The value of taxable property in this county is greater in proportion to the amount of land cultivated, than in any other except Multnomah, in which Portland is situated.
The climate of this portion of the valley is rather drier than at the northern end; owing, perhaps, to its greater elevation of four hundred feet. The nature of the soil does not vary much from that of other portions of the valley in similar situations. It is a beautiful sight to behold the luxuriant wheat-fields about the last of June, just before the grain begins to ripen, and when the lovely spotted white lily—Lilium Washingtonium—stands head and shoulders higher among it, scenting all the air with its sweetness. The flowers of summer, and the richer landscape tints of autumn, make these valley-pictures always beautiful, sometimes exquisitely so.
Having reached the head of the Wallamet Valley through the counties above named, we find, on returning by the east side, that the principal difference between those on the west and these on the east side of the river, consists in the latter possessing a larger proportion of level prairie-land. There is also rather a better style of farming on this side of the river; on the average, more grain being raised to the acre, and other products in proportion.
Linn County has an area of nearly three thousand square miles; a population of nearly nine thousand; and pays taxes on $3,000,000 assessable property. The estimated productions for the year 1868 were—Wheat, 398,336 bushels; oats, 596,790; corn, 18,084; barley, 11,156; potatoes, 595,790; apples, 107,922; tobacco, 19,108 pounds; wool, 264,296; butter, 526,266; cheese, 8,852; hay, 3,776 tons. It was also
