jects of aversion in that famous district. It is also claimed for Long Tom, that it originated the term "Webfoot," which is so universally applied to Oregonians by their California neighbors. The story runs as follows: A young couple from Missouri settled upon a land-claim on the banks of this river, and in due course of time a son and heir was born to them. A California "commercial traveler" chancing to stop with the happy parents overnight, made some joking remarks upon the subject, warning them not to let the baby get drowned in the rather unusually extensive mud-puddle by which the premises were disfigured, when the father replied that they had looked out for that; and, uncovering the baby's feet, astonished the joker by showing him that they were webbed. The sobriquet of Webfoot having thus been attached to Oregon-born babies, has continued to be a favorite appellative ever since.
No inland town could have a prettier location than Eugene, and few a more desirable one for other reasons. At the head of the Wallamet Valley, it combines many advantages; Lane County, of which it is the county-seat, extending from the sea-coast to the Cascade Range, and including grain and stock lands, timber and mineral lands, with abundant water-power. It is also the starting-point of the Military Road, crossing the Cascades at Diamond Peak Pass, and traversing Eastern Oregon near its southern boundary, to Owyhee, in Idaho. It is presumable, at least, that this must be the course of a railroad at no very distant day.
Like all the towns in the Wallamet Valley, Eugene has recognized the value of the church and the school-house in the community. With a population of about
