Oregon Spectator, Oregon City, September 19, 1850, page 2


    The U.S. steam propeller Massachusetts sailed from this port on the 6th April last, having on board a joint commission of army and navy officers, sent out by the government to examine the coast of the United States lying upon the Pacific Ocean. During her absence she has visited the coast lying between San Francisco and the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget's Sound. From thence she proceeded to Beaver Harbor, on the north coast of Vancouver's Island, where she supplied herself with coals from the mines in the vicinity, and on her return touched at Cape Flattery (or Neat Harbor), and Columbia River. She sailed from thence on the 1st August, examining in her course downward the coast and rivers. On the 5th August, at noon, she hove to off the Umpqua River. Saw a sch. at anchor inside, and was shortly boarded by a whaleboat from the river, in which were Dr. Fiske, Messrs. Brinesmaid, Farrell, Eugenbroop and others, who reported that the sch. inside was the Samuel Roberts, from San Francisco, with a party under the auspices of Messrs. Winchester and Payne. A Mr. Scott, from Columbia River, was also one of the party in the boat. The above gentlemen informed Capt. Knox that they had found 12 feet of water on the bar at low water and 20 feet at high do. They were surveying the river, and intended proceeding up the river as far as they could get in the schooner. (The S.R. had been into Rogue's River some time previous, and had lost two seamen by the overturning of a boat on the bar.) The latitude of the mouth of the river is 43°41.15 N, long. 124°04 W. Capt. K. subsequently made a river just north and close to Cape Gregory. It appeared to have a wide entrance, and well sheltered from south and southwest winds--open the N. and W. From appearances, Capt. K. would think there was good water on the bar. About eight miles N.W. by W., per compass, from the rock off Cape Mendocino, there is a sunken ledge, on which the water breaks occasionally. Vessels passing the Cape should give it berth of about nine miles, although a vessel may pass inside of it, and near the Cape, but the ground is very broken.
"Memoranda," Daily Alta California, San Francisco, August 10, 1850, page 2


    EXPLORING EXPEDITION.--We publish this morning the report of the Klamath Expedition, made last night to the stockholders. As a matter of information from a section of country but little known, it cannot fail of being read with eager interest. 
Daily Pacific News, San Francisco, September 7, 1850, page 2


To the Stockholders in the Klamath Exploring Expedition.
    GENTLEMEN:--We are happy in being enabled to announce to our friends and co-partners in San Francisco the safe return of our exploring party from an expedition far more successful than we had dared to expect. The schooner Samuel Roberts left this port for the mouth of Klamath River, on Saturday, July 6, having on board a company of thirty-four persons, including the officers and seamen of the vessels. Owing to the heavy swell that encountered us off the mouth of the harbor, the vessel sprung a leak in her centerboard trunk, which admitted the water so rapidly that we were forced to pull back the same afternoon, not being able to get at it while plunging into a hard sea. It proved, however, on arriving at Sausalito, to be a small matter, and easily repaired and, having changed our sand ballast for stone, we sailed again on Monday, July 7th. The wind being constantly in the northwest, and the vessel a dull sailer on the wind, our progress was slow, and nothing occurred worthy of notice till July 14th, when a meeting was called on board for the purpose of organizing the company and arranging the order of the expedition. At this meeting it was determined to proceed on military principles, and Herman Winchester was elected commander of the expedition.
    On the morning of the 21st July, we made land at Cape Orford, about twenty miles to windward of our port, and ran down the coast before the wind, heaving to now and then to send in a boat for closer inspection of the shore. Our pilot, Capt. Coffin, presently recognized the landmarks noted on the Patapsco voyage, and about eleven o'clock the entrance was plainly visible on the lee bow. A boat, with five men and the mate, was dispatched to examine the bar and signalize the vessel if there was a safe entrance, it being then low tide. This boat was, unfortunately, swamped in the surf, and two of the crew, Charles Brown, a Swede, and James Cook, an Englishman, were drowned, as was supposed, during our stay in the river. The body of Cook was brought in by the Indians two days after, and buried by us, but that of Brown was not recovered, and we supposed it had not been washed ashore. We afterwards heard from the Umpqua Indians that the man had reached the shore in an exhausted condition, some distance from the others, and was killed in that state by a native for his clothes.
    The other four were saved by the Indians, after a severe struggle in the surf, and were immediately stripped of their clothing, though without threats or violence being offered them. The schooner entered as soon as it was high tide, though the channel was so narrow as to render the passage dangerous, and cast anchor in two fathoms water.
    Next day, July 22, a boat was dispatched upstream to ascertain the depth of water, and direction of the river--in both of which we were disappointed. The course of the stream is northeast, instead of east or southeast, as was expected, while the soundings gave from three to twelve feet in the channel at low tide. The schooner might have ascended three miles at high water, but at that distance the first rapid occurs, and bars are afterwards met with about once in every reach, on which the water flows about two feet deep, and on all of which the Indians have built their fish weirs.
    The mountains encroach upon the stream all along, leaving no intervals, and no chance for a road; hence communication with the interior from this point can be had only at great expense, if, indeed, at all. On the following day the harbor was surveyed by Mr. Lanitt, and soundings were taken by Capt. Coffin. A chart made by Mr. Lanitt is herewith submitted. The width of the entrance at high water is only 12 chains, and of the bay within half a mile, one half of which is occupied by shingle bars, dry at low water. The soundings on the bar give nine feet at low water, but the channel towards the north beach gives two to three fathoms. No flat land suitable for building occurs on the banks until the first bar is passed, and there it is inaccessible to shipping except in the wet season. Some fine farms might be made from the coast lands, but they would all be in a line, and no village or town could be supported by them, while the sea breeze and fogs are exceedingly raw and uncomfortable.
