It is not claimed that there is as great an amount of rich alluvial soil in this section of Oregon as in the valleys north of it. It is rather more elevated, drier, and on the whole more adapted to grazing than to the growth of cereals. Still, there is enough of rich land to supply its own population, however dense; and for fruit-growing no better soil need be looked for. A sort of compromise between the dryness of California and the moisture of Northern Oregon and Washington,—warmer than the latter, from its more southern latitude, yet not too warm, by reason of its altitude,—the climate of this valley renders it most desirable. Midway between San Francisco Bay and the Columbia River, what with its own fruitfulness, and the productions of the Wallamet and Sacramento Valleys on either hand, within a few hours by railway carriage, the markets of the Rogue River Valley can be freshly supplied with both temperate and semi-tropical luxuries.
The grape, peach, apricot, and nectarine, which are cultivated with difficulty in the Wallamet Valley, thrive excellently in this more high and southern location. The creek-bottoms produce Indian corn, tobacco, and vegetables equally well; and the more elevated plateaux produce wheat of excellent quality and large quantity, where they have been cultivated: still, as before stated, this valley is commonly understood to be a stock- raising, fruit, and wool-growing country,—perhaps because that kind of farming is at once easy and lucrative, and because so good a market for fruit, beef, mutton, bacon, and dairy products has always existed in the mines of this valley and California.
Rogue River Valley during a period of about twelve years was the scene of active and profitable placer-mining, after which for an equal term the mines were abandoned to the Chinese; but in later years mining has revived, and several companies are realizing good returns from investments in mining ditches and quartz leads. The other minerals known to exist in this region are copper, cinnabar, lead, iron, coal, granite, limestone, kaolin, and marble. The latter is of very fine quality, white, exceedingly hard, and translucent.
Like every part of Oregon, this valley has its mineral springs, its trout-streams, game, and abundance of pure soft water. No local causes of disease exist here, and it is hard to conceive of a
