gradual incoming of men of serious purpose, possessed of moderate capital, who shall disperse over the face of the country as they would at home, and strengthen the State by the force of attraction each will exercise over the friends and acquaintances he has left behind, than we are to create here a bit of interjected foreign life.
Therefore let the farmer, above all, tried and worried at home by fickle seasons, heavy rent, burdensome tithe and taxes, labor-troubles, low prices, and gradually fading capital—let him bring his wife and children and come. His few hundred pounds will make a good many dollars, and he will be amazed to find himselfowningproductive land for about the sum he would have paid for two years' rent at home.
If his means do not permit him to pay down the whole purchase price, he is one of the very few who can be safely advised to begin to some extent in debt; for, remember, land in Oregon is expected to pay for itself from its own productions in five years' time.
Even if the new-comer has had no previous practical experience, that need not of itself deter him. One of our best farmers told me the other day that when he began he did not know which end of a plow went first! But in such case the wisest thing is either to hire himself out to work for an Oregonian farmer for, at any rate, a few months, or, if he takes an opportunity of buying land for himself, let him reverse the operation and hire an Oregonian to work for him for a time.
I read a short article in the "Portland Evening Telegram," the other day, which seemed to me very much in point; so I shall quote it:
"Seven years ago two men, dissatisfied with the sluggishness with which their fortunes grew in Portland, determined to better their condition.
"The wonderful resources of the Willamette Valley as an agricultural country attracted one of them to Washington County, where he purchased a farm, and stocked it with teams and farming implements, and started on his road to independence and wealth.
"He told his neighbors, who had been in the farming business for years, that he proposed to show them how to succeed.
"He was industrious; he studied the books on farming, and pursued his occupation on scientific principles, joined the Grangers, became an active member of farmers' clubs, was bitter in his denunciation of monopolies.
"Disliking the looks of the old-fashioned worm-fence, he divided his fields by building nice plank partitions, and even asked permission of an old fogy neighbor to build the whole of a partition fence of plank, that the old one might not offend his fastidious taste. Here was mistake number one. The rail-fence answered the purpose well enough, and he ought to have avoided the expense of the costlier one at least until a new one was necessary. He was from Indiana, and thought corn a good crop to grow; so he prepared ten acres of his best land and planted them to corn: the squirrels came and took it all up; he replanted, and again the squirrels took the seed before it sprouted; he planted it once more, and succeeded in getting a small crop of poor corn which did not mature, and it profited him nothing.
QUOTED EXPERIENCES."This was another blunder, as any man who had made any inquiry ought to have known that the raising of corn in this valley was never a paying business. A small patch for roasting-ears for family use is all any wise farmer will ever attempt to raise.
"Again, our progressive farmer had been so impressed with the idea that the climate of Oregon was an exceedingly mild one, that he thought his apples and potatoes were in no danger of freezing; so he put his apples upstairs, and left his potatoes uncovered. Consequently, they were all frozen and lost.
"This was an inexcusable blunder, for any man who would look at a map and see that he was located above the forty-fifth degree of latitude, should have known that any winter was liable to be cold enough to freeze unprotected fruits and vegetables.
"Our friend became discouraged, and gave more attention to wheat, but found that he could not raise that commodity for less than seventy-five cents a bushel, although other farmers have asserted that the cost did not exceed fifty cents.
"With his experience of seven years' farming in Oregon, he is perfectly satisfied that it will not pay, and hence he is back in Portland, intending to stay. The corn, apple, and potato business fixed him as far as farming is concerned, though he ought to have known that his course in regard to them would have resulted just as it did.
"Our second young man did not like the slowness of farming as a means of getting rich, so he put his money in sheep, and took up a ranch in Wasco County.
"For a few years he was encouraged: as the grass grew, his stock increased; the winters were mild, and wool brought a good price.
"He raised some feed, and for three years had no use for it, as the sheep made their own living off the range.
"He thought when the cold snap set in last winter that he had enough feed to last through any winter that could reasonably be expected. But the cold winds continued to blow, the snow fell and froze, and continued to fall and freeze.
"Two months passed; his feed was exhausted, and his sheep began to die. Out of 4,300 head 3,000 died, and though a neighbor who started in with about the same number had only six head left, our young friend thought his own condition bad enough, and so concluded to quit the business and come back to Portland. He says a man can take a thousand head of sheep, build sheds, provide food, and have a sure thing to clear a few hundred dollars every year, but he did not want that kind of a sure thing.
