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The census returns of 1880 show, on the Columbia River, twenty-nine canneries, having a capital of $1,100,000; product, 539,587 cases, and 25,900,176 pounds, in one-pound tins, valued at $2,697,930; hands employed, 6,500.

The following are the principal towns and cities, with their population, in 1880: Baker City, 1,258; Corvallis, 1,128; Oregon City, 1,263; Astoria, 2,803; Eugene, 1,117; Albany, 1,867; Salem, 2,538; Portland, 17,578; East Portland, 2,409; Dalles, 2,232.

The gold product of the State for the year ending June 30, 1880, was $1,090,000; silver, $15,000.

The following statement shows the amount of State taxes due from the several counties in the State, as levied for the year 1881, together with the total amount of taxable property:

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The number of patients in the Asylum for the Insane is rapidly increasing, and was as follows: Number of patients on June 1, 1881, 304; admitted during the quarter, 33; returned, 3; under treatment, 340; number discharged during the quarter, 23; died, 6; number of patients in hospital August 31, 1881, 311. The admissions during the quarter were much larger than ever before, and the sum paid by the State for their care and treatment during the quarter amounted to $20,282.85.

The total expenditure on account of the School for Deaf-Mutes, for the year ending May 1, 1881, was $3,619.48; number of pupils enrolled, 31; average attendance, 27.

At the beginning of the year, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company owned the following lines of road in Oregon and Washington: From the Dalles to Walla Walla, one hundred and fifty-eight miles; Blue Mountain extension from Whitman Junction to the State line, fourteen miles; Cascade Portage, six miles.

During the year the company has acquired by a lease of ninety-nine years the following lines: Narrow-gauge line from Ray's Landing to Brownsville, seventy miles; narrow-gauge line from Fulquartz's Landing to Airlie, fiftythree miles; narrow-gauge line from Sheridan Junction to Sheridan, seven miles; narrowgauge line from Perrydale to Smithfield, four miles.

The same company has constructed the following lines during the year: From Walla Walla to Texas Ferry, sixty miles; with Dayton branch from Bolles's Junction, thirteen miles; grade-work on line from the Dalles to the Cascades, forty-six miles; grade-work from Umatilla to Pendleton, thirty miles.

During 1882 the company will build the following lines: From Umatilla toward Baker City as far as possible-probably one hundred miles; from Portland on to a point on the Oregon side of the Columbia two miles below Kalama, forty-three miles; to extend the Colfax road from Rebel Flat to a point on the Northern Pacific Railroad, forty miles east of Ainsworth, fifty miles.

The Oregon and California Railroad Company now owns two lines of road-from Portland to Roseburg, two hundred miles; from Portland to Corvallis, one hundred miles. During 1882 it will extend the east side line toward the junction with the California end of the line as far as possible.

The Oregon Pacific Company during 1882 propose to build a line from Yaquina Bay eastward toward Boisé City as far as possible, probably one hundred and fifty miles.

The relations of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company are set forth in the report of President Villard to the stockholders of the latter, dated September 15th, in which he says that his operations "resulted in the concentration of a controlling interest in the stocks of the two companies in an association of individuals, includ

ing the principal stockholders of our company. This control over both corporations is now transferred to a third corporation, the Oregon and Transcontinental Company, with an authorized capital of $50,000,000, of which, however, only $30,000,000 is to be issued at present, and is now in process of being paid in. The large proprietary interest of this company in the other companies is the very best guarantee to the latter that its power will only be exercised to promote their legitimate development to the fullest extent. Or, in other words, the new company can only promote its own interest as a great holder of Oregon Railway and Navigation and Northern Pacific stocks by taking the best care of every other stockholder in both companies."

The State elections and the sessions of the Legislature are held biennially. The next occurs in 1882. (See "Annual Cyclopædia" of 1880.) The population of the State by counties in 1880, as compared with 1870, was as follows:

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OVERCOMERS. A new sect of Christian believers has sprung up near Chicago, Illinois,

and has made a considerable number of conversions among persons who are described as belonging to the "comfortably situated and more intelligent classes of society." It is commonly known as the sect of the "Overcomers," the name being derived from the application of the word "overcome" as it is used in the following passages in the second chapter of Revelation and in other parts of the New Testament: "He that overcometh shall not be hurt at the second death" (Rev. ii, 11); "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it" (Rev. ii, 17); "He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will be given power over the nations: and he shall rule over them with a rod of iron" (Rev.

