USA > Oregon > History of Oregon, Vol. II, 1848-1888 > Part 74
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MANUFACTURES.
The earliest manufactured product of Oregon was lumber. From the building of the first mills for commercial purposes, in 1844, to 1885, this has continued to be a grand staple of the country. At the last date mentioned there were over 228 saw-mills in the state, costing over a million and a half of dollars, and producing annually lumber valued at over two millions. It i difficult to give even apppoximately the percentage of acres of timbered land that would produce lumber. Both sides of the Coast Range, the west side of the Cascade Range, the highlands of the Columbia, and the north end of the Willamette, as well as the bottom-lands along that river for sixty miles, are heavily timbered; while the east side of the Cascades, the west side of the Blue Mountains, and the flanks of the cross ranges between the Willamette,
727
LUMBER AND SHIP-BUILDING.
Umpqua, and Rogue River valleys are scarcely less densely covered with forest. See Review Board of Trade, 1877, 33; Overland Monthly, xiii. 247-9; Rept Com. Agric., 1875, 330-1; Mosely's Or., 30; Or. Legis. Docs, 1876, doc. ii., 15.
The merchantable woods of Oregon are yellow fir, cedar, pine, spruce, cottonwood, hemlock, oak, maple, ash, alder, arbutus, and myrtle. Fir is the staple used in ship-building, house-building, fencing, furniture, and fuel. Cedar is used for finishing, and withstands moisture. Hemlock is used in tanning. Oak is utilized for farming implements and wagons; cot- tonwood for staves; ash, maple, and myrtle for furniture. Veneering from the knots of Oregon maple received a diploma from the centennial exposition of 1876, for its beauty, fineness of grain, toughness of fibre, and susceptibility to polish. Nash's Or., 128. Combined with myrtle, which is also beantifully marked and susceptible of a high polish, but of a dark color, the result is one of great elegance in cabinet-work. A few vessels built at Coos Bay have been finished inside with these woods, presenting a remarkably pleasing effect. Half of all the wood usedl in the manufacture of furniture in San Francisco is exported from Oregon. As early as 1862 a set of furniture made of Oregon maple was sold in San Francisco for $800. Or. Statesman, May 12, 1862. The furniture trade of the state reached $750,000 annually, two thirds of which was for home-made articles. The Oregon Manufacturing Company of Portland in 1875 began to make first-class fashionable furniture from native woods, a building being erected by J. A. Strobridge on the corner of First and Yamhill streets, at a cost of $75,000, for the company's use. Portland West Shore, Aug. 1875; Hillsboro Wash. Independent, Dec. 2, 1875. The finest cabinet articles were made in Portland. Other smaller factories were scattered throughout the state, but Portland furnished a large proportion of the furniture sold by country merchants. According to a prominent Pacific coast statistician, John S. Hittell, Resources, 584-5, there were 150,000,000 feet of lumber sawed in Oregon in 1880-1. The greater part of this was cut at the mills on the Columbia, and the southern coast, several of which turn out 73,000 feet per day. The mill at St Helen cut from 40,000 to 75,000 in 24 hours. At Coos Bay and Port Orford there were mills that produce 21,000,000 to 37,000,000 feet annually. Gilfry's Or. Resources, MS., 45; S. S. Mann, in Historical Correspondence, MS. The Coquille inills saw 12,000,000 feet for San Francisco market annually. In eastern Oregon the Blue Moun- tains furnished the principal part of the lumber made. The Thielsen flume, for carrying lumber from the mountains, is the largest, carrying 50,000 feet of lumber and 300 cords of fire-wood daily from the mills to the town of Milton, near the Oregon line. It was the property of the Oregon Improve- ment Company, and, including its branch, was thirty miles long. The Little White Salmon flume, built by the Oregon Railway aud Navigation Company to bring lumber to The Dalles, was ten miles in length. Hittell's Resources, 584-5.
At St Johns, near the mouth of the Willamette, was the location of the Or- egon Barrel Company, where barrels, pails, fruit-packing boxes, and cases for holding packages of canned salmon were manufactured; O. B. Severance founder. The products of this factory were worth about $15,000 annually. There was a similar factory at Oregon City in 1863, and there was, in 1884, a large box factory at Portland, owned by John Harlowe & Co. Wood was used for fuel throughout Oregon, except in a few public and private houses, where coal was preferred. It was abundant and cheap everywhere west of the Cascade Mountains. the highest prices obtaining in Portland, where fir wood brought six dollars per cord, and oak eight. Most of the river steamers used wood for making steam as a matter of economy.
