Palmer's Journal of Travels Over the Rocky Mountains, 1845-1846

To Joel Palmer Esq. of Indiana.

My Dear Sir:—Agreeably to your request I most cheerfully give you my views concerning the Oregon territory, its extent, its most desirable climate, fertility of soil, rivers and mountains, seas and bays, and its proximity to one of the most extensive markets opening upon the world.

The Oregon territory is usually divided into three great divisions, the lower, middle, and upper regions. The upper includes the Rocky Mountains, with the head waters of most of the rivers running west and east, north and south, and extends west to the Blue and Spokan ranges of mountains. The lower includes the belt of country bounded on the west by the Pacific, and on the east by the Nesqually, Cascade, and California Mountains. The middle region lies between the two, and embraces probably far the greatest extent of country, and is in some respects the most desirable for settlers.

The number of rainy days, during the winter season, in the lower country, is thought to be about eighty-five one-hundredths; while the number of rainy days during the same season in the upper (or middle) country, is about fifteen one-hundredths. {166} There is but little more snow during the winter season in the middle than in the lower region of the Columbia river, or upon the plains. Of course the depth of snow upon the mountains, depends upon their height.

The lower country is subject to inundations, to a greater or less extent, from the Columbia river, which gathering into standing pools, with the great amount of vegetable decay consequent upon low prairie countries, produces to some extent unhealthy fogs during the summer season. This, however, is greatly moderated by the sea breezes from the Pacific. The middle region is entirely free from these evils, and has probably one of the most pacific, healthy, and every way most desirable climates in the world. This, with its extensive prairies, covered with a superior quality of grass tuft, or bunch grass, which springs fresh twice a year, and spotted and streaked everywhere with springs and streams of the purest, sweetest water, renders it admirably adapted to the herding system. The lower country will ever have greatly the advantage in its proximity to market, its extensive sea coast, and from the fact that it contains one of the largest and best harbors in the world, viz. Puget's sound, running far inland, the mouth of which is protected by Vancouver's island, easy of access at all seasons and under all winds.

But to go into detail. Myself and wife were appointed missionaries by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and destined to this field, and with our worthy associates, Dr. Whitman, and lady, arrived in this country in the fall of 1836. The Doctor settled among the Cayuses near fort Wallawalla, and myself at this place, where we have ever since continued to dwell. Our duties have called us to travel more or less every year to visit the distant bands and tribes, as also to pack our supplies. I have traversed this middle region in seventeen different routes, of from 60 to 300 miles. Over many of the routes I have passed probably in every month in the year, have marked the progress of vegetation from its earliest shooting forth; the effects of this climate {167} upon the animal constitution; the rapidity with which exhausted poor animals regain their flesh and activity, when turned upon the plains; and have kept tables under some of these heads, as also a meteorological table for several years.

Let me here observe that my views of the country have been materially changed by a more accurate acquaintance with its true nature. I once thought the valleys only susceptible of habitation; considering the plains too dry for cultivation. But I am now prepared to say this is not the case. The plains suffer far less from drought than the valleys, on account of the reflection of heat from the surrounding hills. The country, however, is nowhere peculiarly subject to drought, as was once thought. My place is one of the deepest valleys, and consequently the most exposed to the reflection from the high bluffs around, which rise from two to three thousand feet; but my farm, though prepared for irrigation, has remained without it for the last four years. I find the ground becomes more moist by cultivation. Three years ago I raised six hundred bushels of shelled corn from six acres, and good crops of wheat on the same piece the two following years, without irrigation. Eight years ago I raised 1500 bushels of potatoes from one acre and a half; measuring some of the bags in which they were brought to the cellars, and so judging of the whole amount. I gave every eleventh bag for digging and fetching, and kept a strict account of what every person brought, so that I was able to make a pretty accurate estimate of the whole amount. My potatoes and corn are always planted in drills.