*In 1875, from part of Jackson.

ii, 26, 27). The sect was founded by M. H. G. Spafford, formerly a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, who was engaged in the revival meetings that were held in Chicago a few years ago under the preaching of Mr. D. L. Moody. Mr. Spafford was led, by the studies which his participation in the revival meetings incited him to make, to the acceptance of the doctrine, which was at variance with the confession of his own church, that only those who "overcome," or wholly converted Christians, are immediately saved, while all others, including the mass of the persons regarded in the Orthodox churches as verted," are "hurt at the second death," and cast into the lake of fire, where they remain and suffer till they are purified; and that punishment is not eternal, but "age-abiding," and lasts only until the purification is accomplished. He was excluded from his church for heresy, when he, together with a number of other church-members who, having adopted his views, had withdrawn from their churches, organized a new congregation. The Over

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comers believe that the Scriptures are the inspired word of God, and accept the doctrine of the Trinity; and they claim that their church was organized with Abraham, and has since that time been buried away as a church, but that the religion to which it testifies has been represented by sanctified persons in the corporate Church throughout the intervening ages. At the same time, they renounce church organizations, and teach that the true children of God, who constitute the "Bride of Christ," are called to step out and show the world in their lives-in every movement of their lives -a higher type of absolute holiness, urging a complete and entire consecration of the whole being to the service of God. They hold that all souls will finally be restored through the atoning blood of Christ, but that, if a soul is not entirely consecrated to the service of God. punishment. Some of the sect are said to bein this life, it must suffer severe purgatorial lieve that they possess a degree of inspiration and gifts of healing, such as were exercised by the apostles on the day of Pentecost. A congregation of Overcomers has been organized at Lake View, near Chicago, Illinois, and A party of seventeen persons of this sect another, a larger one, at Valparaiso, Indiana.. started during the summer of 1881 for Palestine, where, they believe, they had a divine mission to gather the Jews into the land of their inheritance, and rule over them.

failure of the oyster-beds of the New England OYSTER-BEDS, DETERIORATION OF. The and Middle States, the deterioration of those lying in Southern waters, and the necessity of governments or by individuals, to maintain some efforts, either upon the part of the State the supply of oysters in sufficient numbers to satisfy the large and increasing demand of the consumers, have of late excited much atten

tion. There is no doubt that the natural beds

of the North are practically exhausted, and that the production of the Southern beds (of Maryland and Virginia) is greatly diminished. It is not probable, however, that the area of the latter has decreased, notwithstanding various estimates to the contrary, arising out of the increased price of oysters, and the lack of care and protection to the oyster-beds. Admitting that the Northern beds are practically exhausted, and have become mere fatteningplaces for the transplanted Southern oyster, it is still open to question whether the beds of Maryland and Virginia are deteriorating.

It being impossible to speak with perfect accuracy of the entire area covered by oysters in these States, it may safely be assumed that the condition and peculiarities of beds in one district will serve, approximately at least, to express the condition of all the rest. The only locality which has been thoroughly studied lies on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, opposite the mouth of the Potomac River. This was done in 1878-'79, and includes the survey of the beds of Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, and ascertaining the depth of the water over the beds, the direction and force of the currents, the character of the bottom, the effect of gales, ice, and freshets, and also of fishery with dredges or tongs.

Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds are arms of Chesapeake Bay, and lie opposite the mouth of the Potomac, on the eastern side of the bay. The former extends about thirty-six miles north, is separated from the bay by a chain of low, marshy islands, and receives the waters of several creeks and rivers. The shoals on either side of the channel are covered with oyster-beds, and, where there are no beds, oysters are scattered in groups or singly. They are also found as continuations of the beds, and, generally speaking, oysters may be taken in varying numbers throughout Tangier, in depths of between one and six fathoms. Pocomoke Sound is twelve and a half miles long and about nine broad near the middle. The channel is narrow and tortuous, and the main body of the sound is shoal, and these shoals covered with oysters, singly or in groups, or in large, well-defined beds. Several creeks and the Pocomoke River empty into this sound. The beds were located and marked off, and the area ascertained approximately. The entire area in both sounds upon which oysters were found amounts to fifty-four square miles. The area of the beds proper, where the vessels for dredging mostly work, amounts to six square miles in Tangier and four in Pocomoke Sound. From the examination made in 1878 it appears that the number of oysters on the beds has greatly diminished during the last thirty years, that the area of the beds has greatly increased, and that there has been no change of the usual natural conditions to which oysters are subjected.