    The next day we dispatched two parties to explore the coast north and south, fully convinced that this river could not be the Klamath, or else that all our predecessors had exaggerated its size beyond all precedent. A party of seven set out along the beach in search of a larger stream, but after traveling till within six miles of the California line, they could see no interruption to the mountain barrier that lined the coast. The party towards the north traveled far enough to ascertain that no river occurs south of Cape Orford, when their further progress was stopped by bodies of Indians who made much more hostile demonstrations here than at any other point we visited. We were now satisfied that the Klamath River does not empty into the ocean as represented on Fremont's and Wilkes' maps, and our opinion was confirmed by conversation with old explorers in Southern Oregon, who consider both Klamath, Rogue and Shasta rivers to be tributaries of the Trinity, and the size of that stream at its mouth tends to confirm their theory. As for the river we explored, it cannot possibly penetrate the Coast Range, it is wholly unnavigable, the harbor is too small and shallow, the entrance too dangerous, the Indians too numerous and hostile, and the ground too mountainous to allow of a settlement at that point. Of gold there was no indication. A road to the upper country is impracticable, and there is nothing but the timber which could pay for killing the Indians.
    Having waited five days for a wind to carry us out of the harbor, we sailed again on Thursday, July 31st, with a light breeze from the southward, and arrived next day at the latitude of Umpqua River, 43 41 15. Calm weather, however, prevented our landing until the third day afterwards; but meanwhile a boat being sent in to examine the surf under the direction of some Indians, who came off to us in a canoe, we found an easy entrance into a broad, deep and beautiful harbor, it being half tide and three fathoms water on the bar. We were happy here in meeting with three Oregonians, Levi Scott, Esq., Mr. Butler and Mr. Sloane. This Mr. Scott is a resident of Elk River, a tributary of the Umpqua, and has spent the last six months in exploring Umpqua Valley from its sources to its mouth. Having himself prospected successfully for gold on the South Fork of the Umpqua, and aided in laying out the great highway from the Willamette Valley to California and the Eastern States, which crosses this valley, he has been long convinced of the importance of an outlet to this favored region nearer than the distant ports on the Columbia. For the purpose of ascertaining the capacities of the harbor, Mr. Scott had just concluded a bargain with Capt. McArthur of the government surveying schooner Ewing, to come down and attempt the entrance for one thousand dollars, which was exacted for that service, and he had now come down to meet his appointment with that officer. He was surprised as well as rejoiced to meet with a company of adventurers, whose object was identical with his own, and his knowledge of the country and anxiety to aid us proved of the greatest service to our after explorations.
    On the evening of Aug. 4th a light breeze springing up enabled us to enter the harbor in safety, where we dropped anchor in three fathoms water. On the following day the harbor was surveyed by Messrs. Scholfield and Lanitt, a chart of which is herewith submitted. The steamer Massachusetts appearing in the offing, a boat was sent on board to report us. The officers showed much interest in the expedition, but had not time to enter the harbor, being on their way to San Francisco.
    On Tuesday, Aug. 6th, we weighed anchor and sailed with a fair wind upstream. A whaleboat reached the head of navigation, distant about 30 miles, in 6 hours and the schr. followed in the same sailing time. We found the river more of an inlet, or arm of the sea, for this distance than a freshwater stream, the water being sensibly salt twenty miles up, and the tides at the landing above, about 4 feet. There can be but little difference in the height of the waters the year round, and from 3 to 7 fathoms may be had in the channel all the way to the landing excepting on one bar about 22 miles from the mouth, which gives 9 feet at half tide.
    The width of the entrance below is 500 yards, with the northwest winds abeam both entering and leaving. The bay within is three miles long and from half a mile to a mile and a quarter wide, while the river above will average 500 yards in width. (A draught of the river is herewith submitted.) Its banks are cliffs and mountains of light red sandstone which would furnish an excellent material for building in San Francisco, as it is easily quarried and hardens on exposure to the weather. These hills are heavily timbered with the firs, spruces, cedars, hemlocks and pines so common in Oregon. The current either way in the river is slight and its course remarkably straight, running a W.N.W. course to the bay. The point which separates the harbor from the sea is a low sand pit, which has evidently been thrown up by the waves on one side and the river on the other. The other shores of the harbor are low sandstone hills, about 50 feel above the river, descending towards the stream, and covered with a rich soil, from which springs a rigorous underbrush, rendering the hatchet an indispensable traveling companion. We took here three claims in the names of Herman Winchester, Horace I. Paine and Henry Martin, for town purposes, being all the land available below the head of navigation for commercial uses.
    On reaching the head of navigation we found that nature and Mr. Scott had left us entirely out of their calculations, the former by enclosing the river with high mountains excepting only a strip finely situated for town purposes. This is the spot chosen for our third location, as it will be seen from the map that the trade from the Willamette Valley, distant thirty miles, as well as that from the present settlements which are nearly all on Elk River, will center here. The road must necessarily pass this point, and as no other suitable location occurs below this for a place of any size, nature herself has in this instance excluded all competition. This claim was made in the name of Galem Burdell and Charles Eigenbrodt. From this point our party separated into small companies, taking different routes. Dr. Paine proceeded to the county seat at Mary's River, to record the claims already taken; Col. Winchester and three others accompanied Mr. Scott to his residence on Elk River. A party of six took the trail up the Umpqua, and were followed the next day by another small party. All were to meet at the ferry thirty-five or forty miles upstream. The route on Elk River is about twenty miles to the intersection with the Oregon and California, and in an east by north direction, passing through a heavy timbered region. This stream furnishes any number of excellent mill seats, as it is so small as to be perfectly manageable, and yet would supply almost any amount of power the year round. The farms at its head are stocked with cattle and hogs in fine order, and fine houses are met with in all directions. Specimens of wheat produced here at an average of 25 bushels to the acre, under the rudest system of farming, accompanying this report, while the united opinions of all who have passed through the valley place its agricultural capacities far above those of the Willamette, of a few acres on the north bank. As there was no alternative we were forced to compromise with Mr. Scott, who in his anxiety to further our undertaking deeded us outright a lot of 160 acres, including all the flat approachable by vessels, about twenty-five acres; he receiving about twice the amount of flat land beyond it. The contract with Mr. Scott is submitted with this report, together with the plan of the place.
