Copyright 1999 - 2003 - Janine M. Bork
This page is part of the
Union County, OR AHGP
listen to that thrilling roar deepening as we near its level, or could you look at the island of rock just on the upper verge of the fall and see the white heads of the eaglets as they look out in stern tranquility over the savage grandeur of their birthplace, - you would bow in adoration at the portals of the lava, and "tranced in thought and action, worship the invisible along."
On a visit there at one time, the thunderous pounding of the rocks by the stupendous weight of the cataract so shook the house during the night that we awoke thinking ourselves on a steamship. Rising, we went out on the portico. It was the wild and ravishing moment just preceding dawn, when half-awakened nature shakes the night dews from her brow and turns her opening eyes with expectancy towards the east. In the dim, amethystine sky the stars glowed with unnatural brightness. Streaks of saffron and lapis lazuli began to bar the gates of dawn; and fro the awful gorge below there seemed to come shouts and sobs and wild laughter and the tramp of mighty armies. In the uncertain light the foam torrents seemed to impart their own breathless speed to cliffs and sky; and we seemed to be sweeping on and on in ever-accelerating haste into fathomless, rainbow-girded deeps, until in nervous apprehension we clutched the pillars of the porch for a support. And now the wind, suddenly rising with the dawn, whirled the spray in tropic showers over rocks and house and trees; so that, when the first beams of the sun shot athwart the cañon, every spicule of the twisted junipers and every jut of crag glittered with its tiara of pearl. The time cannot be much longer delayed when the surpassing merits of the Sho-sho-nee (as the Indians accent it, though the native name is Pahchulakah, will be so recognized as to lead many tourists to visit it.
Beyond Shoshone we pass the historic site of Fort Hall, famous in the days of the fur-traders, near which is the growing town of Pocatello. Here is the junction of the Short Line and the Utah & Northern, by which one may go to the great mining cities of Butte and Anaconda, and thence onward to a junction with the Northern Pacific at Garrison. But we maintain our places in the east-bound train; and suddenly, before we realize it, the brakeman shouts, "Ogden! Change cars for Salt Lake and points south!" And then we realize that the long round is completed. The journey is ended. Good-by to the Pacific Northwest! We are out of the valley of the Columbia. And with the good-by we can look forward in our mind's eye to the time when the brakeman will shout, as we roll into the marble station at Portland or Seattle or Tacoma, "Change cars for Alaska, Siberia, China and all points in Asia, by the North Pole routes! Change for Mexico and South American, by the trains of the Southern Cross! Passengers for Australia and the Islands of the Sea, take the Electric Steamships at the docks of the Setting Sun!
CONCLUSION.
In closing this review of the resources and industries of the Pacific Northwest, we desire to briefly name some of the important and increasing lines of enterprise which the limits of our space have prevented our considering separately. An entire article might interestingly and justly have been devoted to manufacturing interests. These interests have been indirectly dealt with to considerable extent already. Such of them as deal with lumber have received mention in the chapter on lumber. Such of them as belong to wool have had a few lines in the article on stock. Under the head of mineral resources the fact is brought out that we have foundries and other iron works. We have thus anticipated the need of separate attention to manufactures. Yet the historian of the present epoch in the Pacific Northwest cannot but acknowledge the fact, that the growth of manufactures is one of the most important things of the time, and one from which the prosperity of our country is largely to come.
As in most new countries, the difficulties and expenses of inaugurating these enterprises have been great and the profits small. yet the country has great natural facilities for them as any in the world. Water-power, coal, iron ore, wood of great variety and limitless quantity, infinite wool, - all the necessary raw material, -exist without end and in the most convenient places. Of these fundamental requisites to manufacturing, the water-power of the Pacific Northwest is most extraordinary. The Willamette and Spokane Falls, both of which have already been described, will first occur to the reader's mind; but these are but two, though the greatest, in a long list of great and accessible powers. But in spite of these advantages, manufacturing has hitherto been on a small scale, when attempted at all, from the lack of labor. That has been the impediment. That great obstacle is now happily being constantly overcome; and we may expect to see manufacturing, the balance-wheel of industry, on a par with our farming and stock-raising and lumbering. The manufactures already in operation, - as the woolen mills of Ashland, Brownsville and Oregon City, the furniture and stove factories of Portland, the paper-mill at La Camas, the printing and book-binding establishments at Portland, the mills of various kinds at Spokane Falls, Seattle and Tacoma, - all do most laudable work and are plainly forerunners of the better time coming, when the Pacific Northwest will be released from the bondage of commercial dependence on California and the East. If the manufactories of the section deserve a separate place, not less do the newspapers and other publications.
This coast is true to its American
traditions in having an abundance of papers of all kinds. This is the newspaper
age of literature; and the soil of the Pacific Northwest seems especially
adapted to their growth. Our newspaper men are as a class public spirited,
wide-awake and reliable. Their influence in heralding the advantages of
this country, and presenting them in such manner as to draw immigration,
is
quite incalculable; but it is safe to say that in this, as all things else in this age, the newspapers outrank all other agencies. The three or four representative papers of our four largest cities are so supplied with news and so edited that they might be a source of pride to the oldest and best parts of the land.
Allusion has been made in another article to the general influence and importance of our churches. While in the nature of the case they are in some localities not yet so well equipped with buildings, organs and other features common in those older communities which inherit their churches and schools, it may be truthfully claimed that they have a high type of character and endeavor. In devoted zeal and moral influence they equal any in the land.
And now in concluding, although we shall not undertake to "rise on a wind of prophecy," yet we cannot but glance forward in anticipation to the future of this land. On this sunset bound of the union, the tides of immigration meet. The East and West here pass each other, and here the ends of the earth are linked. This country represents the last conquest of man over nature. There is no farther West for him to subdue. We shall not be unreasonable, then, if we anticipate that the velocity of the vital currents that converge here, now stayed from any further territorial expansion, will fill with a glowing and healthy life the body of our land, and that the ripening of the intelligence of our coming generations will create an unparalleled advance in all mental, moral and social lines. Fir it is true, after all that "men, high-minded men, constitute the state," a great truth which in our national scramble for wealth we sometimes forget. But, when the next generation comes on the stage in this Pacific Northwest, the first struggle with nature will have ended, her forces will have been trained to obedience. Our descendants will then receive by inheritance the houses and industries which we have built. Then may come a time for intellectual progress such as the world has not yet known. The elements of the sky and earth, the dew and sunshine, the cloud and the blue, are mingled here in just the right proportions to make keen thinkers, strong and patient students, large-hearted and patriotic citizens, "men who know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain." The world is waiting for them. Whether or not they come depends on us of the present.
OUTLINE OF COUNTY HISTORY.
It is manifestly desirable in a work of this kind that there be a brief outline of the special features of the various counties composing the states and territory here described. While the boundaries of the counties are largely artificial, and in many instances a number can be grouped and given a common description, yet it is also true that each has some stamp of individuality which justly asks recognition. Inasmuch as the rapid progress of our region makes statistics grow old quickly, we deem it best not to burden our pages with any number of them, but rather present only the permanent features of each county.
First in order of the counties of the Pacific Northwest are those of Oregon. As has already sufficiently appeared in this work, Oregon has passed through three phases of government, - provisional, territorial and state. During the first of these, there were organized certain counties or districts; these at the first were three in number, - Tualatin, Champoeg and Clackamas. The first-named embraced the present counties of Washington, Multnomah, Columbia, Clatsop, Tillamook, Yamhill and Polk. Champoeg extended to the California line, and included the present counties of Linn, Marion, Lane, Josephine, Coos, Curry, Benton, Douglas and Jackson. In Clackamas district was the region now known as Clackamas county, besides which was a vast and indefinite territory eastward, the whole "East of the Mountains," in fact, to the summit of the Rockies. Only one election was held (May 14, 1844) with these districts as the sole subdivisions of the territory; for the Legislative Committee of 1844 created two additional districts. These were Yamhill (which received its initial organization in 1843) and Clatsop. They were recognized in the election of June 3, 1845. Like their predecessors, they had boundaries vast and vague.
During the session of 1845, Vancouver county - they then began to say county rather than district - was organized on the north side of the Columbia. In the year following, Lewis county, also on the north side of the river, followed in the procession, with an extent which justly entitled it to a place among those colossal counties; for it reached latitude fifty-four degrees, forty minutes. At the same session, Polk county was set off on the south of Yamhill. The year 1848 witnessed the erection of two more new counties. These were Linn, which was cut off from the south end of Champoeg, and Benton, which in like manner put limits to Polk. Such were the counties in existence at the time of the establishment of the territorial government in 1848.
Joseph Lane, the first territorial
governor of Oregon, assumed the purple and scepter (speaking figuratively,
very figuratively) on the 3d of March, 1849; and, on the 16th of July following,
the first legislature of the infant territory assembled. They renamed several
of the counties, and divided them into three judicial districts. These,
with the counties in each, were as follows: First, Clackamas, Marion and
Linn; second, Benton, Polk, Yamhill and Washington; third, Clarke, Clatsop
and Lewis. As will be seen, the sonorous and appropriate names of Champoeg,
Tualatin and Vancouver had disappeared. The ten counties named may be said
to have constituted the charter membership of Oregon Territory. When Washington
became a territory, in 1854, two of these ancient members, Clarke and Lewis,
with subdivisions created from them, went to form a core for it. The remaining
eight have been gradually despoiled of their great and ill-defined areas,
and others formed of them, until there are now thirty-one. For the purpose
of description, we deem it best to arrange these in their natural geographical
groups; and
in treating those of any special group we shall follow them from the north towards the south or east, as nearly as may be; for in so doing we shall be going up the principal rivers, as well as the Sound, and shall better groups and more harmoniously describe our subjects than by following the purely accidental order of the alphabet.
Arranged in their natural order, the counties of Oregon are as follows: First, the seacoast group, - Clatsop, Tillamook, Benton, Lane, Douglas, Coos and Curry. Three of these, Benton, Lane and Douglas, extend into the interior, and belong equally to the next group. This next groups may be called the valley counties; and they include the following: Columbia, Washington, Multnomah, Yamhill, Clackamas, Polk, Marion, Linn, Lane, Benton, Douglas (these last three already named among the coast counties), Jackson and Josephine. The next group may be called the middle group, and consists of Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow, Umatilla, Crook, Lake, Klamath and Harney. The last group is on our eastern border, and may be called the Blue Mountain group. In it are the counties of Grant, Wallowa, Union, Baker and Malheur. Returning now to the northwestern corner of the state, and beginning the description, county by county, we will first describe the coast counties in their order, beginning with
CLATSOP COUNTY.
Within its border was made the first settlement in the state, or indeed upon the Pacific coast. This county takes its name from the aboriginal tribe which, now almost extinct, one ruled autocratically over the sandy plains on the south side of the mouth of the Columbia. Though, as already noted, Clatsop was one of the Provisional counties, its present boundaries were not fixed till January 15, 1855.
The area is eight hundred and sixty-two square miles, the population about ten thousand, and the assessed valuation of property about two and a half million dollars. Almost the entire area is clothed with magnificent forests. The proportionate amount of land naturally prairie is small, consisting of the small strip along the ocean shore known as Clatsop Plains. This paucity of natural farming land is partly recompensed by the fact that the timber land is very rich and productive when cleared; and though that involves large expense, yet so accessible to market is most of the land in the county that the income from the cleared land will rapidly repay the initial expense.
The salmon trade is the greatest in the country, and that of this county the greatest in the world. Next to it comes the lumber business. The time is not far distant when the coal industry will assume commanding importance. Already coal fields of much promise have been found near Onion Peak, and at various points in the Nehalem valley. Astoria, the county-seat and metropolis of the county, is the oldest place founded by Americans on the Pacific coast, and at present contains a great proportion of the old settlers of the county. It is a very interesting place, and has a trade of which the magnitude can be conceived by saying that its shipments, salmon being the chief, exceed three million dollars annually. The hitherto latent resources of this seaside county are soon to receive a new leaven of development from the construction of the Astoria & South Coast Railroad. This will traverse the regions bordering the coast, as well as reach the unsettled valleys which open upon the beach.
TILLAMOOK COUNTY.
