A correspondent of the San Francisco Alta, who has been traveling in the southwestern portion of our state, speaks very highly of its resources, and says:
    There is no portion of this coast that possesses so great and varied riches as Southern Oregon--climate, soil, timber, mineral wealth and inexhaustible water power--convenient to the coast. The climate is mild and temperate--never subjected to drought, having sufficient rain, yet rarely too much. Short crops seldom or rarely occur. The soil is very rich and fertile, yielding rich returns to the agriculturist. Rogue River Valley, in the vicinity of Jacksonville, cannot be surpassed for the culture of most varieties of grape, and for the peach no country can surpass, even if they can equal it. Wheat at this time could not be sold for twenty cents per cental. There being no demand, immense tracts were thrown open to stock or fed off in the fields. From the upper valley to the mouth of the river immense deposits of mineral crop out--copper, chrome and iron--extensive ledges of variegated marble and limestone. There are no serious hindrances to the construction of a
to Klamath Lake; but that country is in Oregon. The capability of that portion of the state, when developed, would give ten times the support to a road than is now given by the Willamette, as the latter can only furnish the agricultural products of that valley for the support of a road. Again, all the intervening country between the coast to the upper valley on the north side of the river is clothed with the most luxuriant pasturage, capable of supporting innumerable herds of sheep, the wool of which could be manufactured immediately upon the line of the road. I am informed by a reliable gentleman that there is a large deposit of coal upon a creek called Shasta Costa, one mile from the river, being six feet thick, and where pieces solid and firm, undecomposed, lie in the creek, weighing from five to ten hundred pounds, broken off of the ledge. Rogue River runs nearly a due east course from the ocean to its source, and on nearly a direct line from the coast to Jacksonville. The south side of the river is heavily timbered with yellow fir and sugar pine, the latter very abundant in the upper portions of the valley. On Galice Creek, emptying into the river miles from the coast and contiguous to the river, a fabulous
has been recently discovered, machinery for the working of which has been purchased recently in San Francisco, and by the time you receive this, will be on the ground. The river and its tributaries have yielded annually large amounts of the precious metals. I will say, before leaving this portion of the state, that did it belong to California, it would have been far in advance of what it is now; it would have been connected with the coast by a railroad; its varied resources developed, thereby opening up industries now unthought of. In passing up that river last fall, I was astonished at the number and extent of the copper and chrome ledges and mineral indications. The country south of the river becomes more rugged and mountainous. At the mouth of the river are two extensive
both having done well the past season. Of the entrance, I cannot say much in its favor. It will answer for vessels of the class required for the shipment of their fish, but can be of no importance as a lumbering port, not admitting vessels of sufficient size for that trade.
    The coast north of the river is principally adapted to sheep-raising, the grass remaining green the entire year, having sufficient sheep to consume the feed, and may be said to be overstocked. As you approach Port Orford the face of the country changes. You then enter the cedar belt, with heavy detached bodies of live oak. The creek bottoms are very rich with heavy growths of laurel (or myrtle, as it is called there); also large maple, with every variety of grain, well adapted for furniture. I should have stated that all the bottoms on Rogue River have the same varieties.
    Having read the piece published in the Alta, two years since, of "When and where shall we have a breakwater," I took a thorough look, and as far as able examined from all sides, weighed all advantages and disadvantage of the place, and will now give you in brief my views in regard to
    Of course I entered into an examination of the depth of water, etc. The place is, I will say, situated on high, dry ground; the harbor can only be seen to advantage by going out on the extreme south point of the "Heads" forming the western side of the harbor, having 20 feet elevation above the present town. From that point all the roadstead lies spread out before you, certainly presenting the most capacious and pretty roadsteads I have seen on our coast, surpassing Monterey in every respect. The "Heads" is as beautiful a piece of land as there is on the coast, surrounded with the most picturesque scenery I have met with, giving one of the finest views. A little north of west lies the vast reef of Cape Blanco, the broad channel between the cape and reef opening to its full breadth to the northwest, the lighthouse upon the cape, seven miles distant, in full view. On the east side of the harbor, distant four miles, is the beautiful sugarloaf "Humbug" Mountain, rising nearly perpendicular from the bay 1,800 feet, with Bald Mountain overlooking it 2,400 feet high. Immediately at the foot of the "Heads," or the north extreme, called "Lover's Leap," is spread out a beautiful lake, filled with trout (two of us having caught 138 in two hours), having five fathoms of water through its whole extent, with hard, firm and bold banks 25 feet above the water level of the lake and 30 above the ocean. The "Heads" are 350 feet high, perpendicular, on east, south and west; they overlook Cape Blanco, together with the extensive plateau lying between them and Coquille River.
