Union City, Ind.
Please give a history of the harmonica.
Ford A. Carpenter.
Answer.—The original harmonica consisted of drinking glasses, played with moistened fingers. We read that about 1750 Mr. Packeridge, an Irish gentleman, was noted as a player upon glasses, whose pitch was regulated by the amount of water contained in each. Benjamin Franklin greatly improved the harmonica by making the glasses revolve about a spindle and fixing the pitch by the size of the glass. He also adopted a different color for each note in the scale, and moistened the rims by passing them through water. Miss Davis, a relative of Franklin, became a celebrated harmonica player, and performed at concerts with great credit. The mouth organ, which is now commonly called the harmonica, is a toy in which the sounds are produced by the vibration of metallic reeds, moved by the breath. Reed instruments essentially similar have been in use in China, Germany, and Holland from very early times. The inventor is unknown.
OREGON AND WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
Alta, Iowa.
Please inform your readers about Northern Oregon and Washington Territory. Is any part of them safe from Indian depredations? Is the land mainly government or railroad grants? State chief facts as to soil, climate, and the various kinds of grain raised.
R.
Answer.—The Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory are all gathered into reservations, and are now peaceable. They are not so fierce and restless as the tribes on this side of the Rockies, being more inclined to pastoral life, farming, and fishing. Little trouble is to be apprehended from this source, particularly in Oregon, the Indian population of which is not large. There are great bodies of public lands. The railroad land-grants are not so extensive as in the Missouri Valley States. There are immense quantities of fine timber lands open to purchase at the minimum price of $2.50 per acre under the “timber lands act” of June 3, 1878, which applies only to such lands in Oregon, Washington Territory, California, and Nevada. There are also wide sections in these States for sale at 25 cents an acre under the “desert lands” act of March 3, 1877. Great bargains have been made in lands passed under this description which are capable of easy irrigation, and are then remarkably productive. Oregon is divided into two parts, differing essentially in climate and productions by the Cascade Range of mountains, running nearly parallel with the Pacific coast, with an average breadth of 50 to 60 miles, and an average elevation of 8,000 feet. The portion of the State west of this range, constituting about one-third of its total area, is well watered, is generally very fertile, and, for the most part, covered with forests of valuable timber. The eastern two-thirds of the State, with the exception of the broad, fertile valleys of the Colombia and Wallawalla Rivers, is mainly made up of elevated plains, with insufficient rainfall for agriculture, except in districts where artificial irrigation is practicable.