This county comes next in order of location. Its names, too, is of Indian origin, though in early times it was commonly pronounced Killamook. Organized in December, 1853, from parts of Yamhill, Polk and Clatsop counties, and having an area of fifteen hundred square miles, it has been almost inaccessible until the present year, and has in consequence developed very slowly. Its industries are mainly salmon fishing and lumbering. There are special advantages for dairying, however; and Tillamook butter is an established factor in the Portland market. Traffic is mainly carried on by light-draft schooners, with an occasional steamer, plying between Portland and the beautiful Tillamook Bay. This bay is famous historically; for in it Captain Robert Gray, the discoverer of the Columbia river, had a fierce encounter with the Indians some time prior to his entrance into the Columbia. It is famous now as a summer resort for the people of Yamhill and Washington who have teams for traveling thither. When the potential resources of this county have been fairly developed by proper railway lines, it will become one of the best sections of the state. At present it contains about three thousand, five hundred people, and has an assessed valuation of two hundred and twenty-seven thousand, eight hundred and fourteen dollars. The county seat is Tillamook, situated at the head of the bay.
BENTON COUNTY.
Benton county was one of the
Provisional group, organized in December, 1847, the namesake of Thomas
H. Benton, the great Missouri statesman, that steadfast friend of Oregon.
When first created it embraced all the territory on the west side of the
Willamette as far south as the California line. Its imperial area was reduced
to its present limits by the organization of Lane county in 1851. Though
now comparatively small in extent (one thousand, eight hundred and seventy
square miles), it has three wholly distinct regions, - coast, mountain
and valley. Each of these is rapidly developing in the resources peculiar
to it. The most remarkable feature of the coast region is Yaquina Bay.
Of this, with its scenic attractions and commercial importance, we have
spoken fully elsewhere. Besides this most important body of water is Alsea
Bay farther south, into which flows a river of the same name. The mountain
section
of the county contains much rich land especially adapted to dairying, besides which there are extensive forests of the finest timber. It may be observed, however, in passing, that the forests of Benton have suffered more relatively by fire than those of any other county.
The valley part of this beautiful diversified region has the richest kind of loam soil, and for many years has produced large crops of wheat, oats, hay, fruit and the other products common to the Willamette valley. Benton, like many of the counties of Western Oregon, remained for many years in a dormant condition; but the business "renaissance" of the present year finds her well up in the procession. The great development of commercial interests in connection with the building of the Oregon Pacific Railroad has been sufficiently described in the article on transportation. The county seat and chief town is Corvallis, on the Willamette, the point of junction of the Oregon Pacific and the West Side division of the Oregon & California Railroads. This is one of the oldest towns in the state. It was known at first as Marysville, and for a short time in 1855 was the capital of the state.
It is one of the best towns in the state socially and educationally, being the seat of the State Agricultural College. Its present population is about two thousand, five hundred. The other towns of the county are, in the valley section, Monroe and Philomath (the latter being the site of Philomath College), and, on the coast, Yaquina City and Newport, the latter of which is the most beautiful seaside resort in the State. The present population of this county is about sixteen thousand, and its assessed valuation nearly three and a half millions. Although we have named Lane and Douglas counties in their order on the coast as next, yet, inasmuch as all their leading features belong to their valley section, we defer their description to that point.
COOS COUNTY.
This rather peculiar name is of Indian origin, and is no doubt a form of the name of a tribe mentioned by Lewis and Clarke, the Koo-koo-oose. It was organized in December, 1853, contains about fourteen hundred square miles of territory, a population of about ten thousand, and a taxable value of one million, eight hundred and eighty-seven thousand, four hundred and five dollars. It is especially distinguished as possessing the best harbor on our coast, next to Puget Sound and the Columbia river. This is Coos Bay. It is a beautiful body of water; and by it access is given to great forests of the finest timber, the famous Port Orford cedar being especially sought, and to limitless supplies of excellent coal.
Coos Bay ranks second only to the Sound and the Columbia river as a shipping point. Besides the lumber and coal resources, there are lead and iron ores in the mountains; and gold has been mined in the black sand of the beaches. While the agricultural interests of this country are as yet small, it is true that in the valley of the Coquille and at other points there are fertile lands which will sometime repay clearing and cultivation. Empire City is the county-seat of Coos; but Marshfield has far surpassed it in population and business. Though so much out of the range of travel as to have not yet received its due share of attention, this is undoubtedly one of the best regions in Oregon, and in the near future must engage the attention of capitalists.
CURRY COUNTY.
This lonesome corner of the state was named in honor of the last of the territorial governors, George L. Curry, and was organized in December, 1855, with Ellensburg as its county-seat. It contains approximately fourteen hundred and forty square miles though much of its picturesque and mountainous surface has not been surveyed. It has the least population and the least general development of any of the counties of Western Oregon, though by no means devoid of resources. Among others, it contains great forests of the unrivaled Port Orford cedar. Port Orford was noted in our early annals, and with proper improvements might yet be a very fair harbor for small vessels. The population of the county is about sixteen hundred, and its property valuation nearly half a million.
THE VALLEY COUNTIES.
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COLUMBIA COUNTY.
While the greater part of this
does not belong to the Willamette valley proper, yet it has all the commercial
connections of Multnomah, and may not improperly be described as the threshold
of the Willamette system. The lower mouth of the Willamette debouches into
the Columbia in the southeastern part of the county. The greater part of
its area, however, is on the ridges and plateaus of the Scappoose Mountains,
and in the valleys of the Clatskanie and Nehalem. Though it has been slow
of development, this county is one of the most favorably located in the
state in regard to commerce, and has vast resources of lumber, coal, iron
and dairying, which will sometime make it one of the wealthiest sections
of the country. St. Helens, the county-seat, has been the residence
of various prominent pioneers of the state, and at one time was a rival
of Portland for the leading place among the cities of Oregon. But, though
its water facilities were superior, it was farther from the centers of
production; and the rival on the Willamette secured a start which it never
lost. The county was erected in January, 1854, has an area of six hundred
square miles, a population of about four thousand, and an assessed valuation
of six hundred and ninety-nine thousand, five hundred and fifty-five dollars.
Beside St. Helens, it has on the Columbia
the towns of Columbia City, Ranier, Marshland and Bradbury; in the Nehalem Valley, Vernonia; while on the Clatskanie is a small town of the same name. There are great milling and packing establishments at the river places.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY.
This is, of course, the metropolitan county of Oregon, since it contains Portland. It was admitted in December, 1854, has nearly the same area as Columbia, six hundred square miles, but is very different in shape, being a narrow strip along the Columbia of over fifty miles long and extending back a dozen miles so as to include the mouths of the Willamette and Sandy. Outside of Portland, there is little in the county; though all along its northern border the Columbia bottoms, with Sauvie's Island, furnish some of the finest dairy lands in the country. The eighty thousand people of the county are all, except a thousand or twelve hundred, contained in Portland, East Portland and Albina. The city made of these places (which together constitutes the foremost city of the North Pacific coast) has been so fully described elsewhere, and has of necessity appeared so often in both volumes of this work, that there seems no need of further description here. Suffice it to say here that it is emphatically the "solid" city of the coast. Socially, educationally and commercially, it ranks with the foremost cities of its size in the union. The present taxable wealth of the county is something more than twenty-two millions. With the system of undervaluing now in vogue, however, this represents hardly a third of the real value.
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
This county forms the northwestern corners of the Willamette valley. It was first organized as one of the original districts of Oregon under the name of Tualatin. It was subjected to many changes by the withdrawal of other counties, and took its present name in September, 1849. Its area is six hundred and eighty-two square miles. Washington county is a purely farming community, and is, in all respects, one of the typical Willamette valley counties. EArly settled, it has been the home of the many among the noted pioneer families of the state; and even now several still remain in "the white winter of their age" to bless the land of their adoption. This county has all the characteristics of an old county. The people are justly distinguished for their general intelligence and substantial character, though sometimes criticised for backwardness in the adoption of new ideas and methods.
There is a general air of quiet content and solid comfort about the region; while in its rustic beauty and outdoor attractions it has hardly any equals among the sisterhood of counties. Its county-seat is Hillsboro, a growing town of nine hundred. Besides this is Forest Grove, nearly as large, Beaverton, Dilley, Glencoe, Greenville and Gaston. The picturesque hill slopes which make a vast natural amphitheater of the fertile Tualatin plains, afford the finest of fruit and dairy land; while on the level alluvial bottoms grows the finest of grain. Thirty years of continuous cropping has not materially diminished the productiveness of these lands. The present population of this county is about sixteen thousand, and its assessed wealth two million, six hundred and fifty-five thousand, six hundred and sixty dollars, - over two and a half millions.
CLACKAMAS COUNTY.
This ancient county was one of the immortal three organized in July, 1843, at the first formation of the Provisional government. It has, however, been heavily shorn of its possessions; for whereas it then contained something like a quarter of a million square miles, it is now restricted to some fourteen hundred and forty. It is famous for several things. One of these is that its chief town and county-seat, Oregon City, was for some time the capital and metropolis of the territory. Another is that at this same place is the greatest water-power (except the inaccessible Shoshone Falls of Snake river) on the entire pacific coast. Still another is that in the mountains on the west side of the Willamette, though mainly within the limits of Clackamas county, are found the greatest stores of iron ore in the Pacific Northwest. Most of the area of the county is rugged, rocky and unfit for agriculture. In places, however, there are fertile bottoms where are produced the best of grain. At various places, too, along the Willamette river, as Milwaukee and near Oswego, there are some of the finest fruit farms in the state.
In addition to the county-seat, the chief towns are Canby, Canemah, Milwaukee and New Era. The present population of the county is not far from twenty thousand, and its taxable property nearly two and a half millions. It would take a whole volume to even hint at all the interesting things in the pioneer history of Oregon City. Here the noble old "Father of Oregon," Doctor McLoughlin, lived his last years, embittered, it is sad to relate, by the narrow selfishness of the great corporation which he had served so faithfully, though too humanely, so many years. Here too was built the first railroad ever made west of the Rocky Mountains. It was a horse-car line, built mainly for the purpose of transporting lumber over a bridge across the Willamette. It was built by Captain J.H. McMillen in the year 1847, and continued in active operation till the great flood of 1862, by which the bridge was swept away. There are now extensive manufacturing interests at Oregon City, chief of which is the Oregon Woolen Mills, the products of which are favorably known the world over. Oregon City flour is equally well known.
YAMHILL COUNTY.
The four valley counties thus
far considered are largely timbered. Southward is seen a marked decrease
of timber land, and a correspondingly larger area of cultivated land. Beginning
with Yamhill
on the west side of the Willamette, and Marion on the east, the country is mainly prairie to the summits of the Calapooias. Yamhill, in the native language, means a ford. The county thus named is the kernel of Western Oregon. From its "classic shades all great men came in early days." Nature seems to have outdone herself in providing it with attractions. "Old Yamhill" has more pretty girls, more fine horses, more lovely vales and oak-crowned hills, more well-tilled farms and "far-seeing statesmen" to the square mile than any other equal area west of the Rockies. At least so say its happy inhabitants; and no one has been found bold enough to dispute them. First organized as one of the original districts of Provisional Oregon, and embracing all of Oregon south of the Yamhill river and west of a line from the mouth of that river to the forty-second parallel, it has been gradually curtailed till it now embraces but seven hundred and fifty square miles. This area, however, is almost all the finest of land.
Slightly rolling to insure good drainage, and yet not rough enough to offer any obstacles to the free use of farm machinery, it is almost he beau-ideal of a farming region. Though mainly prairie, there is a superb body of choice timber, in which is an extensive area of cedar, in the Coast Range west, while the north sides of many of the hills are crowned with the most magnificent of oak groves. This county is credited with being the garden spot of Oregon. McMinnville founded by W.T. Newby, the chief town of the county, and chosen the county-seat in 1887, is the location of McMinnville College, contains some two thousand people, and has a remarkably large proportion of pioneer residents. The country around it is so beautiful that one despairs of any description, and hence usually gives it up unattempted. La Fayette, the former county-seat, has a location hardly less beautiful, and has had at various times more noted pioneers among its residents than any other town in the state.
