| Title: | Letter from Oregon [U.S.A.]. |
|---|---|
| ID | 3942 |
| Collection | Irish Emigration Database |
| File | 1841-50/5 |
| Year | 1845 |
| Sender | unknown |
| Sender Gender | unknown |
| Sender Occupation | unknown |
| Sender Religion | unknown |
| Origin | Oregon City, Oregon, USA |
| Destination | Ireland |
| Recipient | unknown |
| Recipient Gender | unknown |
| Relationship | re living in the USA |
| Source | The Vindicator, Belfast, 27 September 1845. |
| Archive | The Linenhall Library, Belfast. |
| Doc. No. | 9409110 |
| Date | 14/04/1845 |
| Partial Date | |
| Doc. Type | EMG |
| Log | Document added by LT, 08:09:1994 |
| Word Count | 577 |
| Genre | |
| Note | |
| Transcript | Letter from Oregon. - Oregon City, April 14. - I am much better pleased with Oregon than I expected to be on my arrival at this place, which, though it is a growing business place, is not so pleasantly situated as many other town sites in Oregon. I have recently returned from the great valley of the Crede River, which enters into the Williamette Falt, and am as much pleased with that part of the country. It is mostly an open prairie, though sufficiently timbered for good farms, and the soil is equal to any part of the Missouri or Illinois. The valley is just beginning to be settled, many of the late emigrants having settled there, among them General Gillam, Colonel Ford and Colonel Thom, who commanded the company that crossed the Missouri at the Council Bluffs. Mr.Shaw is also settled in this beautiful valley; he brought with him a flock of sheep, and, I believe, did not lose one on the trip. When at his house on the Creole River, I counted 25 lambs from his flock of 20 sheep. Another river enters the Williamette also on the West side, 43 miles above the mouth of the Creole, which streams from an immense plain on a great bend of the Williamette, 30 miles in extent from north to south, with out a hill, while high hills surrounded the streams some ten miles from their junction with the Williamette. From the top of these you have a grand prospect of the surrounding country and behold the snow capped summits of Mounts Hood, Jefferson, and St.Helena. These hills are excellent for stock, being well watered and covered the year round with green grass. The Twallatty Plain is also a fine prairie country, 30 miles west of this place. The Clatsop Plains are also highly spoken of at the mouth of the Columbia River, though it is a small open country, surrounded by a dense forset, which I have not yet visited. There is a sawmill 30 miles from the Clatson Plains. General Gillam and Mr. J. O'Neill are building a sawmill and a grist-mill on the Creole River, which they will have in operation this summer. Major Harns and others will soon start to view out a road from the head-waters of the Williamette valley. A word about prices - common labourers get a dollar per day here and board themselves; wheat is worth a dollar per bushell, and as we are not yet annoyed with any Scutapo, people do not waste their time at any tippling-shops - for we have none. Only let the government of the United States extend the national jurisdiction over this country and enable us to go an as we have begun, and if any country could resemble Paradise, it would be Oregon. But many are becoming disheartened at the tardy movement of Congress in relation to American citizens in this valuable portion of our domain. If Congress intends to lend a hand to the infant colony here, now numbering 5,000 souls, let it be done in this our time of need, otherwise, we shall soon be compelled to depend upon our own resources for protection and defence from foreign power. Please send several of your papers here by the next emigration, as they will be read with interest by all Americans in the country. We are not strong but look at the American flag as our own and long to see it floating constantly on the waters of the Columbia. |