    There is no opening through the mountains directly east, therefore no east winds, the winds being from either the north, west or south. I should think for domestic trade no breakwater would be required; but if heavy ships, loading for foreign ports, some protection would indispensable owing to the length of time required to discharge ballast and to take in cargoes. It appears to me that a harbor of refuge is absolutely necessary for the safety of vessels and the growing commerce of the coast, destitute as it is of harbors, and Port Orford, from its geographical position and its great and easy accessibility, possesses paramount claims beyond any place I have seen on the coast.
Oregonian, Portland, February 18, 1875, page 1


    Editor of the Observer--After preparing, my pony and I set out for the mines situated on Rogue River. After riding past green wheat fields, clumps of evergreen pine, and white farm houses for sixty miles, I reached the new Eldorado of the West. These mines are situated in a wild and rugged mountain range near the Pacific Ocean. The already celebrated "Yank Ledge" is seen, where Rogue River has worn a chasm five hundred feet deep through the rocks. This ledge is one hundred and thirty-eight feet wide and has been traced for twenty miles; thus making it the largest mass of gold and silver in the world. Hundreds of miners are prospecting the mountains--loud blasts can be heard, now and then, like artillery, and horsemen, foot-men and mule-men are still arriving. Far up on the mountain trails, I saw the trains of pack-mules winding through the lofty pines and gigantic cedars--the jingle of the bells on the lead mules--the shouts of the drivers sound strangely, while your correspondent sits astride of his skeleton pony. I tell you, Mr. Editor, the scene is picturesque--I may add sublime. The ore in some of the mines is filled with pyrites of iron, chloride of lead, etc., while in others the chloride of silver, ruby silver and horn silver interspersed with fine gold go towards making up the ore. Having had a great deal of experience in the quartz mines of Nevada, Utah, Montana and Idaho, I pronounce the "Yank," the McNair" and a few others to be unsurpassed. But, it takes a mint of money to work a quartz mine; "placer" claims are the only mines which are profitable for the poor man. I took no claims. I have had enough of the mines. Our winter is over, and the ice-fetters are broken in the mountain streams--the prairies are checkered with brilliant flowers and the farmers are jubilant. Far up in the gloomy canons among the whispering pines and the moaning cedars, I caught a mess of speckled trout out of a clear stream, yesterday, and I "gobbled" them down my capacious throat.
    Editor of the Observer--DEAR SIR--Rogue River Valley is forty miles long and the mean width is eight miles. It is one vast wheat field, or nearly so, being checkered with white farm houses, flourishing orchards, and ribboned like streams of great beauty and transparency. The valley is surrounded by high mountains, which are heavily timbered, except a narrow canon with almost perpendicular walls five hundred feet high, through which Rogue River runs until it embouches in the ocean. The valley is very rich, the climate mild and healthy. The mountain forests are alive with game; the deer, the antelope, the mountain sheep, the bear, the elk and the raccoon being the most prominent. Ornithology, too, is not to be overlooked here; the quail, the grouse, the pheasant, the prairie chicken and the sage hen are our birds of game. The mountain trout and salmon are the chief fish here. We have, also, a species of deer (dear) that live in the valley, but your bachelor scribbler cannot catch them.
Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, North Carolina, April 1, 1875, page 3


    Editors Recorder and Express:--According to promise made to you and others, I write what I know about the Pacific Coast, which is but little, as my travels have not been very extensive.
    We left Omaha May 13, and arrived at Marysville, California, May 20. We saw no country between the Missouri River and Salt Lake fit for a white man to live in, only the stations, where they sell hot coffee and even hotter beverages, and should do well, from the prices charged. Along the Humboldt River are some fertile strips of meadow, being irrigated. On the Truckee River are some nice and apparently productive little irrigated farms. We crossed the Sierras at night, and saw but little of the wild scenery. From Marysville, California, we came across by team, three hundred miles, into Red River Valley. The Sacramento Valley is a fine country; we saw an immense crop of wheat, though they complain of short crops. The uplands or plains adjoining the valley is very poor-looking land; it is sand and gravel, and may be taken under the homestead act. One hundred and forty miles from Marysville we struck the mountains, and toiled a week among their rugged recesses, before reaching this valley. These mountains are unfit for farming; they are covered with immense forests of pine, fir, and cedar; mining is being prosecuted all over them. Rogue River Valley is about 25 miles long, and from two to sixteen wide, and is very productive, producing fine crops of wheat and an abundance of all kinds of fruit; it is the first valley of any note north of the Sacramento. They call any place a valley in California where a wagon can be stopped without being scotched. The market is poor in this valley; XXXX flour sells for $1.60 per hundred pounds. There is a probability of a railroad being built to the coast, a distance of 80 miles. The people of this valley, for intelligence and hospitality, will compare favorably with any portion of the world.
