76 Joseph Schafer From the Plains a wagon road has been commenced to Ska- poose, which may be available during the summer months, but the ground must require great care in the construction, and at an immense expense, in order to be practicable in the winter. The Tuality Plains are very beautiful, the ground rich and undulating, intersected by hills of fir and oak timber. The farms are well stocked with horses and cattle, in addition to which, hundreds of the latter are running wild throughout the country, having originally belonged to the H. B. Company.* In order to reach Oregon City on the falls of the Willamette we proceeded through a thickly wooded country, with occa- sional patches of open prairie, watered by numerous streams and occupied by Canadians and American families. This road to the falls has been made with much care, but the rivers hav- ing overflown [sic] their banks and carried away the logs which had been placed across as a substitute for bridges, we had much difficulty in effecting our passage, swimming our horses and wading through numerous swamps and marshes. From the falls we again ascended to the settlements higher up the Willamette River, the current in which was very strong. The banks are high and densely covered with timber. The roads to the Roman CathoHc Mission, etc., were quite as im- passable at this season as from the Tuality Plains. The difference in the strength of the current in the river from that when we formerly (in September) visited this part of the country, is very remarkable and would scarcely be cred- ited by any person unacquainted with the extraordinary rise of rivers in this country. The village at the falls has much improved in appearance. Many buildings have been erected and the trees, etc., cleared from the adjacent heights. Since the summer a village called Portland has been com- menced between the falls and Linnton, to which an American merchant ship ascended and discharged her cargo, in Sep- tember.
- Many were brought up from California in 1837. See Schafer's History of
the Pacific Northwest, 160-163.----
