Cleveland Rockwell

“ The physical characteristics of the Northwest, under a careful study of the different subjects, the climate, the soil, the varied products of nature, the inspiring influence of pastoral and sublime scenery on our moral and intellectual natures, all will develop the knowledge that in our country may be found every material and natural resource necessary to the development and well-being of the highest types of the human race. ”

“ The northwest coast, in common with all parts of the globe, has been subject to great and frequent oscillations of level, epochs of subsidence and upheaval being well marked in the Tertiary and post-Tertiary or latest geological age. These oscillations sunk the land below the surface of the ocean many thousand feet, raising it again to present elevations, as is shown by the abundance of fossil marine life on the summits of very high mountains. I have gathered shells of clams, identical with existing species, on the summit of Bald mountain, near Port Orford, 3,000 feet above the sea level. ”

“ The coal deposits of the Northwest are found to the northward and within the Arctic circle. Coal is known to be due to the mineralized carbonaceous deposits of vegetable life; and, moreover, that life must have been very abundant and favored by the existence of a sub-tropical climate, as is shown by the fossil remains, animal and vegetable. But scientists are at a loss to account for the fact that such a climate and vegetation existed at that time in latitudes far beyond the present limits of trees, or indeed any other growth except mosses and lichens. ”

“ For nearly half of the year, northwest winds prevail along the whole coast, while during the winter months the winds come from the southeast and southwest. The summer winds, far off the coast, are the trade winds, and blow from the southwest, gradually shifting, as the coast is approached, to the northwest. In winter the southerly winds pile up the waters along the coast, and, flowing off, produce a strong current to the northward, as is seen by the frequent presence of redwood logs cast up on the shores, a tree which hardly appears north of the California line. ”

“ The continuity of this sub-ocean plain is broken is some places by ranges of submarine hills, parallel with the Coast range. The summits of these hills are known as banks, and are the feedinggrounds (as well as the fishing-grounds) for vast numbers of fish. The streams or currents of the ocean along the northwest coast are dominated by the effects of the Japanese stream, the great ocean current of the Pacific, which, having its rise in the warm regions of the tropics, flows past the coast of Japan, and, crossing over, loses itself on the American shores. ”

“ Port Orford, on the southern coast of Oregon, is the largest and best summer roadstead, but it is exposed to the fury of winter gales. Destruction island, off the Washington shore, is the only spot of land on the coast large enough to be called an island.
The influence of man in improving for his benefit the conditions imposed by nature may be instanced in the works at the entrance to the Columbia river, where in place of a dangerous channel and bar a very good and secure one has been formed. ”

“ The fauna of the northwest coast is an interesting study, embracing every species known to the temperate zone. The black and cinnamon bear are common, and the formidable grizzly bear may be found in the mountains, if any one cares to go and look for him. The great gray wolf inhab- its the gloomiest forests, but is rarely seen except when driven by deep snows to prey upon herds of sheep or cattle, and that thief of the plains, the coyote or prairie wolf, is common east of the moun- tains. ”

“ The glacial epoch is well marked in the Northwest, and all the northern canyons of the great peaks as far south as Mount Shasta still contain glaciers, many of them exceeding the celebrated glaciers of the Alps.
The glaciers become larger and reach further down the mountain sides as you go north, until Alaska is reached, where all the mountain summits are capped with wide fields of snow, and the glaciers force their way down to the sea, and every gorge is filled. ”

“ Huge animals of the mastodon family wandered through the forests of the infant world, and along the grassy shores of the ancient lake grazed the gentle oreodon, unmolested by the twang of the bow-string or crack of the hunter's rifle; man had not yet appeared upon the earth. ”

“ Man's vast operations have not yet had the effect upon our Northwest that may be traced in other countries, but give him time and he will no doubt fulfill his con- tract.
The character of a race is largely in- fluenced by its environment. It cannot be doubted that diversity of pursuits and occupation in man leads to difference in character and acquirements. The im- mense hordes of human beings inhabiting the wide steppes of Russia and Siberia, and the vast plains of Tartary, have for ages followed the monotonous life dictated to them by the dreary desolation of their limitless horizon. ”

“ The undergrowth in the forests is made up of many flowering trees, shrubs and plants, and the camas and wapato, flower- ing bulbous roots, are common, being used as food by the native tribes and Chinese. Flax is indigenous in Southern Oregon. In addition to the native woods and plants, man has introduced great varieties of each, and such is the adaptability of a generous soil and mild climate that all the trees and plants of the temperate zone and many of the sub-tropical species can be grown in some part of the North- west. ”

“ The sturgeon, one of the oldest types of fishes, surviving the changes of thousands of years, and the taking of which was con- trolled by the royal perquisites of the ancient kings of England, is common —
in fact, is met with every day on the side- walks of our city. The sea is prolific of life; whales pass up and down the coast from their feeding grounds in the Arctic to their breeding grounds in the warm bays of Lower California. ”

“ With civilized man it is far different, and no view of physical geography would be complete without considering the changed aspects of the face of nature produced by the vast workings of civilized man. ”

“ The tremendous forces of nature may often be seen on our coasts in the effects produced by ocean waves breaking on the shore. In the summer of 1877, while at work on the adjacent coast, a very high tide occurred, with an immense surf rolling in from the westward, the result of some storm far out at sea. ”

“ In the book of Genesis we are told that God gave man dominion over the earth and over every living thing, with the injunction to sub- due it, and man has interpreted the text literally; for, not content with gathering the fruits and killing the animals nature presents for his sustenance, he has entered into a contest not only to take possession of the earth, but to make war upon the operations of nature herself. ”

