west side of the river, is about the same age with it. Its first proprietor was Mr. Avery, who still resides there. It is the first town of consequence on the west side of the Wallamet, and the only one excepting Eugene. The situation of Corvallis is remarkably handsome, having the river on one side of it, and the Coast Range sufficiently near it on the other to give the landscape the look of being framed in a semicircle of hills.
A road through the Coast Range directly west of Corvallis, furnishes this place communication with Yaquina Bay on the coast, thus giving it an independent sea-port. Besides this advantage which it affords to shippers, the bay has become quite a famous summer resort, through the facilities furnished by this road. The climate of Corvallis is also perceptibly affected in summer by the sea-breezes which find their way into the valley through the pass in the mountains along which this road conducts us. St. Mary's Mountain is a peak of the Coast Range in full view from Corvallis, and another summer resort for pleasure-seekers. One of the attractions is the delicious cream to be obtained from a dairy up on the mountain—which, with strawberries or huckleberries, is said to make a very fine dessert to a "basket" dinner.
Corvallis narrowly escaped being made the capital of Oregon Territory, and received instead thereof the appropriation for a State University. But the money was expended, and the only result is a pile of ruins—another example of how the Territory used the appropriations of Congress. The State is a much better economist.
Corvallis, with a population of ten or twelve hundred, supports three churches, an academy, and female
