CHAPTER XX.
THE COAST COUNTRY.
Lying north of Curry, is another coast county—small, but well known, and of commercial importance—and that is Coos. It has a population of about seventeen hundred; and Empire City, the county-seat, has nearly five hundred. This county is famous for its coal and lumber. Coos Bay coal is well known in the San Francisco market, the mines having been worked for several years. Several lumber-mills do a large business in cutting lumber for foreign markets; and the business of preserving fruit, by drying, is carried on to some extent. The natural resources of the county are not yet begun to be developed; but they are numerous enough to make it famous for its wealth, whenever they shall be open to trade.
The coast country of Oregon is peculiar in its physical features. The Coast Range of mountains leaves but a narrow strip of country between itself and the sea; and were this narrow belt all of the arable land on the sea-side, it would be but little. But the Coast Range sends down a great number of small rivers, all of which have narrow valleys lying between high, timbered ridges. These valleys are extremely fertile, the soil being composed of the wash of the mountains, mixed with sand, and furnished with abundant moisture. Most generally, the borders of such streams are covered with a dense growth of alder, vine-maple,
