of the Umpqua River Valley for prunes, the former being raised largely with irrigation, the latter without. Game is plentiful in its many wilderness areas, and fish abound in its streams. It is one of the richest mineral regions in the state, and has abundant potential waterpower. Canning and preserving of fruits and vegetables, lumbering, and mining are the chief industrial activities. Roseburg, Grants Pass, Medford, and Ashland are the principal towns. A number of fine highways penetrate the region, but there will long remain many remote and primitive areas. Although the climate is varied, there are no extremes.
The Willamette Region comprises the famous Willamette Valley, a rectangular trough of level and rolling farm and timber lands, about one hundred and eighty miles long from the Columbia River to the Calapooya Mountains, and sixty miles wide from the Cascades to the Coast Range. The Willamette River and its tributaries drain the entire region, which has a widely diversified agriculture, the greatest commercial and industrial development in Oregon, and two-thirds of the state's population. Its particularly favorable soil and climatic conditions, and the availability of the Willamette and its tributaries for water transportation, made it the goal of most of the early immigrants. This early settlement and the region's natural advantages have maintained its position as the most important area of the State. Together with the Coast Region, it contains some of the finest stands of marketable timber now remaining in the United States, making lumbering an important industry. Manufacturing covers a wide variety of products, many of which have a national distribution. The region enjoys a mild climate and abundant rainfall, and has an excellent network of highways, railroads, waterways, and airways. Scenically, it is considered by many travelers to be one of the most beautiful in the West. Portland, Oregon City, Salem, Albany, Corvallis, and Eugene are the principal towns of the Willamette Valley.
The Cascade Region, extending along both sides of the Cascade Range, is an area of rugged grandeur. The western slope is the more precipitous, leading down into the Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue River valleys. The eastern slope merges into a high plateau, which differs in climate and rainfall from the western slope because of the mountain barrier to the warm moisture-laden winds from the Pacific. Drainage is largely into the Deschutes River. Flora and fauna are distinctly, almost abruptly, different on the two slopes. With its mountain lakes and tumbling streams, the region has tremendous possibilities for irrigation and waterpower. Some irrigation developments have
