Frances Fuller Victor

“ Passing through a country where the soil is a reddish clay, clothed with groves of oak, manzanita, laurel, and pine, we come at last to the Rogue River, the most beautiful of mountain-born streams. Quite near the river, on the stage-road, the traveler finds a neat hotel, with garden attached, looking so home-like, in conjunction with its beautiful surroundings, that the temptation to stop over for a day, and enjoy the peace and pleasantness of the place, is almost irresistible—to us, quite so. ”

“ A country that has the Rocky Mountains for its eastern wall, the Pacific Sea for its western barrier; whose interior mountains are teeming with treasure; whose soil is seldom hardened by frost; down whose coasts sail no icebergs; whose wharves front those of China and Japan, and whose people are full of the intellectuality of the nineteenth century, will not pause nor hesitate on the road to wealth, learning, literature, or art. Already Oregon has furnished the world a poet, whose mountain minstrelsy echoes from foreign shores. ”

“ Sitting out upon the steamer's deck, of a summer morning, we are not much troubled with visions of storms: the scene is as peaceful as it is magnificent. Steaming ahead, straight into the heart of the mountains, each moment affords a fresh delight to the wondering senses. The panorama of grandeur and beauty seems endless. As we approach the lower end of the rapids, we find that at the left the heights recede and inclose a strip of level, sandy land, in the midst of which stands a solitary mountain (of basalt) called Castle Rock, about fourteen hundred feet in altitude. ”

“ The Umpqua Valley, which we had first seen in its June freshness, was now sere with the long drought of summer, followed by a rainless autumn. Still, it looked beautiful—one so soon learns to admire the soft coloring of these dry countries—the pale, russet hues of the valleys; the neutral tints in rocks and fences; the quiet, dark-green of the forests; and the clear, pale, unclouded blue of the heavens. The expression of these landscapes is that of soft repose. Nature herself seems resting, and it is no reproach to man that he, too, forgets to work, and only dreams. ”

“ While we gaze delighted, from every side the meadow-lark trills its liquid melody, in notes of exultation peculiarly infectious; and we find ourselves wondering why we have not always preferred the country to the town.
A ride of eighteen miles brings us to the Touchet; not the Touchet as we saw it at the first crossing on the road from Wallula, but a beautiful stream, with a gravel bottom, wooded banks, picturesque bluffs, and an open, handsome valley. And here, at the crossing, is the promising new town of Waitsburg. ”

“ Fine as it is, steaming up the Columbia in July weather, there are times when storms of wind and sand make the voyage impossible to any but a steam-propelled vessel. It is at our peril that we invade the grand sanctuaries of Nature in her winter moods. The narrow channel of the river among the mountains, the height of the overhanging cliffs—which confine the wind as in a funnel—and the changes of temperature to which, even in summer, mountain localities are subject, make this a stormy passage at some periods of the year. ”

“ From any part of the city a quarter of a mile back, Mount Hood is seen in its finest aspect, rising grandly above the fir-clad slopes of the Cascade Range. It marks the place of the sun's rising in the summer months; and passes at evening, when reflecting the hues of sunset, through many beautiful gradations of light and color. Even by moonlight its spectral shape is still discernible at the distance of sixty miles. ”

“ To be convinced of the prodigal wealth of the soil and mildness of the climate, we have only to visit any of the small valleys about the mouth of the Columbia River, and find ourselves lost as in a forest, in thickets of ferns and wild berries; while the trees that tower above us two hundred feet have trunks eight feet in thickness. Of the scenery of a country which combines sea, mountains, forests, valleys, and rapid rivers, we need not speak. ”

“ To be suspended over water on a bridge, a long one, was always to us more fascinating than boating. To be at rest over the ever-restless water, and gaze upon its cheerfulness, and dream! In Olympia, we can do this, when the tide is in. When it is out, we can interest ourselves in watching the millions of squirming things the receding flood leaves in the oozy mud. Standing on the long bridge, too, we can gaze upon the distant Olympian Range—the most aerial mountain view in America. ”

“ It is a complete copy of the north-western shore of the cape, a hundred times more perfect and beautiful than a painter could make it, with the features of a score of rods concentrated into a picture of a dozen inches in diameter, with the real life, and motion, and atmosphere of Nature in it. While you gaze enchanted, the surf creeps up the sandy beach, the sea-birds circle about the rocks, the giant firs move gently in the breeze, shadows flit over the sea, a cloud moves in the sky ”

“ Aside from the river itself there is little to interest one between Dalles City and Celilo, the upper end of the gorge of the Columbia. There are rocks all about in every direction, a little grass, a great deal of sand, and some very brilliant flowers growing out of it. There are also a few Indian lodges, with salmon drying inside, whose rich orange color shows through the open doorway like a flame; and a few Indians fishing with a net, their long black hair falling over their shoulders, and blowing into their eyes in a most inconvenient fashion. ”

“ On the clearing away of the mists of early morning we find the air on the Sound very bright and bracing. A slight breeze just ripples the blue waters of this Mediterranean sea; the summer sky is delicately mottled with flecks of foam-white clouds; seals sport below; birds flit from shore to shore above; a golden silence, only broken by the paddle-wheels of our steamer, wraps all together in a dreamy unreality very charming to the tourist. Occasionally a white sail, gleaming in mid-distance, adds an interest to the scene ”

“ Thus, this Middle Tertiary period was closed in violence. Volcanic fire, earthquake-shocks, and molten lava destroyed and blotted out all forms of vegetable and animal life. The ages roll on, and once more living forms of plant and animal haunt the shores of these shallowing lakes. The oak, the yew, the willow, have left their prints in the sedimentary rocks; and the bones of new creations of animal life, such as the camel and the horse, accompany them. But these, too, in turn suffer extinction by violence; the whole country being covered more than thirty feet deep in volcanic ashes. ”