Every kind of grain or vegetable which I have tried or seen tried in this upper country, grows well. Wheat is sown in the fall, and harvested in June at this place; at Dr. Whitman's in July, being a more open country. Corn is planted in April and ripens in July; peas the same.

EXTENT OF COUNTRY

The southern boundary of Oregon territory is the 42d degree of north latitude. The northern boundary is not yet settled;[222] {168} both England and The United States claim north of the Columbia river to latitude 49°. But this vast fertile region, well timbered upon the mountains and river sources, and well watered, besides having the fine harbor above named, Puget's sound, must ever remain the most important portion of Oregon, especially on account of this harbor, which will naturally control these seas, and consequently the country. Should the British flag finally exclusively wave over its placid waters, it will be to the rest of Oregon as Quebec is to Canada, or Gibraltar to the Mediterranean. Vancouver's Island is doubtless another reason why Great Britain wishes to make the Columbia river her northern boundary. The line of 49° passes a little north of the southern half of the island. The whole island contains a territory considerably larger than England and Scotland, produces every kind of grain and vegetable well, and has a climate very similar to our Middle and Southern states. Whatever nation possesses this island, or the south portion of it, with its neighboring harbor, Puget's sound, possesses nearly all of a national consideration which pertains to Oregon, and will consequently control it. But if this island, or this portion of it, with this harbor, add their ever controlling influence to the undivided interests of Oregon, this young colony, but yesterday begun, and whose country and existence were but yesterday disputed, will at no distant day, under the softening, life-giving influence of civilization and our holy religion, take its place among the wealthiest, happiest, and best nations of the earth.

The country of Oregon, should it extend to 49° north latitude, is probably capable of sustaining as great a population as two-thirds of the territory of the States, and with far less hard labor.

CLIMATE

This is decidedly the inviting characteristic of the country, and is certainly a great inducement for all persons of delicate health. I speak of the middle region. Free from marshes or standing water and vegetable decay, the air is remarkably pure and serene; summers rather warm, especially in the valleys; the mercury ranges, for some time during the hot season, from 100 to 109 degrees above zero. Nights cool, but no fog or dew, except in a few places. Twice since I have been in the country frost has injured vines, leaves, &c., first of May, but never in the fall till late; often my melon vines, &c., are green till the first of December. Four times since I have been here the mercury has fallen below zero; once to 26 degrees. But usually it ranges above 20 in the morning, and above 60 through the day. During six of the ten winters I have passed in the country, the rivers have not been frozen. The Columbia river has been frozen nearly to its mouth, twice since I have been in the country. The snow sometimes falls a foot deep—I should judge about once in five years. About half of my winters here there has been no snow in the valleys, and but little on the plains, except to whiten the earth for a short time. It disappears in a few hours, especially on the south face of the bluffs and hills. Last year I made a collection of flowers and plants, which I purpose to send to Washington. I gathered two flowers in January, on the 22d and 29th,[223] and during the month of February some 40 showed themselves, and by the first of March the grass on the south faces of the bluffs was 14 inches high. This year the season was about three weeks later, judging by the appearance of flowers. I know of no disease that can be said to be peculiar to the country. The country is peculiarly free from sudden changes of weather, or violent storms. Persons who have wintered here from the south, tell me the winters are as mild as the winters {170} in the northern parts of North and South Carolina, and with less sudden changes.

ADVANTAGES FOR THE HERDING SYSTEM

The country is one extensive prairie, except the mountains, which are covered with several species of pine, cedar, and fir. The prairies are rolling, and with the exception of a narrow belt of sand and sedge upon the Columbia, and portions of the Snake river, are everywhere covered with the bunch grass, which, from observation, I judge to be a richer, heartier food for animals than corn, oats, and the best pastures of the States. It is a fine, solid stalk, growing two feet high, with fine leaves, holds its freshness through the winter; I mean the old stalk, which mingled with the young growth, that usually springs fresh in the fall, forms a food for animals through the winter, preferable to the best hay. Horses and oxen perform labor at all seasons upon this grass simply, without the aid of grain; which I now think disposes the animal system to various diseases.