    From Mr. Scott's claim, for a distance of three miles, the road up the valley will have to cross a spur of a mountain heavily timbered, the river being much broken by rapids. Thence, however, it emerges upon a level bottom which continues with but two interruptions to the junction with Elk River, opposite the Fort, distant from the landing about 16 miles. All the intervale land on this route has been claimed, and most of it will be occupied this fall by emigrants from the Willamette. These hills begin gradually to recede at the Fort, and prairie or intervale land borders the stream in larger and larger bodies as you ascend. On arriving at the Fort we were hospitably received by Mr. Gagnier, the agent of the Hudson Bay Company, who put himself and his limited accommodations entirely at our service. Though the land here appears dry at this season, Mr. Gagnier has good crops growing in his gardens and potato fields, and his Indians were threshing some fine wheat in the barn. Apple trees were so loaded down with fruit as to require props under every branch, while corn, melons, and variety of vegetables exhibited a thrifty growth. After three days' travel the two first parties met at the appointed rendezvous. Here we found a regular wagon ferry belonging to Messrs. Aiken & Smith, who also claimed the land on both sides to the extent of 1280 acres. They have their families, stock, and log houses here, and have been doing a profitable business this season in ferrying the emigration to and from the Willamette. The road here follows a valley which extends in a straight line north and south for twenty miles, and forms the shortest possible route for that great highway. The valley of the Umpqua centers at this point, it being from hence 30 miles to the Umpqua Mtn. south, 80 to the Cascades east, 25 to the Calapooias north, and 18 to the Coast Range west. The South Fork, on which the gold is most abundant, empties six miles below, and Calapooia Creek about twelve. Both of these, as well as the main stream, flow for many miles above here through the most magnificent country on this coast.
    The plains are not so extensive as in California, being seldom more than two or three miles wide, and separated by gentle hills from 50 to 500 feet high, and covered with grass and oak trees, forming natural parks, and furnishing the finest pasturage. The valleys are covered with grass, and springs or brooks occur, even at this season, on almost every claim. Roads can be made in any direction almost on a dead level, and when railroads are built in this country the great line from Columbia River to San Francisco and the United States, through the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, must pass through Aiken's valley. The mines on the South Fork are distant but 25 miles from the ferry, and those on Rogue River but 60, and all the business hereafter to arise from Rogue River, the richest of the Oregon streams in gold, must necessarily come to the ferry, as no other possible outlet exists through the Coast Range south.
    The richness of the farming lands here increases as you go south. The fine lands lying about the mouth of the South Fork, comprising about ten thousand acres, have been selected by Col. Loring of the Oregon regiment as a cavalry station, and he will probably remove the army there this winter or in spring. Should this be done, our location above will immediately rise to importance. Coal is found on the main fork, about twenty miles up, and timber in any quantity can be floated down from the Cascades and manufactured by steam power at this point. Here therefore, again taking nature as our guide, we determined on making our fourth location and entered into an agreement with Messrs. Smith and Aiken for purchasing their right and improvements, a copy of which is herewith submitted. Their claims on both sides were surveyed by Jesse Applegate, Esq., formerly U.S. Surveyor in Missouri, formerly a member of the Oregon Legislature, and now a settler on Elk River. Mr. Applegate is a gentleman whose public spirit, perseverance and enterprise have done much for Oregon, and whose aid will be of great moment to the success of our enterprise, to whom we are under great obligations for his hospitality and assistance. While these surveys were in progress, Col. Winchester and Mr. Scott with a party proceeded up the South Fork to the mines, and met a company of Oregonians prospecting on the bars. From these they obtained a specimen of gold which is herewith submitted, weighing about twelve dollars, the product of 30 pansful of earth. Messrs. Scott and Butler dug on one of these bars for three hours with a pan and obtained ten dollars, thus earning at the rate of twenty dollars per day each without a machine. Gov. Lane and his party also found gold here on his southern tour this spring, finding more or less on every bar. There can be no doubt but that quicksilver machines would pay here as well as in California, and we have no hesitation in asserting that the south fork of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers adjacent, are as rich in gold as any rivers in California.
    Parties from the Willamette are passing the ferry daily on their way to these mines, and their reputation is rapidly extending through all the population at the north. The four locations we have taken possession of can hardly fail in our judgment, as well as in those of the residents in Umpqua Valley, to command all the trade flowing from the southern half of the Willamette Valley--that arising from Rogue River Valley--and all that can originate in Umpqua Valley. Nature has cut off, all [illegible] mountain barriers, which line the defiles and guard the limits of our every claim. The Indians here are few, friendly and industrious, and would furnish no small amount of custom for goods. Some of the tribes possess large herds of horses and cattle, and are reputed wealthy. They are well armed with rifles and are ready to assist the whites in any difficulty against the hostile tribes. The effect of our discoveries upon the value of property, even during our stay, was most gratifying to our prospects in the valley.
    The value of all lands in the southern part of the Willamette and also in the Umpqua valleys was doubled at once, and the people are anxiously awaiting the return of a vessel with supplies. A market has been opened to the most fertile portion of Oregon, 150 miles nearer than that on the Columbia.