    There is no government land here that a Kansas man would have. Nine-tenths of all the land, both here and in Northern California, is set up on end. It is a good place for stock. They say stock does well the year round, with little or no feed. The mountains abound with deer, elk, and bear, and the streams with fish. You can buy a twenty-five-pound fish for two bits. I think the average price for improved land in this valley is about $20 per acre. We are in sight of Mt. Pitt, covered with perpetual snow. The water here is soft, cool, and pure.
    With this imperfect sketch I will close, promising to do better in my next.
Holton Recorder and Express, Holt, Kansas, July 1, 1875, page 4


    Editors Recorder and Express:--Having received some letters of inquiry about Oregon, I will answer a few of the leading questions through your paper. This is not an immigration letter; if it was I would leave a part unwritten. If any of your readers should get excited over an immigration sheet, or "Resources of Oregon," let them read a sheet of Jackson County immigration note paper, and they can see how it is.
    Harvest is just over here. The quantity of grain raised in this valley--the Umpqua--is enormous. I have seen 7,000 bushels sacked up on one farm. Hundreds of bushels of apples, plums and pears, are rotting in the orchard for want of gathering.
    All the land in Western Oregon, that is of good quality, or, in fact, that is fit to live on, is taken up and held in tracts of from 640 to several thousand acres.
    A man need not come to Oregon to farm with less than $2,000, if he expects to farm his own land, unless he would be satisfied with a farm of hills. I don’t think a man used to such farm as you have in Kansas would be satisfied with anything but the best here, which is, however, as nice and as productive as anyone could desire. The worst feature is, there is but a small amount of this nice land, as compared to the whole. As friend Parks says, there is a "large amount of vacant land waiting for settlers," and is it likely to wait, unless settled by an earthquake, as a great portion of it is too steep for a jackrabbit to feed on with safety. Immigrants are generally dissatisfied the "first year," and it is true that "after remaining a year or two, cannot be induced to leave," because they can’t get away in a majority of cases. I have seen several that would leave if the inducements were strong enough to pay their fare.
    Wool growing is carried on extensively here, many owning several thousand head of sheep and Angora goats. The mountains surrounding this valley are much lower than those of Rogue River. Sheep raising in the Rogue River mountains is a laborious business; the hills are so steep that sheep have to be tied by the tail in pairs, and hung across the mountains, so that one can graze on either side. (Allow on this for shrinkage.)
    For the benefit of those coming here, I will say that it is no great exaggeration to say that they will be requested to pay every man they see between Redding, California, and Roseburg, Oregon, four bits. There is a high standard of morality on this coast; nearly all obey Paul's injunction, to "pray without ceasing." There is one striking feature in their prayers, they all pray for the same thing, for God to damn their souls.
Holton Recorder and Express, Holt, Kansas, September 30, 1875, page 5


    ED. STATESMAN: This place with Redding, the southern terminus of the O.&C.R.R., 160 miles south of Roseburg, the southern terminus of that road, 100 miles north of it, is probably the most flourishing in Oregon. With about one hundred and fifty houses, two-thirds of which have been built within the last three years and most of them buildings such as would be considered respectable, even at the capital city of the state.
    To me, however, the reasons for this surpassing prosperity are not fully obvious when I see Jacksonville, only sixteen miles farther north and in the same valley and more convenient to the best farming portion of it, and the county seat of the county showing but few symptoms of life.
    Both places are compelled to draw their supplies of foreign commodities by freight teams from Roseburg and Redding. I can see however that Ashland has at least two important advantages over Jacksonville. The farmer is abundantly supplied with water, by a stream rushing and leaping down from the everlasting snows of the Siskiyou Range in volume sufficient at all seasons of the year to propel considerable machinery. And secondly, Ashland being situated nearer and more convenient to the lake country east, now settling up, secures the bulk of the large trade from that quarter.
    At this season of the year, a man from webfoot very soon discovers that Rogue River Valley excels in the production of peaches, grapes, quinces and melons; and I expect it will yet become apparent that this is a better apple country than the Willamette Valley, for I notice the apple makes a larger and better formed tree here than there.