When I pack, I usually travel from thirty-five to forty miles a day, each horse carrying two hundred pounds—rest an hour at noon, without taking down the packs; camp while the sun is yet two hours high; hobble the horses and drive them up in the morning at sunrise. I find that horses will endure such labor for twenty-five or thirty days, resting of course on the Sabbath, upon this grass, without injuring them. Their wind is evidently better than that of horses fed on grain and hay. I have rode from Dr. Whitman's station to this, 125 miles, in nineteen hours, starting at 9 o'clock in the night, and driving a spare horse for change; but this was no advantage, for I find it is more fatiguing to a horse to be drove than to be rode. You doubtless recollect the man who overtook us on the head of Alapausawi, Thursday morning. He had left the Dalles or Long Narrows on the Columbia on Tuesday morning, slept a short time Tuesday night below the Umatillo, passed by Dr. Whitman's station, and slept Wednesday night on the Tukanan, {171} a distance from the Dalles of two hundred and forty miles; and the day he passed us he traveled fifty-five miles more.[224] He rode one horse and drove another for change. You will probably even recollect those horses, as they left us upon the round gallop. A man went from this place, starting late, to Wallawalla, and returned on the third day, sun two hours high, making the journey in about two days and a half. The whole distance traveled was two hundred and fifty miles, and but one horse was used. None of these horses were injured.

Cattle, sheep, horses, and hogs feed out through the winter, and continue fat. We very often kill our beef in March, and always have the very best of meat. Often an ox from the plains, killed in March, yields over one hundred and fifty pounds of tallow. You have seen two specimens, one killed at Dr. Whitman's, and one at this place. Sheep need the care of a shepherd through the winter, to protect the lambs from the prairie wolves. A band of mares should have a good stud that will herd them and protect the colts from the large wolves. Some thirty different kinds of roots grow abundantly upon the plains and bluffs, which, with the grass, furnish the best of food for hogs, and they are always good pork. The south faces of the extensive bluffs and hills are always free from snow, and, cut up into ten thousand little ravines, form the most desirable retreat imaginable for sheep during the winter. Here they have the best of fresh grass, and the young lambs, coming regularly twice a year, are protected from the winds and enlivened by the warm sun. We have a flock of sheep belonging to the Mission, received from the islands eight years ago; there are now about one hundred and fifty. Not one has yet died from disease, a thing of such frequent occurrence in the States. It must certainly become a great wool growing country.

I cannot but contrast the time, labor, and expense requisite to look after herds in this country, with that required in the States, especially in the Northern and Middle States, where two-thirds of every man's time, labor, and money is expended {172} on his animals, in preparing and fencing pasture grounds and meadows, building barns, sheds, stables, and granaries, cutting and securing hay and grains, and feeding and looking to animals through winter. In this country all this is superceded by Nature's own bountiful hand. In this country a single shepherd with his horse and dogs can protect and look after five thousand sheep.[225] A man with his horse and perhaps a dog can easily attend to two thousand head of cattle and horses, without spending a dollar for barns, grain, or hay. Consider the vast amount of labor and expense such a number of animals would require in the States. Were I to select for my friends a location for a healthy happy life, and speedy wealth, it would be this country.

Timber is the great desideratum. But the country of which I am particularly speaking, extending every way perhaps four hundred miles, is everywhere surrounded by low mountains, which are thickly timbered, besides two or three small ridges passing through it; also the rivers Columbia, Snake, Spokan, Paluse, Clear Water, Yankiman, Okanakan, Salmon, Wailua, Tukanan, Wallawalla, Umatillo, John Day's and river De Shutes; and down most of these timber or lumber can be rafted in any quantities. So that but a very small portion of the country will be over ten or fifteen miles from timber; most of it in the immediate vicinity of timber. The numerous small streams which occur every five or six miles, affording most desirable locations for settlements, contain some cotton wood, alder and thorn. But timber is soon grown from sprouts. The streams everywhere run over a stony bottom, while the soil is entirely free from stone. Streams are rapid, affording the best of mill privileges.

