seven thousand square miles. Of course, large bodies of land are open for settlement; the variety of surface, in this county, ranging from mountainous and wooded to rolling prairie, covered with bunch-grass, and lastly, the narrow, but rich bottoms of streams, rendering it easy to select a farm or a timber claim, as may be preferred.
There is an Indian Reservation in the Umatilla Valley, where some farming is done by the Indians. Efforts have several times been made to have this reservation opened for settlement; but, probably, this will not be accomplished, as the Indians have no wish to sell. At an Agricultural Fair, held in this county, in 18G4, the Indians took prizes on garden products. Indian corn, melons, vegetables, and fruits of all kinds attain great perfection in the Umatilla Valley, which is cultivable for a length of about sixty miles.
Thirty-five miles up the valley is the small, new town of Pendleton—the county-seat, beautifully located, and situated on the main lines of travel. A fine court-house is already erected by subscription of the citizens of the county. There is an excellent water-power in the vicinity, and every natural facility for convenient settlement. On the Indian Reservation, close by, are a saw-mill and grist-mill, and, in other parts of the county, six other mills manufacturing lumber; the timber for which is all procured from the forests of the Blue Mountains—the lumbering region of all this portion of Oregon, and of the south-eastern portion of Washington. There are about eight hundred square miles of timber belonging to Umatilla County.
The Indians on the reservation are the remnants of the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla tribes, and number, altogether, less than one thousand. They
