Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/69

is rich; the climate favors the production of wheat, rye, oats, &c.; the common garden vegetables; and is supposed to be more congenial to the growth of Indian corn, than that of Western Oregon. Corn has been grown for some years, in small quantities, at Dr. Whitman's Mission, and some of the Walawala Indians have been induced to cultivate small patches of it. But the ears we saw were small, and the quantity produced has also been small; and we are confident of our correctness in saying, tha there is no portion of Oregon in which this grain can be profitably produced. The climate of the Walawala Valley, and every thing else connected with it; the dryness of its soil, the purity of its waters, and the vicinity of snow covered peaks, are certainly highly favourable to health; and in proof of its healthfulness, we have the testimony of words, but also of appearance. The remaining portion of the Territory of Oregon—the Eastern portion—we have sufficiently noticed, in passing through it. Very much the largest portion of Eastern Oregon, is at present, and must continue for a great number of years to be, comparatively valueless. It is a desert, so rugged, so dreary, and so exceedingly sterile, that it cannot, until ages upon ages have melted its mountains; until the winds, and floods, and changes of thousands and thousands of years, shall have crumbled into dust, its rocks, and its sands; yield anything worthy of consideration, to the support of human life. There are, however, some beautiful exceptions to this general character; bright and blooming valleys, walled with mountains, and surrounded by wastes; which, contrasting so widely with every thing about them, are regarded by the lonely traveler as being, not only wildly romantic, but surpassingly beautiful. These however, are rare. The traveler through that dreary region, will climb to the summit of many