Frances Fuller Victor

“ C. A. Coburn, have made places for themselves in the newspaper world under great difficulties, showing that, in this instance, as in several others in Oregon, talent pervades the whole family group.
The question naturally suggests itself: If all these writers, and many more probably that have been overlooked, are in possession of the "divine afflatus" to any extent, why we have not a literature purely Oregonian? The answer is not far to find. Men of real ability have generally a corresponding ambition, and in Oregon they find their audience too small to excite enthusiasm. ”

“ But a more stimulating reflection is suggested by this review, viz: that it is not the absence of talent so much as the absence of opportunity which keeps Oregon literature in abeyance. The number of books written in Oregon and published elsewhere shows creditably for the literary habits of a population that hardly yet numbers one hundred thousand. Should the opportunity ever come, and with it the inevitable competition and criticism, there will be found underneath these "croppings" many leads of pure gold. ”

“ M. P. Deady has, from time to time, when he could intermit for a little his judicial labors, furnished the Overland Monthly and journals of California and Oregon with important articles upon the history of Oregon and its founders. Hon. W. Lair Hill occasionally indulges in truly literary work—for which he is eminently fitted—between the labors of law and journalism. John Minto, Esq., has written a good deal in the interest of Oregon and agriculture. S. A. Clarke, Esq., of Salem, is a facile writer of prose, an excellent newspaper correspondent, a journalist, and a versifier also. ”

“ It might be discreet, while thinking they will do well enough at home—a false proposition—to think how they look to the world beyond home, who take our public journals as standards of our intellectual advancement and our social status. ”

“ Yet Oregon is not without her men and women of gifts bred on her soil—poets and romancists, and possibly philosophers. F. L. and O. C. Applegate are men with the hereditary strain of literary talent in their composition—neglected, as in the case of their uncle, "the sage of Yoncalla." The genius of Sam. and Sylvester C. Simpson is undoubted, both in prose and poetical composition. Mrs. Belle W. Cooke is a paid contributor to the New York Independent. A Salem lady, over the nom de plume of "Mem Linton," has also written very acceptably for different journals of this State. ”

“ But we have yet to notice our most and only famous literary man, who, with his gifted wife, determined to win distinction by seeking a wider field, and succeeded—Miller, fantastically dubbed "Joaquin." It is not necessary to advertise his merits—he has done that himself ”

“ Oregon City had hitherto been the only centre of commercial or political importance, but in 1850 two off-shoots appeared in the newspaper line—one at Milwaukie and the other at Portland, called respectively the Star and the Oregonian. The Star, edited by J. O. Waterman, Esq., afterwards removed to Portland, and became the Times; but the Oregonian has always been a fixture in Portland. Its first editor was Thos. J. Dryer, afterwards consul to the Sandwich Islands. Following close upon those came the Statesman, established first at Oregon City by A. Bush, Esq., and removing to Salem in 1853. ”