"He made the mistake of him who 'makes haste to be rich,' and hence he retires from the contest on that line no better off than when he started in.
"Both these men are now in Portland, and each is hopelessly disgusted with the attempt he has made.
"One thinks that farming in Oregon will never pay, though there are hundreds of farmers all over the State who started with less than he did, and are now well situated and independent.
"The other thinks the whole of Eastern Oregon, so called, a failure, though he virtually admits that his lack of providence, and his desire to make a large sum of money in a short time, were the causes of his losses."
Since we have been in Oregon we have seen several cases like these examples. Let the intending emigrant weigh this well—that farming in the Willamette Valley is not the road to large fortune, though it is to comfort and prosperity.
COST AND WAYS OF COMING.Let no young man, brought up in a comfortable Eastern home, come to Oregon to farm, unless he can be assured that at the end of a year or two's probation and apprenticeship he can have provided for him some small sum of money, enough for a start on his own land. The life of the agricultural laborer in almost every farmer's family here is a very hard and uncomfortable one; the lodging is rough, the living, though plentiful, is often coarse, the hours of labor very long, and the employments on the farm miscellaneous indeed.
The better thing is for two friends or relatives to come together; they may separate for their apprenticeship, but their purchase may easily be made together; and, indeed, out here two are better than one.
And now for some hints as to the ways of coming, and what should and should not be brought.
For the English emigrant there is a large choice. He may come by any of the New York lines, and thence across the continent to San Francisco, and on by steamer to Portland. If he comes first class throughout, he will find the expense nearly £60 sterling, or about $300. By choosing the cheaper cabin on the steamer, and reconciling himself to doing without the comforts of the Pullman car, and economizing in meals on the journey across by providing himself with a provision-basket, to be replenished at intervals, he may save about £15, or $75. The time is short; three weeks will bring him from Liverpool to Oregon, unless he delays needlessly in New York, Chicago, or San Francisco.
In New York let him beware of cabs or carriages. He is likely to be charged five dollars for a ride he will get in London for one shilling. The proper course is for him, after his baggage has passed the custom-house, to intrust it to a transfer agent, who will have it conveyed to the hotel, and the emigrant can take the elevated railway or get a tram-car ride for a few cents. The same course should be followed on leaving the hotel for the railway terminus to come West.
So far as I know, he can make no mistake in following his fancy in choosing his route.
The Erie or the New York Central will carry him to Chicago, by way of Buffalo and Niagara; and, if any pause on the journey at all is made, let the opportunity be seized of seeing the most glorious of waterfalls, the remembrance of which will never die.
The Baltimore and Ohio passes through Maryland and West Virginia, and the Pennsylvania Railroad through New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and each shows him some of the finest scenery on the Atlantic slope.
From Chicago he will have a choice again. There is no difference in cost, time, or comfort between the Chicago and Northwestern, the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy, and the Chicago and Rock Island. I have traveled by all three; perhaps the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy runs through the most interesting scenery.
Up to Omaha the first-class traveler is allowed one hundred and fifty pounds of baggage free, and so far it will be properly handled and cared for by the baggage-men.
BAGGAGE-SMASHING.At Omaha things change for the worse. Only one hundred pounds of baggage is allowed by the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads; and on all excess the rate to San Francisco is fifteen cents a pound. And, if the traveler has any regard for his possessions, let him see to it that they are closely packed in the very strongest and roughest trunks that he can procure. Oh, those baggage-smashers at Omaha! When we crossed last I stood by to see a baggage-car brought up alongside the stone platform, piled with trunks and other baggage to the roof, the doors thrown open, and the contents literally tumbled out pell-mell. Trunks were smashed open, locks broken, straps burst, contents ruined. And the baggage-men seemed to take a horrid pleasure in tilting heavy trunks on to their corners, and so bundling them across at a rapid rate to the other car; dislocation of the strongest joints was the result.
If the passenger be incautious enough to burden himself with needless weight from Omaha, he should dispatch it to San Francisco by freight-train addressed to his hotel; the rates are thus so moderated that he will not have the chagrin of paying to the railroad companies about as much as most of his baggage is worth.
