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Show 68 IMAGINATIVE VIEW OF ITS FUTURE CONDITION. where now the Indian, upon his jaded horse, is winding along the narrow ancl solitary trail, the powerful locomotive, with its heavy , train , will fly along the rattliug railway; when, instead of yon fratl canoe, the pround steamel' wi ll dash nlong the majestic river; when that Ocean, now idly breaking on its cragged shores, shall be whitened with the sails of Commerce; and when, arnid the flags of an hundl'ed nations, its own proud motto and device, resting on folds gemmed with imag~s, whose urigbt orignals bestud her sk ies, shall float pt·oudly superior to them all ; when, where now, there is little else than a wild wilderne~s , there shall be all the life--a ll the populous throng and bustle-all the state ly magnificence--all the interests- all the enterprise--all the intelli ge nce--of the most active, proud , and populous nations of the Old vVorld. Imagination, peering into the far future, boholds enthroned upon an hundred hei ghts, the lordly mansions of the opul en t, surrounded w1th gar· dens, teeming wi th fruits and flowers ; with parks, aud pools, and groves of ornamental trees; and fur up the sides of the su !'l'ounding mounta ins, th.e herdsmen's and the shepherd's humble cottages repose, in sweet and solitary quiet, deep btll'iP.d amid the mountain ~ines. ~nd still, yielding to a more ro mantic mood, the imuginatwn, exctted by every thing n.bout it, and by its own wild pictures, cannot but come, in its dreamy wanderings, to the time when these mountains-these riYers-these verdant vales,--when every rock and hill, and ~ataract; when every fore st, glade , and glen; whe~ every mountam gorge, and precipice , and dal'k i·avine, shall have been sung and storied, until they have gro\'i'~"! old and honored by the Poet's pen, and the thrilling legends of the past. But, lookina beyond the s_now capped barrier , which bounds the vission, t~ the East, the mtnd labors in vain to read, from the chamcter of such dreary regions, what will be the future destiny of those wilds and wastes. Long mny the lover of romm~tic scenes and adven ture fi d . s n m them an ample scope for all his inclinations. Lon a- mav th~ Poet and writer of fiction, undetected, rear th ere, the fa bricks of their dreams, and people the green mountain-girt Oasis of those unexplo~ ·e~ sol ~tud~s, with the gullnnt, lovely, and happy creatures of thetr I magtnatLO~s . Abe>ut these , hang mysteries, which time and the bas~less stones of the fanciful, will probably render only more mystenous •. In these, may rest at last, the remnant of the ancient 0 ~.ners of thts great Continent; and here, in a semi-civilized con< htwn , they may continue, the wonder and the terror of aaes yet ~0 be. In such a land as this, it is easy to suppose thut the ~inds of :REFLECTIONS--A REVIEW • 69 its fu ture inhabitan ts, partaking o[ the characters of the things hround them, will rise in splendor, like their own cloud-piercing peaks; or :flow, in majesty, like thP.ir broad, majestic Rivers. And while beholding he re, a prospect, which he feels that nature ·herself, in her farthe::;t reaehings, in he1· most sublime imaginings, could not impro ve ; to which, thou gh she would scatter with un· sparing hand, upon one favored spot, all beauty and all grandeur, she could not add one single touch ; while taking, at one vast sweep, such an assemblage ofgranu various aud scenery; and while i ndul ging such fanciful images of the future, the traveler, reclining, . perhaps, upon the green sward which clothes the rounded height, from its base to its brow; and beneath tho green arms of a low and spreading oak, migh t revert, amid such silence~ and such scenes, to the far lanJ of his home, and recall to his mind others, though less ~ranu and beautiful, yet even de.uer than these; mi ght yield to a feeling of regret, when hearing hero, the loud Ocean's voice, and seeing yonder, the st0rn mountain barrier, mingling its snows with cloud and sl·;y ; both separating him from that home, and from those cherished scenes. But to conclude this portion of our subjec t, by summing up, in short, the advantages and disadvuntages, which the Territory of Oregon possesses, in comparison with other coun tries, or rather, with portions of the United States. We suppose its principal advantages, for instance, over the Valley of the Mississippi, to be, in clitnate, in its situation fo r ·Commerce, in its water power, in its for est of gigantic trees, iu the purity of its waters, and in the vastness and beauty of its sccne1·y. ]n aTl of these, it is certainly supcrior.ln respect to its climate, the rainy seasons, it is true, are often disagreeable; but its being favorable to gruzing, and most especially, its great healthfulness, renders it very fur supe rior to that of any portion of the States. Its situation tor profitable Commerce with ottwr portions of the world, we consider, to be superior also, to that of the Valley of' the Mississippi. The vast extent of Seacoast, embracing every clime; and the numerous fe rtile Islands, with which the great Pacific Ocean is crowded, to which it has immediate access, render it superior. And the circumstance, that almost all the commercial and manufacturing nations of the world, are compelled to make great circuits, in order to reach these shores, gives another advantuge worthy of consideration. Its water power, we believe, cannot be surpassed on the f.'ice of the globe; neithe r can its forests, or the purity of its streams. Its princi pnl |