3 o8 Documents. Oregon and California. For the Western Expositor. Mr. Editor: Knowing the interest which you take in com- mon with other citizens in facilitating the progress of emi- grants to Oregon and California, I feel assured that you will devote a column of your paper to giving publicity to such in- formation as I may be able to communicate, for the benefit of those desirous of emigrating to the shores of the Pacific. Twelve months since it devolved upon me to answer the vast number of communications from persons in every State in the Union, who addressed the post-master at this place making enquiries on the subject of emigration to Oregon and California, at which time I took pains to glean from every reliable source information on that subject, and I find of late, much additional evidence to confirm me in the belief that the knowledge, which I then imparted to emigrants, was cor- rect. I then recommended emigration to those countries as prom- ising a rich reward to the pioneer, and much more readily can I now do so, since the difficulty then existing between this government and Great Britain in regard to the boundary of Oregon is settled, and the laws of the United States are ex- tended over that territory. Late accounts inform us that the forest is giving way to extensive fields, the country is already dotted over with flourishing towns and villages, the immense water power of the Columbia and her tributaries supersede the necessity of steam, and the country can now boast of some of the best merchant mills, her commerce is in the most flourish- ing condition and the country in its vast extent of territory embracing almost every variety of soil and climate, has already assumed an importance among the nations of the earth. Look too, at California, and see the change a year has wrought in her destiny. There roamed the wild Mexican, as wild and untutored as the mustang he bestrides, governed by
