river being over, but little business could be noticed on the part of those engaged in this enterprise. While in Salem I called the attention of Judge Humason, of Wasco, and of Governor Gibbs, to the importance of establishing a mail line from Walla Walla to Fort Laramie, to there tap the present daily overland mail service, by which means our mails at Walla Walla could be delivered in fifteen days from Saint Louis, and in seventeen days to Portland--this in the summer season--or twenty to twenty-two days in the winter. At present our mails cross the continent to Sacramento, two thousand miles; thence to Portland, seven hundred; thence to Walla Walla, three hundred more; making a total of three thousand miles to travel before we get them; whereas I can guarantee a line by the route indicated of one half the distance and one half the time. I framed a memorial, which Judge Humason would introduce in Congress, for this line; and was promised by Mr. Harding his coöperation to see that the matter was not allowed to pass unnoticed during the coming winter. Leaving Salem, a journey of twenty-four hours passes us through Corvallis and Eugene City; and through an exceedingly beautiful and rich agricultural country on to Oakland, where the celebrated "Baker Mills" are established, producing, it is said, the finest flour in Oregon. The disasters of the flood were too visible at each and every point, sweeping away bridges and ferries, and destroying property to the extent of thousands of dollars. A large structure across the Umpqua, costing $10,000, was thus carried off--its convenience being now replaced by a ferry. All along the road we passed small parties of immigrants who crossed the Plains this season; some in search of new homes; others to join their friends who years since had preceded them. The Umpqua is a beautiful valley in a high state of cultivation; the school-houses, dotting here a hill, and there a valley, betoken that the education of the youth of the country was not being neglected. Roseburg, the county seat of the Umpqua region, is a gem of a village; streets neatly laid out, and neat, white, frame cottages, giving the place a rare picturesque beauty, where mountain and dale, and the hand of refined culture, all joined in beautiful harmony. The line of telegraph posts extends throughout this entire distance from Portland to Canyonville--the farthest point south where they are as yet erected. It is fully anticipated to have the line from Salem to Portland in working order by winter; as also the line from Jacksonville to Yreka. The posts are supplied and erected by contract by the farmers and others living along the line, at a cost of from $1.25 to $2 per post, and the line when completed will cost $200 per mile. Local intelligence, and the interest which every citizen feels in the reception of intelligence, now bristling with so much import, will cause this line, as soon as placed in good working order, to pay