Another route from England is by Southampton and Panama to San Francisco. The charge for a first-class passage is £50, and the traveler will not be bothered about his baggage save on the Isthmus Railway. Hemaylose no time in catching the Pacific mail-steamer on the Pacific side, but he is more likely to have three or four days to wait at Panama, in a town where there is nothing to see or do, and where he will be charged not less than three dollars a day at the hotel. The lovely scenery and gorgeous vegetation of the tropics will be a pleasant picture in memory, whatever draw-backs the five weeks occupied on this route may discover.
San Francisco is the city of comfortable and moderately charging hotels. The most expensive are the Palace and the Baldwin. The Lick House and the Russ House are comfortable and more moderate; and the International is cheap but comfortable.
From San Francisco to Portland the steamers Oregon, Columbia, or State of California, sail every five days, and are each safe, speedy, and excellent boats. The cost of the journey is twenty dollars, and the time usually three days or more, including a detention of some hours at Astoria. As soon as the Yaquina route is opened, it is expected that this time will be reduced by one half.
And now, what should the emigrant bring to Oregon? So far as household furniture and fittings are concerned, the best and cheapest way is to send them by Royal Mail from Southampton by way of Panama. The freight was £4 10s.per ton of forty cubic feet. I do not know if any change has been made.
It is wise for any family to bring bedding (but not beds), knives and forks and electro-plate, books, pictures, and the little ornaments and trifles which go so far to transfer the home feeling to whatever room they may at once furnish and adorn. And do not forget the crockery. It is foolish to bring furniture, pianos, or such heavy and cumbersome property. All these used articles will come in duty free. If they are sent to San Francisco direct from England, they will have to be examined at the custom-house there.
The traveler will find it a great waste of time and temper to pass his goods through the custom-house himself. There are many respectable agents, whose trifling fee is well spent in getting their services for this work.
As for clothes. New clothes will be charged with a duty of sixty per cent. of their value, and cause trouble also. Worn clothes and boots come in duty free. The strongest and most durable woolen garments are those best adapted for the Oregon climate. English ankle-boots are treasures not to be obtained for love or money in Oregon. The field-boot, of porpoise-skin, will be infinitely valuable in our muddy winters; but such are too hot for summer wear. English saddlery should all be left at home.
If the emigrant is the happy owner of a good breech-loader, let him bring it, with as many of Eley's green cases as he can pack. Ammunition is expensive here. English rifles are a nuisance. The Winchester, Sharp, or Ballard, I think superior to any sporting rifles we have—as much so as the American shot-guns are inferior to the English makers'.
ATTRACTIONS WHICH OREGON OFFERS.Let us see, then, in a few words, why we expect that immigrants will continue to arrive. What are the attractions which Oregon offers?
1. A healthy and temperate climate, whether residence in the Willamette Valley or in Southern or Eastern Oregon is chosen.
2. A fertile and not exhausted soil, adapted to the continuous raising of all cereals, to the growth of the best kinds of pasture, and to the ripening of all temperate fruits in profusion and excellence.
3. A climate and range unusually suited to cattle, sheep, and horses of the best breeds.
4. The ocean boundary on the west, giving free access to shipping for the cheap transport of all productions.
5. Mineral wealth of almost every description, most of which is yet unworked.
6. Industrial openings of many kinds, with special facilities by way of abundant water-power.
7. Beautiful scenery, whatever portion of the State may be selected by the new-comer.
8. Sport and pastime in moderation, with a notable absence of dangerous animals, and reptiles, and noxious insects.
9. A modern and liberal Constitution, affording special advantages and securities to foreigners and aliens.
10. A quiet and orderly population, ready to welcome strangers.
11. Good facilities for education, remarkable in so young a country.
12. A railroad and river system of transportation, only now in process of development, and which is certain to effect a great rise in the value of lands.
And now my work is done. I have endeavored to give, in as concise and short a form as I could contrive, a faithful picture of life as it is in Oregon to-day. I have extenuated nothing, nor set down aught in malice.
If, in reviewing what I have written, I feel conscious of a special weakness, it is that I have brought too strongly into view the difficulties the immigrant will have to encounter; for I feel sure that no one, on full knowledge, will accuse me of drawing in too fair and flattering colors the attractions of our beautiful State.
May Oregon flourish by receiving constant additions to her vigorous and industrious people, whose efforts, in scarcely any other place in the wide world so certain of a due return, may make her waste places plain, and cause her wildernesses to rejoice and blossom as the rose!
APPENDIX.
