We need nothing more to tell us where the Oregon pioneers hailed from than the nomenclature of towns and rivers of the eastern part of the state. The Columbia itself was once—and more fitly—the Oregon, which rolled through “the continuous woods and heard no sound save its own dashings” until a Boston sea captain decided to honor the mighty stream with the name of his ship. The New Englander crops out still more significantly in Portland, Salem, Albany, the Willamette, and other names familiar in this region which the “down east” Yankee bestowed in loving memory of the towns and rivers of his native land.
We left Portland by the Pacific Highway, which runs through the heart of this western New England for one hundred and sixty miles, following the valley of the Willamette River. This valley is from twenty to sixty miles wide and is beyond question the garden spot of Oregon, if not of the entire Pacific Coast. The late J. J. Hill, the “Empire Builder,” in one of his last public appearances, at a banquet in Portland, declared, “I consider the Willamette Valley the most favored spot on earth for its size.” Gov. James Withycombe, who for many years was connected with the Oregon State Agricultural College, is responsible for the statement that “The Willamette Valley has a greater variety of agricultural products than any other section of the whole United States.” Possibly both of these authorities may have been somewhat prejudiced—Hill’s railroads and steamships were directly interested in the products of the valley, and a governor is not likely to minify the merits of any part of his state. Still, they are authorities on the matter and the people of the Willamette Valley, at least, are no doubt quite willing to let these pronunciamentos stand unchallenged. Nor are we inclined to dispute such authorities from any knowledge that we ourselves may have for, though we traversed the valley at the most unfavorable period of the year, we were none the less impressed with the evidences of its wonderful beauty, fertility, and great variety of products. The climate, we were told, is very temperate; in winter the freezing point is seldom touched and while summer days are usually pretty hot, the relief of cool nights never fails. As to its fertility and the capability of the valley to sustain a far larger population, an enthusiastic local authority is responsible for the following comparison:
“Populous Belgium, which before the German invasion contained about seven million inhabitants, has an area of only 11,373 square miles, or less than the aggregate area of the eight counties occupying the valley of the Willamette, which have a total of 12,526 square miles. The present population of these counties is about two hundred thousand. There is no reason why they should not contain as large a number of people as Belgium, for the climate of both sections is similar and the soil of the valley, though of different composition, is fully as productive as that of Belgium.”
A roseate forecast, to be sure, but one to which a careful observer might reasonably take exception; for while the whole of Belgium is a level and very fertile plain, more than half the area of the eight counties of the Willamette is occupied by rugged mountains which can never be cultivated except in very limited sections. We can agree, however, more unreservedly with another enthusiast who speaks in terms of scenic beauty and pastoral prosperity rather than square miles and population:
“A broad valley, rich, prosperous, and beautiful to look upon is the Willamette, and a valley of many moods. Neither in scenic charms nor agricultural resourcefulness is its heritage restricted to a single field. There are timberland and trout stream, hill and dale, valley and mountain; rural beauty of calm Suffolk is neighbor to the ragged picturesqueness of Scotland; there are skylines comparable with Norway’s, and lowlands peaceful as Sweden’s pastoral vistas; the giant timber, or their relic stumps, at some pasture edge, spell wilderness, while a happy, alder-lined brook flowing through a boulder-dotted field is reminiscent of the uplands of Connecticut. Altogether, it is a rarely variegated viewland, is this vale of the Willamette.
“You have seen valleys which were vast wheatfields, or where orchards were everywhere; in California and abroad you have viewed valleys dedicated to vineyards, and from mountain vantage points you have feasted your eyes upon the greenery of timberland expanses; all the world over you can spy out valleys dotted with an unvaried checkerboard of gardens, or green with pasture lands. But where have you seen a valley where all of this is mingled, where nature refuses to be a specialist and man appears a Jack-of-all-outdoor trades? If by chance you have journeyed from Medford to Portland, with some excursioning from the beaten paths through Oregon’s valley of content, you have viewed such a one.
PRUNE ORCHARDS NEAR DUNDEE, OREGON, WILLAMETTE VALLEY
From photo by The Winter Co., Portland, Oregon
“For nature has staged a lavish repertoire along the Willamette. There are fields of grain and fields of potatoes; hop yards and vineyards stand side by side; emerald pastures border brown cornfields; forests of primeval timber shadow market garden patches; natty orchards of apples, peaches, and plums are neighbors to waving expanses of beet tops. In short, as you whirl through the valley, conjure up some antithesis of vegetation and you must wait but a scanty mile or two before viewing it from the observation car.