freight, by measurement, from Portland to Umatilla. Add to this the freight from San Francisco, seven dollars, and the additional freight by wagon to places remote from the Columbia, and goods become worth "their weight in gold."
Even at these figures, there is landed at Umatilla, annually, fifteen to twenty thousand tons; and at Wallula, in Washington, five or six thousand more. As a consequence, wages range from six to eight dollars per day. It is proof positive of the worth of the country that it continues to grow and prosper under such disadvantages. The surplus of grain which is raised will not, in most cases, pay for shipping to foreign markets. One example to the contrary, however, came under our observation, where Mr. Wait, of Waitsburg, in the Walla Walla Valley, shipped several thousand barrels of flour to Europe and made a dollar a barrel on it; and this year, as much as 100,000 bushels of wheat were exported from the Walla Walla Valley, by way of the Columbia River. If, then, with so much against him, the business man can make money, how many times would his chances be doubled by quick and cheap transportation. Railroads are truly the one great need of all this country, and with them would come the population to make them paying.
Having seen enough of Eastern Oregon, on our return to Dalles we take steamer for the Lower Columbia, and Wallamet River. We rise early, as any one must who goes anywhere in Oregon, and get our last and loveliest view of Mount Hood from the east side of the Cascades. We have seen it in every possible conjuncture of circumstances, almost at its feet, and where distance made it seem like a faint