Since the foregoing pages were finished, a period of six months has passed. Nothing has transpired which should affect the opinions formed and expressed by the author in favor of the attractions which Oregon offers to the energetic and industrious. The past half-year has been one of successful development for the State as a whole. A bountiful harvest, which has been vouchsafed to Oregon while many Eastern States and many European countries have had to mourn because of drought or excessive rain and consequent scarcity, has again proved how highly favored by position and climate is this Western nook. And now, in the early days of October, we have had a week's rain to soften the clods and prepare the ground for tillage, but the sun of the Indian summer is shining with soft brilliancy, and we look for crisp nights and mornings, and lovely days, for from six to ten weeks to come.
During the six months, Eastern capital has been prodigally turned into Oregon and Washington Territory by Mr. H. Villard and his associates. New lines of railway designed as feeders to the Columbia River route are being pushed to completion regardless of cost, while the trunk-line, along the side of the Columbia River, is being still urged forward by the united forces of over three thousand Chinamen and all the white laborers that can be picked up. Time alone will show how far a line, which winds and twists along the banks of the mighty Columbia in devious curves, overhung by mountain-sides loaded with loose rocks at the mercy of every winter's storms, can be trusted to carry the enormous traffic predicated for it; and, granted that this slender reed has the necessary strength, at what kind of port is the hoped-for mass of grain for export to be delivered? The following article appeared in the "Daily Oregonian," of Portland, on the 10th of this last September. The newspaper in question claims to be the leading journal of the State, and is in fact the only one publishing full daily telegraphic dispatches. It is also the organ of the Villard interest, and it may be taken that it is not likely to overstate the disadvantages attaching to the city of its publication:
"THE COST OF NEGLECT.""The water in the rivers between Portland and the ocean is at about the usual September stage, but, owing to the absence of any means whatever of dredging the bars, the depth at the three or four shoal places is less than in former seasons. Steamers drawing seventeen or even seventeen and a half feet come up by plowing through a few inches of mud at certain points, but ships have not the force to go through, nor, in many instances, the iron bottoms to stand the rub. It is not safe to load a vessel which must pass down the river more than sixteen feet. The result is, that grain-ships can only be partly loaded here, and must take a large proportion of their cargoes down the river. The American ship Palmyra went down Thursday with 900 tons of a total wheat cargo of 2,200. The bulk of her load—1,300 tons—must be carried down by barges and taken in at Baker's Bay. The Zamora, now taking wheat here, can only be half loaded at her Portland dock. Lighterage costs $1.25 per short ton, or six cents per cental. Thus the Palmyra must pay $1,625 extra because the river is not properly dredged. The average of lighterage this season will be about three cents per cental on all wheat that goes out of the Columbia River."
"THE COST OF NEGLECT."
"The water in the rivers between Portland and the ocean is at about the usual September stage, but, owing to the absence of any means whatever of dredging the bars, the depth at the three or four shoal places is less than in former seasons. Steamers drawing seventeen or even seventeen and a half feet come up by plowing through a few inches of mud at certain points, but ships have not the force to go through, nor, in many instances, the iron bottoms to stand the rub. It is not safe to load a vessel which must pass down the river more than sixteen feet. The result is, that grain-ships can only be partly loaded here, and must take a large proportion of their cargoes down the river. The American ship Palmyra went down Thursday with 900 tons of a total wheat cargo of 2,200. The bulk of her load—1,300 tons—must be carried down by barges and taken in at Baker's Bay. The Zamora, now taking wheat here, can only be half loaded at her Portland dock. Lighterage costs $1.25 per short ton, or six cents per cental. Thus the Palmyra must pay $1,625 extra because the river is not properly dredged. The average of lighterage this season will be about three cents per cental on all wheat that goes out of the Columbia River."
It is not far from the fact that, although from sixty to sixty-five shillings is a well-paying freight for ships from Portland to the United Kingdom, and although abundance of sailing-ships are available from the substitution of steamers in so many parts of the world, yet the actual freight charged has ranged from eighty to eighty-five shillings, this resulting from a combination of causes, of which the charges for pilotage, towage, and lighterage are among the chief.
Of course, all these charges come out of the pocket of the producer, and, unless some radical change can be effected, there is no apparent reason why these sums should not be cumulated to such a height as to place the valley farmer on the level of his Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington Territory neighbor, who does not realize for his wheat much over thirty-five cents a bushel on an average market price of seventy-five cents.