MARKET, SEAS AND BAYS

The western shores of Oregon are washed by the placid {173} waters of the Pacific, which bring the 360,000,000 of China, the many millions of the vast Indies and of Australasia, and lay them at our doors with opening hands to receive our produce; which, with the numerous whale ships that literally whiten the Northern Pacific, calling not only for provisions, but harbors to winter in, must ever afford one of the most extensive markets in the world for all kinds of produce, and one concerning which there need be but little fear that it will ever be overstocked. A market compared with which, that offered by western Europe to the eastern section of the United States, will become as a drop to the bucket. The United States' Commercial Agent at Oahu, Sandwich Islands, is desirous to make a contract for a certain amount of provisions to be supplied to American shipping every year at Oregon city; but as yet the supplies of the country over and above the home consumption, are not sufficient to warrant a dependence of our whale shipping upon the country. In fact for many years, while the United States continue to pour their inhabitants by tens of thousands, every year, into this young republic, the home market must continue in competition with the foreign. But the day is not distant when this country, settled by an industrious, virtuous, Sabbath-loving people, governed by wholesome laws, blessed with schools, and the institutions of our holy religion, will hold out abundant encouragements for the numerous whale and merchant ships of the Pacific to leave their heavy lading of three years' supply of provisions at home, and depend upon the market in the immediate vicinity of their fishing grounds. Others following in their track, learning of this new world, and finding out our ample harbors, soon this little obscure point upon the map of the world will become a second North American Republic—her commerce whitening every sea, and her crowded ports fanned by the flags of every nation. From this upper country, a distance of three hundred or four hundred miles, droves of cattle and sheep can be driven to the lower portions of the Columbia river, {174} with far less expense and labor than they are driven the same distances in the States, always being in the midst of grass upon which they may feed every night without charge.

The principal harbors are Puget's Sound, mouths of Columbia, Frazier's, Shahales, Umpqua, Rose and Clamet rivers.[226] Doubtless others will be discovered, as the country becomes more known. A dangerous bar extends nearly across the mouth of the Columbia, leaving but a narrow obscure channel, difficult of access or egress, except with favorable winds. Vessels sometimes find it impossible to enter the river by reason of contrary winds; and sometimes are detained in the river two or three months, there not being sea room enough to go out against a head wind. This difficulty could be greatly obviated, and perhaps removed, by a pilot boat. Concerning the other rivers I have no certain knowledge, but have been informed that some of them are navigable for vessels from forty to sixty miles, and afford convenient harbors. Puget's Sound, as before observed, is one of the safest and best harbors in the world, it can be entered or left under any winds and at any season of the year. The scenery around is said to be most enchanting. Two lakes near sending off a small stream of pure water. A considerable river runs into the sound, making a fall of some twenty-five feet just as it plunges into the sea, affording the opportunity of building mills upon the wharfs.

But very little has been known by Americans concerning the extensive country north of the Columbia, till last winter. I have several times been told by British subjects that the countries bordering on Frazier's river and Puget's Sound were too sterile for cultivation, and but poor crops could be raised on the Cowlitz. Whereas, the exploring party who left Oregon city, last winter, report that they found a very extensive country north of the Columbia river, of apparently good soil, well timbered with pine and oak, and well watered with the following rivers and their tributaries, viz.: the Cowlitz, emptying into the Columbia river from the north; the Shahales, {175} running into a small bay north of the Columbia river; the Nesqualla, rising near the source of the Cowlitz, and running north into Puget's Sound; Frazier's river north of this, and several smaller ones not named.

