144 ^ History of the Pacific Northwest
doors, and the ocean but a short distance away. The market for grain was said to be good, cattle were reported to be worth four times what they were bringing in western Missouri, and in each case the cost of producing was very much less. Oregon, also, had other resources, aside from these exceptional agricultural advantages. Her streams were full of the finest salmon, which might be packed and shipped at a good profit; splendid forests of fir and pine, extending down to the water's edge, invited the establishment of lumber mills; and unlimited water power was at hand for all manufacturing purposes. Such a combination of elements, the pioneers thought, would insure the development of a prosperous state on the shores of the Pacific. " Hard times," slavery, the spirit of adventure, patriotism. For several years, the western people had experienced continuous "hard times," with low prices for everything they had to sell, and almost no opportunity to improve their condition either in farming or other business. The spirit of unrest on these accounts was widespread. Moreover, many persons in the southwestern states were beginning to feel very keenly the evils of slavery, which was causing violent agitation throughout the country, and were anxious to remove their families beyond the reach of its influence. But underneath all other motives was a distinctly American love of adventure, the product of generations of pioneering. It was the spirit of the frontiersmen of the olden time: the longing to open new "trails," to subdue strange lands, and make new settlements.