Nor would there be much hope of a reduction in the inland transportation charges, were matters to progress as they have been doing during the past six months. Everything pointed toward the centralization of the control of every railroad and steamboat line in this State and the adjacent Territory in the hands of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, presided over by Mr. Villard. The narrow-gauge system of railroads in this valley, owned and operated by the Scotch company, with headquarters at Dundee, was six months back the sole hope of the valley farmers as an honest competitor with its huge rival. But a few months ago announcement was made that Mr. Villard had secured the Scotch company, by a series of astute operations in Scotland; and now, under the ninety-nine years' lease which he obtained, the narrow-gauge company has ceased its independent existence, and its traffic is being assimilated as to rates with that of its former competitor, while it is so conducted as to stifle its growth as a separate organization, and throw all its vitality into the other roads.
But the anticipations, expressed in the earlier pages of this book, of an active rivalry to the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, through the Oregon Pacific Railroad and its outlet at Yaquina Bay, are being realized as rapidly as men and money can do it.
Early in July last the news came through the wires that the financial battle had been won by Colonel Hogg, and that construction was to be pushed forward immediately. Short as the time is, much has been done, and more is being done. Engineering parties were organized and fitted out, and their work is nearly complete in all its parts. A good line of easy grades is located through from Corvallis to Yaquina Bay, presenting no extraordinary difficulties of construction. On this, as I write, a large force of both white and Chinese labor is employed, with the full expectation that the line will be surveyed, built, equipped, and running within four or five months from the time the first spadeful of earth was dug. Difficulties in starting a great enterprise like the Oregon Pacific Railroad, of course, abound, but so far have been successfully met. Meanwhile the goodwill of the valley farmers has been maintained throughout, and the new road will open with abundance of customers. Therefore, all interested in the undertaking are well satisfied with the prospect of having to operate a line which shall save the valley farmers two hundred and twenty-one miles in actual distance, and save them half the present charges for transportation between the valley and San Francisco, and which gives also an early prospect of ocean-going ships loading direct from an Oregon port, with wharves within three miles from the ocean, for the European or Eastern market.
It does not seem, then, an unreasonable augury that the day of exorbitant freights, excessive pilotage and towage charges, half-cargo lighterage, and also of traffic discrimination, will have passed away for ever, so far as Oregon is concerned, when the Oregon Pacific is opened. And I think every reader of this book will admit that it is a matter of just pride to see projects formed years back, and adhered to through much evil speaking, slander, and belittling, come to their full strength and fulfillment.
The last time I visited Yaquina Bay was during the closing days of September. The afternoon sun shone on the little dancing waves as we rowed across from Newport to the South Beach, where the harbor-works are going on. A heavy equinoctial storm had raged for two days before, and it would have been no surprise had the incomplete works suffered. But we found the men busily employed in piling large blocks of rock on the mattresses made of large, long bundles of brushwood, secured with cords, and deposited carefully in the line of the breakwater. Many of the hands were Indians, who were working very intelligently and quickly under the direction of our old friend Kit Abbey. No damage whatever had been done, but, on the contrary, the storm had piled the sand in even layers, five or six feet deep, on each side of the breakwater, solidifying and strengthening the work. Already the channel nearest to the beach, which had robbed the main channel of some of the tidal water, had been permanently closed. And the increase of the tidal in-and-out flow thus caused had proved to the satisfaction of the United States engineer officer in charge the correctness of the theory on which the works were designed. So that all tends in the one direction of opening this harbor, on which so many hopes are fixed, to ocean-going ships of deep draught.
Fortunately, the facts are being daily ascertained, tabulated, and certified by the independent authority of the United States engineers; they have minute surveys of the channel, and the changes operated by the new breakwater will be observed and recorded. Thus, as soon as the time comes to invite the shipping sailing to the Northwest coast to enter the port, there will be no further room for question as to depth of water and ease of access; but the facts will be so patent and plain to the world, that no one need be longer blinded by the persistent misrepresentations of interested parties.
Entrance to Yaquina Bay (Looking seaward).
Entrance to Yaquina Bay (Looking seaward).