The question then arises, What natural cause or causes would both expand the beds and

diminish the number of oysters? A bed is extended naturally by the drifting "spat," or young brood, attaching themselves to any appropriate "cultch" contiguous to the bed. This extension is greatest in the direction of the currents, and unless some substance is interposed between the soft bottoms (which are destructive to young broods) and the drifting "spat," they will sink into it and be destroyed. Nature offers very little help in the way of preventing this destruction, and hence the great expansion of the beds must be assigned to other agents than natural causes. The diminution of the number of oysters might have been effected by deposits of earthy or vegetable matter, so as to bury both old and young oysters; but there is no evidence of any such deposits ever having been made. Again, a change in the character of the water and bottom might deprive oysters of their proper food, and cause their deterioration and destruction; but such a change would act suddenly, and impair the flavor and vitality of those that escaped. Inasmuch, however, as no such impairment has taken place, but on the contrary the oysters are larger and finer than formerly, no force can be attributed to this as a cause of the diminution of the oysters. These, then, being dismissed as inadequate, the real cause is to be sought in the agency of man.

The oyster-fishery in these localities is carried on chiefly by the process of “dredging." This is performed as follows: A dredge or scrape resembles a large iron claw, the nails representing the teeth of the dredge. To the back of this is fastened a bag of iron meshwork, large enough to hold two or three bushels. Dredges vary in size from two to five feet across the mouth, and of greater or less weight. Dredging-vessels vary in size from five to thirty tons, and all use two dredges. These are dropped one from each side, and the vessel being kept under easy sail, they fill and are hauled in by a small winch. They are then emptied, and the process repeated. The mud, sand, sponge, etc., are separated from the oysters, and, together with the oysters unfit for market, thrown back into the water. As the limits of the dredging-grounds are not defined, the vessels frequently drag quantities of shells and oysters beyond the boundary of the beds. After "culling" the oysters, or separating them from the old shells, these shells are thrown back again, and many young oysters with them. If these fall on suitable grounds, sufficient to support them, they form a small colony, which soon after, by the action of the dredges, becomes attached to the main bed, and thus increases the area of the latter.

A further question presents itself. Will the dredging also account for the diminution of the oysters? Without discussing here the question of propagation, it may be stated that the male and female of the American variety of oyster expel the generative matter into the water, where the eggs must meet the male

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fluid in order to be fertilized. Hence, the more compact the bed, the greater the chance of the ova and spermatozoa coming in contact. If the mature, spawn-bearing oysters are very much diminished in number, or widely separated from each other, the chances of contact are slight, and there is a failure of reproduction. But the removal of brood-oysters is not the sum total, by any means, of the effects of the dredging. Millions of young oysters, unfit for market, are carried off sticking to the shells of the mature oysters, and nearly as many young are destroyed by being thrown from the dredging-vessels upon soft or unfavorable bottoms. As, then, theoretically, dredging would extend the beds and destroy their fecundity, it may be asked whether this has been, practically, the case.

The testimony of the fishermen is unanimous as to the extension of area, some of the beds having doubled in size during the last thirty years. They also testify that the beds have materially deteriorated during this period.

Stronger evidence, however, is afforded by investigation, made in 1879, in regard to areas in Chesapeake Bay where oysters existed in a locality known to very few fishermen. Here the oysters were found in clusters of from three or four to twelve or fifteen, with clean, white shells, and the spaces between the larger ones filled with the young growth and barnacles. The mature oysters were long and narrow; whereas, in beds worked for some time, oysters are usually single, or in clusters of two or three, the animals are fatter and thicker, and the shells are dirty, with much mud or sand clinging to them. These new beds were found to be hard, and the clusters more firmly attached to the bottom, while the beds in the sound were soft, and the oysters easily obtained by means of the dredge. All the oysters examined during the season of 1879 were measured and distributed into four classes, the first two the mature, the last two the young growth. Over twenty thousand were measured and classified, and the ratio of the young growth to

the mature was found to be as three to two. Over 100,000 oysters were taken from the beds in the sounds, and measured and classified in like manner, and the ratio of young to mature was found to be as three to six. Thus on the new beds the young outnumbered the mature, while on the worked beds in the sounds the mature outnumbered the young growth.