The other towns of Yamhill are Dayton, founded by General Joel Palmer, a few miles above the mouth of the Yamhill, a great shipping point, and surrounded by a rich and productive country; Sheridan, named for General P.H. Sheridan, who was stationed in the vicinity for some time, located in the western part of the county; Newberg, a recently established place in the northwestern part of the county, the metropolis of a Quaker colony, and especially noted as a fruit region; North Yamhill, the commercial center of a matchless region; Carlton, Bellevue and Amity. the present population of Yamhill county is about sixteen thousand, and its wealth something over four millions, being a larger amount per capita than that of any other of the agricultural counties of the state.
POLK COUNTY.
This county, named for President Polk, lies next to Yamhill on the south, and was one of the charter members of the Provisional government organized in December, 1845. It extended at the time of its creation to the California line, but has been abridged by the organization of Benton and Tillamook, until it now has but six hundred and fifty square miles. The population is about twelve thousand, and the valuation two million, eight hundred thousand dollars, - over two and three-quarter millions. In its general scenic effect, Polk is very much like Yamhill, though not so well cultivated nor possessed of quite so large a proportion of arable land. The lowlands of Polk are of the richest black loam; and the hills have a peculiar reddish soil, excellent for fruit. Nearly half the area of the county is timbered. The wild and picturesque valleys of the La Creole and Luckiamute, which makes up the most of the county, were settled among the first in the state; and many famous pioneers have lived within their borders. The county-seat is Dallas, on the La Creole, a pretty place of about eight hundred inhabitants.
Independence, on the Willamette, is the largest town; while Monmouth, ten miles west, is known as the seat of the State Normal School. Eola, Airlie, Bethel and Willamina are other points of local trade. Like its neighbor on the north, Polk is well provided with means of transportation, having the river on its eastern border, besides the West Side branch of the Oregon & California Railroad and the Oregonian Railway (narrow gauge) through its central portions. Like the other towns of the Willamette valley, Polk's chief products are wheat and other grains. It has abundant water-power; and mills of various kinds are being constantly increased.
MARION COUNTY.
The successor of Champoeg District, one of the original three, and the first settled and cultivated of any part of the present state, Marion is the type of what is best in moral and mental advancement in the state. It received its present name in December, 1849. Its former vast area has been gradually restricted, till it now contains about twelve hundred square miles. Its present name was applied in honor of the Revolutionary hero, General Francis Marion, in the year 1849. Its present population is about thirty thousand, and its assessed wealth four and a half millions in round numbers. This is, however, a gross undervaluation. Marion county is surpassed in diversified beauty by Yamhill only among the counties of the Willamette valley. Like every other one of the valley group, it has a belt of prairie land and another of high land. The former is well cultivated and furnishes vast quantities of grain, the wheat crop of the county being usually not less than two million bushels. There is one feature of the topography of the county somewhat unique and very picturesque, and that is the fertile highland known as the Waldo Hills.
The county-seat of Marion county
and capital of the state is Salem. This town is the second in the state
in variety and extent of its various interests, though surpassed by Astoria
in wealth, and by that city and East Portland in population. It is beautifully
located on the east side of the Willamette, the site having been long ago
recognized by the Indians for its beauty; for there was their great meeting
ground,
"Chemeketa." What a pity that the founders of Portland and Salem were so lamentably lacking in taste as to use the borrowed stupidity of those names in preference to the high-sounding, native names, - Multnomah and "Chemeketa." The nomenclature of Oregon is in general a poverty-stricken collection of borrowed titles. Salem has more institutions of general public importance than any town in the state, not even excepting Portland. Here are the Willamette University, the state schools for the blind and deaf and dumb, the State Penitentiary and Insane Asylum, while the larger Indian Training School is located at Chemawa, only three miles from the city. Take it all in all, Salem is perhaps the most attractive and cultured city in the state. The other towns of the county are Silverton, Gervais, Hubbard, Woodburn, Fairfield, Turner, Stayton and Sublimity. These are all agricultural points, and the country around them is thickly settled. Many old settlers are to be found in the various charming retreats of Marion; and many of the interesting problems in our early history were worked out there.
LINN COUNTY.
This county was one of the charter members of the Provisional era of Oregon (organized in December, 1847), and was fittingly named from Senator Linn of Missouri, one of the most steadfast friends of Oregon in early times. In topography, Linn is the most exclusively prairie of any of the counties west of the Cascade Mountains. Its area is seventeen hundred and fifty square miles, its population about twenty-five thousand, and its taxable property nearly five and a half millions. It is the banner wheat county of Western Oregon, though surpassed by Umatilla in the eastern part of the State. The western two-thirds of its area is almost a dead level, and produces immense quantities of wheat, oats, fruit and all manner of other vital necessities.
The foothill belt of Linn county is one of the best in the state for fruits and dairying. Though there is little or no good land for government entry in this or any of the Willamette counties, except in the higher hills, there is much good land near to market which can be purchased cheap. Linn county is most bountifully provided with means of transportation, having the river on its western border and three railroads traversing its entire extent. There is a fine gold belt in this county also. This is in the Santiam region, and will undoubtedly sometimes be a great source of wealth. The chief town and county-seat is Albany, on the Willamette, twenty-five miles south of Salem. It is an active place of over three thousand inhabitants, possessing a magnificent water-power, and in a business point of view being the coming town of the valley. Other points of local importance are lebanon, Scio, Harrisburg, Brownsville, Halsey and Shedd.
LANE COUNTY.
This count comes next to Linn on the south, and occupies the upper part of the Willamette valley. But that is not all there is of it; for its vast area of four thousand, five hundred square miles stretches on the westward to the ocean. The name was derived from that of General Joseph Lane, the "Mariner of the West." The present population is estimated at twenty thousand; and the assessment rolls for 1888 show a wealth of over four millions. Organization was effected in January, 1851. This county has a greater diversity of topography and production than any other in the state. Extending from the perpetual snow of the Cascades on the east to the bluffy and spray-washed shores of the Pacific on the west, bisected by the Willamette, "lovely river, softly calling to the sea," with its fair vales and strips of greenery, it bears on its broad acres all the products common to a temperate land. An immensity of wheat, oats, stock, fruit and dairy articles, together with the largest output of hops of any county in the state, swell the yearly income of the farming class to a handsome figure. Tobacco has been raised in considerable quantity and of very fine quality.
One thing worthy of notice in regard to Lane county is that there is quite a body of good land yet open for entry in the valley of the Siuslaw and the plateaus adjoining in the western part of the county. The county-seat and chief town of this county is Eugene City. This is a place of three thousand inhabitants, is pleasantly located on the west bank of the Willamette, contains the Oregon State University, with its fine buildings and cultured associations, and bids fair to be, if it is not already, the most prominent of the various college towns of the Pacific Northwest. The chief remaining towns are Cresswell, Cottage Grove, Springfield, Junction City and Goshen.
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
This county was so named in honor
of Stephen A. Douglas, the "Little Giant" of Illinois. It is practically
the valley of the Umpqua; and in this connection it is not inappropriate
to say, as a matter of interesting historical reminiscence, that an older
and now obsolete county at one time occupied this picturesque region. This
was Umpqua county, which was established in 1851. Though no county-seat
was definitely set apart for the "gathering of the clans," Elkton was gradually
adopted for the position, in which it was finally confirmed by the legislature
of 1855. The county was finally, however, absorbed by Douglas. This latter
was erected in January, 1852, and after its augmentation by Umpqua contained
about four thousand, five hundred square miles. Its present population
is estimated at seventeen thousand, and its assessed valuation upwards
of two million, seven hundred thousand dollars. As elsewhere described,
its scenic beauty and productiveness are extraordinary. In wool production,
Douglas far surpasses any
other county west of the Cascades. In 1880, the shipments of sheep amounted to nearly forty thousand head, while the wool clip exceeded a million pounds. Roseburg is the capital and chief town, a place of about twelve hundred inhabitants, pleasantly located on the Umpqua river in the midst of the most picturesque surroundings. It was founded by Aaron Rose, a portrait of whom appears in this work. The place is somewhat distinguished for the excellence of its public schools. There are several other active places in the county, of which we may name Canyonville, Looking Glass, Myrtle Creek, Oakland, Drain, Gardiner, and the academic town of Wilbur, named thus in honor of the pioneer missionary of the Methodists, Reverend J.H. Wilbur.
JOSEPHINE COUNTY.
This pleasant feminine appellation came from a creek of the same name; and it in turn took its name from a girl named Josephine Rollins, who was at one time the only white woman in the country. The county was admitted in January, 1856. It embraces some twelve hundred square miles, has a population of about six thousand, and a valuation of about eight hundred and fourteen thousand dollars. The surface of the county is largely mountainous, and one of the most wildly beautiful of any in the country. Some of the valleys are very fertile, though narrow. So isolated has the whole region of the Rogue river been, that until the completion of the Oregon & California Railroad, in 1887, it made little advance. Since that time the intrinsic advantages of the country have become known; and development has been more rapid in the vicinity of the railroad than in any other part of the country west of the mountains. This growth has been especially marked in the northern part of the county under consideration. Grant's Pass seems to have been the center of the movement. Mining and lumbering are the chief industries. The mines are mainly placer, though there are ledges where there is abundant encouragement to the quartz miner. Gold Hill is the best known of the mining districts; and though that place is itself in Jackson county, the allied region extends into Josephine. Grant's Pass is at the present time the county-seat, having been so designated in 1884. Its predecessor was Kirbyville, though Waldo, more commonly called "Sailor Diggins," was the first choice for the location of the seat of justice.
JACKSON COUNTY.
This county was named after President Jackson. Within its confines lies the principal part of the Rogue river valley. Of the beauty and pleasant climate and general attractiveness of this valley, many have assayed to write, but none have done justice to the theme. It is so unique, so isolated, so enkindling to every faculty of body and mind, that we can only say to our readers, Come and See! When first organized in January, 1852, this county contained a vast scope of country to the east and west, of which it has since been deprived by the creation of Klamath and Josephine counties. Its present area is nearly three thousand square miles. The population is about sixteen thousand; and the taxable property foots up to something over three millions. Jackson county is very different from the other counties of the west side of the mountains. Its mining interests, its drier and hotter climate, a greater activity of manner on the part of its people, seems to ally it more with California than with Oregon. The mineral wealth is very great, though not yet developed. There are also large lumber interests in various parts of the county. But it is for its remarkable adaptability to fruit culture that Jackson is coming especially to the front. The world hardly contains its equal for quantity and quality and variety of fruits. It is particularly good for peaches, apricots, grapes and other delicate fruits not commonly produced in Western Oregon.
Jacksonville is the capital of the county, an ancient town, named in honor of a man named Jackson, who was the discoverer of gold on the creek where the town is now laid out. Jacksonville is, however, a little off the line of modern trade and travel; and in consequence it has rivals, one of which has already outstripped it in population and wealth. This is Ashland, with twenty-five hundred people, one of the most attractive places on the Pacific coast. It lies at the base of the Siskiyous, and is encircled with vineyards, orchards and gardens as beautiful as can be found on the coast. Medford, Central Point and Applegate are the leading remaining towns of the county. Great things may be confidently looked for in this "rare and radiant" land in the future. The middle group of counties should properly be described next; and this begins with the northernmost, which is
WASCO COUNTY.
When first established in January,
1854, it was the Colossus among the counties of Oregon; for it embraced
all of the eastern portion of the state. It has, however, been lopped off
from time to time till it now contains but three thousand square miles.
It is typical of the "East of the Mountain" country, - dry, windy, treeless
and rolling. Its name came originally from an Indian word meaning a "horn
basin." The word was primarily applied to basins scooped out of the broad-based
horns of the mountain sheep which formerly abounded in that region. It
was subsequently extended to the peculiar pot-holes and other depressions
in the rocks common in the vicinity of The Dalles. Afterwards applied to
the tribes of Indians living there, it became the fitting cognomen of the
county. The population of Wasco, including Sherman, is about eighteen thousand;
and its taxable property is worth about three and a quarter millions. Its
leading business thus far has been sheep and cattle raising. The Dalles
is said to be the greatest wool emporium in the United States. The amount
shipped in 1889 exceeded five million pounds.
Though Wasco's name and fame thus far have been mainly made in the stock business, it is true that it has immense agricultural resources. Though the climate is very dry (the rainfall being but about twenty inches), the soil is so fertile and porous that it will do with less rain than any region known. It abounds in natural scenery so grand and weird and terrible that one is bewildered in trying to decide what to mention and what not to. It may suffice to say that Mount Hood, The Dalles of the Columbia, Hood river and Shell Mountain are within its precincts. The Dalles, the county-seat and chief place of this wonderful region, is an interesting city of four thousand inhabitants. This peculiar name means a trough or gutter, and was first applied to the deep cracks through which the river passes there. The town was founded by the Methodist missionaries Lee and Perkins in 1838. The place took its start during the mining excitement of 1858-59 and the early sixties. The other towns of the county are Hood River, Tygh Valley, Cascade Locks (more familiarly known as Whiskey Flat) and Antelope.
SHERMAN COUNTY.
This county, which bears the name of our great General W.T. Sherman, was set off from Wasco by an act of the legislature in February, 1889. It embraces the region between the John Day and the Des Chutes rivers north of the south line of section two south. Like the rest of the region to which it belongs, it consists of dry, rolling prairies, of fertile soil, but not largely cultivated as yet, owing to suppose lack of rain. It has hitherto been chiefly a stock country. It is one of the small counties of the state, having only about six hundred square miles. It has not yet acquired statistics; but the population may be estimated at about two thousand. The county-seat is Grant's.
GILLIAM COUNTY.
Joining Sherman and Wasco on the east, and formerly part of the latter, is Gilliam county. It is very fittingly named for General Cornelius Gilliam, the first commander of the Oregon Volunteers in the Cayuse war. This county is so similar to the middle and eastern parts of Wasco that the same description would apply to both. It is dry, rolling, apparently barren, but in reality very fertile. Its immense prairies, long used exclusively for a stock range, have been largely taken up for homesteads during the past two or three years; and already fine ranches appear. The county contains many natural curiosities which commend it to the student and the tourist. One of the most remarkable of these is the "potato patch" near Fossil. In this are found the most extraordinary remains of the mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros and other animals now extinct in this county.
Just across the John Day river in Wasco county is even a more singular place. This is on Bridge creek. Among other fossil remains found there is the Hipparion or "little horse," an equine animal not larger than a Newfoundland dog. The region there seems to be in fact an exception to the general rule of the basaltic formation of the Columbia basin. It consists of a narrow valley of the old carboniferous age not covered, as was the rest of the basin, by the later volcanic outflows. In the vicinity of Fossil are found great deposits of coal, which will soon become a source of business and wealth. The capital and metropolis of the county is Arlington, on the Columbia, one of the most active places in the Inland Empire. The county was organized in February, 1885, has a population estimated at seven thousand, and an area of about nine hundred square miles. The assessed valuation of property is about a million and a quarter. There can be no doubt that Gilliam county is one of the coming regions of Oregon.
MORROW COUNTY.
This county was organized in February, 1885. Like its co-partner, Gilliam, it consists of what was originally part of the domain of Wasco, though afterward included within the limits of Umatilla. It is not distinguishable from Sherman, Gilliam and Western Umatilla in topography and general character. Though so dry as to discourage a settler from the East, it possesses such supplies of moisture from its serial and subterranean reservoirs, that it is now confessedly a safe and very productive farming region. Its chief industry, hitherto, however, has been stock-raising. On its breezy, bunch-grass hills innumerable cattle, sheep and horses have roamed; and from its mammoth sheep corrals have come millions of pounds of wool. The area is seventeen hundred and fifty square miles, the population nearly seven thousand, and the amount of taxable property nearly a million and a quarter.
The seat of justice and the chief
town is Heppner, one of the "livest" places in the whole upper country.
Heppner very fittingly perpetuates the name of Colonel Henry Heppner, its
founder, while in the name of the county itself we may be continually reminded
of Hon. J.L. Morrow, one of the leading pioneers of the county. Although
the lower portion of this county is entirely destitute of timber, there
is an abundance of fine timber on the flanks of the Blue Mountains to the
south. Another notable thing which relieves the dryness is the abundant
supply of water attainable at a comparatively slight depth. At from twenty
to fifty feet, plenty of fine well-water can be secured. These facts go
far to forecast a bright future for this region, when the hard and difficult
features of its first estate shall have been overcome. Land is still very
cheap; and there is a greater quantity of government land available than
in any part of the Inland Empire accessible to railroads. We know of no
region to which we can more confidently direct the attention of immigrants
than this.
UMATILLA COUNTY.
This is the great farming county of the "East of the Mountains." This mellifluous name is a modification of the Indian "Umatilla" and means "gathering of sand." Anyone who has been at the town of Umatilla in a heavy wind will bear witness that the word is eminently appropriate. The county which bears the name sustains the same relation to the counties of Eastern ORegon that Yamhill does to those of the west. Others may be beautiful; it is unapproachable. Its magnificent open prairies, with their graceful swells, their almost incredible fertility, the numerous sparkling streams, the snow-crowned heights near at hand, "which whiten with eternal sleet while summer, in a vale of flowers, is sleeping rosy at their feet," - these all combine to make her one of the fairest of lands. Umatilla county was organized in September, 1862, has an area of two thousand, five hundred square miles, a population of about twenty-three thousand, and a property valuation of nearly five millions, being the fourth county in the state in population and the third in wealth. It exceeds every other county in the Pacific Northwest, if not in the union, in the aggregate of its wheat production. That portion of the county between Pendleton and the line dividing Oregon and Washington is generally conceded to have no equal in the world as a natural wheat country.
We have discussed this phase of the capacity of this region so fully already that it seems hardly necessary to do so here. We may refer our readers to our chapter on agriculture. It is a curious fact that not more than a dozen or fifteen years ago these rolling prairies, which now come up with their forty, fifty or sixty bushels of wheat to the acre, were deemed worthless for any purpose but grazing. The metropolis and county-seat of this county is Pendleton, so named in honor of the Ohio statesman. It is wide-awake, advancing town of three thousand inhabitants. Bordering it on the south and east is the Indian reservation, usually considered even a finer body of land than that part of the valley already in cultivation. When utilized, as it surely will be soon, Pendleton will have the largest constituency of rich lands at her door of any town in the state. Her future will then be one of assured prosperity. The other towns of the county are Umatilla, on the Columbia, Echo, Adams, Athena (formerly Centerville), Weston and Milton.
CROOK COUNTY.
We have now reached the Blue Mountains on the east, which is the limit eastward of the middle group of Oregon counties. We turn back again, therefore, to Wasco, in order to follow southward the divisions into which the vast and undeveloped region of Middle Oregon is divided. The counties of Crook, Harney, Lake and Klamath have many features in common. Almost every variety of soil, and even climate, is found in those untilled solitudes; and yet in a general way it may be said that it is a dry, treeless and mainly forbidding-looking region. In its wide expanse, however, there are found many fertile valleys and plateaus; and unquestionably, when the Oregon Pacific Railroad shall have pushed its way through, there will be an enlargement of production and an unfolding of now hidden capabilities such as will astonish the country. Crook county, the most northerly and westerly of these counties, lies immediately south of Wasco and Gilliam. It contains ten thousand square miles of surface, and about five thousand inhabitants, - only one to each two square miles. It was organized in October, 1882. Its wealth is nearly a million and a half. The name was bestowed in honor of General George Crook, the great Indian fighter. The county-seat is Prineville, a vigorous town, whose great drawback is lack of transportation facilities. It is about one hundred and fifty miles from either railroad or navigable water. With proper means of communication, this "great unknown" of our counties may be expected to have a fine development.
KLAMATH COUNTY.
This county was created in October, 1882. Its name is derived from that of the great lake in its western part. Its area is five thousand, four hundred square miles, its population about three thousand, and its wealth assessed at a little less than a million dollars. It has great latent resources and, like the other counties of its group, is "waiting." It has large stock interests already; and in its rich valleys along the shores of the lakes there is much land suitable to agriculture. Some parts of the country are so high that frosts occur in midsummer, and indeed all of it is elevated. The soil is of remarkable fertility; and in most parts crops mature without irrigation. Klamath contains within its borders the largest lake (Klamath) in the state. This has a steamboat navigation of over a hundred miles. There is also here the deepest and in many respects the most extraordinary body of water in the world. This is Crater Lake. Its main features are its depression below the banks of from seventeen hundred to twenty-six hundred feet, and a depth of about twenty-five hundred feet. It will become as famous in the future years as the Yosemite or Yellowstone. Linkville, on the southern extremity of Klamath Lake, is the capital and chief city of this immense and infant county.
LAKE COUNTY.
This county is the twin of Klamath
county in nearly all its characteristics, with the exception that the latter
has a mountain border on the west which the former lacks. It was organized
in October, 1874. It contains seven thousand square miles, and a population
of three thousand, five hundred, - one inhabitant to two square miles.
From this circumstance it may be inferred that there is room for a few
more. As its
name indicates, Lake county abounds in lakes. Some of these are of considerable size. Among them are Abert, Silver, Summer and the upper half of Goose Lake. The county-seat is locate at the northern extremity of the last-named. This is Lakeview, a new place, but one that has had a remarkable development. Its site is a grand one, and the view of the lake one of the finest scenes in all the fine scenery of Oregon. Though so sparsely settled, this county has an assessed valuation of a million and a half, and is advancing with rapid strides to a place of prominence in the state. There are large areas of fine land within its borders; and the facilities for handling cattle are extraordinary. With the advent of the all-developing railroad, these latent resources will spring into being.
THE BLUE MOUNTAIN OR EASTERN COUNTIES.
We have named these last counties of Oregon from the range of mountains which is their leading feature, in pursuance of our general design to troup them in accordance with their physical constitution. With the exception of the southern part of Malheur, these counties are composed of the valleys, plateaus and snow peaks of that triangular mass of the earth's surface known as the Blue Mountains. We have already described in the chapter on agriculture the beauties and opportunities afforded to the settler and traveler in this great and unique region. Suffice it to say here that few parts of the Union equal it in health, beauty or prospective wealth. The westernmost of these is
GRANT COUNTY.
It was organized in October, 1864, and so christened in honor of General U.S. Grant. Its area is over eight thousand square miles. Its population is about ten thousand, and its taxable property most two millions. It embraces all sorts of climate, soil, industries and people within its broad expanse. Its northern part is exceedingly mountainous and magnificent in scenery. Streams abound, and timber is plentiful. The forests are stocked with deer, elk, bear and all manner of game, while the rushing and pellucid mountain brooks are thick with trout. The soil in the valleys is usually very fertile; and, though the lack of transportation has discouraged agriculture, many attractive farms have been established. Land can be purchased cheap; and thousands of acres of excellent government land is yet open to settlement. Enormous herds of cattle, sheep and horses are maintained on the luxuriant grasses. The mining interests of this county have been very great, but for some years past have declined. The capital of this county is Canyon City, situated in a wild mountain valley, and at one time a place of three thousand inhabitants; but, with the diminution of mining, the town lost its importance, and now has but a sixth of its former number. Prairie City and John Day are the other places of chief rank. Development and a way to reach the world is all that this count wants.
HARNEY COUNTY.
This county follows Grant in natural order, having been formed from the southern part of the latter in February, 1889. It was christened in honor of General W.S. Harney, who was during pioneer days commander of the national military forces in the Pacific Northwest. The county embraces about seven thousand square miles of territory, but has as yet an insignificant population. The only place of note is Burns, the seat of justice. The chief feature of the county is the great Harney valley, the vast though undeveloped resources of which are just beginning to be recognized. Its fertile expanse will, when stimulated by the cultivation sure to follow projected railroad construction, make Harney one of the foremost counties of Eastern Oregon.
WALLOWA COUNTY.
This county was organized in February, 1887, from part of Union. It is exceedingly mountainous, but has within it the fertile and beautiful Wallowa valley, which consists of a chain of three valleys, the aggregate extent of which is probably not less than four hundred square miles. the romantic and sanguinary history of this valley, its lake with the famous red fish, and its valiant but unfortunate chieftain, Joseph, have been amply described in the earlier pages of this work. Suffice it to say here that this county furnished extraordinary inducements to the settler and investor. Its resources are vast and varied. its mountains abound in gold and silver, and the best of marble, granite and other choice building stone.
On the mountain sides is the
finest stock range, while the valleys are of the richest kind of farming
land. The great elevation of these valleys (four thousand feet above the
sea-level) renders the climate cold; but this does not interfere with the
raising of grain and the hardy varieties of fruit. The area of this county
is two thousand, five hundred square miles, its population about six thousand,
and the worth of its property over half a million. The county-seat is Joseph,
named in honor of the young Nez Perce war chief who was so famous in the
great war of 1877, and was killed in the battle of Bear Paw Mountain. His
true name was Alokite; but he was frequently called Joseph, the name of
his father, and the one now applied to his elder brother, who is still
the recognized chief of the tribe. Lostine is a town of some importance.
