small trees; while the slopes of the mountains, and even the highest ridges, are heavily timbered. The soil is excellent, though generally too cold, when taken together with the moisture of the climate, for producing and ripening the cereals, and tender fruits; but very productive in all kinds of grasses, roots, hardy vegetables, and fruits—such as apples, pears, plums, and cherries.
It is an excellent country for lumbering, wherever there is communication with a market. The streams abound with speckled trout; the bays and inlets with salmon, and different kinds of fish; as well as oysters and clams. Game of every variety is plentiful in the mountains and valleys. Coal, iron, copper, and gold, one or all, are found in every county. Owing to extensive fires, which swept over the Coast Range in 1847, from Tillamook to Umpqua, a large portion of the timbered hills are comparatively easy to clear. Of the numerous rivers of clear, cold water, several are navigable for small boats, such as run on Yaquina, Tillamook and Coos bays. In short, the coast counties are capable of supporting a large population of mining, lumbering, stock-raising, dairying, fishing, and farming peoples.
The climate of the coast is extremely healthful, from the evenness of its temperature, freedom from miasma, and invigorating sea-air. The height of the Coast Range varies from two thousand to five thousand feet; and the wall thus interposed intercepts most of the fogs of summer, causing them to be precipitated upon these hills and valleys of the west side—the result being coolness and moisture: yet, when winter comes, sometimes with rigor, to the interior, the same causes operate to keep the coast of a milder degree of cold.
