There were already erected, when I left there, about one hundred houses, most of them not only commodious, but neat. Among the public buildings, the most conspicuous were the neat Methodist church, which is located near the upper part of the town, and a splendid Catholic chapel, which stands near the river and the bluff bank at the lower part of the town site.[127] There are two grist mills; one owned by M'Laughlin, having three sets of buhr runners, and will compare well with most of the mills in the States; the other is a smaller mill, {86} owned by Governor Abernethy and Mr. Beers.[128] At each of these grist-mills there are also saw-mills, which cut a great deal of plank for the use of emigrants. There are four stores, two taverns, one hatter, one tannery, three tailor shops, two cabinet-makers, two silversmiths, one cooper, two blacksmiths, one physician, three lawyers, one printing office, (at which the Oregon Spectator is printed, semi-monthly, at five dollars per annum,)[129] one lath machine, and a good brick yard in active operation. There are also quite a number of carpenters, masons, &c., in constant employment, at good wages, in and about this village. The population is computed at about six hundred white inhabitants, exclusive of a few lodges of Indians.
The Indians spend most of their nights in gambling. They have a game peculiar to the tribes of the lower Columbia, and as I have not seen it described, I will mention it here. Six men meet in their lodge, when they divide among themselves into partners of three on each side, then seat themselves, with a pole between the parties; the middle man on one of the sides has a small bone or stick which he holds in his hand; his partners upon the left and right keep up a regular knocking upon the pole with sticks, and singing of songs. The man with the bone keeps shifting it as quickly as possible from hand to hand, to deceive the middle man of the opposite side, as to which hand holds the bone; after he is satisfied, he stops and inquires of his opponent in which hand he holds it. If the opponent guesses rightly, he throws the bone, with a small pointed stick, to the winner, who goes through the same ceremony as the loser had done; but if the man guesses wrongly as to the hand that holds the bone, he hands over a little pointed stick. Thus they keep it up until one or the other has won a certain number of pointed sticks, which they have agreed shall constitute the game, when the stakes are delivered over to the winning party. So desperately attached to this game are these savages, that they will gamble away every species of clothing or property they may possess; after this their wives, and they have been known to stake their own services, for a certain number of moons, and sometimes even to become the slaves for life of the more fortunate gamesters.[130]
The stores have but a very limited supply of such articles as emigrants need; but the present merchants, or others that will soon locate there, will find it to their interest to take out such commodities as will be required. Mr. Engle, who went out {87} with the late emigrants, had erected a small foundry, with the intention of casting some old cannon that lay about the fort, and other broken utensils, into those most needed for culinary purposes; but he had not commenced business when I left.[131]
Unimproved lots sell at from one to five hundred dollars each, (the price varying with their location,) in the currency of the country.
The ground back of the town on the bluff, is rather rocky for half a mile, to the foot of the hill; upon ascending the hill, the country consists of fern openings and timber groves alternately, for a distance of about thirty-five miles, to the Cascade mountains. Upon this bluff, which is covered with timber, there is a small but beautiful lake, supplied with springs, which has an outlet by a rivulet that passes through the town into the river.
The river below the Falls, for several miles, is about two hundred and fifty yards wide, and opposite the town it is very deep. The bank on the east side, with the exception of a few hundred yards, is a cliff of about twenty feet in height, for the first half mile, of a firm basaltic rock; from thence down to the Clackamis the bank is a sandy loam.
Upon the west side of the Willamette, and opposite to Oregon city, are laid out two villages; the upper one is called Linn city, in honor of the late senator from Missouri, whose memory, for his patriotic services in the cause of the Oregon emigrant, is held in high esteem by every true friend of his country and of humanity. When Dr. Linn died, the friends of Oregon lost a champion who would not have shamelessly deserted them in the hour of need.[132] Mr. Moore, late of Missouri, is the proprietor;[133] his claim commences one-fourth of a mile below the Falls, extends above the Falls one and three-fourths of a mile, and back from the river one half of a mile. When I left, there were about fifteen buildings in this village, inhabited mostly by mechanics. The proprietor had refused to sell water power, which was doubtless one of the reasons why more emigrants did not settle in it.