“ No portion of our country has so many and varied mineral resources as the Northwest, though the develop- ment of these hidden treasures can hardly be said to have been commenced.
The gold mining of the Northwest is principally in placer deposits. The coun- ties of Jackson, Curry, Coos, Josephine, also Baker, Grant and Union in Eastern Oregon, are all productive of gold. Placer deposits in British Columbia, the Fraser and Stickeen rivers, and on the Yukon, all yield gold. Gold is also produced from rock quartz in Eastern Oregon and in Alaska. ”

“ The winds blowing over the warm surface waters absorb the radiated heat and maintain the high annual mean temperature over our land, which we enjoy. Were it not for the great modification in climate produced by the Japan stream, the limit of perpetual snow would reach far down the slopes of the Cascade mountains, and the glaciers of Mount Hood and Mount Adams probably reach to the Columbia river. The effects of these winds are felt along the coast as far inland as the Cascade mountains. ”

“ The mouflon or big-horned sheep and the great mountain goat frequent the most inaccessible rocky peaks of the highest mountains, above the limits of perpetual snow. The fur-bearing animals, whose winter coats are sought after by man to make his winter coats, embrace numerous species, as the fur seal, sea and land otter, beaver, fisher mink, the silver, cross and red fox, muskrat and weasel or ermine. ”

“ This aspect of the sun being continued through many thousand years, polar conditions of climate were practically maintained over a large area of the Northern hemisphere. Gradually the ice and snow disappeared from the temperate zones, the glaciers retreated to their proper homes in the North, and life once more flourished over a smiling land. ”

“ Chief among the trees of the Northwest is the Douglas spruce or red fir, reaching in fa- vored groves great height and size, and valuable for the uses of man. The red- wood of the California Coast range barely steps over the state line, and its place is at once taken by the white or Oxford cedar, a variety having a very limited habitat in Oregon and found in no other part of the world. ”

“ Many authorities claim that though the poles of the earth have during past ages pointed towards far different stars than they do now, the geographical poles have always maintained the present angle with the ecliptic or plane of the earth's path around the sun, thus making the seasons always the same as now. ”

“ The Sierra Nevada and Cascade range was elevated at the close of the Jurassic period, but not to its present height. At the end of the Miocene period, simultaneously with the elevation of the Coast range, the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountains were lifted up to their present great elevation, and, under the tremendous pressure, seem to have been rent and fissured along the entire crest from Middle California to the far North in British America. ”

“ Science is also unable to inform us of the momentous changes that must have taken place to produce the ice age, when all plant life over a large part of the Northern hemisphere was destroyed and animal life of the temperate clime driven towards subtropical regions. ”

“ The title to the country was finally confirmed to the United States by the Louisiana purchase from France in 1803, and, after much contention, the consummation of the Ashburton treaty with England in 1842 defined the limits of our neighbor's territory on the north at latitude 49 degrees. The very late purchase of the great territory of Alaska from Russia extended the limits of the Northwest far towards the frozen ocean, and nearly to the Asiatic coast. The geographical outlines of the northwest coast, the great mountain chains, the general courses of the rivers, are familiar to all. ”

“ A vast expanse of boundless prairie, barely supporting at the most favorable seasons the lives of their cattle and horses, has the natural tendency to repress all ambition and desire for elevation. They have not advanced beyond the semi-civil- ization of their progenitors in the occupa- tion of tending their flocks and herds. Their environment offers them no diversity of pursuits. ”

“ The soil in most portions of the North- west is very productive, as is well known by the large yield of wheat and other cereals grown on certain lands for many successive years, without the application of artificial fertilizers. ”

“ Chalcedony, sil- icified wood, jasper, carnelians and agates of great beauty are found on the banks of the Columbia and adjacent streams, par- ticularly where the river breaks through the Coast range near Oak Point and Cath- lamet. Coal is mined in a great many localities, from Coos bay to Alaska, and also east of the mountains. The most valuable coals have been found in the western foothills of the Cascades on Puget sound, on Vancouver island near Nanaimo, and at Roslyn, on the eastern slopes of the mountains. ”

“ During the glacial age vast fields of ice and snow covered the Northern hemisphere of both continents for a great distance from the poles to an unknown depth, driving all existing forms of animal life towards the sub-tropical zone and substituting arctic forms. ”

“ Some theorists have advanced the hypothesis that the surface of the sun was to a very large extent covered with spots which are now seen to prevail at successive intervals of 11% years, and that owing to this prevalence the amount of heat and light given forth was very much lessened. ”

“ The prevailing winds of summer, blowing from off the ocean, maintain a very equable degree of temperature over the land, as far as their influence reaches, a temperature entirely controlled by the effects of the Japan stream. ”

“ The coniferous pines are represented by several species; among which are the sugar, black, silver and yel- low pine. The white, lovely, yellow and red fir, the hemlock, spruce, larch, yew, cypress, yellow and red cedar are in great numbers. Many and indeed most of these trees are exceedingly valuable to the uses of man. ”

“ Silver in various ores and in lead is found and mined in great quantities in Idaho and elsewhere in the Northwest, and forms a leading industry of the coun- try. Ores of iron, including magnetic bog and hematite varieties, are found in near- ly every portion of the country, and are being worked in several localities. ”

“ The Mongolian pheasant has been read- ily acclimated and added to the list of game birds of the country. Very many varieties of this list of animals, birds and fishes are exceedingly valuable to the uses and pursuits of man. ”