“ In short, if the tourist has not remained in the heart of the Wallamet Valley long enough to find out for himself its resources for pleasure, as well as profit, he has done himself and the country an injustice. Of course all the resorts mentioned are frequented by residents of the adjoining counties on either side, and belong equally to all this portion of the State. It is, indeed, quite the custom for Oregonians, of every section, to make their summer excursions, quite as much as those city-bred pleasure-seekers who people Eastern watering-places every season. ”

“ A half-dozen miles from Walla Walla city, at the crossing of Dry Creek, the aspect of the country changes. Instead of rolling hills covered with bunch-grass, between the roots of which the gray earth is always visible, we come to a beautiful, level basin of land, bounded by the foot-hills of the Blue Mountains on the east, and stretching away off into undulating prairies on every other side. The first glimpse of this lovely valley is very cheering indeed. ”

“ Neither high nor low, but rising handsomely out of the water; indented with numerous coves, bays, and arms of the sea; its shore being dotted with trees, rather than heavily wooded, with some handsome villas in sight from the steamer, Vancouver's Island makes a good impression at the moment of approach—has, in fact, one of the handsomest approaches to its principal city of any country fronting on the Pacific.
It is impossible to have seen Victoria, the capital of the British possessions on the Pacific, and not give it a passing notice at least. ”

“ An Indian canoe, with Indians to steer, carries one rapidly and pleasantly down stream—while the excitement of passing the rapids, and the splendid scenery of the wild, little river, furnish entertainment.
So disguised in a luxuriance of trees and shrubbery is the mouth of the Cowlitz, that, when we are in the open Columbia, we can scarcely detect the place of our exit from it. Crossing over to the Oregon side we find ourselves at Rainier, where lumber is manufactured, chiefly for export. ”

“ It is quite natural in such profound solitudes to look for some of its most distinguished inhabitants; but our desire to meet a cougar, or a brown bear, is not gratified. Only the gray hare, and the grouse and quail, cross our road. These seem not the least to mind us; evidently unacquainted with the sanguinary disposition of man, and so audaciously familiar as to provoke an uprising of the lordly thirst for killing. The weather is fine, the mountain air and balsamic odors tonic and delightful. Altogether we are in the best of spirits for two-thirds the distance to the night station. ”

“ We are pleased to pay this tribute to Albany, where we met some very congenial people. There is no place in the interior of Oregon where the stranger is more likely to be pleased with his surroundings than here.
There are also many pleasant drives and resorts about Albany, and a fine view of that beautiful group of snow-peaks, the Three Sisters. Although there is much level prairie, there are also buttes and ridges so disposed about the valley as to give a charming variety to an otherwise monotonous landscape. ”

“ To have succeeded, by patient research and energetic toil, in securing that which others secure by blood and devastation only, is justly a subject of self-congratulation, as it is also deserving of praise. The choicest wine, from the costliest chalice, could hardly have been so sweet to the taste of our hardy exploring party, as the ice-cold draught of living water dipped from the mountain reservoirs whose streams "flowed toward the west." With equal pride must they have launched their frail canoes on that river which now bears the name of the chief of the expedition. ”

“ A week's sport, with good living on board their hunting craft, is thought "worth the shot," as unbending both body and mind from the year's routine of business.
When it is remembered that there is the best of sport for the angler in the creeks and rivers of the country, where choice may be made between a seventy-pound salmon at the mouth of the Columbia, and a dainty, speckled trout in almost any tributary, it must be allowed that there is amusement for all varieties of idle people, not to say healthful pastime for invalids, in Oregon and Washington. ”

“ Two miles and a half south-west of the town is the site of a United States military post, now abandoned. The prospect from this high bluff is remarkably fine. To the north-east, and nearly on the 49th parallel, is Mount Baker, with its ragged, double peak fretting the heavens. Far to the south-east is Mount Rainier, the most beautiful peak of the northern Andes; on the west, the Olympian Range; on the east, Whidby's Island, spread out like a garden; and across the straits, San Juan and Vancouver's islands dimly visible. ”

“ Badinage aside, the grandeur of the Columbia, for some miles above the Cascades, is so great and overpowering that one feels little disposed to attempt description. The Hudson, which has so long been the pride of America, is but the younger brother of the Columbia. Place a hundred Dunderbergs side by side, and you have some idea of these stupendous bluffs; double the height of the Palisades, and you can form an idea of these precipitous cliffs. ”

“ No great and general forms of Nature impress themselves upon the memory or imagination more than mountains. The ocean alone rivals them in this respect. Those nations, like the Swiss, who have been born and bred in the shadow of, or even in sight of, cloud-piercing heights, never take kindly to countries of a smoother aspect. In a few generations, Oregon will undoubtedly possess, for this reason, a people distinguished for patriotism.
We have found the Oregon mountains everywhere, west of the summit of the Cascade Range,, densely covered with forest, even up to the line of perpetual snow. ”

“ For whose eye has all this beauty been spread, age after age, where human footsteps never come? Let those who believe every thing terrestrial "was made for man," search those places of earth where only God is, and study their adornments.
The view from the peak of our mountain is one long to be remembered. To the north of us stretches the Cascade Range, with its wilderness of mountains, from six to eight thousand feet in height, overtopped by Mount Jefferson and Mount Hood. ”

“ But the grandeur of the wooded highlands, the frequently projecting cliffs covered with forest to their very edges, and embroidered and festooned with mosses, ferns, and vines, together with the far-stretching views of the broad Columbia, suffice to engage the admiring attention of the tourist. In consequence of fires, which every year spread through and destroy large tracts of timber, the mountains in many places present a desolated appearance, the naked trunks alone of the towering firs being left standing to decay. ”