The effect of the opening of the Oregon Pacific Railroad, which in two, or at most three years from now, will meet at or near Boisé City, Idaho, the lines rapidly pushing westward to that point, will be manifold:
First, it will open the new port at Yaquina to commerce, and so give the Willamette Valley its independent outlet, unaffected by terror-dealing bars, winter ice, and exorbitant charges. Second, it will in its eastward progress open up to settlement a broad belt of fertile and well-watered country, at present well-nigh untenanted. Third, it will operate as a check to the pretensions of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company to entire monopoly of the transportation of the State, and its boasted consequent ability to fix fares and freights at its own sweet will.
THE END.
TWO YEARS IN OREGON.
ByWallis Nash, author of "Oregon There and Backin 1877."Second edition.With Illustrations.12mo, cloth, $1.50.
The following are a few out of a very large number of press notices:
From the New York Sun.
"Under the title of 'Two Years in Oregon,' by Wallis Nash, we have an authentic and exhaustive guide-book, written for the benefit of those persons who intend to settle there. There is nothing in this volume to recall the superficial observations of the ordinary tourist; yet, although the author has confined himself to collecting information of real value to the emigrant, he has set it forth in a distinct, unpretentious, and attractive way."
From the Springfield Republican.
"For the best picture of Oregon as it is to-day, we are indebted to an Englishman. 'Two Years in Oregon' is the title of the book, written by Wallis Nash, and published by D. Appleton & Co., of New York. Mr. Nash conducted a colony of his countrymen some time since to the neighborhood of Corvallis, a thriving town a hundred or more miles south of Portland. He did not attempt to set up a New Jerusalem of his own after the example of unlucky Tom Hughes in the Rugby venture, but mingled all his interests with the settlers already on the ground, and good success has evidently attended his efforts. Mr. Nash has made a thorough study of the State and its resources. He has considerable literary skill, and while his book contains the practical facts and statistics needful to the posting of the would-be immigrant, it has besides enough racy descriptive writing to make it attractive to the general reader. Oregon has two distinct climates. The Cascade Range, cutting the State in halves, is the dividing line. On the Pacific side of the mountains, where most of the settlements are located, there are milder winters, cooler summers, and a heavier rain-fall than upon the plains stretching to the eastward of the range. There, too, are the heavy forests for which the State is noted. Wheat is the staple crop of the Oregon farmers, and last year there was a surplus of over one hundred thousand tons sent to market. Sheep husbandry is considerably followed, and the climate appears admirably adapted to the profitable raising of all kinds of livestock, while all the fruits and vegetables of the temperate zone yield remarkably. With better transportation facilities, a mixed agriculture is likely to be pursued in the future. The State has suffered much at the hands of transportation monopolists. The Villard combination have so far had almost complete control of the railways and waterways, and the rates charged have been enormous. A Portland merchant's freight bill on some goods shipped recently from New York, showed that one third of the whole amount was charged for the water-carriage of seven hundred miles from San Francisco. The company's railroad charges are still heavier. According to a new schedule of reduced rates from Portland to Walla Walla, two hundred and seventy miles, twenty-four cents is the rate for a bushel of wheat, against two to four cents a bushel for greater distances on Eastern roads. Mr. Nash devotes a chapter to the iniquities of the Villard monopoly which bears so heavily upon the farming community. There is prospect, however, that the burden may be lightened when the railway now building eastward from Yaquina Bay to a connection through Southwestern Idaho with the Union Pacific is completed."
From the Portland Standard(Oregon).
"Mr. Nash's experiences and observations as set forth in this book are correct representations of Oregon life. His opinions are not biased and warped by long residence, so as to give everything a color beyond the truth in favor of the beauties and facilities of the State for persons desiring homes, and which would be found to be untrue by strangers seeking farms and residences, and consequently bring disappointment to them after the trouble and expense of going there. Mr. Nash represents the State as it is, and his book is calculated to do far more good as an advertising medium for bringing immigration within her boundaries than the many pamphlets issued by immigration bureaus, painting in high colors beyond the truth the many advantages which Oregon presents. This book should be widely circulated and read. It will attract immigration and capital to the State with an impetus not heretofore felt."
From the Corvallis Gazette(Oregon).
This journal gives a large number of commendatory extracts, and concludes its notice as follows: "Many others are equally complimentary, and we are glad that Oregon, and especially the Willamette Valley, are being so well advertised. We understand the book is having a large sale."
From the Albany Register(Oregon).