    Wheat does as well here as in webfoot, but the market is not sufficient to make the raising of wheat a very important business--the demand is supplied at 60 cents per bushel--land that will produce 40 bushels per acre can be bought for $10 per acre.
    Ashland just at this time is enjoying a Klamath and Modoc invasion. They were sent in by Mr. Dyer, agent of Klamath Reservation, to carry cut wheat for the mills at that place.
    They came about 100 warriors strong, and about the same number of squaws and children mounted on nimble ponies and in wagons with a numerous train of pack animals. I enjoy the honor of making the acquaintance of a number of Klamath chiefs, among them LaLake, Blow and Allen David, high chief of all the Klamaths. I have had considerable conversation with some of these Indians--they seem to have great hopes of the future civilization of their people; pointing with an air of exultation to the many barbarous customs they have already given up, such as slavery, cremation, polygamy and spiritualism. One of the chiefs, in response to a question of mine, assured me that although in "old time" they burned the dead and preserved the ashes of relatives, and made "bondmen and bondmaids of the heathen round about," they never eat captives, but on the contrary had always believed a mouthful of human flesh would kill a man.
    I was also informed that while polygamy was in vogue, it was customary to marry sisters and that although polygamous marriages are not now allowed among the Klamaths, Allen David has two wives "taken unto him" under the old dispensation--his wives being sisters.
    I would judge from appearance that these Indians are near six feet tall and they have a bold and even impudent look and manner about them, rather disgusting to a person used to the subdued bearing and tone of the webfoot tillicum--they are talking of having a war dance, and if they do I must be there to see.
Oregon Statesman, Salem, October 23, 1875, page 1


    FRIEND VAN:--Having promised to let my friends know of my whereabouts, I take this method of letting them know.
    Started on my journey on Monday, Dec. 20th, and had a pleasant journey to Roseburg. Next morning at 4 o'clock took the hind seat in the stage, for a pleasure (?) trip southward. And now comes in the pleasure, the stage pitching from one side to the other as it passed over the awful roads, compelling the passengers to cling with might and main to the braces to keep their seats at all. After proceeding a short distance, the stage halted and the passengers were politely requested to get out and walk around the sea of mud while the stage was dragged through. Someone asked how long is this to continue, when Jehu answered "Through Umpqua." Our walk was kept up pretty much all day, the monotony of our tramp, tramp, sqush, sqush, through the deepest and blackest mud I ever went anywhere to, being varied occasionally to help Jehu right the stage, which every now and then would upset in spite of careful driving. At three o'clock the next day we arrived at Jacksonville, all safe and sound but somewhat fatigued with our stage "walk" and as muddy as can well be imagined. Finding friends in Jacksonville, we concluded to stay over one day and rest up.
is a nice little town, with warm-hearted men to manage affairs. Mr. Manning, present sheriff of Jackson County, is a warm-hearted man. The county clerk [E. D. Foudray] is also a most agreeable and pleasant gentleman. Long may they prosper.
    At the present writing we are sitting in a hotel in
a small town, containing one store, one hotel, balanced up with two grist mills. We have a pleasant stopping place, and do not know exactly when we shall resume our journey; the first opportunity that offers we shall seize upon to go forward. Four passengers inside and one out make up a full stage load, so you see the passenger that "lays over" takes desperate chances, and may not be able to resume his trip just when he would wish. After a rest of three days we are anxious to "be going," but if we make the trip in twenty days we shall considered ourself in luck. The mountains look white, and the Siskiyou rough, but today, Christmas, is a most beautiful day, with warm sunshine and a clear sky, and our landlady is busying herself fixing up a turkey, and in a half hour the writer will be flopping his lips over a nice Christmas dinner--turkey dinner.
    This is a nice country, and if it were favored with a railroad it would truly be the garden spot of Oregon. As it is, wheat commands but 55 and 60¢, as there is no market but the home market, which is limited, of course. It is truly a very fertile valley, and will one day be teeming with a busy, happy people. Then you will see a lively country even in the mud of Rogue River Valley.
    When I think of the pleasant Christmas scenes in progress at my beautiful home, Albany, and what I am missing by my absence, and the further fact that I am compelled to remain here when I would be on my journey, all for the want of the necessary conveyance, it makes me almost boil over with--lonesomeness! However, I hope to be able to get a seat in the stage this evening, and proceed on my journey east. More anon.
Albany Register, Albany, Oregon, January 7, 1876, page 3  Morris was a prominent Albany merchant.

Last revised October 6, 2024