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Washington Statesman
Walla Walla, Washington Territory
December 20, 1861
Vol. 1, No. 4
N. Northrop, R. B. Smith, R. R. Rees, Editors and Proprietors
p. 1, col. 4
Walla Walla as a Farming and Stock-growing Country
Walla Walla, Dec. 11, 1861
EDS. STATESMAN: — This country is a vast field for the agriculturist and stock-grower; and with the right kind of tillage, a great portion of it can be made to yield almost fabulous crops — and what land is not tillable is one of the best of pastures and will support immense herds of stock. The winters being mild and dry, stock can be "wintered out." In fact, nature seems to have provided for this; for the summer being dry and the watering-places not very plenty, the cattle cannot run all over the hills for want of water; but when the rains set in, in the fall, they can range back on the pasture that has not been touched during the summer. This is a great cattle and sheep-growing country, but it is not adapted to wool-growing. The wool cannot be worked up into cloth, being brittle, so to speak, from the effects of the alkali, which exists in more or less quantities from the Dalles to Snake river. But for mutton, this country cannot be excelled.
All kinds of grain grow finely here; and the gardens, by proper cultivation, do well. The smut affects the wheat, as it did in Oregon a few years since; but the farmers must vitriol their seed wheat, and thus remedy this evil.
Many have resorted to the system of irrigating their gardens, which I think does more injury than good. The land here needs warming instead of cooling, which is done by turning on so much cold water. Again, the water only dampens the earth a few inches from the ditch; for if a hole be sunk in these highly irrigated gardens dry dirt will be found within a foot of the top of the ground, after having as much rain as we have had this fall. If the farmers and gardeners would under-drain and plow their land deep they would get better crops.
In my opinion, the farmers are pursuing a wrong course in regard to their wheat crops, by holding it at so high a price that by the time the millers flour it up it costs so much that flour can be shipped from middle Oregon and more than compete with the flour merchant of this valley. — The farmers in this valley are holding their wheat back this winter, waiting for a large price, while the Oregonians are drawing theirs through the mud to market, and when the spring trade opens, Oregon flour will be shipped here by the tons, and the farmers here will find their market blocked. They have got the flour in Oregon, and they will find a market for it somewhere. But if the farmers here would put their wheat down to a reasonable price, so that Oregon flour could not be shipped here, they would have the thing in their own hands.
AMICUS.
____________BREVET is a commission which gives an officer title and rank in the army above his pay, but if he exercises a command according to his brevet he receives the pay attached to his brevet rank.
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WASHINGTON AND THE CORPORALS. — Some of our volunteer officers show their unfitness to command by keeping aloof from their men, instead of setting them the example of manliness in toil and endurance. The following incident is in point:
During the American Revolution, it is said, the commander of a little squad was giving orders to those under him, relative to a log of timber which they were endeavoring to raise up to the top of some military works they were repairing. The timber went up with difficulty, and on this account the voice of the little man was often heard, in regular vociferations of "Heave away, there she goes heave ho." An officer, not in military costume, was passing, and asked the commander why he did not take hold and render a little assistance. The latter, astonished, turning round with all the pomp and splendor of an emperor, said: "Sir, I am a corporal!" "You are, are you?" replied the officer; "I was not aware of that;" and taking of his hat and bowing, the officer said, "I ask your pardon, Mr. Corporal," and then dismounted and lifted till the sweat stood in drops on his forehead.
When the work was finished, turning to the commander, he said, "Mr. Corporal, when you have another such job, and have not men enough, send for your Commander-in-Chief, and I will come and help you a second time."
The Corporal was thunderstruck. It was General Washington who had thus addressed him.
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A FROZEN SHIP. — A whaling vessel which sailed from London in 1840, found on the Polar Sea, a ship embedded in the ice, with sails furled and no signs of life on board. The Captain and some of the crew descended into the cabin and found coiled upon the floor a Newfoundland dog, apparently asleep, but when they touched it, they found the animal was dead and frozen as hard as a stone. In the cabin was a young lady seated at a table, her eyes open as if gazing at the intruders in that desolate place. She was a corpse! and had been frozen in an apparently resigned and religious attitude. Beside her was a young man, who, it appeared was commander of the brig, and brother to the lady. He was sitting at the table, dead, and before him was a sheet of paper on which was written; "Our cook has endeavored since yesterday morning to strike a light, but in vain — all is now over." In another part of the cabin stood the cook with the flint and tinder in hand, frozen, in the vain endeavor to strike the fire that could alone save them. The terrors of the seamen led the Captain from the spot, who took with him the log-book, as the solemn memento of the ill-fated ship. It appears that she also was from London, and had been in this place over fourteen years.
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p. 2, col. 4
The Mountaineer publishes a letter from Mr. J. W. Knight, dated at the Umatilla Agency, which gives the report of a party sent out by that gentleman to test the feasibility of a trail from the Grand Ronde valley to Powder river, and also to learn whether a practicable trail could be found from the grand Ronde valley to the mines on Salmon river. The letter also states that the distance from Grand Ronde to this point is sixty miles, and taht a large Indian trail follows up the south side of Salmon river. The party which was sent out did not make the trip through to Salmon river, but reported that there was no apparent obstacle in the way of such a trip. Judging by the descriptions we have had from men who have attempted to pass over the mountains from the Grand Ronde valley to where the rich mines are situated, we think that as yet no feasible trail, over which animals may pass heavily laden, has been discovered in that direction. The descriptions of this country which have come to us through old mountaineers, are that is it extremely wild and mountainous, "the worst country that ever a man attempted to pass through," presenting on every hand insurmountable obstacles, and rendering it utterly impossible to locate a trail with any directness from the Grand Ronde to the mines on Salmon river. However, we shall see what the energy and will of man may develop in this regard during the coming season.