    Having now satisfied ourselves that the country around the Umpqua possesses greater natural resources than any other portion of the American Pacific, we returned to the vessel and dropped down to the mouth of the river. A party of eleven men were left under the superintendence of Dr. Eugene R. Fisk, to maintain our claims and commence operations on the roads. The remainder of the company then re-embarked and returned to this city, after a sojourn of three weeks and two days in this delightful country.
Daily Pacific News, San Francisco, September 7, 1850, page 2


    Messrs. Editors.---Having just returned from an expedition up the Klamath River and its tributaries, I give you a brief statement of the diggings in that remote region, as far as I was able to learn by my own exertions. After several unsuccessful attempts to cross the mountains from Trinity River to the Klamath in a direct northerly course, we were compelled to follow the Trinity down to its junction with the Klamath. At the mouth of Trinity, we found three large Indian villages, with houses built of planks split out of redwood, and covered with redwood boards, in a manner which indicated that those Indians possessed more intelligence and culture than any other tribe we had yet met with in California. The Indians themselves were of a more warlike disposition, and possessed the faculties of the most expert thieves of any large city. While we were unpacking our mules, they stole, notwithstanding our closest attention, our axe, crowbar, blankets, the knives out of our very belts; they seemed to have a wonderful desire for iron. We being only 14 in number, open revenge or hostility would have proved fatal, as we were completely surrounded by several hundred Indians, who had their bows and sharp-pointed arrows ready. However, we got off safely, and found our way up the Klamath over a rugged and rocky trail, where the best of mules lost their foothold sometimes, and rolled down the precipices. After four days' very fatiguing journey, we arrived at the mouth of Salmon River, where we intended to stop and prospect, and, if favorable, go to work. The result of our prospects were not so flattering as we anticipated—the gold being deposited in small quantities from two to three cents the pan. Sometimes a crevice in a rock would yield $50 to a day's labor; but this good luck was seldom met with. Some of the bars paid as high as an ounce per day to the man, but then the gold was in the topsoil, and therefore soon worked out. As near as I could find out, this seems to be the case with most all the rivers on the Coast Range mountains; few bars would pay, the gold being chiefly found in the topsoil, and rich crevices scarce. From this very reason you can account for so many disappointments met on Trinity. A few individuals have done well in a canion, in a crevice, or in some bar that had not previously been worked out. The gold being all in the topsoil, men would work out their claim in a short time, and then be obliged to seek other places. Moving about will not do in any mines, and especially in such as Trinity and Klamath, where the worst of mountain trails makes the moving very tedious, difficult, and expensive. It is no small matter to take your bundle on your back, and carry your provisions over mountains which require hours to ascend, and hours to go down again. As for dry diggings, we have not been able to discover any, nor have we been able to find any flats, or even gently descending ravines, where the gold is most apt to lay. Mountain joins mountain, and the gulches are very rocky and steep; that is, as far as we were able to ascend the river. There may be a better-looking gold region at the head of Klamath and Shasta River, which empties into the Klamath, above Salmon River; but our provisions giving out, we were obliged to return. Since our return, parties have started up to Shasta River, and no doubt the public will be informed, ere Iong, how that remote region will reward the enterprise of the prospecting miner.
    On our return from the Klamath, at its junction with the Trinity, we found the Indians very hostile; and not feeling very good humored after having lost so many useful articles, we determined this time to give them their just due. After having appointed an old mountaineer for our captain, we attacked their village and succeeded in routing the Indians. Most of them took to their canoes, which they manage with great dexterity, and effected their escape; some, however, we were able to take prisoners, so as to recover our stolen mining utensils and clothing; and some had to pay with their life for exasperating the whites by their depredations. We had ample opportunity to witness their great skill in shooting arrows, which frequently fell among us from a distance of 250 yards. The deadly fire of our rifles kept them in awe, and since this little affray, we have heard from parties, which ascended the river afterwards, that the lesson we taught them stopped their marauding, and the Indians now behave more peaceably and are more friendly to the whites. Still I would recommend to persons who start for that region to be well armed, and not trust these Indians, nor allow them to come into camp, for they are treacherous and warlike, and would not hesitate to kill a small party. Salmon fish abound in the river, and for a few strings of beads, we secured many an excellent meal of the most delicious salmon in the world.
Sacramento Transcript, September 11, 1850, page 2


    The Oregonians have their eyes open and are moving. Says the Spectator:--
    The Umpqua, that hitherto unknown region, is waking up. A settlement is fast growing up, and business houses are being built to accommodate the demands of trade. The advertisement of Sloan, Frederick & Co. makes known more fully what they are prepared to do in this new district.
    Mr. Winchester, an extensive merchant and businessman in San Francisco, has commenced a city in Southern Oregon, on the Umpqua, called Winchester. He recently shipped 30 houses from San Francisco to that point. His present design is to transport from Umpqua to San Francisco an immense supply of Free Stone, for building purposes. It is found that the Umpqua River is easy of access--there being more water on the bar than in the southern channel at the mouth of the Columbia. Farmers and mechanics are moving to the Umpqua region.
    OREGON CITY MARKET, Sept. 19--Apples, dried, per lb., 75¢; peaches, do., $1; beef, retails at market 15-18¢; pork, per lb., 16-20¢; butter, per lb., $1; cheese, do. 75¢; flour, per cwt., $7.50; do. per bbl., $15. Grain--Wheat, per bushel, $1.50-$2; oats, per do. $2.50; do. sheaf, per doz., $2. Groceries--Coffee; per lb. 20-25¢; sugar, brown, per lb., 30-35¢; do., loaf, 75¢; tea, $1-$1.50; molasses, per gal., $1.75; tobacco, per lb., 37½¢-$1.25; rice, per lb., 15¢; eggs, per doz, 50-75¢; lard, per lb., 40¢; salt, per cwt., $6; oil, linseed, per gal. $5; glass, per half box, 8x10, $6, do. 10x12, $7; iron, per lb., 12-20¢; nails, per lb., 16-20¢; cooking stoves, $60-$140, lumber, per M. 50-60¢.
