Eagle, were all that run here, now the latter is halled up and a new boat run in her place, called the Belle, and also the Portland, the Fashion, and Peytona.[1]
A three masted Schooner is taking in a cargo of lumber at Portland for Australia, she is called the "Spray"[2] Portland has grown about one half since I came to the country. There has been three fire proof buildings put up this last season,[3] another is now building, and I am told that there is to be four more put up in the spring. We think of moving to Portland in short time, we think we can get more work there than we can here. I can get nothing to do here only when vessels are loading here, and this place is the most unhealthy of any place I know of on the river, or in the country. ...
The immigration got in, in good season, and in first rate condition, with the exception of about four hundred wagons that took the southern rout[4] from the Malheur River through to the falks of the Willamette. They got lost in the mountains but have finally got through. It is said there is a large number of cattle in the upper part of this valley, and that the price of stock is bound to come down. The money market is getting tight, goods are getting cheaper. Flour is worth $8.00 per hundred, Potatoes are worth from $1. to one fifty pr bushel, Chickens $1. Eggs $1. pr dozen, Butter from 6/- to $1. pr pound. There is lots of farmers in Oregon that has a large number of cows and yet are obliged to buy butter, and some wont even get
- ↑ The Belle was launched August 18, 1853, at Oregon City. She was intended for the Oregon City trade, but was operated on the Cascade route. In 1853, the Fashion was covering several routes, going to the Cowlitz Monday and Tuesday, Oregon City Wednesday and Thursday, and the rest of the week to Vancouver and the Cascades. The Petonia, a large steam scow, ran between Portland and the Cascades; Lewis and Dryden, 43-45.
- ↑ The schooner Spray, Captain Hull, arrived in the Columbia in 1853. She took the first cargo of lumber sent to Australia from the northwest; Lewis and Dryden, 48.
- ↑ These were W. S. Ladd's building on Front Street, between Washington and Stark, D. C. Coleman's on Front and Oak, and Lucien Snow's on Front, between Oak and Pine streets.
- ↑ Two hundred and seventy-five wagons of the 1853 immigration followed the route of Meek's cut-off and down the Middle Fork of Willamette River; Scott, Oregon Country, III, 230.
