Dear Brother: Your last came duly to hand and very much refreshed our spirits. Write every opportunity, being assured that intelligence from our friends is to us in this land like cold water to thirsty souls. You will see by my letter where I am stationed. This is in some respects a pleasant though laborious field of labor. This is and is destined to be, the great emporium of the interior of this country. Its water power for manufacturing purposes is probably not rivaled in the States; at least, few and far between are the privileges which equal or excel it; besides here is an excellent salmon fishery. As to the country, taking it all and all, it is a good farming and grazing country. The winters are so mild that the cattle and horses do well without feeding. The country is well watered, and the inhabitants are, in general, healthy. The ague and fever is the most prevalent disease, although other diseases occur. On the sea coast I believe it is more healthy than back in the country. So far as I and my family are concerned, we have been as healthy as we ever were in the States. Our little ones are quite as hearty and as lively as the fawns that skip over the plains.
Produce of all kinds, except corn, does well here, so far as it has been fairly tried. Some corn has been raised. Wheat, peas, and oats, I believe, so far as quality is concerned, can not excel in any country. Potatoes are tolerable, and in some parts excellent. Indeed, it is my candid conviction, that an industrious and economical man can live as well (fruit excepted) and make property as fast as in almost any country, and far easier than in any part of the State of New York where I have lived. Let him bring with him a few hundred dollars in cash or property, his farming utensils, etc., and settle on one of these delightful plains and the first year he can support his family from the soil, as he has nothing to do but fence, plow, and sow, and prepare a shelter or house for his family; yet he will have to encounter some difficulties incident to all new countries. Our mills are few and far between, and not all of the first order, but rather multiplying and improving; though a good millwright is very much wanted, as well as apparatus for building mills and a great many wholesome settlers, embracing some capitalists who will open trade with the Islands and China, which can be done from this coast with great facility. But first of all, our government ought to extend its jurisdiction and protection over this country. The state of the country in this respect (especially for Americans), as well in respect to a currency, is unpleasant. The Hudson Bay Company seem determined to monopolize as long as possible; yet in many respects they are quite accommodating, at least, so far as it is to their interest. They profess to claim many of the best and most valuable parts of the country by putting up a little hut without habitation and forbidding any one settling in those places. They made a claim at the Falls, on the side where I now am, about twelve years since, hewing a quantity of timber, etc., and a few years since they put up a small hut and covered it with bark.
Last fall an American took possession of a small island in the falls, but no sooner was it known at Fort Vancouver than a company of men was sent off with boards to put up a hut, and soon the governor of the fort came up, greatly incensed, called the man a pilferer, and anything but good; he, however, went on! A cooper wished to build a shop near me, but was informed, by orders from the fort, that if he built his shop would be torn down. He, however, went on and built; his shop still stands. These are naked facts; and others of the same kind, if necessary, can be forthcoming. By this you will have some clue to the state of things in this country in this respect.
I have written in great haste, as this is to be off early to-morrow morning. Besides, I have plenty of company, a number of men being here to buy salmon, of which I have the care. Others are on their way down the river. Indeed, my house is at times, as to travelers, more like a public house than a Methodist preacher's.
Your affectionate brother,
ALVIN F. WALLER.
A letter by Titian R. Peale to Thomas Morgan, Esq., of Washington, Pennsylvania:
Washington, D. C., February 6, 1843.
Dear Sir: Observing the interest you have taken in the "Oregon Bill," now before Congress, I conclude that a few notes, coming from one who has recently traveled through a portion of the Oregon territory, will be acceptable to you, and probably be of use to some of your neighbors, who may feel disposed to profit by the inducements offered, should the bill pass and become a law.
Being a member of the Scientific Corps of the United States Expedition, in 1841, I had the misfortune to be wrecked, in the ship Peacock, at the mouth of the Columbia River, and subsequently traveled that portion of the country south of the Columbia River, known as the Wallamette Valley, and thence across the mountains to California.
The soil, we observed, generally on that route, although not as rich as that of the Mississippi Valley, was still sufficiently so, when cultivated, to produce from twenty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre, of as good quality as any I have ever seen in my native State (Pennsylvania), which, added to the facilities for settlers in finding the land ready for the plough, without the labor of clearing, while sufficiency of the finest timber is found on the banks of the numerous streams, is alone sufficient to invite to the further settlement of the country when known. But this is not all. The winters are so mild that it has never yet been found necessary to house cattle, or provide winter food for them. They thrive and multiply beyond expectation.