On the Cowlitz, Nesqualla and Frazier's rivers, the Hudson Bay Company have large establishments, and are producing vast quantities of wool, beef, pork, and all kinds of grain, for British whale ships which frequent the harbors. Besides these establishments, they have extensive farms and herds at Vancouver, in the Willamette valley and Colvile, and trading posts on Vancouver island, and at the mouth of the Columbia river, Umpqua, Vancouver, Wallawalla, Okanakan and Colvile, Boise and fort Hall, with very many at the north. Some of these are strongly fortified, and are being well supplied with cannon and other munitions of war, by almost every ship that arrives. So I have been informed by persons from these ships.

With the extensive valley watered by the Willamette and its numerous tributaries, you are better acquainted than myself, as I have never visited that country. I cannot, however, deny myself the pleasure of expressing my opinion of the country, formed from information derived yearly from scores of persons who have dwelt long in, or traveled more or less through its extensive territory, at all seasons of the year.

On the west the great valley is separated from the Pacific by a low range of well timbered mountains, that give rise to numerous streams and small rivers, some of which are lately found sufficient to admit vessels. On the east it is bounded by the Cascade or President's range, everywhere abounding with white pine and cedar. The Willamette river rises in latitude 42° and runs north and empties itself into the Columbia river 85 miles above its mouth. The falls of the Willamette are about thirty miles above its mouth, and must ever add a vast interest to the country. The power for mills and machinery that may be erected on each side of the river, and on the island in the middle of the falls, is adequate for almost any conceivable demand.

{176} Oregon city, situated at the falls on the east side of the river, contains over five hundred souls, about eighty houses, viz.: two churches, two blacksmith shops, one cooper shop, two cabinet shops, four tailor shops, one hatter's shop, one tannery, three shoe shops, two silver smiths, four stores, two taverns, two flouring and two saw mills, and a lathe machine. Directly opposite, on the west side, are two towns laid out, and buildings are going up. The face of the country in the Willamette valley is rolling, very equally divided into prairie and timbered countries, with frequent oak openings. Wheat produces well; corn, potatoes, &c. produce well in some places, and probably would everywhere do well with good cultivation; soil everywhere considered of a superior quality. Less snow during the winter season than in the middle district, but much more rain, with fogs, on the low lands during the summer, which render the country less healthy than this middle region; but still the country cannot be considered an unhealthy country. The face of the country is everywhere covered with bunch grass,[227] and animals feed out through the winter, as in the middle region.

The rivers Umpqua, Rose and Clamet, which empty into the Pacific, south of the Columbia, are said to water extensive fertile countries; but as yet very little is known of these regions. Ships come up the Willamette river within a few miles of Oregon city. Concerning the road for wagons commenced south of Mount Hood, and which is to be completed this summer, to be in readiness for the next emigration, you are better acquainted than myself.

I am happy to recommend to future emigrants your directions and advice as to the best mode of traveling; number of wagons desirable to travel together; quantity of provisions required for each person; best route; distance to be traveled each day. You will also be able to give the prices for which the Hudson Bay company sells flour, at Forts Hall {177} and Bois, and for which it is brought from the Willamette to the Dalles and sold.

You are acquainted with the fact that the Mission station at this place, and at Waiilatpu, have been in the habit of furnishing provisions to immigrants. We are willing to do so as long as there are no other sources of supplies in this vicinity, and therefore seems a duty. But our object in the country is to civilize and Christianize the Indian tribes among whom we are located. We are stewards of the property of others. We receive no salaries, but simply our living and clothing. We therefore feel it to be our duty to endeavour to make the receipts for provisions sold, net their expenses. For this end, Mr. Gilbert, a gentleman from New York, has taken charge of the secular affairs of this station, and will furnish provisions to immigrants on the most reasonable terms. He will give you their probable prices, and the names of such things as will be taken in exchange. You have seen the quantity and quality of flour and beef at this place, as also at Waiilatpu.

Yours very sincerely,        

H. H. Spalding.