UNION COUNTY.
For grandeur of scenery and historic interest, this count has hardly a peer in the state. The Grande Ronde valley, its chief feature, lies like a precious stone in its setting of magnificent mountains. This valley contains three hundred thousand acres of as fine land as ever lay outdoors. It is well cultivated, and is a desirable a land to look upon as our state affords. Besides the great agricultural and grazing capabilities of this county, it has vast mineral wealth. The Eagle and Pine creek gold mines are in the county; and of their future no one dares hazard a prophecy; but every one conversant with the country believes that it will be immense. La Grande, the beautiful capital of this fair land, is so completely described, elsewhere in this work that mention here is unnecessary. The chief remaining towns are Union, Oro Dell and Island City. The area of this county is about twenty-five hundred square miles, its population nearly sixteen thousand, and its valuation something more than two and a half millions. It was organized in October, 1864.
BAKER COUNTY.
The name of the gallant and eloquent Colonel E.D. Baker, one of Oregon's pioneer United States senators, is preserved in this county's appellation. It was organized in September, 1862, just at the time that his lamented death was fresh in the minds of his admiring countrymen. The main physical feature of this county is the Powder river valley and the serrated heights of the eastern prolongation of the Blue Mountains. The valley is very elevated, its lowest point being three thousand feet. The eastern strip of the county along the cañon of Snake river is of course lower. The Powder river valley is a rich and productive region, sixteen by twenty miles in area. As in the case throughout the Blue Mountain section, the soil is exceedingly fertile, though the cold incident to the elevation is something of an obstacle to agriculture.
Baker county has been more prominent as a stock country than as a farming region. Its greatest claim to distinction is its immense mining interests. Though the location of these mines is equally in Wallowa and Union with Baker, yet their outlet is through the last-named; and its chief town will be in the future the center of the mining industry. It is generally believed that this gold belt is the largest in the world. Statistics of production are not easily reached; but it is said by those in a position to know that it does not fall short of two million dollars per year. No town in the Pacific Northwest shows greater or more solid growth than Baker City, the county-seat. It contains now about three thousand, five hundred inhabitants, and is constantly increasing. The area of the county is about two thousand square miles, and its population about ten thousand.
MALHEUR COUNTY.
This county was organized in February, 1887, and may be described as appropriately named; for it is, as a whole, a dreary looking region. Its name means, in French, misfortune. The entire region is high, dry and treeless, with the exception of a southern spur of the "Blues" in its northern part. It has a vast area of nearly ten thousand square miles, with a population of about twenty-five hundred. Yale is the county-seat. The resources of this great region are almost entirely in embryo, but the time may soon come when with suitable means of communication it may be a flourishing and populous part of our state. Most of it must be irrigated before it becomes productive.
COUNTIES OF WASHINGTON.
This magnificent region, while these pages were in preparation, passed from its territorial condition to one of statehood. Equally with its older sister, she secures the interest of all students of history and progress. The counties of Washington, like those of Oregon, may be divided into natural groups. The thirty-four counties may be comprehended under five heads, - coast, Sound, river, middle and eastern. Under the first we have, beginning on the north, Clallam, Jefferson, Chehalis and Pacific. The Sound group, in the same order, are Whatcom, San Juan, Skagit, Island, Snohomish, Kitsap, King, Mason, Pierce and Thurston. With them, too, may be included Lewis, though it does not touch the Sound, the only one of the counties of Western Washington which reaches neither ocean, Sound nor river. The river counties are Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clarke and Skamania. Of the middle group (in which we include those between the Cascade Mountains and the Upper Columbia), we have Stevens (its main part being west of the Columbia), Okanagan, Kittitass, Yakima and Klikitat.
The eastern belt is three deep,
on its southern side four deep, and embraces Douglas, Lincoln, Adams, Franklin,
Walla Walla, Columbia, Spokane, Whitman, Garfield and Asotin. The coast
and Sound counties are almost exclusively lumbering and commercial in their
character; the river group is mainly agricultural and lumbering; the middle
counties are pastoral, mining, agricultural and lumbering; while the eastern
are, with the exception of Spokane (which has "all sorts"), purely agricultural.
Washington was organized into a territory by an act of Congress which was
approved on March 2, 1853. The following year the territorial government
was inaugurated, with the heroic and well-remembered Isaac I. Stevens as
governor. The counties organized, at the inception of the government
in 1854,
were Clallam, Jefferson, Chehalis, Pacific, Island, Kitsap, Whatcom, King, Mason, Pierce, Thurston, Lewis, Wahkiakum, Cowlitz, Clarke, Skamania and Walla Walla. The last embraced at that time the whole of Eastern Washington, All of Idaho and the western part of Montana. Of those named, Clarke, Lewis, Pierce, Thurston, King, Jefferson, Pacific and Island belonged to Oregon, prior to the organization of Washington.
CLALLAM COUNTY.
This northwestern corner of the union is almost uninhabited, except along its northern edge. Its peculiar name is of Indian origin, and means "clam people," from the words "clolub," clam, and "aht," man. The greater part of this county is occupied by the densely wooded heights of the Olympic Mountains, which reach their greatest elevation on the line between Clallam and Jefferson. There are two Indian reservations in this county, that at Neah Bay for the Makah tribe, and at Quillihute in the southeastern part. It was organized in April, 1854, and has an area of eighteen hundred square miles. Its population is about one thousand, and its assessed value in 1888 a little less than a half a million. New Dungeness is the county-seat, and Port Angeles and Pysht the chief other places.
JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Jefferson county, next in position to Clallam, is, like it, composed in the main of densely timbered and uninhabited mountains. Its northeastern corner is, however, one of the best regions of the Sound waters; for there is situated Port Townsend, the county-seat, and the numerous interests which cluster around it. Of this most attractive and promising place we speak at length elsewhere, and shall not therefore take space here for repetition. The chief places besides Port Townsend are Ports Discovery, Ludlow and Hadlock, where there are immense sawmills, and Irondale, which is the seat of the extensive iron interests. This county (whose name was derived from that of our third-president) was one of the counties of Oregon, having been organized in December, 1852. On the organization of Washington Territory, in 1854, it became one of its charter counties. Its area is about thirteen hundred square miles, and its population about fifty-four hundred, nine-tenths of which is in the immediate vicinity of Port Townsend. The taxable wealth of the county is about a million and a quarter. Many most interesting things and characters might be mentioned in connection with this county, and its chief place, did time permit. Among others the famous old Indian known as the "Duke of York" made his home mainly at Port Townsend. As one of the better types of his fast-vanishing race, he was a most quaint and interesting character.
CHEHALIS COUNTY.
The Indians pronounce this Tsehalis. The word means "sand" in the native language. The county was organized at the beginning, contains two thousand, four hundred square miles, has a population of seven thousand, five hundred, and an assessed value of over one million, eight hundred thousand dollars. It is a region of great variety of natural resources, and has as its chief physical features the valley of the Chehalis, and Gray's Harbor. The valley named extends well into the interior, and comprises, in the three counties of Chehalis, Thurston and Lewis, some of the best farming land in Washington. There is, however, no natural prairie land in this valley; and its rich lands must be grubbed before they become usable.
Gray's Harbor is interesting from its history; for it was discovered and has since been named from that wide-awake Yankee captain, Robert Gray, whose eyes lighted up so much of value to the United States on this western coast. The harbor is not adapted to the largest class of ships; but for craft of ordinary size it affords an all-sufficient depth of water. The resources of timber along its banks are enormous. There are those who look to see it become even a rival of the Sound in shipments of lumber. The county-seat of this rapidly advancing county is Montesano. The other places of note are Aberdeen, Hoquiam and Wynooche. These towns have all been developing at a wonderful rate during the last year or two. There are a number of very fertile valleys entering Gray's Harbor which have fine locations for farmers on government land. To no part of the new State of Washington can the settler be more safely advised to go than to Chehalis county. This county was organized in April, 1854.
PACIFIC COUNTY.
This, too, is one of the charter
counties. It formerly belonged to Oregon, and was established in February,
1851. Until the last four or five years, it was slow of growth. Its leading
natural feature is Shoalwater Bay. This is a very large body of water,
though the greater part of it is so shallow as to not admit of navigation.
The channel, however, has sufficient depth for vessels of large size. The
great business of the bay is "oystering." There are some fine lands on
the little rivers entering the bay, the chief of which is Willapa. This
county also contains the most-frequented summer resorts on our western
coast. People flock there by the thousands during the "heated term" from
Portland and other points in the interior. Oysterville is the county-seat
and chief place of this county. Ilwaco, Knappton and Bay Center are the
chief places besides Oysterville. The area of the county is about eight
hundred and seventy-five square miles, and its population thirty-two hundred.
Its valuation is about three-quarters of a million dollars.
THE SOUND COUNTIES.
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WHATCOM COUNTY.
This northernmost of the group, organized in March, 1854, is composed or about one-fourth lowland, most of which is very valuable, and about three-fourths mountain, most of which is extremely rugged and, except for prospective mineral wealth, of little value. The county contains about eighteen hundred square miles, and extends from the waters of the Gulf of Georgia to the crest of the Cascade Mountains. Its interesting and important features, if fully described, would fill a volume. The hub of the county is Bellingham Bay. Of its resources of coal, lumber, dairying, fruit and commerce in general we have spoken at length already. There can be no question that among the various places, Whatcom, Schome, Fair Haven and others which are now rising as if from an enchanter's wand along this beautiful bay, there will be one of the chief places of the Sound, one that may even shake the supremacy of the older cities higher up on the Sound. Whatcom, one of the "booming" towns of this booming epoch and country, is the county-seat; and the other towns are Nootsack, Lummi, Sehome and Fair Haven. The population numbers sixty-two hundred; and the county has a valuation of one million, five hundred thousand dollars. This county is destined to be one of the giants of Washington.
SAN JUAN COUNTY.
This name is a reminder of the period of Spanish discovery on our coast. Though those bold and enterprising people failed to hold this country, they left the imprint of their presence by many of their sonorous names. The county thus named is the smallest in Washington, containing only two hundred square miles of land. It is made up of a group of islands commonly known as the Archipelago de Haro, the chief ones of the group being San Juan, Lopez, Orcas and Blakely. It was formed in October, 1873. These islands are of entrancing beauty of scenery, and of almost perfect climate. They will sometime be covered with villas and summer resorts. The chief industry is the lime manufactories of San Juan Island. These constitute the main supply of the coast. There is land on the island suitable for fruit culture. The present population of the county is about eighteen hundred, and the assessed wealth something over a quarter of a million. Friday Harbor on San Juan Island is the county-seat. Orcas and San Juan are other points of growing importance.
SKAGIT COUNTY.
This county, organized in November, 1883, like all the others of the Sound abounds in natural resources. It is especially fortunate in the wide-awake and enterprising character of its people. The area is fourteen hundred square miles, the county extending, like Whatcom and all the rest of the counties on the east side of the Sound, to the crest of the Cascades. The resources of Skagit are so much like those of the others of the group that they may be briefly summed up thus: Infinite timber, limitless coal, some small and very fertile though densely timbered valleys, and opportunities for commerce uncomputed and uncomputable. The county may date its growth from the beginning of the present decade. The population is about six thousand; and the wealth is assessed at nearly a million and a half. Mount Vernon is the county-seat; and it, with La Conner, Fidalgo and Skagit, the chief places, are among the most active and promising towns on the Sound. This county offers many inducements to immigrants. Land is still cheap; and all the conditions of life are such as to favor those who have small means.
ISLAND COUNTY.
This county contains the large and beautiful islands of Whidby and Camano, the first named from one of Vancouver's lieutenants, and the other from one of the most gallant of the old Spanish navigators. This county was one of those taken in from Oregon in 1854, where it had been organized in January, 1853. The larger of its two islands contains about one hundred and fifteen thousand acres, and the smaller about thirty thousand. Both include within their limits some very fine farming land, together with wide belts of the finest timber land. Coupeville is the county-seat, a pleasant village and the seat of an academy. Other places of importance are Coveland and Utsalady, at the latter of which is an immense sawmill belonging to the Puget Sound Mill Company, a view of which the reader will find in this volume. There is great scope for future development in this county; and intending settlers will do well to visit it. The population of the county is fifteen hundred, and its wealth assessed at nearly half a million.