The action of the dredge is very destructive to the oysters remaining on the bed, by not only roughly detaching them from different objects to which they cling, but also leaving them in such positions as to prevent their opening the valves without letting in mud or sand. Thus the dredge causes the destruction indirectly of a large number of oysters that remain after its passage, and hence the number of old, empty shells should be greater upon a bed that has been dredged than upon one that has not; and if that number is very large, it shows that the population of the bed has been destroyed. The quantity of matter brought up by the dredge was measured during the season of 1879, and also the quantity of oysters and of débris. On the unworked beds, this latter amounted to 30 per cent of the whole quantity of matter brought up; while in the sounds the débris was much greater, and in Pocomoke Sound it amounted to 97 per cent.

During the season of 1878 a method was devised by which the number of oysters to the square yard could be determined approximately; and in accordance with this the number to the square yard should be greater upon the old beds than the new. If, on comparing the results of successive seasons on the same bed, it is found that the number of oysters to the square yard is decreasing, it may be concluded that too large a number is annually removed. Investigation showed that, on 60 per cent of the beds in Tangier Sound, there was a decrease in the number of oysters in 1878-79, and that on 60 per cent of the beds the number of oysters to the square yard was less than on the newly discovered beds in the bay, and in no case was the number much greater. In Pocomoke Sound, on every bed the number of oysters to the square yard was considerably less than in 1878, and also much below the number on the new beds in the bay.

It is evident that, if the number of the young growth falls below the number of the mature oysters, the fecundity of the bed is impaired; yet it does not follow that, if the young outnumber the mature, it is a sign of increased production. From the beds in question many millions of oysters are annually removed, of which a large percentage is mature, and, if this removal of one class is excessive, it might show itself in the increased ratio of young to mature. Supposing this to be the case, the young would greatly outnumber the mature for about three years, or the period to pass from youth to maturity. During this period there is a constant removal of the brood-oysters, so that, at the end of three years, the ma

ture would probably outnumber the young, and the ratio be abnormally small, as it was abnormally large. With this large number of mature oysters there would be increased production, and at the end of three years, again, the ratio would change, while the number of oysters will constantly be diminishing. In time, however, the brood - oysters will become so scarce that the fertilization of the eggs will be more and more improbable, and the young remain in the minority; so that, if the fishing continue, the entire destruction of the breeding power will be but a matter of time.

It was estimated, from careful investigation, that the number of oysters removed, in 1878, was over 1,500,000 per day, and in 1879, over 700,000 per day. In the sounds the dredging continues throughout the year, though little is done in the summer months. The law sanctions the working of the beds from October 1st to May 1st. If confined to this period, with only three full working days each week, the dredging season would be about 120 days, and in that time there would be removed, by the estimate of 1878, over 184,000,000 oysters, and, by the estimate of 1879, over 89,000,000 oysters. The number of young growth would be, by the first estimate, 148,000,000; by the second, 36,000,000. The statistics of 1879, compared with those of 1878, show that there were twice as many vessels at work in 1878 as in 1879; and the difference of young growth is due to the fact that the summer of 1879 was a bad one for the "spat," and consequently there was a failure of "young." The mortality among the young after attachment is about 50 per cent, and consequently only about 74,400,000 of the young removed in 1878-79 would have attained the age of one year. If none of the oysters had been removed from the beds, there would have been about 259,000,000 more on the beds than was actually the case, and of that number 71 per cent were mature and spawn-bearing. Now, as 65 per cent of those in the beds are mature, the adding of 250,000,000 would increase the percentage to 68, or the young growth would be in a more hopeless minority than before.

There are, then, three indications of the deterioration of the beds: The number of the young is either much smaller or much larger than the number of mature oysters, and in the latter case is so large as to be abnormal; the amount of débris found on the beds is much greater than in the newly discovered areas; and the number of oysters to the square yard not only falls below what it should be, but has decreased since the first examination in 1878. Considering the testimony of persons living in the vicinity of Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, and the results of the comparison of the worked beds in the sound with the unworked ones in the bay, it may be concluded that the former areas are much impaired in productive power, and, the same reasons continuing to operate, there will be a constant deterioration until that

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