Matthew P. Deady

“ In population it may not, in this century, if ever, exceed 50,000, and its strongest sons will often be drawn away to the Metropolis of the Pacific, where they are sure to win the prizes in commerce, the arts and professions. Yet for all that and more, if any young person who reads this is casting about for a place where a fair stock of sense, industry and good habits will, within certain limits, pay certainly and well in any honest calling, let him or her take passage at once for Portland-on-Wallamet. ”

“ PORTLAND-ON-WALLAMET.
THE apparent tendency of modern civilization is to repress and prevent the growth of individual extremes and produce only the mere average man. The city is the great promoter and centre of this civilization, as the castle and its surroundings was of that of the feudal ages. In the fourteenth century the town ranked below the manor, and the burghers counted it an honor and a security to enjoy the favor and protection of the lord of the soil. ”

“ As a rule they marry young, and faithfully obey the first commandment given to man and woman—" Be fruitful and multiply." How long will the cultivated American of Yankee descent, with his maximum family of one delicate child, successfully compete with this healthy and fruitful people for the lead and mastery in commerce and business?
The town of Portland constitutes one school district, and is placed under the management of three directors, chosen by the voters of the district. The school-going population of children between the ages of four and twenty is not far from 2000. ”

“ The apple is fast becoming exclu- sively an Oregon product. The day is not far distant when the choice fruit of this country will rank first in all the apple markets of the world. The hand- ling and exporting this crop is already an important feature of the commerce of Portland. The first export of fruit from Portland was made by Meek and Lluelling, in 1853. They shipped two hundred pounds, for which they realized five hundred dollars. This was the first grafted or cultivated fruit ever offered for sale in the San Francisco market. ”

“ Then, whether they will deflect to the left and go through the Cascade mountains to the east of Eugene, and on in the direction of Goose lake and the Humboldt to the Central Pacific, or continue due south to the southern border of Oregon, through the Umpqua and Rogue river valleys, with a view of meeting a railway from Sacramento, is a question now under discussion, somewhat prematurely. A railway up the valley of the Columbia, to connect Portland with the Central Pacific at Salt Lake, is also a favorite project with many Portlanders, and one that persons now living are likely to see realized. ”

“ The present surveyed limits of the city, including Couch's addition on the north, and Caruther's addition on the south, is about three square miles. The houses on Front street are of a substantial character. Many of them are built of brick, and three stories high, with stone or iron fronts. The best of brick are made in the vicinity; in fact, anywhere in the Wallamet valley. A quarry lately opened up the river furnishes a stone of a light grey color, with a bluish tinge, that cuts into any shape, and hardens with exposure to the air. First street is devoted to retail business. ”

“ At this time there were two other newspapers published in the Territory—the Spectator, at Oregon city and the Western Star, at Milwaukie, a then promising young city on the east bank of the Wallamet and six miles south of Portland.
The Western Star soon after disappeared from the Milwaukie horizon, to reappear in Portland as the 77mes. The town itself proved to be too near Portland, to become a city. It has however been noted for the manufacture of flour, the building of steamboats, and the Meek and Lluelling nursery, from which this coast received its first supply of cultivated apple trees. ”

“ The country is subordinate to the town. The latter is the ever widening arena in which our material and sensuous people seek and find the best market for their abilities and the readiest gratification of their tastes and ambition. ”

“ At this time work is going on upon two lines of railway extending from Portland up the Wallamet valley, one on either side of the Wallamet river. How many struggles and failures these experimental enterprises are doomed to undergo before they are accomplished, no one can predict. out as the world now goes, their accomplishment is only a question of time. From the conformation of the country these roads must merge into one at about one hundred and twenty miles south of Portland. ”

“ When this Oregon valley reaches that point, and it is capable of going beyond it, it will contain 615,384 souls, more than the whole State of California to-day.
About one-third of the valley is prairie land, the rest of it being more or less heavily wooded with fir, oak, maple and ash trees. Timber and water are well distributed and of a superior quality. The climate is temperate—the mean temperature being about sixty degrees. The mean rain-fall for the year varies somewhat in localities, but fifty inches is not far from the average. ”

“ They are also employed extensively as house servants. The negro population is comparatively small, but increasing by immigration and otherwise. So far it is moderately thrifty and well conducted. They have a public school and are about to erect a house of worship. The merchants and business men are principally Jews, and Americans from New England and New York—particularly New England. Theatrical amusements never ranked high in Portland, and now they are at a very low ebb. There is no theatre-house in town fit to be called such. ”

“ Within one or the other of those congregations will be found the larger portion of the substantial worthy people of Portland. The Methodists and Roman Catholics have the greatest number, drawn comparatively from the humbler walks of life. ”

“ But the rage for civic life as yet only exists in a modified form in some parts of the Republic. There are still some favored portions of this very progressive country, where the plow and the reaping hook maintain their ancient ascendancy in the popular use and estimation. ”

“ Generally a large amount of taxable property is omitted from the assessment roll, while the rest is not assessed at more than half its value. The cash value of Port- land is not far from $10,000,000.
The following statement of the exports of Portland for the year 1866 is taken from the manifests of the vessels going out of the Columbia—mostly to San Francisco. ”

“ As in larger cities, the day will come here when the control of the fire companies will be sought and obtained by rough captains, to enable them to get place and plunder for questionable aid to politics and politicians at primaries and polls. ”

“ The population of Portland is princi- pally engaged in mercantile and me- chanical pursuits—the latter being for the most part those required in house building and finishing. The Irish furnish a large share of the unskilled day labor and a few of the tradesmen and mechan- ics. ”

“ One of the Jewish congregations is of reformed practice. Both of them represent comparative wealth, and are growing in numbers. These children of Shem—at least the German part of them—are a domestic, home-loving people. ”

“ On the other hand, church-going is comparatively common. The church buildings will accommodate four thousand persons, and probably on an average one half that number attend the Sunday services in them, but the communicants are a still less number. ”

“ There are three public school houses, which in the aggregate accommodate tooo scholars. These schools are well kept, and the buildings are very fair. With the grounds and furniture, they are estimated to be worth $72,500. ”

“ Do what it will, it will be comparatively a provincial place, and noted for peculiarities in manners, opinions and_business; but it will be worth more dollars per head than either London or New York, and its good citizens will sleep sounder and live longer than the San Franciscans. ”