about its being opened. I will try to find out about it, and let you know.
About clearing up a farm Levi you need have no fears about that, for there is thousands of prairia lands here, and even if you had to settle in the timber there is places where you could clear off 10 acres in a week.
We have all had the ague this summer. Ann is now sick with one of her billious spells, but is getting better now we think. We know of no other place, or no place above Oregon Citty, or below Birneys[1] on the Columbia where they have the ague, and even one mile back. I suppose there has not been a single case, unless they got it on the river first. You need not be concerned about the health of the country, especially on the salt water. I had another mishap a few weeks ago, at a raising, a heavy stick of timber, about six feet long fell and struck me on the calf of my right leg, and almost tore the flesh off, but it is about well now, it is hard work to keep my boot on my foot yet. Write often,
Affectionately Yours
... The old Mail Steamer has had a fit so that it is under the real necessity of stopping at St. Hellen, about 60 miles below Portland.[2] The people in Portland are very indignant about it, held indignation meetings, burned the mail agent in efegy and are intending to get another Steamer on the line to bring freight & passengers, and let the old Columbia whistle. Steam Boats have more than doubled, on this river since we came here, last fall, the Whitcomb, the Multnomah and the
- ↑ James Birnie was a native of Scotland, he crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1818, as agent of the North West Company. Later he was with the Hudson's Bay Company. He settled at Cathlamet and lived there until his death, December 21, 1864.
- ↑ In 1853 the Pacific Mail Steamship Company built a $40,000 wharf at Saint Helens and refused to allow their steamers to go any further up the river. They were operating two steamers on the San Francisco route, the Columbia and the Fremont, but the Portlanders succeeded in compelling them to reconsider this move by securing an opposition steamship, the Peytonia, which arrived on her first trip in December, and the Pacific Mail Company again extended service to Portland; Lewis and Dryden, 45.
