PREFACE.
From the general interest manifested by the People of the United States, and particularly that portion residing in the great Valley of the Mississippi, in regard to the Territory of Oregon and the Province of California, we have been impressed with the belief, that any correct information concerning those countries, clad in ever so homely and unpretending a garb, would be received by them with favor. From this conviction, and indulging the hope that a long and tedious tour might thus be turned to public as well as individual advantage, we have concluded to give the following pages to the press.
There is, we suppose, no portion of North America, East of that great dividing chain—the Rocky Mountains—similar to that on the West. The general features of the country, the climate, the soil, vegetation, all are different. Nature appears to have created there, upon a grander scale. The mountains are vast; the rivers are majestic; the vegetation is of a giant kind; the climate, in the same latitude, is much milder. The soil, generally, is inferior to that of the Western States. Many of the valleys, in point of fertility, are, perhaps, unsurpassed; but to compare the whole country with an equal portion of the Western States, it is much inferior.
Only a small portion of those territories laid down on the maps as Oregon and California, are at all calculated for settlement: much the largest portions of both, are nothing more than barren wastes, which can yield little or nothing to the support of animal life. The valuable portion of Oregon lies between the Blue Mountains and the Coast; and the valuable portion of California, between the California Mountains and the Coast. The principal advantages that those countries possess over the Western States, are a mild and very healthy climate, and an excellent, commercial situation.
Our description of those countries, we are aware, will differ, in many respects, from those which have been, and that probably will be given, by others, for, as men are constituted differently, with different faculties, with different tastes and inclinations; so they differ in their opinions in regard to things. It is impossible for all to view the same things with the same eye. The same situation, the same soil, the same climate, the same country, is not—can not be, adapted to the wishes and wants of all; therefore, though the thing described be the same, there will be a slight difference of coloring in the descriptions of different persons, which will to some extent convey different ideas to the mind of the same reader. Many of the accounts given of those countries are too flattering; and, again, on the contrary,