SNOHOMISH COUNTY.
This name above is, like a majority
of the Sound names of Indian origin. The termination "mish," which occurs
so frequently on the Sound, means "people." This county is one of the large
ones, embracing eighteen hundred square miles and was organized in January,
1861. Its eastern three-fourths is rugged and uninhabited, though abounding
in great resources of mineral and timber. The western part is greatly indented
by the arm of the Sound, which receives the Snohomish river. On this river
there are greater possibilities of agriculture than are usual on the Sound.
A quite extensive area of rich land awaits settlement and clearing.
The special fame of Snohomish, however, is due to its timber capacity, which is enormous. It exceeds any other county in the country; and we should probably be safe in saying that it surpasses any equal area in the world in the production of lumber. It is estimated that not less than a hundred million feet were produced in 1888; while probably not less than a billion feet of logs have gone down the Snohomish river during the last twenty years. The county has a present population of six thousand, two hundred, and an assessed valuation of about thirteen hundred thousand. Snohomish City, one of the brighter places in Washington, is the seat of justice, while Tulalip, Lowell and Stanwood are points of growing importance.
KITSAP COUNTY.
This county was organized in January, 1857. It is more completely cut across, indented and interlaced by the Sound and its various arms than any one of the group. Hood's canal borders it on the west, while its eastern side is fairly gridironed with the little gulfs and bays. Its area is only four hundred square miles; and it is devoted exclusively to lumbering. There are within its borders three colossal mills, those of Ports Gamble, Blakely and Madison, the aggregate daily cut of which amounts to about a half million feet. These three places, together with Seabeck, constitute the points of trade in the county, Port Madison being the county-seat. The peculiar name of this county is derived from that of an Indian chief, famous in the great war of 1855. The population is three thousand, seven hundred and fifty, and the assessment over a million dollars.
KING COUNTY.
The point of chief importance in regard to this county, next in order on the other side of the Sound from Kitsap, is that it contains Seattle. But the fact that King county contains the "Queen City" as its capital is not its only claim to distinction. It is throughout one of the great counties of the Pacific Northwest. The vast resources of coal, lumber, iron and shipping have been so fully discussed in various chapters of this volume that we feel the less necessity for presenting them here anew. It may simply be said that the growth of such a city as Seattle is sufficient proof that there is a region to back it up. King county was organized as a county of Oregon in 1852, and was received into Washington in 1854. It was named for Vice-President King. Its area is about eighteen hundred square miles; and its population is estimated at thirty thousand, nine hundred. Of this number probably three-fourths are in Seattle. The wealth of the county foots up to something over fifteen million dollars.
There are two facts especially worthy of note in connection with this whole county. The first and most important of these is the wonderful pluck and cohesiveness of its people. The second is the remarkable facilities for communication which exist here. The means of traffic by railroad and steamboat are not surpassed, if they are equaled, by those of any place in our whole country. And it is by the energy and self-sacrifice of the people of Seattle themselves that these most desirable results have been secured. No powerful outside corporation has taken them under its wing. Aside from Seattle, the chief towns of this county are Squak, Houghton, Newcastle and Snoqualamie.
MASON COUNTY.
Crossing the Sound once more we find ourselves in Mason county, so named from the first territorial secretary. The county was organized in March, 1854, and was called Sawamish until January, 1864, when it was christened its present name. It contains about nine hundred square miles of land, a population estimated at two thousand, eight hundred, and a wealth of seven hundred and fifteen thousand, two hundred and thirty-three dollars. Topographically considered, it may be said to be fairly eviscerated by the waters of the Sound and of Hood's Canal. The business of the county is exclusively lumbering. The rugged shores and the lofty mountains which compose most of the dry land of this county are almost jungles of the most magnificent timber. Shelton is the county-seat, and Skokomish and Oakland the other towns. The name Skokomish signifies, in the Indian language "river people."
PIERCE COUNTY.
This county received its name
in honor of the President of that name. It, too, extends from the water
of the Sound to the rugged and uninhabitable heights of the Cascade Mountains.
The area is eighteen hundred square miles, the population about twenty-one
thousand, and the assessed valuation a little over fourteen million dollars.
It was one of the original counties of Oregon, being organized in December,
1852, and was transferred to Washington Territory in 1854. In its general
features this county does not differ greatly from the others of its group.
It is, generally speaking, hilly, densely timbered, abundantly provided
with all means of water travel, veined with coal and iron ore, but lacking
in agriculture. To this last statement we must except the three fertile
valleys of the Puyallup, Stuck and White rivers. As rich land as lies in
this western kingdom can be found there. As is well known, the first-named
of these is the leading hop region of the North Pacific. These valleys,
however, though so fertile, are not great in area, comparatively speaking;
and the dense brush and timber which clothe them demand a large outlay
of time and work to remove. There are some prairies of considerable size
in the southern part of the county; but the soil on them is gravelly and
worthless.
The most remarkable feature of the county is its capital, the city of destiny, Tacoma. This remarkable place, which has sprung. Minerva-like, full-panoplied, from the Jupiter brain of modern railway development, is too well known and has been too often alluded to in these pages to make description here necessary. The world looks on with great interest to see the outcome of the growth and business rivalry of the two great cities of the Sound, Seattle and Tacoma. The terrible fire of June 6, 1889, at Seattle, gave Tacoma an opportunity, nobly embraced, of showing that the emulation could be vigorous and yet manly and generous. The chief towns of the county outside of Tacoma are Carbonado and Wilkeson, coal towns, and Steilacoom, at which is located the State Insane Asylum. Puyallup, near Tacoma, and the emporium of the hope trade, is next in size to the metropolis.
THURSTON COUNTY.
This was named in honor of Samuel R. Thurston, first delegate to Congress from Oregon, and was established in January, 1852, and became a charter county of Washington Territory in 1854. It is a good deal less in area than most of its sister counties; for it incloses but six hundred square miles within its limits. Like the other counties of the group to which it belongs, it is densely timbered, though having some prairies of gravelly and barren soil. Its agricultural interests are slight, being confined to the swales and swamps which may have been drained. Its lumbering interests are extensive, though not at all comparing with those of the counties farther north. It has remarkable manufacturing resources at Tumwater, just north of Olympia. The chief place in this ancient region (for it was settled sooner than any other of the Sound counties) is Olympia. This is the capital of the state as well as the county, is situated on a beautiful site, and though it has been of slow growth, is a place of many social attractions. It is feeling the impulse of the present business stir. Outside of the capital the leading places of Thurston county are Tumwater, Tenino and Yelm. The population is about seven thousand and the assessed valuation over two million, one hundred thousand.
LEWIS COUNTY.
Moving again southward, we reach the only inland county of Western Washington, which for convenience sake we have joined with the Sound group, though in reality it belongs alone. Lewis is also one of the original members of the commonwealth, and belonged to Oregon prior to the inauguration of the territorial government of Washington, having ben established under the provisional régime in December, 1845. It received its name, very fittingly, from that of the commander of the Lewis and Clarke expedition. It, too, is a timber county, though its lack of communication, previous to the building of the Northern Pacific Railroad, discouraged any effort at their development. Lying south of the great gravel belt of the Sound counties, it has the heavy, strong soil of the Columbia and Willamette river regions. Although the jungles of trees and undergrowth make it a tedious task to utilize these rich lands, yet farmers are finding that it pays to do it; and during the past five years population has pressed rapidly into the valley of the Chehalis, which forms the northern part, and the upper valley of the Cowlitz, which forms the southern part, of the county.
Much of the county is in the wild regions of the Cascades, in the foothills of which are found the same stores of coal and iron which have contributed to the growth of the counties farther north, though these are as yet undeveloped. The area of this county is about two thousand, one hundred square miles, its population seven thousand, eight hundred; and its property roll shows a sum of over a million and a half of dollars. Its capital is Chehalis, a brisk and attractive place of nearly eighteen hundred inhabitants. The other places of importance are Newaukum, Napavine and Centralia on the Chehalis side of the county, and Winlock and Toledo on the Cowlitz side. The last-named place is the head of navigation on the Cowlitz; and from it there is steamer communication with Portland during a considerable part of the year.
THE RIVER COUNTIES.
To take these up in their proper order, we may descend the Cowlitz in a steamer, and from its junction with the Columbia proceed to Brookfield or Skamokaway on the broad expanse of the lower river. In either of these places we are in
WAHKIAKUM COUNTY.
This is small (only two hundred
and thirty square miles) and so rugged and sparsely inhabited that, from
the standpoint of the disinterested outsider, it might seem that the best
thing to do would be to effect a matrimonial alliance with Pacific or Cowlitz.
However, there are great resources of lumber, and the land when cleared
is rich and fruitful; and it may not be long till this county can maintain
a separate establishment in due style. Some of the greatest lumbering establishments
on the coast are found here. This county was admitted in April, 1854, has
one thousand, six hundred inhabitants, and nearly half a million dollars
worth of property. Its county-seat is Cathlamet, the sonorous name of which
comes no doubt from the Indian word "calamet," a stone. Skamokaway, or
Skomokawa, is another place of importance, the name of which is from a
famous old Indian chief. Brookfield is the third place, and is important
for its salmon interests.
COWLITZ COUNTY.
This again is one of the original membership of the territory, having been admitted in April, 1854. It contains an area of nine hundred and fifty square miles of land, a population of four thousand, seven hundred, and has property to the value of over a million dollars. In it is the justly famous Cowlitz valley, the best body of agricultural land in Western Washington. These lands are especially adapted to dairying; and the proximity of the Portland market by both rail and boat renders such farms very profitable. Cowlitz county has many interesting historical associations. In it was established the old Puget Sound Land Company under the superintendence of Doctor Tolmie; and there too, some of the earliest of the Catholic fathers labored. Some of the early American settlers, too, here encountered and finally vanquished the British lion. Cowlitz county, though backward in growth, is one of the best counties in Washington. Its resources are large and varied. It has no end of fine timber, plenty of coal, indications of gold and silver in its mountains, and above all is excellently equipped with means of transportation. The land is of the richest quality and when cleared pays "big." Kalama on the Columbia is the center of legal operations. Monticello, Freeport, Kelso and Olequa are other places of importance.
CLARKE COUNTY.
This is the twin of Lewis, having received the name of the junior member of the great exploring party of Lewis and Clarke. It first appeared as one of the districts of Oregon under the name of Vancouver in June, 1844, though not fully organized till the following year. The name was changed to Clarke in 1850. It came in with the territory, in April, 1854, and has about six hundred and twenty-five square miles of land (three-fourths arable), a population of eight thousand, six hundred, and a property list of about two and a quarter millions. It is almost entirely timbered by nature, but when cleared is very rich. It is extremely well located for traffic; for the Columbia river runs along its entire southern and western sides, a distance of fifty or more miles.
Historically this county is, by reason of containing as its county-seat Vancouver, the ancient capital of the Hudson's Bay empire, one of the most interesting places on the coast. Vancouver, after many years of lethargy, is now becoming one of the most active places in Western Washington. Its site is one of such superlative magnificence that any other natural city site in the whole Pacific Northwest stands no show at all in comparison with it. No wonder Doctor McLoughlin chose it as the headquarters of his kingdom. If there is not a great city there sometime, it will seem a wanton waste of the favors of Providence. There is one thing though, - the people who build a city there will have to build a magnificent one. Anything short of that would be an insult to Nature. Land is still quite cheap in the vicinity of Vancouver; and in many respects it is a very desirable region to which to refer immigrants. Besides Vancouver, the places worthy of note are La Camas and Washougal. At the former place there is a superb water-power well utilized.
SKAMANIA COUNTY.
This county, though formed in April, 1854, is the least in population of any in Washington, having but six hundred inhabitants to its twelve hundred square miles of land. Its property valuation is only one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. It is almost entirely composed of mountains on the north side of the gorge of the Columbia, and is one of the most rugged, savage and sublime regions in the world. But men cannot live on scenery; and, though there is great timber wealth in this county, it has not been much utilized as yet. There is doubtless great mineral wealth at places in the mountains; but nothing is yet known with certainty in regard to it. The Cascades is the chief place and the seat of Justice. There is also quite a little settlement near Cape Horn, in the western part of the county.