"'Two Years in Oregon,' by Wallis Nash, is the title of a very neat work just issued from the press of the Appletons, New York. It is the impressions made and the experience gained by the writer after a two years' residence in Oregon, written in a most entertaining and attractive style. It will be read everywhere with pleasure, as it is a most faithful description of things and scenes as the writer beheld them. The picture, to our mind, is nowhere overdrawn. Portland is faithfully pictured, and 'The Oregonian' so faithfully portrayed that its poor editor will never forgive the writer."
From the Philadelphia Press.
"Mr. Nash's book describes the State in the most practical manner. It describes the scenery, the society, the legislative peculiarities, the economical advantages and disadvantages, the state of the industries, the transportation question, and all the various points which a possible emigrant might wish to know before he took the decisive step. It is written in a pleasant, vivacious style, and can be read with much profit by any one who takes an interest in our own great West."
From the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent(England).
"Mr. Nash's 'Two Years in Oregon' is one of the most charming books we have lately come across. He is a shrewd and careful observer, and writes with grace and ease. The illustrations, also, of the book are more than ordinarily clever. Mr. Nash evidently feels a warm interest in Oregon, and his book will go a long way to attract public interest in that direction. Few men can tell a story better, or enable readers to realize more vividly the appearance of a country and people they have never seen. The emigrant, the politician, the student of men and manners, the naturalist and the political economist, will all enjoy this book, which we hope will soon be followed by a fresh work from its author's pen."
From the University Press.
"This book has for its author an Englishman who visited Oregon in 1877, and who then traveled 'its length and breadth.' He moved his family there in 1879. He now sends out this interesting and instructive volume in answer to the many letters received by him asking for information. He is an easy, simple, unostentatious writer. We believe, as he says, that he has endeavored to give 'a faithful picture of life as it is in Oregon to-day.' He has good descriptive powers, and has enlivened his book with several amusing incidents."
From the Chicago Times.
"This book is the work of a man who has lived two years in the State, with an observant eye, an apparently judicial and impartial mind, and a ready and fluent pen. It embraces pretty much everything in the way of information about the region which any emigrant would like to know on pretty much all of its natural, social, and political features. It is, indeed, almost a guide-book to the region, but is one quite out of the usual sort, enlivened with a great fund of personal and local anecdote and incident, which serves to make it very interesting reading. It offers to the public a more complete compendium of information about one of the most interesting, at least, of American localities, than can elsewhere be found in the same space; and as one of the chief final centers around which American civilization promises to reach its ultimate development, everything connected with it is of interest, not only to Americans, but to people abroad also."
From the New York Evening Mail and Express.
"It would be impossible in a brief notice to state even the substance of this book, which is packed with information of all sorts, information procured and conned by himself, which neglects nothing that a would-be emigrant ought to inquire into, which is close in observation, terse in deduction, good-tempered, warm-hearted, hard-headed, and, what is more than all this, thoroughly amusing."
From the Utica Observer.
"A book like this is especially timely. The author, Wallis Nash, is an English settler in the great Willamette Valley, and discourses of his adopted home with the tone of an avowed advocate of its soil and climate. He combats with his own observations and the official weather reports the wide-spread belief that Oregon is a land of perpetual rains, and presents altogether the most comprehensive sketch of the existing industries and possible development of the State which has yet been published."
From the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
"Mr. Nash narrates his own experiences, and gives a detailed account of the agricultural, business, and social resources of the State in an obviously impartial manner."
From the Chicago Journal.
"In the year 1877 the author of this volume visited Oregon, traveled through its length and breadth, and, on returning to his home in England, published a book giving a short account of his journey, and recommending the country as a desirable one in which to settle. A few months afterward he left England at the head of a party of twenty-six persons, and, upon arriving in Oregon, settled at Corvallis, a pleasant little village on the banks of the Willamette River. After a continuous residence of two years in that far Western State, Mr. Nash again gives the result of his experience, as a guide to the emigrant who may intend to make Oregon his future home. He presents in a favorable view the agricultural and business prospects of the country; the social and political life of the people, and while he does not claim that a competence can be secured without persevering industry, he maintains that the inducements offered to the enterprising and energetic are such that in a few years the emigrant of moderate means and some experience will be able to acquire a home and pecuniary independence. The book contains a vast amount of information useful to the emigrant, and it is written in a pleasant, chatty style. The descriptions of the varied scenery, the character sketches of the settlers, and the laughable incidents recounted, give an additional pleasure to the volume, which is enriched by several illustrations of Oregon scenery."
From the St. Paul Pioneer Press(Minnesota).