"Intelligence from Oregon," Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, November 19, 1850, page 2  "do."="ditto"


    We commence, today, the publication of the favors of our correspondents at Umpqua City, and the upper valley of that fine stream. The entire region of Northern California and Southern Oregon, till within the past six months, was a terra incognito; none knew of the noble and navigable streams since discovered and explored almost to their sources, or of the lovely and fertile valleys watered by them. We see in this extension of topographical knowledge, by which new avenues of enterprise and wealth are opened to our citizens, an indication of what is to be the future of the wonderful empire arising and spreading along the shores of the vast Pacific.
    We have some valuable letters from MR. SCHOLFIELD, giving the results of his own explorations; and we are promised by Col. H. WINCHESTER a series of articles more fully treating upon the aspect and resources of the opened in a remarkable degree through his indomitable perseverance. The very crowded state of our columns precludes us from giving but a single letter this morning.
Editors of the Pacific News:
    Having had my attention called to the report of the KLAMATH EXPLORING EXPEDITION, in your paper, some time since, I was induced to visit a region of country of a character so promising. It gives me pleasure to say, in respect to that report, that it represented in modest terms the advantages and high prospects of the Umpqua River and valley. I have since the evidence of observation to confirm the truth of its fullest statements. A safer harbor cannot be found than this port offers, and with the aid of the charts, which are now in the hands of Winchester, Paine & Co., at San Francisco, the entrance is passed in security and with facility.
    The site of this place is level, and with an abundance of good timber in its immediate vicinity, there is no lack of building material. The river is, on either side, for forty miles, more heavily wooded with the finest timber for lumber and other uses that any country can boast. Above Scottsburg, which is situated at the head of navigation, the country begins to open into small and rich prairies, until we reach the valley of the Umpqua, where the broad, green plains fill the eye with their rolling meadows and shady groves, and present a virgin soil, such as must please the most fastidious agriculturist. I do not exaggerate when I state that in two years there will not be a good claim in this whole valley unoccupied.
    The settlers on the Columbia River, and in the Willamette Valley, have, in numerous instances, sold their previous locations, and emigrated to this region--induced to do so by the fact that the soil is better, and the climate milder. Emigrants returning from California, overland, are locating here every day. The emigration by sea from your port has been considerable. The Reindeer, from San Francisco, and bound to Portland, stopped here a few days since, and left with us one-half of her passengers.
    This river is the nearest and only outlet to the rich valley in which it takes its source. The agricultural produce and lumber of this valley will find a ready market in California, which must give an impulse of a permanent character to this port. I have not yet visited the gold regions of this valley, but several parties are now forming for the purpose of mining, and with the highest hopes of success. Labor is in demand at California prices. Game of every kind found in abundance--geese, ducks, salmon, and shellfish are furnished us in great numbers by the Indians, for a small compensation. Bears, both black and grizzly, deer and elk, fill the hills and forests, and reward the exertions of whoever will take the pains to hunt them.
    There is at present a scarcity of provisions on the river. Pork, flour, sugar, beef, and other staple articles command an advance of one hundred percent upon San Francisco prices. Clothing, boots and shoes, axes, and tools generally, arc in demand. A shipment of such articles would be a remunerating investment. Several houses are already established here, and are doing a good business.
    I have endeavored to give you a brief description of this region, without exaggeration, and have withheld praise rather than added any color to truth. Should you wish to learn further particulars, I would refer you to Col. H. Winchester, who has a perfect knowledge of the country, and to whose intelligence and enterprise all are indebted for the location and improvement of this important river.
Daily Pacific News, San Francisco, December 26, 1850, page 2


Report of Lieutenant Commanding W. P. McArthur to Professor A. D. Bache, Superintendent of the Coast Survey, communicating a description of the islands and rivers between the harbor of Monterey and the mouth of the Columbia River.
    The important rivers between San Francisco and the Columbia are, perhaps, sufficiently well defined on the reconnaissance chart, as far as latitude and longitude are concerned.
    Eel River.--There are nine feet of water on the bar at the mouth of this river. The entrance is very narrow, and the swell so high, generally, as to render it difficult and dangerous for sailing vessels. Steamers might enter and depart without difficulty.
    Humboldt River.--The entrance to this bay is half a mile in width between the breakers. There are eighteen feet of water on the bar at mean low water.
    The Klamath.--On the bar of this river there are seventeen feet of water at mean low water. The channel is so narrow and the current so strong that I deem it unsafe for sailing vessels. Steamers are required to make this river useful.
    Rogue's River.--This river has ten feet of water on the bar at the mouth at mean low water, but it is too narrow for sailing vessels, as there is scarcely room to turn in the channel.
    The Coquille River is not available for anything larger than small boats and canoes.
    The Coos.--This river was not so closely examined, but to judge by appearances at the mouth, I do not hesitate to express the opinion that it will be found to be available and very useful for steamers.
    The Umpqua.--I crossed the bar of this river in the second cutter, in 14 feet water, and passed into three fathoms on the inside of the bar, the rollers breaking at the time all the way across the channel. The channel, in my opinion, is practicable for steamers, but dangerous for sailing vessels, unless under very favorable circumstances.
    The remaining rivers to the northward can only be entered by small boats, except, perhaps, the "Yaquina," which might be entered by vessels of a larger class.
The Republic, Washington, D.C., December 27, 1850, page 3

    A correspondent of the Pacific News, who visited the Shasta gold regions, after it was "dug out," says:
    "I saw some of the gold that had been taken out, which was mostly in large 'chunks,' weighing from a quarter of a pound to two, and even as high as five pounds. It was estimated by those capable of judging that upward of $200,000 had been taken out of a comparatively small extent of diggings. Since that time I have been a wandering miner, spending all I had to work so hard for barely to keep soul and body together, until driven to this place once more by the approach of winter--penniless, homeless, but, I am happy to say, not friendless.
    "I am happy to be able to assure you that the Klamath mines have turned out very rich, extending over the entire river, its branches, creeks and ravines. I am confident that next spring these 'placers' will take the lead of any of the older mines, if not of them all, for any man can with ease make his $12 to $15 per day, and many that I know are averaging from $15 to $30 daily. These facts, no longer mere hearsay, but actual results, must give to Klamath City an importance as a depot of supply to an extensive mineral region, that will not fail to raise it into a prosperous town."
New York Tribune, February 11, 1851, page 6


    Yesterday, about noon, the brig Kate Heath entered our harbor, after an absence of nearly three months spent in exploring the Umpqua River in Oregon, and surveying the rich bottoms of its tributaries. This vessel left San Francisco on the 27th of September last, having on board a company of 75 persons, exclusive of those belonging to the brig, who went with the design of making permanent settlements in that beautiful and inviting region.
    In consequence of the headwinds prevailing at the time of their departure, thirteen days were spent in reaching a point which will hereafter be gained by steamers like the New Orleans in thirty-six hours. The cargo of the Kate Heath was discharged at Umpqua City, two miles within the mouth of the river, to the left as one ascends. At this location, which is destined to be the great point to which the commerce of the entire portion of Southwestern Oregon will be forever directed, a number of durable houses and stores were erected, thus laying the foundations of a city which must have a growth proportioned to that of similar points in our own state.
    After landing at Umpqua City, the passengers of the brig made the best of their way up the river, in boats and canoes, as was done above Sacramento city, one year since, before the steamers had been made which now navigate these waters, as far as Scottsburg, a distance of about thirty miles. They scattered themselves from that point and took up "claims" in various unoccupied portions of the fertile bottoms above.
    It may be well to remark in this connection, showing the appreciation in which this newly explored portion of Oregon Territory is held by the other inhabitants of that region, that from August, the date of the former explorations of the Umpqua company of this city, to October last, nearly every claim from Scottsburg to the Fort, a distance of sixteen miles, and also much beyond was taken up by the Oregon people themselves. They even left good claims in the renowned Willamette Valley without waiting for a purchaser, or sold them to some raw recruit from California, and removed with all their household, cows, turkeys, chickens, and children, into the better valley of the Umpqua. And to show that this was not done merely from a love of change, we will state that previous to the explorations of the company they had but little knowledge of the whole region. Being composed mostly of western people, they know more about tracking the pathless forest or prairie than about navigating along the coast and exploring the mouths of its rivers. They had crossed the upper forks of the Umpqua and the Trinity, and here their knowledge ended.
    At present, with that keen sagacity which they are not lacking, they discover that a little to the south of the Willamette lies a land with valleys more fertile, a climate more bland, and accessible by one half the distance to a market superior to any other in the world. They are thus getting possession of some of the choicest portions of that territory, leaving to those recently arrived from California via the Columbia, and to the emigrants over the plains, those portions which they themselves consider of less value. And thus there is growing up, at almost the only other point on the Coast, after San Francisco, an order of things which tokens well for the future. The period of a year will not elapse before an energetic and thriving population shall fill up these smiling valleys, and people these new towns with busy inhabitants. Every branch of business will there find employ. The merchant at the present moment can there sell his goods at prices such as were known here a year ago, and that too, within two days' sail of our crowded port and glutted market.
    Nor is money wanting to attract trade. Most of those from Oregon who have visited the mines of California have been successful. They were the very men to meet with success in mining. And millions of dollars have gone to Oregon in dust from our mines, and there it will remain until new channels of trade shall have drawn it forth.
    We need not refer, in closing, to the splendid results with which, by indomitable energy and perseverance, the efforts of a few private individuals who have been engaged in this enterprise have been crowned.
Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, February 24, 1851, page 2   An abbreviated version was printed in the New York Tribune, February 11, 1851, page 6. Originally printed in the Pacific News, December 23, 1850.


    The brig Kate Heath returned to San Francisco on the 22nd of December, after an absence of nearly three months spent in exploring the Umpqua River, in South Oregon, and surveying the rich bottoms of its tributaries. Seventy persons went on the brig for the purpose of settling. They laid the basis of Umpqua City, two miles within the mouth of the river. It is destined to be the great point to which the commerce of the entire portion of Southwestern Oregon will be directed. The settlers then went up the river and took up land claims in the fertile bottoms.
"Further from California," Weekly Missouri Republican, St. Louis, February 21, 1851, page 1


    The following letters on Oregon and the Umpqua Valley were written by a gentleman who has resided for some years in California and Oregon, and who is well acquainted with the subjects he treats of. The suggestions relative to the supposed mistakes of FREMONT and WILKES are made more for the purpose of provoking inquiry into the subject than to settle the points at once, and in this light they are worthy of the attention of the reader. The letters, we would add, were originally written for the information and guidance of the author's friends in Vermont.--Editors, Courier & Enquirer.
My dear--
    Having lately been one of a party employed--or rather employing themselves--in exploring a part of Southern Oregon, and having received many letters during my residence here asking information and advice relative to emigration to California and Oregon, I feel compelled to atone for my long though involuntary neglect of friends at home by communicating in full the result of our observations.
    Those who are familiar with the narratives and maps of FREMONT and WILKES will recollect that both of these explorers lay down the Klamath River a large stream rising in the Cascade Mountains, and emptying into the Pacific, in latitude 42° 26' N. The river itself is represented as a very large one, and the reports of the trappers, miners and emigrants who had crossed it were highly favorable as to its navigability and the richness of the valley through which it flows. In order to verify these reports, as well as to secure the possession of such locations as should be most likely to be hereafter valuable, a company was organized in this city in June last to examine and report upon the resources of that section of our country. A schooner of one hundred tons [the Samuel Roberts] was chartered for the voyage, and a party of men under the direction of Col. WINCHESTER, of Western New York, took passage in her for the mouth of the Klamath. The vessel sailed July 7, [1850,] and after beating up the coast shout three hundred miles arrived July 21st at the supposed mouth of the river. Our entrance here was attended with considerable danger. The mouth of the stream was very narrow, and a heavy surf continually broke across the bar. The shore was crowded with savages, whose disposition we had yet to learn. A ten-knot breeze was blowing from the Northwest, and breakers showed their black heads above the surf on all sides as we approached. When within half a mile of the mouth, a boat, manned by the mate and five men, was lowered to examine the entrance. This boat was unluckily caught in the surf and instantly swamped, the mate and crew receiving the benefit of a ducking. Another boat was soon dispatched to their aid but, being unable to approach without sharing the fate of the former, returned to the vessel. Our men were now seen through our glasses to be seized and stripped by the Indians on shore, and, as you may suppose, the excitement on board our craft was intense. All the firearms, of which by the way we had plenty, were got in readiness for action; the six-pounders were charged to the muzzle with grape and cannister, and we determined without hesitation to risk our vessel and our lives at once, sooner than see our comrades butchered by savages before our eyes. The schooner was now headed towards the entrance of the river, when just before reaching the bar, the halyards parted and down came the foresail, leaving her in an almost unmanageable condition, and in a very critical position. The vessel was with much difficulty put about, and two whole mortal hours were consumed before the damage was repaired. This accident probably prevented the vessel from striking, and saved us all from going to Davy Jones, as the tide had risen three feet while we were at work, thus giving us sufficient water to get over the bar.
    Once more then the schooner was headed towards the shore, but our dangers and trials were not over yet. The centerboard could not be raised by the winch, and not until it actually rubbed on the sand could it be started from its position. We ware however fortunate in finding the channel, though there were only nine feet of water on the bar. The schooner nearly broached to several times in the surf, and we could hardly believe our senses when we found ourselves in smooth water inside the harbor, and saw four of our six men coming off alive in a canoe. The missing men were supposed to have been drowned. One of them, however, as we subsequently learned, was killed by an Indian, who finding him in an exhausted state, ran him through with a wooden spear, to obtain possession of his clothes. Poor fellow! The other man's corpse was brought to us by the savages and given up for a blanket. It had been horribly mutilated by the vultures and wolves, and we buried it with its companion on a point of land near the scene of the tragedy. The ill-fated boat was stove to pieces, and the fragments strewn up and down the beach, one oar being all that we recovered from the natives, but as they had offered no violence to our surviving comrades we treated them with kindness and attention, being desirous to secure their good will rather than provoke them by hostilities, as has been too often done by the settlers in our new territories.
    We had now an opportunity for contemplating human nature--if human it could be called, which appeared to us to be inhuman--in a phase entirely new and interesting to all of us. These Indians are of middle height, none that we saw exceeding five feet six inches, stout and well proportioned. They are entirely naked, save an occasional deerskin about the middle, and yet they do not seem at all sensible to the rawness of the climate. Their food consists of fish, venison and berries, of which they brought us supplies. They are the most thievish race in existence. Their whole aim was to steal, or, if caught, beg everything about the ship they could lay their hands on. They would come at night and try to pull the copper off the schooner's bottom, and one astute individual tried hard for several hours to cut oft the chain with his iron knife, and so secure the anchor as his booty. He tugged lustily at the chain, looking back at the schooner now and then to make sure that he was not watched, while the watch on deck, hid behind the netting, enjoyed heartily his strenuous but fruitless efforts. Another picked the surveyor's pocket of his note book and got possession of the eyeglasses of the sextant, with which he was highly delighted. They were struck with awe and amazement at the compass and theodolite, imagining us to be communicating through them with the beings of an invisible world.
    We never suffered them to come on board the vessel, but every morning at the break of day they surrounded us in large numbers in their canoes, crowding the rail fore and aft, and keeping us busy trading old clothes and trinkets for their bows and arrows, furs, &c. Our salt provisions they would not touch, but were extremely anxious for our clothes, which, when they obtained some of them, they wore in the most fantastic and unheard-of manner, and for which they would have killed the whole of us, had we been off our guard a moment. Being one day particularly troublesome, and refusing to retire from the railing when ordered, we fired our big gun, shot and all, over their heads, when they did not wait for a second discharge, before they were safe ashore, and out of reach. They scattered presto you may depend, nor were they so free and familiar with us again during our stay.
    The phrenological appearance of these savages is by no means contemptible, but it would require a vast deal of training to develop their intellects to [text cut off scan] notwithstanding their seven shots apiece, but by putting a bold face on the matter, and showing a perfect contempt for the savages, they marched straight through the crowd towards an adjacent hill, as if they meant to continue their route by the upland trail. But the Indians suspecting ran forward, in a mass, to head them off, while the members of our party coolly seated themselves in the shade and partook of lunch, which over, and the Indians a mile out of the way, they returned leisurely to the vessel.
    To those who have lived in San Francisco a year or so, there is no sight so refreshing as that of a green tree! This may sound strangely to those at home, whose farms are half covered with timber, and whose orchards and gardens and cultivated fields suggest no other idea than that of profit, but to us, who had gazed for so long [on] the bare hills of California, the country around this river seemed almost a paradise. Here were hills crowned with spruces, towering up to twice the height of those on our own green mountains. Here, too, were maples and oaks, pines and hemlocks, laurels and myrtle trees, while drooping willows bent their filmy boughs, and formed  a light and graceful fringe over the bosom of the quiet stream, as if listening to the converse of the finny tribes below. Nor was the hand of cultivation missed as among the wilds at home, for Nature here has drawn the line between the wood and the grassy plain. Never have I witnessed a growth so dense or so luxuriant as that which covers the windward side of the hills of Oregon. The sea breeze comes regularly upon these slopes, charged with moisture from the Northwest, and deposits a saline dew upon the nearest objects. The effect of this, [in] spite of the chilliness of the climate, is wonderful. You could almost walk on the top of the herbage, and the effect of the breeze where it strikes the second range of hills is as evident as the contrast between the lights and shades of a picture. Herds of elk, deer and antelope make their beds in this rank herbage, and we not unfrequently surprised them in their lairs. The proportion of woodland and pasture here is about equal, and the line is drawn as distinctly as if by the woodman's axe, but unfortunately the good land extends only a mile or two from the beach, when the forest takes sole possession of the otherwise barren mountains of the Coast Range.
    We ascended the stream twenty miles from its mouth, in whaleboats, until we became satisfied that the discovery we had made was useless, and that we were likely to incur the hostility of the natives by prosecuting our researches further. We could foresee, however, though no pass exists at this point to the interior through the Coast Range, that some future day will behold here some of the richest dairies that ever made butter or cheese. Farmers from Vermont and northern New York, where the six months' winter eats up the produce of the balance of the year, would gloat upon a country where grass--and such grass, grows the whole year round!
    We left this river, which by the way we named the Styx [sic], after ten days' laborious exploration, having ascertained that WILKES and FREMONT were altogether wrong in placing the mouth of the Klamath in Oregon, and that we must go elsewhere if we would fulfill our mission. Accordingly, we weighed anchor, and after another narrow escape from wreck in getting out of the harbor, we stood to the northward, in search of the mouth of the Umpqua. The latitude of this river was not known exactly, never having been entered, but WILKES described the entrance as being narrow, and furnishing no harbor for seagoing vessels. He also gives nine feet as the depth of water on the bar. We were happy in proving him to be here again as inaccurate as usual, our surveys giving three and a half fathoms on the bar, an entrance of five hundred yards in width, and a deep harbor, three and a half miles long, and from one half to one and a half miles wide. We entered this beautiful sheet of water on the evening of August 4th, and, as we let go our anchor, the stars and stripes were run up to the masthead and saluted with the first three cheers that had ever disturbed the dormant echoes of the place.
    Here again we found ourselves hemmed in by a dense forest of evergreen, which protects an almost impenetrable growth of underbrush. The soil is very rich, and lies over a stratum of fine light sandstone, similar to that of which Trinity Church, New York, is built. Of this stone there are inexhaustible deposit, and extensive quarries could be carried on with very little trouble or expense. Fish of every variety are abundant in the bay. Salmon, salmon trout, flounders, herrings, soft-shell crabs, eels and rock cod are so numerous that at times the bottom cannot be seen for them, though generally it is visible at a depth of ten or fifteen feet. We met here a party of three emigrants: one of whom, a Mr. SCOTT, proved of great service to us throughout the expedition, from his knowledge of the Umpqua country, while another named [Joseph?] SLOAN soon showed himself too smart to succeed in everything he undertook.
    Accepting our invitation to come on board and bunk with us, SLOAN overheard some of our party discussing our plans, and concluding that we might as well work for his benefit as our own, he stepped ashore next morning, axe in hand, and spotted his square mile of land, on the very site we had pitched upon for our settlement. This he did alone, supposing all the while that no one was watching him. When the schooner next day got under way to ascend the river, he accompanied us, and on arriving at the head of navigation thirty miles up, he took his horse and galloped off to the county seat, expecting to have his claim recorded in the name of a neighbor of his, according to the Oregon law, before we should find him out. He had reckoned without his host, however. Dr. HORACE O. PAINE, from Troy, New York, one of our party, immediately hired a horse and guide at Fort Umpqua, took a nearer road, traveled forty-five miles the same night--got the start of SLOAN, who, having heard next day of the discovery of his plot, procured a fresh horse and clapped spurs to him with a will, but all in vain--PAINE led him in the race of about one hundred miles some two hours, and recorded not only the contested claim, but also SLOAN's own claim and those of several of his friends, which had not been entered for record, in the names of the members of our party. The effect was electric. SLOAN, disappointed and vexed, roused the settlers, who had now pretty generally heard of the exciting race, telling them that the rascally "Down Easters" had entered the Umpqua and taken possession of the whole valley, and were going to drive the settlers all out of it. This waked up the Hoosiers, sure enough; and down they came with their long rifles, swearing that they would shoot every one of the d---d Yankees, and DR. PAINE in particular. A party of twenty or more soon reached the vessel, but the Doctor, meeting them with the blandest countenance in the world, and giving up at once to all who designed to settle the claims they had made, they became our best friends, especially since the discovery of a harbor close at hand had done so much for the value of their property. The consequence of the movement was the promotion of migration into the valley, many families having immediately started from the Willamette Valley to settle upon the Umpqua, towards which they would perhaps have sooner turned their steps, had they known that by so doing they were approaching, instead of receding from, a harbor and a market. More anon.
Supplement to the Morning Courier and New York Enquirer, October 10, 1851, page 1