MIDDLE COUNTIES.
The first and greatest (territorially considered) of these is
STEVENS.
Named after the first territorial
governor, formed in January, 1863, and embracing at the beginning almost
all of Eastern and Middle Washington, this county has been cut down by
successive slices until it now contains only six thousand, five hundred
square miles. It is almost uninhabited, containing in all its great extent
only two thousand, nine hundred people, and having an assessed valuation
of three hundred and eighty-eight thousand, seven hundred and seventy dollars.
And yet it contains great native resources, mineral, timber, pasture and
farming capabilities being combined in about equal ratio. The recent construction
of the Spokane & Northern Railroad will no doubt greatly hasten the
development of this empire of the north. Immigration will flock to it,
and its broad range of productions will be unfolded to the world. Colville
is the county-seat and the only place of note in the county. The Colville
valley is without doubt one of the future heaviest farming regions in the
state. There are abundant opportunities there for the settler.
OKANAGAN COUNTY.
This last created (formed in February, 1888) of Washington's counties consists of the western part of Stevens as that existed before said year. The county has an area of over five thousand square miles; but other statistics of it have not yet been acquired. It is a vast and tangled system of mountains, having, however, a large agricultural region adjoining the Wenatchie river. It has two great features. These are Lake Chelan, the largest lake in the state, and the great Conconully mines, the greatest in Washington. Wild and rugged and apparently uninhabitable as this county is, it will without doubt sometime pour out wealth by the carload. Its cities are as yet in embryo. Ruby City, in the center of the mining region, is the seat of justice. There is a fine agricultural settlement at the mouth of the Wenatchie.
KITTITASS COUNTY.
This great county is for various reasons one of the most important in Washington. It contains the magnificent valley of the same name, and the second greatest coal mines in the State. In this last respect it is surpassed by King county only in estimated area of coal lands. But its other resources ore legion. All kinds of minerals abound; its mountain region has an abundance of fine timber; its foothills sustained uncounted cattle; and its flat valleys, when irrigated, produce bounteously of all kinds of field, orchard and garden products. In the midst of this fair region lies as the capital the bright city of Ellensburg, just now the victim of a most disastrous fire, yet undismayed, going right on to the brilliant career which evidently awaits her.
Kittitass county was created in November, 1883, and embraces three thousand, six hundred square miles, extending from the crest of the Cascades to the Columbia, which fronts it for sixty miles. It contains every variety of scenery, from the most verdant meadows to the savage grandeur of Mount Stuart and the other Alpine peaks of the Peshastin. Its population is estimated at eight thousand, one hundred and its property at two million, three hundred thousand dollars. The chief town is of course Ellensburg; having a population of four thousand. The other places are Roslyn, Cle-Elum and Kittitass.
YAKIMA COUNTY.
The vast tract of five thousand, two hundred square miles has much the same natural characteristics as the preceding county. Together they constitute the Yakima valley, the peculiarities of which have been fully described in our chapter on agricultural resources. It is even yet almost in embryo; but it is the embryo of a giant. The country was organized in January, 1865, has a population of about four thousand, five hundred, and an assessment roll of two millions. The multifarious resources of this county and their vast extent, as shown in the timber and minerals of the mountains, the cattle and horses of the foothills, and the farm produce of the many fertile and beautiful valleys, are a slight forecast of the time, near at hand, when Yakima county will be the home of happy thousands, provided with all the appliances and comforts of the most civilized condition.
Of North Yakima, the chief town and county-seat of this great region, we have had occasion to speak at length in sundry places in these pages. It may merely be said here that it is the natural outgrowth of the prospectively rich and progressive land in which it is located. Its future will be commensurate with the region in which it is built; and that this is becoming more adequately appreciated is sufficiently proved by the hosts of immigration flocking thither. The only places of size besides Yakima are Prosser and Atahnam.
KLIKITAT COUNTY.
This fertile and beautiful county was organized in December, 1859. It is a mutton-chop in shape, extending from the eastern flank of the Cascade Mountains to a point on the Columbia nearly opposite the state line, being one hundred and twenty-five miles long and from four or five to twenty-five miles wide. It has an area of two thousand, two hundred square miles, five thousand, five hundred inhabitants, and about a million and three-quarters of property. Its natural resources are great and diversified. It is one of the great stock counties of the state, has large though undeveloped resources of mineral sin its mountain section, and its valleys are already known as rich and fertile grain lands. Its present lack of railroads will be supplied within a year or two; and then we may expect an added growth. It is not, however, by any means naturally devoid of means of natural communication. It has more miles of frontage on the Columbia river than any other county except Douglas, and has of course the advantage over that of being below some of the worst rapids on the river. And, although the talk now is of railroads, it is well to remember that this is an era of improvements in steamboat navigation too, and that time is approaching when the vast eastern section of our empire is going to have an open river. Goldendale is the metropolis and county-seat of this county. The other points are Bickleton, Columbus, Luna, Fulda, Lyle and White Salmon.
THE EASTERN COUNTIES.
The first four of these counties,
Douglas, Lincoln, Adams and Franklin, are essentially alike in appearance
and productions. they may very fittingly be joined in a general description.
Their immense area of over ten thousand square miles is almost entirely
a rolling bunch-grass plain. It is more nearly
level than the counties east of it, but has some streaks of "scab" land, by which is meant land with occasional patches of rock. To the prairie character of this section there is only one exception, and that is the Badger Mountain region of Douglas county. This entire region is very new; and there is yet much government land in various parts of the "Big Bend" and the allied regions. The climate is somewhat drier and hotter than in either Whitman or Walla Walla counties; but so porous and friable is the soil that in ordinary years there seems little chance of drought, while with a good rainfall the crops are immense. No portion of our great new land offers finer inducements to settlers than this. With this general introduction to the land of "coulees and badgers," we will speak more especially of each county separately.
DOUGLAS COUNTY.
This county was formed in November, 1883, contains five thousand square miles, twenty-three hundred square miles, twenty-three hundred people, and property to the value of something more than half a million. The county-seat is Waterville; and its other places are Badger, Okanagan, Orondo and Lincoln. This is the "coulee" county par excellence. These curious features of the great Columbia plain are variously explained. One very reasonable hypothesis is that they were formed when the great lake which filled the entire upper basin was drained. This draining was performed by the cleaving of the Cascade Range at the present gorge of the Columbia; and, when the waters of the lake were nearing the bottom, the monstrous attrition of the flood literally scooped out these immense channels, hundreds of feet deep and in some places a mile or more in width. Others believe that the coulees were old beds of the Columbia, and that the name, from the French couler, meaning a "cut off," was evidently applied with that thought. A famous resident of one of these coulees is Chief Moses, more admired and feared perhaps than any Indian on the coast. Of magnificent physique, and afraid of neither God nor man, well educated, and implicitly obeyed by his followers, he is a man that all travelers through those vast solitudes do well to propitiate.
LINCOLN COUNTY.
In the order of description which we have pursued, Lincoln comes after his great rival, reversing the verdict of history. It was, however, organized four days sooner in November, 1883. As sufficiently indicated already, this county is of a similar character to its mate. It too has much available government land; and many immigrants have flocked in during the last year or two. This county, though having less than half the area of Douglas, has more inhabitants, - three thousand. This difference is mainly due to the presence in it of the fine little city of Sprague, the county-seat, which contains nearly half the people of the county. Sprague is the leading town between Spokane and Yakima, and is evidently destined to reach a considerable degree of importance. The other towns are Davenport, Harrington, Crab Creek and Sedalia. The county is, like the rest of the "Big Bend" counties, well provided with railroads, and offers abundant opportunities to settlers. The property valuation of this county is two million, three hundred and thirty-eight thousand and foryt-three dollars.
ADAMS COUNTY.
This namesake of the "Old Man Eloquent" is more exclusively a prairie country than any other part of the state. It is all a dry, level plain, with not a natural tree on its entire surface. It has a wonderfully rich soil, and matures the finest crops without the aid of irrigation. It is, however, true that the question of rain is a very important one to the farmers of Adams. The county was admitted in November, 1883, has about two thousand square miles of territory, eighteen hundred inhabitants, and a valuation of eight hundred and seventy-three thousand, two hundred and fifty-one dollars. Ritzeville, named from the pioneer nurseryman of Walla Walla, is the county-seat and the only place of importance. There is much good deeded land in this county to be obtained very cheap, besides some government land.
FRANKLIN COUNTY.
Next in order comes Franklin, the namesake of him who, in the language of Mirabeau, "caught the lightning from heaven and the scepter from the hands of tryants." The county of Franklin is a wedge-like piece of earth, lying betwixt the two great rivers of the North Pacific. It has the same characteristics as the others of the group already described. It has scarcely been fairly tested yet as to its agricultural resources; but it seems likely that it will prove all that its enthusiastic friends claim for it. It is true that much of it looks like a desert; but, as pointed out hitherto, there are many regions in the Columbia basin which are "mighty deceiving." Lans which the Mississippi valley farmer would think a perfect Sahara may astonish him by the production of crops such as he never dreamed of cutting on his black-soiled meadow.
Large areas of Franklin are in
such a situation as to admit of irrigation on a great scale; and, if ever
such a system is fairly inaugurated, there will without doubt be a great
development at the junction of the Columbia and Snake rivers. The territorial
extent of Franklin is twelve hundred square miles, its human extent seven
hundred souls, and its financial extent something more than half a million
dollars. Pasco is the center of operations, judicial, financial and commercial.
It is, in short, the only town in the county. The county was organized
in November, 1883.
WALLA WALLA COUNTY.
We are now on historic ground. The three names of Astoria, Vancouver and Walla Walla occur the most frequently of any in our annals. The mellifluous name of this county is usually translated "Valley of Waters." This is a truly appropriate appellation; but more exactly the word means "running water," from the Nez Perce "walatsa," running, and in this connection being understood to refer to water. Wallula means the same thing, but is in the Walla Walla and not the Nez Perce language. This meaning is one index to the character of the country. There is a wonderful change in going across the lower Snake river to the south in the number of stream sand springs, and the general accessibility of water. The country north is naturally dry. This will no doubt be sometime overcome, but that is the present state. But once fairly across the Snake river, and especially once over the Touchet river, and the amount of water of the purest, coldest and most refreshing kind is a wonder. This fact has had its bearing in the development of the country.
The Walla Walla valley was recognized as a garden even long before some other regions where the soil is equally good were deemed anything but deserts. This is the broad general difference between the first belt of the eastern counties just described and those beginning with Walla Walla. This second belt skirts the Blue and Coeur d'Alene Mountains, and has much more water, is more rolling and broken, has a cooler and more humid climate, and a somewhat heavier though not richer soil. We have so fully described the whole Walla Walla country in preceding chapters that there is little need of more here. The county was admitted in April, 1854, the only one of the Western Washington counties that was formed with the establishment of the territory. It then embraced all the valley of the Columbia east of the Cascades, an area of nearly two hundred thousand square miles. This imperial domain has been curtailed by successive withdrawals, till now it has only eleven hundred square miles. This imperial domain has been curtailed by successive withdrawals, till now it has only eleven hundred square miles. What is left is the oldest, best cultivated, and in various respects the most advanced, part of Washington.
Though far outstripped by Spokane in population and business enterprise, it may yet be safely asserted that, up to date, Walla Walla county produces more money's worth of products than any of its sister counties. We mean that she digs more out of her own ground. The metropolis and capital of this county contains about six thousand, five hundred people, which is just about half the number in the county. The entire assessment of the county is about six and three-quarter millions. The chief places besides the city are Wallula, Prescott, Touchet and Waitsburg.
COLUMBIA COUNTY.
This is the team horse with Walla Walla. It was organized from the latter in November, 1875, and contains one thousand square miles of land, has six thousand, seven hundred people, and a property roll of two million, eight hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred dollars. It has much the same character as the preceding, but is more rolling. The soil is the extreme of fertility, and there is more rain than in most other parts of the Inland Empire. The Touchet is the chief stream, and, with its tributaries, provides an abundance of water for all needs. The county is remarkably well supplied with railroads, and has many beautiful and well-equpped ranches. The attractions of this county are many for immigrants. Dayton on the Touchet is the county-seat and metropolis. It is a bright, lively place of two thousand inhabitants. Other places worthy of note are Tukanon, Huntsville and Riparia.