"Any thorough description of Oregon, its resources, and the people who settle in it, must win many eager and interested readers. But, to do full justice to Mr. Nash, he has taken but little advantage of this fact. His book, which he modestly styles 'a guide-book to Oregon for the intending emigrant,' is far more than this. It is a pains-taking description of the natural features of a great Pacific State; of its soil, climate, and productive qualities; of its past development and future promise; of its leading industries and its adaptation to others; in short, of all that a man who has lived in Oregon with his eyes open might be expected to find out, and all about which one who has not lived there might be expected to wish information. There are in existence very few works which tell in such short compass as much about any State east of the Rocky Mountains. There are very many points in this hand-book which it would be interesting to present in detail, but nothing less than a careful reading will suffice. The story told by the writer about the outrageous swindling out of their land grant of the men who constructed, at great sacrifice, the greatest wagon highway in Oregon, deserves investigation. If Mr. Nash is correct, the farmers of Oregon have no reason to love Mr. Villard or his transportation company. The greatest drawback to the settling up of the State is the iron grip and remorseless extortions of the railways. This book is from beginning to end thoroughly readable. It furnishes more information than whole folios of statistics, or any number of glowing descriptions by hasty, prejudiced, and uninformed correspondents."
From the Chicago Evening Herald.
"Mr. Nash's data were gathered during a two years' residence, and are so well digested and so thoroughly re-enforced by the practical and personal experiences of the writer and his friends, that the most captious critic can not reasonably pick many flaws therein. Mr. Nash is evidently not only a close observer, but an eminently practical man, and in describing the advantages and disadvantages of Oregon, keeps constantly in view the information which other practical men, seeking a location, would be likely to need and appreciate. A great many chatty and amusing pages are devoted to anecdotes of early and later life in Oregon, and to the fortunes and misfortunes of those who sought first to subdue the virgin soil of that State. Some of the concluding chapters of the book are devoted to a very intelligent discussion of the existing transportation problems in Oregon. All in all, the work is not only readable, but has an intrinsic value which those who wish to know all about theterra incognitaof which it treats will thoroughly appreciate."
From the Janesville Gazette.
"The book contains a vast amount of information useful to the emigrant, and it is written in a pleasant, chatty style. The descriptions of the varied scenery, the character sketches of the settlers, and the laughable incidents recounted, give an additional pleasure to the volume, which is enriched by several illustrations of Oregon scenery."
From the Detroit Evening News.
"Mr. Nash has just written for the benefit of his old friends and neighbors in England a little book relating his observations and experiences during his first two years of frontier life. It contains much interesting information about Oregon and its people, and coming from a disinterested source will be especially acceptable to those contemplating removal to that State."
From the Columbus Dispatch(Wisconsin).
"It is a compendium of information, and will be an addition to any library."
From the Boston Journal.
"Mr. Nash writes especially for the benefit of emigrants and intending settlers, but the book will have an interest for all readers who like to trace the developments of social and political institutions in a swiftly growing State. The author writes with enthusiasm, but frankly and sometimes critically; and he has collected a good deal of valuable information, which, together with the results of his own experience, he presents in an animated and pleasant manner."
From the Christian at Work.
"It is a capital book."
From the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
"To read the book is like making a trip to Oregon without the tediousness and expense of the journey."
From the Milwaukee Sentinel.
"The reader instinctively feels that here is a careful, temperate guide, who can be absolutely trusted."
From the Springfield Union(Massachusetts).
"A valuable book."
From the New York World.
"It is a description of the country and of life in Oregon that is worth reading by anybody who may for any reason be interested in the subject."
From the Cincinnati Commercial.
"A fascinating book."
From the San José Mercury(California).
"A highly interesting and instructive volume, marked by fairness of statement and honesty of opinion."
From the Omaha Republican(Nebraska).
"Mr. Nash has written a most interesting volume. His powers of description are simply magnificent, and, with such an expansive theme before him, he has wrought out a book that will no doubt have ready sale, and do a great measure of good in placing the advantages of Oregon most entertainingly before a large and choice number of readers."
From the Philadelphia North American.
"It is a very good report which Mr. Nash has to make of the State, and of the people by whom it is inhabited; and as he tells his tale in the plain, straightforward way of a man who is relating facts, and nothing but facts, and who simply desires to make known the truth, it can not fail to make a favorable impression."
Cordial commendatory notices of the work have appeared also in the following journals: