"Jacksonville, Scottsburg, Crescent City, Yreka, became the leading supply points in
Southern Oregon and Northern California. Portland soon leaped into preeminence,
as the metropolis of the region. The population of Portland more than doubled from
1280 in 1857, to 2917 in 1860. It grew to 6000 in 1865 and to 9565 in 1870."

"The primitive life of the Oregon pioneers prior to the gold movement; the isolation,
the remoteness from currents of the world and the Nation; the hardships
of family existence; the absence of the comforts of the later day; the lack of markets
and the narrow range of industry. The gold movement began the evolution of varied
industry, and the later growth of the country."

"The value of the gold treasure, extracted from the rocks and earth of the interior region
of the Pacific Northwest and Montana, was very large in the then undeveloped condition
of this region. In the best years (1861-67), the treasure amounted to $20,000,000 in gold
a year, or $140,000,000 for the period. Before the gold period, which began in 1858-60,
the region was the most remote, and had the scantiest white population
of any part of the Nation."

"News from the Eastern centers was four to six weeks old when it reached
Portland, Oregon, by way of the California overland stage route, and thence by ocean
steamship northward. The mails came to Portland by sea twice a month. The
admission of Oregon as a state, February 14, 1859, became known in Oregon
a month afterwards."

"The earlier gold activities, that began in California in 1848, stimulated affairs
of the North Pacific Coast. The Willamette Valley and Puget Sound then found
the markets opening for farm products and lumber. Money became abundant and
prices soared. Fertile areas in the interior grew in usefulness and productivity,
with mining development. The valley of the Walla Walla was one of the earliest
localities in this work, beginning in 1858-59. The livestock industry grew ahead
of farming in the interior country."