Ship-building, which depends upon the quality of timber produced by the country, is carried on to a considerable extent, the principal ship-yard being at Coos Bay. The oldest yard on the bay is at North Bend, where the brig Arago was built by A. M. and R. W. Simpson in 1856, since which time twenty-two other vessels have been launched from this yard, with tonnage
728
MANUFACTURES.
aggregating 12,500. They were launched in the following order: brigs Arago and Blanco, 1856-8; schooners Mendocino and Florence E. Walton, 1859-60; brig Advance, 1861; schooners Enterprise, Isabella, Hannah Louise, and Ju- venta, 1863-5; barkentines Occident and Melancthon, 1866-7; schooner Bunk- alation, 1868; barkentine Webfoot, 1869; schooners Botama and Oregonian, 1871-2; barkentine Portland, 1873; ship Western Shore, 1874; barkentine Tam O'Shanter, 1875; barkentines North Bend and Klikitat, aud schooners Trustee, Jumes A. Garfield, and one unnamed, 1876-81. The ship Western Shore was the largest and strongest ship ever built on the Pacific coast, and the second in number, the Wildwood, built at Port Madison in 1871-2, being the first. The Western Shore was designed by A. M. Simpson, and built by John Kruse. The joiner-work was done by Frank Gibson, the polishing of the wood-work by Frederick Mark, and the painting by l'eter Gibson. She was 2,000 tons burden, and her spars the finest ever seen in Liverpool. R. W. Simpson designed the rigging and canvas. The eabin was finished with myrtle wood, relieved by door-posts of Sandwich Island tamana in a handsome manner; but the T'am O'Shanter was finished still more handsomely by the same German workman, F. Mark. The first voyage of the Western ; hore was to San Franeiseo, thence to Liverpool, loaded with 1,940 tons of wheat, com- manded by Wesley McAllep. She beat the favorite San Francisco ship Three Brothers S days, and the British King, a fast sailer, 14 days-a triumph for her builders. She eost $86,000, less than such a ship could be built for at Bath, Maine. Thos B. Merry, in Portland West Shore, May 1876 and Feb. 1882; S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 20, 1876.
From the ship-yard of H. H. Lnse, at Empire City, Coos Bay, eight vessels were launched between ISGI and 1881, with an aggregate burden of 900 tous. The class of vessels huilt at Empire City was smaller than the North Bend vessels, several being small steamers for use on the bay. They were the schooners Rebecca, Kate Piper, and C'ashman, brig Robert Emmett, and steanı- tug Alpha, and the steamers Satellite, Coox, and Bertha. The Alphat was the first vessel built at this place, and the only one before 1869. Portland Wet Shore, Feb. 1882, 26. At Marshfield, Coos Bay, E. B. Dean & Co. have a ship-yard. Here were built twenty vessels between 1866 and ISSI, of an ag- gregate capacity of 9,070 tons, and at other points on the bay and river. The first vessel built at Marshfield was the steam-tug Escort. Then followed the schooners Staghound, Louisa, Morrison, Iranhoc, Annie Stauffer, Panamá, Sunshine, Frithioff, Laura May, Jennie Stella, C. II. Merchant, Santa Rosa, George C. Perkins, J. G. North, Dakota, and one unknown, the barkentine Amelia, the steamers Messenger and Wasp, and the tug Escort No. 2. The steamer Juno was built in Coos River, and also a schooner, name unknown, at Aaronville. Merry makes mention of the North Bend tug Fearless, which is not down in the list.
The reputation of Coos Bay vessels for durability and safety is good, few of them having been lost. The Florence Walton was wrecked on the coast between Coos Bay and Rogue River. The Bunkalation, while discharging a cargo of lime at cape Blanco for the light-house, was set on fire by the sea washing dowu the hatchway, and entirely destroyed. The Sunshine was wrecked off Cape Disappointment by capsizing in a sudden squall, from her masts being too tall and the hoops too small to allow the sails to be lowered quickly. Portland West Shore, June 1876, 6. Several of them have been in the Columbia River trade ever since they were completed.
Ship-building in a small way has been carried on in the Umpqua River ever since 1856. Two schooners, the Palestine aud Umpqua, were built about a miile and a half below Scottsburg, by Clark and Baker, in 1853-6, for the San Francisco trade. Or. Statesman, May 6, 1856. In 1857 the steamer Satellite was built to run on the river. In 1860 John Kruse, Bauer, and Maury built the schooner Mary Cleveland, at Lower Scottsburg, for the C .. li- fornia trade. Id., May 13, 1861. Kruse also built the schooners Pacific and W. F. Brown in 1864-5; Hopkins' Ship-building Pacific Coast; Davidson's Coast Pilot, 139. A few vessels have been built in Tillamook Bay, of light
729
FLOUR.
draught and tonnage. Ever since the Star of Oregon was launched from Oak Island in the Willamette in 1841, ship-building has been carried on in a desul- tory fashion along on the Columbia and Willamette, no record of which has been kept. An examination of the U. S. Commerce and Navigation Statistics from 1850 to 1856 shows that no figures are given for more than half the years, consequently the information gained is comparatively worthless. In the years given, 1550, 1857, 1865, 1868-1877, there were 109 vessels of all classes, from a barge to a brig, built in Oregon, 31 of which were sailing ves- sels. According to the same authority, there were 60 steam-vessels in Oregon waters in 1874; but these returns are evidently imperfect.
The cost of ship-building as compared with Bath, Maine, is in favor of Oregon ship-yards, as shippers have been at some pains in the last ten or fifteen years to demonstrate, as well as to show that American wooden ships must soon displace English iron vessels, and American shipping, which has been permitted to decline, be restored. The report of the Pacific Social Sc.ence Association on the Restoration of American Shipping in the Foreign Trade, by a committee consisting of C. T. Hopkins, A. S. Fallidie, I. E. Thayer, A. Crawford, and C. A. Washburn, is an instructive pamphlet of some 30 pages, showing the causes of decline and the means of lustoring tlie America. shipping interest. In 1873-6, 81.513,308 was paid away in Oregon to icreigu ship-owners for grain charters to Europe, which money should have been saved to the state and reinvested in ship-building. Board of T'r de Ropt, 1373, 10. I have quoted the opinions of competent writers in th . history of Fuget Sound ship-bailling, and v. ill only refer here to the following pam- plicts. F rrisk's fler'eu- of the Commercial, Financial. and Industrial Int rests of org a, 1577, 31-2; Gulfry's Lesources Cr., 21.5., 45-50; Revi wo of Portland Board of Trade, 1077; and thopki &' Ship-bu"'ding, 1037. Ju view of the re- quireiches of commerce in the future, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Co. pany Lave provided a maysi.icent dry-dock at Albina, opposite Por land, which was com; leted about 1003.
I loar takes i've second pla.e, in point of time if not of value, in the list of Oregon manufactures. Since the time when wheat was currency in Oregon, it has played an important part in the finances of the country. Taking a compar- atively recent view of its importance, the fact that the wheat erop increased from 2.310,000 bushels in 1370 to 7,456,000 in 1880, establishes its relative valac to any and all other products. A very large proportion of the wheat raisul in Oregon was exported in bulk, but there was also a large export of manufactured flour. The first to export a full cargo of wheat dircet to Europe was Joseph Watt, who sent one to Liverpool by the sallie Brown in 1563. It cost Wr'att : 1,000 to make the experiment. The Laglish millers, unacquainted with the plump Willamette grain, condemned it as swollen, bat bought ic at a reduced price, and ground it up with Eng.ish wheat to give whiteness to t .. 3 flour, since which time they have understood its value. Grover's Pub. Life in Or., MS., 69; Watt, in C'amp-fire Orations, MS., 1-2. Another cargo went the same year in the Helen Augier. The year previous to Watt's shipment a cargo of wheat and flour was sent direct to Australia by the bark Whistler. As early as 1861 H. E. Hayes and C. B. Hawley of Yamhill had 10,000 bushels ground up at the Linn City Mills (swept away in the flood of the following will- ter) for shipment to Liverpool, taking it to S. F. to put it on board a clipper ship. Or. Argus, Jan. 12, 1861. Iu ISGS-9, 30,305 bushels of wheat and 200 barrels of flour, worth $36,447, were shipped dircet to Europe. The trade increased rapidly, and in 1874 there were 74,715 bushels of wheat and 28,S11 barrels of flour sent to foreign ports, worth $1,020,302. S. F. Bulletin, Jan. 20, 1875.
The number of flouring and grist mills in the state was over a hundred, in which more than a million and a quarter of e. pital was invested, producing annually three and a half millions' worth of flour. Some of the most famous mills were the following: Standard Mills at Milwaukee, completed in 1860 by Eddy, Kellogg, and Bradbury, which could make 250 barrels daily. The Oregon City Mills, owned by J. D. Miller, capable of turning out 300 barrels
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MANUFACTURES.
daily. This mill was originally erected in 1866 to make paper, but converted in 1868 into a flouring-mill. The Imperial Mill at Oregon City, first owned by Savier and Burnside, was capable of grinding 500 barrels daily. The Salem Flouring Mills, owned by a company organized in 1870, with a capital of $50,000 since increased to $200,000, and which had A. Bush, the former editor of the Or. Statesman, and later a banker in Salem, for president, manu- factured 15,000 to 16,000 barrels of flour monthly. Their flour took the lead in the markets of Europe. The Jefferson City Mills, owned by Corbitt and Macleay of Portland, ground 10,000 barrels monthly. J. H. Foster's mill at Albany had a capacity of 300 barrels daily. Hittell's Resources, 555-8.
In the great flood of 186]-2 the Island mill at Oregon City, built by the methodist company, and John McLoughlin's mill were both carried away. McLoughlin's mill was in charge of Daniel Harvey, who married Mrs Rae, the doctor's daughter. Harvey was born in the parish of Shefford, county Essex, England, in 1804, He died at Portland, Dec. 5, 1868. Portland Advocate, Dec. 19, ISG8.
Salmon, by the process of canning, becomes a kind of manufactured goods, and was one of the three great staples of the state. The salmon of the Column- bia were introduced to the markets of Honolulu, Valparaiso, and London, in a measure, by the Hudson's Bay Company, before any citizen of the United States had c .. tered into the business of salmon-fishing in Oregon. Robert's Recollections, MS., 20; Wilkes' Nar. U. S. Ex. Exped., iv. 369-70; II. Com. Rept, 31, i. 57, 27th cong. 3d sess .; Van Tramp's Adventures, 145-6. The first attempts to compete with this company were made by Wyeth and the methodist missionaries, which was successful only in securing enough for home consumption, the Indians being the fishermen, and the company able to pay more for the fish than the missionaries. The first merchants at Oregon City traded a few barrels to the Honolulu merchants for unrefined sugar and mo- larses. Henry Roder went to Oregon City in 1852, with the design of estab- lishing a fishery at the falls of the Willamette, but changed his mind and went to Bellingham Bay to erect a saw-mill. About 1857 John West began putting up salt salmon in barrels, at Westport, on the Lower Columbia. In 1859 Strong, Baldwin & Co. established a similar business at the mouth of Rogue River. Or. Statesman, Oct. 25, 1859. But nothing like a modern fishery was established on the Columbia until 1866, when William Hume, George Hume, and A. S. Hapgood erected the first fish-preserving factory at Eagle Cliff, on the north bank of the river, in Wahkiakuin county, Washington. In 1576 there were seventeen similar establishments on the river, and in 1880 there were thirty-five. The average cost of these fisheries, with their appa- ratus for canning salmon, and of the boats and nets used in catching fish, was in the neighborhood of forty thousand dollars each, making a sum total in- vested in the Columbia River fisheries of nearly a million and a half. The number of persons employed in the fishing season, which lasted about four months, was six thousand, the greater number of whom were foreign. The boatmen . ere usually Scandinavians, and the men employed in the canneries principally Chinese. A few women were hired to put on labels, at which they were very expert. The mechanics were usually Americans. The following shows the increase of the salmon catch for ten years, by the number of cases put up: 1869, 20,769; 1870, 29,736; 1871, 34,805; 1872, 43,096; 1873, 102,733; 1874, 291,021; 1875, 231,500; 1876, 438,730; 1877, 395,2SS; 1878, 440,917; 1879, 433,004. New Tacoma N. P. Coast, June 15, 1880. The production varied with different years, the salmon in some years appearing to avoid the Columbia and all the principal fishing-grounds. There was a falling-off in 1879, for the whole Pacific coast, amounting to nearly 100,000 cases from the catch of the previous year. After the fishing season was over some of the canneries put up beef and mutton, to utilize their facilities and round out the year's business.
The export of canned salmon did not commence until 1871, when 30,000 cases were exported, which realized $150,000. In 1875, 330,000 cases were sold abroad, which realized $1,650,000, and the following year 479,000 cases,
731
SALMON AND WOOLLEN GOODS.
bringing over two and a half millions of dollars, which is about the maximum of the trade, a few thousand more packages being sold in 1878, and consider- ably less in 1879. Review of board of trade, 1879, in Portland Standard, Feb. 4, 1879. The production of 1881 was 550,000 cases of 48 pounds each, bringing five dollars a case.
The partial failure of several years alarmed capitalists and legislators; and in April 1875 the Oregon and Washington Fish Propagating Company, with a capital of $30,000, was incorporated. The officers of this company were John Adair, Jr, president, J. W. Cook vice-president, J. G. Megler secretary, Henry Failing treasurer, with J. Adair, J. G. Megler, John West, C. M. Lewis, and J. W. Cook directors. Livingston Stone of Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, was chosen to conduct the experiment. A location for a hatching establishment was selected at the junction of Clear creek with the Clackamas River, a few miles from Oregon City, where the necessary buildings were erected and a million eggs put to hatch, of which seventy-five per cent became fish and were placed in the river to follow their ordinary habits of migration and return. In this manner the salmon product was rendered secure. In March 1881, 2,150,000 fishi were turned out of the hatching-house in a healthy condition. Olympia Courier, April 22, 1881; Portland West Shore, August, ISTS; Portland Oregonian, May 26, 1877.
Besides the Columbia River fisheries, there were others on the Umpqua, Coquille, and Rogue rivers, where salmon are put up in barrels. The Coquille fishery put up 37,000 barrels in 1881. S. F. Chronicle, Ang. 13, 1881. Im- mense quantities of salmon-trout of excellent flavor have been found in the Umpqua, Klamath, Link, and other southern streams. In the Klamath, at the ford on the Linkville road, they have been seen in shoals so dense that horses refused to pass over them. In Lost River, in Lake county, the sucker fish abounded in the same shoals during April and May. Sturgeon, tomcod, flounder, and other edible fish were plentiful along the coast. Since 1862, oysters in considerable quantities have been shipped from Tillamook Bay; and other shell-fish, namely, crabs, shrimps, and mussels, were abundant, and marketable. Or. Statesman, Nov. 3, 1862; Or. Legisl. Docs, 1876, ii. 15; Small'x Or. 62-5.
Laws have been enacted for the preservation of both salmon and oysters. These acts regulate the size of the meshes, which are S} inches long, to permit the young salmon to escape through them; and prohibit fishing from Saturday evening to Sunday evening of every week in the season, for the protection of a'l salmon; and forbid the use of the dredge where the water is less than twen- ty-four feet in depth at low tide on oyster-beds, or the waste of young oysters. Or. Laws, 1876, 7. With regard to the preservation and propagation of sal- mon, it has been recently discovered that the spawn thrown into the Coquille from the fisheries is not wasted, but hatches in that stream, and that there- fore that river is a natural piscicultural ground. Coquille City Herald, in S. F. Bulletin, Nov. 15, 1883. The same does not appear to be true of the northern rivers. Another difference is in the time of entering the rivers, which is April in the Columbia, and August in the Umpqua and Coquille.