SPOKANE COUNTY.
Anyone who should try to describe Spokane county in these limits should be executed for presumption. We must refer our readers to the numerous places in which we have already described Spokane the Wonderful. It is the most "phenomenal" place in the whole of our Pacific Northwest. We shall not, however, add more here to our previous lengthy account. The county was organized in 1880, has an area of seventeen hundred and fifty square miles, inhabitants to the number of about twenty-three thousand, and an assessment of nearly eight millions. The magnificent farming lands in the southern part of the county are deservedly attracting much attention from immigrants. One of the wonders of the country in the form of Medical Lake is in this county. Aside from the capital and metropolis, the chief places are Cheney, Medical Lake, Rockford, Waverly, Spangle and Marshall. The name Spokane is from the native word for "sun;" for the Indians of this tribe were originally sun worshipers.
WHITMAN COUNTY.
This county was named in honor of the martyr missionary of Walla Walla. It is one of the heavy counties of Washington, being fourth in population and wealth, and first in farm production. It contains eighteen hundred square miles of land, was organized in November, 1871, has eighteen thousand, eight hundred people, and over seven millions of assessment. It is a county of great diversity of topography and resources, having a belt of superb mountains full of timber, and, probably, mineral wealth, along the eastern borders; while the western three-fourths of the area is farming land, mainly heavily rolling, but of the richest kind of soil. The whole country abounds in water, pure and sparkling; the climate is healthful and delightful; in short, there is scarcely any part of the country which seems better adapted to the rearing of a fine, strong race of people than this. Among the various interesting historical associations of this
county is Steptoe Butte, fifteen miles north of Colfax, near where the disastrous defeat of the United States troops occurred in 1858. Colfax, the "shire town" of this charming and promising county, is a bright, thriving place of twenty-five hundred inhabitants. The other places are Palouse City, Pullman, Colton, Farmington, Oakdale, Belmont, Almota, Rosalia and Penewawa. It is notable that this county has more small yet growing towns than any other in Washington. This is one of the surest indications of a healthy condition.
GARFIELD COUNTY.
This county first saw the light in 1881. It was named for the lamented President; but its bright career is not to be cut short in so untimely a way as his. It possesses the same character of beauty and fertility and rolling plains that we have seen throughout this tier of counties. Its towns have, in a remarkable measure, the vital qualities of push and enterprise and solid growth. The area of the county is six hundred square miles, the population five thousand, and the property worth one million, six hundred and sixty-nine square miles, the population five thousand, and the property worth one million, six hundred and sixty-nine thousand, one hundred and eighty dollars. It is exclusively a farming country, and as such has almost every natural advantage. The county-seat is Pomeroy; and the other towns are Pataha, Alpowa and Ilia.
ASOTIN COUNTY.
This last of the counties of Washington is a short horse and may be soon curried. It was added to the sisterhood of counties in October, 1883, and contains five hundred square miles of land, being the smallest of the counties east of the Cascades. Its peculiar name comes from the Nez Perce word "hashotin," meaning an eel, because that sort of fish abounds in the creek. It is a rich and attractive region, much like the other Blue Mountain counties, though somewhat more broken. It is purely a farming region, and, though new and undeveloped, is attracting many newcomers. Those who have read Irving's fascinating book, "Bonneville's Adventures," will remember the valiant hero's journey along the Snake river to Walla Walla. At one point he remarked the wonderful beauty and fertility of the country, and predicted that sometime there would be farms there. The region of which this prophecy was truthfully made and which is so vividly described must have been in Asotin county, the corner county. The county-seat and only town of note has the same name as the county. The population is sixteen hundred, and the valuation of real estate nearly six hundred thousand. Land is cheap and excellent in this county; and settlers will do well to visit it.
COUNTIES OF IDAHO.
And so ends the account of the counties of Washington. We next address ourselves to a brief outline of the counties of Idaho. We shall not undertake to describe these with the particularity given to those of Oregon and Washington. Idaho, though geographically, and at the present time commercially, a part of the Pacific Northwest, was not a participant in its early history. It is the outgrowth of a later age; and its present grand development is being wrought out by another set of men. Hence, interesting though it truly is in itself, it does not belong so much to the story of this book and to the men whose deeds are depicted in it as do the regions which took shape way back in the forties and fifties. For these natural reasons, Idaho can appear but incidentally and briefly in a work which like this deals mainly with the past, or with the things and men immediately connected with it. In a history of the future ages, Idaho will take its proper place in the great triad of the Columbia basin.
The musical name of Idaho means "Gem of the Mountains," eminently appropriate in this instance. The territory began its separate existence in 1863. Its boundaries were greatly modified in 1864, a part of its area being granted to Montana. It was in that year, therefore, that it assumed its present form. A natural manner of grouping suggests itself with regard to the counties of Idaho as well as those of Oregon and Washington. Proceeding from the north again, and taking the Salmon River Mountains as the basis of separation, we have three divisions of Northern, Middle and Southern Idaho.
NORTHERN IDAHO.
This consists of Kootenai, Shoshone,
Latah and Nez Perce counties. In this division are found the chief farming
lands and the greatest mines of the territory. It is separated from the
rest of the territory by mountains of so rugged and inaccessible a character
that it has been said that sometimes legislators from the northern regions
have gone to the capital, Boise, by way of San Francisco. At the best,
they have been obliged to go by way of Walla Walla and Baker City.
For this and the correlative reason that these northern counties are naturally
part of Washington, there have been great efforts, thus far unsuccessful,
to join them to Washington. However this attempt may result, it is no doubt
certain that many years will elapse before there is rail communication
between the northern and the other parts of Idaho. Equally impracticable
is any route by way of Snake river. Those who have read our first volume
will remember the desperate straits to which Hunt and his party were reduced
among the mountains and along the banks of the "Accursed Mad River." In
all its natural features it remains unchanged.
KOOTENAI COUNTY.
This is first in position of the counties named as constituting Northern Idaho. It is the county of the lakes and mines. It contains five thousand, five hundred and thirty square miles. In it are the magnificent Lakes Pen d'Oreille and Coeur d'Alene, and also a part of the great Coeur d'Alene mining region. For scenery and silver it has few equals. Rathdrum is its county-seat.
SHOSHONE COUNTY.
This county is a fair mate for Kootenai. It is bordered on the east by the sublime Bitter Root Mountains, and is throughout of the most rugged character. The rest of the mining region of the Coeur d'Alenes belongs to it. Its capital is Murray. Its area is five thousand, nine hundred and fifty square miles.
LATAH COUNTY.
This comes next in the list, and is a beautiful farming region, the natural continuation of the Palouse country of Washington. Moscow is its chief place and county-seat. This is one of the finest towns in Idaho, and is evidently bound to become an important point. by an act passed at the last session of the territorial legislature, there is to be a university established at this place. It, with its tributary region, has first-class railway communications, and a bright future awaits it. Genesee is another flourishing place, the present terminus of the Palouse branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
NEZ PERCE COUNTY.
This reminder of the gallant people who inhabited this fair land previous to the coming of the Whites is still occupied by the remnants of the tribe. Their reservation embraces nearly half of the county. To their honor be it said that they have made more progress in civilization than any other people of their race in the Pacific Northwest. It may be added as an interesting matter, too, that during the last decade they have reversed the usual fact among their people by increasing in numbers. Lewiston, the central point of the county, is one of the oldest places in the territory, and has so advantageous a location that nothing but sluggishness and ill judgment on the part of its people can prevent its rapid growth.
MIDDLE IDAHO.
Middle Idaho embraces a vast and exceedingly rugged mountain region, mainly drained by the Salmon river and its tributaries. Though roughness is the rule here, there are some extensive and fertile valleys, such as the great Camas Prairie. The counties in this division are Idaho, Lemhi, Washington, Boise and Custer.
IDAHO COUNTY.
This is a wild and largely uninhabited region, ten thousand, one hundred square miles in extent, and having all kinds of land and all kinds of resources, - mining, lumbering, stock and farming, - within its limits. The big Camas Prairie is a beautiful region, and, though somewhat elevated and cold, may be depended on for all manner of temperate productions. Mount Idaho is the county-seat.
LEMHI COUNTY.
This county, in like manner, is a vast wilderness of mountains, having within its borders great mineral resources as yet undeveloped. Salmon City is the county-seat.
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Nearly every state in the union has a Washington county. In this instance it is a beautiful and picturesque region, containing the fine Weiser valley, and also the rugged chain of mountains known as the "Seven Devils." Though it looks on the map to be one of the small counties of Idaho, it really contains three thousand square miles, enough for a fair-sized Eastern state. Weiser is the county-seat.
BOISE COUNTY.
Boise count may be described like the others, that is, by saying that it is covered with majestic and almost inaccessible mountains. There are some small valleys suitable for agriculture. The mineral resources of the county are great, and in their development the inhabitants are chiefly engaged. Idaho city is the chief place.
CUSTER COUNTY.
This is another mountainous,
mineral-veined and almost uninhabited county. It must be said, however,
of the counties described thus that their natural resources, especially
the mineral, are rapidly drawing attention and population to them; and
they may not much longer be thus characterized. Challis is the county-seat
of Custer county, the chief occupation of whose inhabitants is mining
THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
Beginning on the west, they are Ada, Owyhee, Alturas, Cassia, Bingham, Oneida and Bear Lake.
ADA COUNTY.
Ada County, the most thickly settled in the territory, contains the beautiful and fertile valley of the Boise, and also the city of the same name, the capital of the territory. This valley is well-tilled and well settled; and the city, with its fine farms and orchards and gardens around it, would od credit to any country. Boise City is the chief place and the county-seat, though there are several other active places such as nampa, Washoe and Payette.
OWYHEE COUNTY.
This is another vast and almost
tenantless region, possessing great latent resources, which wait but time
and water to give them due enlargement. Silver City is the county-seat.
We next come to the Titan of
the Idaho counties.
ALTURAS COUNTY.
This immense region, one hundred
and ninety-one thousand and eighty square miles in area, is traversed its
entire length by the Oregon Short Line Railroad, and is rapidly developing
its almost infinite resources. In it is a large part of the great Snake
river lava bed. It also contains the rich Wood river mines. Within it also
is Hailey, the largest place in the territory. In it, too, is that wonder
of wonders, the great Shoshone Falls. Nor does it catalogue of attractions
cease here; it has also the Saw-tooth Mountains, filled with wonders and
of almost unearthly sublimity. Hailey is the county-seat. The mining output
of Alturas county runs way up into the millions, comparing with all but
the two or three greatest in the world. This county will sometime be an
empire in itself.
Across the turbid flow of the
upper Snake from Alturas is
CASSIA COUNTY.
This is a mountainous, barren
region, almost uninhabited. Albion is its seat of justice.
Next we come to the great
BINGHAM COUNTY.
It is ten thousand square miles
in extent and has resources of every sort, but, like those of many of the
others described, much in embryo. In it many of the multiplied tributaries
of the Snake take their rise. There are the mighty Tetons, which, though
twelve hundred miles from the Pacific, used to be looked to by travelers
over the plains as the threshold to the promised land. Blackfoot is the
county-seat of this county, though Pocatello is the chief place. This place,
near the historic site of old Fort Hall, has been having an extraordinary
growth within the last year, and without doubt will become a prominent
point. With irrigation the agricultural capacity of this county must become
immense.
The next in order is
ONEIDA COUNTY.
This was formerly the most populous
in the territory, but has been outgrown in late years by the northern agricultural
counties. It has much rich land and is well irrigated. Many Mormon settlements
exist in this county. Malad City is its capital.
Last and least of the divisions
of the "Gem of the Mountains" is
BEAR LAKE COUNTY.
This ursine county does not, as does the rest of the territory, drain into the Columbia. Its waters reach Great Salt Lake. For this reason, perhaps, it too has some infusion of Mormonism. There is in it some very rich land, well located for the necessary process of irrigation. Paris is the county-seat.
This must suffice for a glance at the subdivisions of Idaho. The present population of the territory is probably nearly a hundred and fifty thousand, and that is rapidly increasing. The people, moved by the present added dignity of Washington, Montana and the Dakotas, are moving for statehood; and may they soon attain their desire!
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