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Show THE WAY TO OREGON. 399 all suggestive of the fog and rain which are generally attributed to this climate. For two days the weather was delightful, though every-body spoke of it as the coldest they had ever experienced. The wind was from the north- west, very gentle, the sky clear, and ice half an inch thick formed on the gutters a rare thing in Portland. The third evening the thermometer rose from 28 to 38, and next morn-ing I wondered why I had waked and was so restless in the night. I turned over suddenly, and an old shot wound in the knee gave me a fearful wrench. Then I felt something like ague along my backbone. I struck a match, looked at my watch, and it was after 8 o'clock. Such a fog ! One could chew it up and spit it out. With a sharp knife it might be cut out in chunks and stored for dry weather. They say the winters here are healthful. It must be for differently constituted lungs from mine. It don't seem to me like breathing; it is rather a sort of pulmonic swallowing. Only the smoke and dust of a great city here is needed to give Portland occasional fogs fully equal to those of London. This fog continued till noon, then broke away, and a gentle drizzle finished the day. Portlanders all agree that they have the finest climate in the world in summer, and part of the spring; but admit that it is rather unpleasant in the winter or rainy season. From November till March every wind brings rain, unless it be from the north- west. In that case the clouds sail away over the Cascade Range, the mercury falls to 35 or below, and the sky is clear for a brief space. But let the mercury rise to 40, and rain comes again. Sometimes there is a continuous patter for six weeks, the\ air being chilly and penetrating. The summers are never so hot and dry as in California ; the hills are covered with timber, and every thing grows without irrigation. One week sufficed to conclude my business in Oregon, but before leaving a few general notes are in order. Portland is on the west bank of the Willamette ( pro. Wil- fam- et), twelve miles above its mouth and near the head of tide- water. But the Columbia often rises so as to cause backwater, giving the Willamette a variation of thirty-two feet. Ocean steamers load at the wharf, and the place has direct water communication with all the ports of the world, the chief exports being wheat, lumber, beef and salmon. All the older portion of the city is very beautifully improved; elegant residences abound, with many evidences of taste and wealth. The location is picturesque. The Cascade Range is only occasionally visible, but Mount Hood rears its snowy summit sixty miles eastward, and looks as if it were just |