The manufacture of Oregon wool into goods was neglected until April 1856, when a joint-stock association was formed at Salem for the purpose of erecting a woollen-mill. Joseph Watt was the prime mover. William H. Rector was superintendent of construction, and went east to purchase ma- chinery. George II. Williams was president of the company, Alfred Stanton vice-president, Joseph G. Wilson secretary, and J. D. Boon treasurer. Watt, Rector, Joseph Holman, L. F. Grover, Daniel Waldo, and E. M. Barnum were directors. Brown's Salem Dir., 1871. Watt & Barber had a carding- machine in Polk county in 1856, and there appears to have been another in Linn county, which was destroyed by fire in 1862. The company purchased the right of way to bring the water of the Santiam River to Salem, building a canal and taking it across Chemeketa Creek, making it one of the best water- powers on the Pacific coast. Its completion in December was celebrated by the firing of cannon. The incorporation of the company as a manufacturing
732
MANUFACTURES.
and water company followed, and in the fall of 1857 two sets of woollen ma- chinery were pur in motion. The goods manufactured, blanke.s, flanne's, and cassimeres, were exhibited at the first state fair of California, in 1853, being the first cloth made on the Pacific coast of the United States by modern ma- chinery. In 1860 the capacity of the mill was doubled, the company pros- pered, and in 1863 built a large flouring mill to utilize its water-power. The canal which brought the Santami into Salem was less than a mile in length and had a fall of 40 feet. The water was exhaustless, and there was laid the foundations of unlimited facilities for manufactures at Salem.
The building of the Willamette woollen-mill at Salem was a great incentive to wool-growing. The amount of wool produced in Oregon in 1830 was 220,000 pounds, not as much as the Salem mill required after it was enlarged, which was 400.000. But in 1870 the wool crop of the state was 1,000,000, and in JS00 over cight million of pounds were exported. Board of Trade Re- view:, 1677, 15; Pasific North-west, 4. The Salem inill burned to the ground in May 1470, but in the mean time a number of others had been cerceted. In ISUJ W. J. Linnville and others peticiones the senate for a charter for a wo len manufacturing company, which was refused, on the ground that the consutution of the state forbade crea.ing corporations by special laws except for municipal purposes. Or. Jour. Senate, 1800, 63, 73. In IS04a woollen-mail wa, e. ce.el av Lhe.nlale, which was running in 18od, and turning ont flannels by th . thousand yards,' but which has since been suspended. Or. St it's.can, May 7, 1303; Dead 's Scrap-Book, 149. The Oregon City Woolen Mill was projec.ed as early as 1002, althoughi not built natil 1831-5. The incorpora- tiun papers were filed Dec. 31, 1662, in the office of the secretary of state, The incorporators were A. L. Lovejoy, L. D. C. Latourette, Arvuur Warner, W. W. un.k, William Whitlock, F'. Barclay, Daniel Harvey, G. H. A.kin- son, J. L. Ba low, John D. Dement, W. C. Dement, D. P. Thompson, Wil- liam Barlow, W. t. Johnson, and A. H. S.cele. Capital stock, $30,00J. Ur. Argus, Jan. 31, 1862. Five lots were purchased of Harvey for $12,000, and water-power guaranteed. The building was of brick and stone, 183 by 52 feet, and two store, Ingh. Joel Palmer was elected president of the company. I. was d_signe l. as we are told, to concentrate capital at Oregon City. Buck's Enterprises, M., 6-8. Back relates how when they had built the mill the directo.s coul.l go no further, having no money to buy the wool to start with, unvil he sac.esded in borrowing it from the bank of British Columbia. A few mca bought up all the stock, and some of the original holders realized nothing, among whom was Buck, whose place among the projectors of enterprises is conspicuous if not remunerative. The enterprise was successful from the star .. The miil began by making flannels, but soon manufactured all kinds of woollen goods. It was destroyed by fire in 1803, and rebuilt in the follow- ing year. In point of capacity and means of every sort, the Oregon City mill was the first in the state. Its annual consumption of wool was now much short of a million pounds, and the value of the goods manufactured from forty to for- ty-five thousand dollars a month. A wholesale clothing manufactory in con- nection with the mill employs from fifty to sixty cnt.ers and tailors in work- ing up tweeds and cassimeres into goods for the market. This branch of the business was represented in S. F. by a firm which manufactures Oregon City cloths into goods to the value of $400,000 annually. The mill employed 150 opera.ives, to whom it paid $90,000 a year in wages. Hattell's Resources, 415 -6. A fire in February 1831 destroyed a portion of the mill, which sustained a loss of $20,000. The wool-growers of Wasco county at one time conte:n- plated fitting np the abandoned mint building at The Dalles for a woollen factory, but later, with Portland capitalists, making arrangements to erect a large mill at the fall of Des Chutes River.
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