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p. 2, col. 5
Oregon Items
Owing to the detention of the mails between this place and the Dalles, we have not received our regular list of exchanges for the past two weeks; consequently our stock of news for the Willamette is rather meager. We condense the following items from papers received by Tracy & Co's Express. . . . . The Times says the steam flat St. Clair, which came over the falls during the late freshet, is to be placed on the lower Willamette trade. This same paper says that during the late freshet the mail stage was drawn through the Umpqua valley by six horses, attached to a two-wheel cart, and the horses were much of they way belly deep in mud and water, and some of them died in going from one station to another. The bridge across the Umpqua at Winchester was carried away, and a man drowned, name unknown. . . . . An Olympia correspondent of the Oregonian writes, under date of Dec. 9th, that the supreme court of this Territory have rendered their decision that "Olympia is the seat of government of Washington Territory, and that the act locating the capital at Vancouver was void, because it possessed no enacting clause. — This was the opinion of Chief Justice Hewitt and Judge Oliphant, delivered by the former, — Associate Justice Wyche dissenting. It is understood that the Judge will place their opinions on file." . . . . The Sound country sustained considerable damage by the late flood. . . . Oregon produce is said to be advancing in the Victoria market, on account of the scarcity occasioned by the destruction of produce during the freshet. The rise, however is not donfined to the Victoria market alone; in Portland, the price of flour has nearly doubled, and many other articles of produce have increased proportionately. The rise will probably be only temporary. . . . The Mountaineer of the 18th inst. says: "We have the pleasure to announce that such measures have been taken as to render certain the building of a railroad from the Dalles to the Deschutes. Capitalists with ample means have taken the matter in hand, and we have every assurance that the work will be commenced without delay and pressed forward to an early completion."
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FROM FLORENCE CITY. — We are indebted to a friend for the following extract from a letter written by Mr. John Creighton, Florence, Dec. 11th:
"New mines or rather a new creek has been found some six miles from here that pays about as well as the mines around here. Weather clear and cold — not much doing — too cold to "wash." Matthew Bledsoe shot James S. Harman, generally known as "Pike," a packer formerly packing to Elk City, on Sunday last, at the mouth of Slate creek, on Salmon river. — The quarrel arose at the card table the night before, and was renewed by Harman next day, when after a few words Bledsoe drew his pistol and shot him through the head. Bledsoe has gone to Walla Walla to give himself up for trial. He is a second cousin of Captain Bledsoe. Provisions are plent but high, so is everything else. Dr. Farber charged me $150 fro three bottles medicine."
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IMPORTANT ARREST. — The evening papers of yesterday published telegraphic dispatches fro Los Angeles announcing the arrest of Dan. Showalter and seventeen other Californians at Camp Wright, near Warner's Ranch, on a charge of treason. It is well known that for a long time past, companies of men have been leaving both by the southern and northern overland route with the intention of joining the rebels, and although they deserved punishment, it has been thought by many good citizens that there absence was better than their presence in the State under any circumstances. It now appears that orders have been received to put an end to the emigration of disloyal men, and in arresting Showalter and his band there is no doubt that major Riggs acted in obedience to special instructions which had been sent to him. The arrests, we suppose, will induce serious reflections in the minds of a great many men who are opposed to "coercion." Reports have reached the Los Angeles Star, that there are some one hundred other persons who are preparing to emigrate. — S. F. Herald.
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Mr. Mansfield has enrolled ten volunteers in this place for Capt. Curry's cavalry company. Recruiting in this vicinity does not prove a very rapid business, from the fact that the "patriotism" of most of our young men is now directed towards Salmon river.
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In respect to the blockade, all the advices received at the State Department express the conviction on the part of foreign Governments that it is effective, and there is consequently no disposition to attempt to raise it. Public sentiment in favor of the Government is even stronger abroad than it is here — foreign nations being fully convinced that soon the rebelion must be crushed out.
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p. 4, col. 1
The International Telegraph
This great enterprise is seriously contemplated. Col. Romanoff of the Imperial Russian Engineers, is now in New York, forming plans for the execution of this project. He says the Russian government is rapidly pushing the lines to the mouth of the Amoor river. From the mouth of the Amoor river, it is the design to continue the line, via the Aleutian Archipelago, to the Russian American settlements; thence to Vancouver Island, and thence to San Francisco. Mr. Collins of the New York Chamber of Commerce, with whom Col. Romanoff has been in consultation, recommended that the line be carried from the Amoor river along the shores of Siberia to Behering's Straits, and from thence adopting the line of Col. Romanoff to San Francisco. Mr. Collins announced that he had received a letter from Mr. Silbey, Secretary of the Union Telegraph Company, in which the utmost confidence was expressed in the feasibility of extending the line to Behering's Straits, so as to extend with the Russian line; and believed that as soon as the Russian line reached that point we would be ready to connect with it. Mr. Silbey contends that this route is the only feasible one to connect Europe with America. The proposed line will unite all the telegraphs in the world, without crossing the Atlantic ocean, so that the great "cable" enterprise need not be resuscitated. The cost is set down for two wires at $3,000,000. To maintain this line 1000 men at $300 each per annum, [average] would become necessary, making a total of $300,000. To this it is proposed to add 100 stations, at $1,000 per week; two supply vessels, at $46,150; interest on capital at 7 1-2 per annum, $210,000; contingencies, $100,000. Total, $750,000. It is calculated that 300,000 messages at $5 each, would be received, making a total of $1,500,000 revenue.
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