Ohio is divided into 88 counties, as follows:-Adams, Allen, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Anglaize, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Champaign, Clark, Clermont, Clinton, Columbiana, Coshoctun, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Darke, Defiance, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Fulton, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Harrison, Henry, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Logan, Lorain, Lucas, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Mercer, Miami, Munroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Morrow, Muskinghum, Noble, Ottawa, Paulding, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Putnam, Richland, Ross, Sandusky, Scioto, Seneca, Shelby, Stark, Sunmit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Van Wert, Vinton, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Williams, Wood, and Wyandot. The principal cities and towns, according to the census of 1870, are Cincinnati, the largest city, and a great river port and manufacturing centre, pop. 216,239; Columbus, the capital, 31,274; Cleveland, the principal lake port, 92,829; Toledo, 31,274; Dayton, 30,473; Akron, 10,006; Hamilton, 11,081; Portsmouth, 10,592; Sandusky, 13,000; Springfield, 12,652; Zanesville, Canton, Chillicothe, Circleville, Delaware, Fremont, Ironton, Mansfield, Marietta, Massillon, Newark, Piqua, Pomeroy, Steubenville, Tiffin, Wooster, Xenia, Youngstown, Bellaire, Lancaster, Lima, Norwalk, Mount Vernon, Urbana, Warren, Salem, Bucyrus, Galion, Findley, Painesville, Bellefontaine, Elyria, Troy, New Philadelphia, besides many other thriving towns. Skilled workmen can generally find employment in the foregoing and other towns of the State, at wages quoted for Chicago. Coal hewers get from 90c. to $1.15 per ton in Eastern Ohio. The mines are well ventilated, and the coal is favorable for working. Farm hands are always in great demand for the harvest season. The summers are hot; but, except in the low lands, where "fever and ague" is common, Ohio is a healthy State. The average annual temperature, taken at Columbus, the capital of the State, is as follows: Spring. 53.56° Summer. Autumn. Winter. Mean for the Year. 50.05° 34.22° 53.29° Average annual rainfall at Cincinnati, 44-87 inches. The educational advantages of Ohio are equal to those of the most favored State in the Union. At the last census there were in this Commonwealth 11,458 public schools, 33 colleges, 31 theological and medical schools, and 9 universities. The expenditure on account of public schools, during 1880, was close upon $8,000,000. The school population for the same year was 1,043,320: members enrolled in public schools, 747,138: average daily attendance, 476,279. The Benevolent and Reformatory Institutions of Ohio, supported by the State, consist of five Asylums for the Insane, one of which is said to be the largest in the world; one Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, said to be the largest in the world; one for the education of the blind (the two last named institutes teach mechanical trades also); one for Imbecile Youth, for the purpose of providing that they may not be absolutely helpless; one Home for the Orphans of Soldiers and Sailors. The children are well educated, and taught mechanical trades: one Reform School for Boys; one Reform School for Girls. All religious denominations are represented. They neither receive or require State aid and patronage. The State debt of Ohio, in 1878, was $6,476,805. Taxable property-real, $1,091,116,682, and for 1880, $1,102,049,931; personal, $461,460,552, and for 1880, $456,166,034. State tax on $100, 29 cents. Legal rate of interest, 6 per cent.: 8 per cent. is allowed by contract. Usury involves a forfeiture of all interest in excess of 6 per cent. Farm hands receive $14 to $18 per month, with board and lodgings; and from $1 to $2 per day for three months in summer season, with board and lodgings. Female servants get $9 to $13 per month in Ohio. Fare from a British port to Cincinnati:-Steerage and emigrant train, £8, 7s. 8d.; steerage and first-class rail, £10. CHAPTER XXX. OREGON. Area, 95,274 square miles. Population, 174,767. THIS young State (Or-é-gon), of immense area, stretches from Idaho on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west. It is separated from Washington Territory on the north by the Columbia River. California and Nevada mark its southern boundary. The great Californian mountainsthe Sierra Nevada-continue their northward course through Oregon under the new name of the Cascades. They traverse the State parallel to the sea shore, and at an average distance of 110 miles therefrom. This mountain range divides the State into Eastern and Western Oregon-districts which differ widely from each other in climate, soil, and geographical features. Near the southern boundary of the State, a chain of the Cascades, called the Blue Mountains, forks off in a north-easterly direction, and enters Idaho. The Coast Range of Oregon consists of hills and high lands rather than a mountain chain, such as we find it in California. These high lands run parallel with the sea shore: the valleys of this region show the same geographical characteristic. Oregon is perhaps the best wooded State on the Pacific Coast. Its broad streams run adjacent to vast forests, whence rafts of timber are floated down to commercial centres along the Willamette and Columbia rivers, and on the Pacific border. Springs and streams abound everywhere; and the State is rich in minerals. Eastern Oregon, the largest of the two natural divisions of the State, extends from the Cascade Mountains to the Idaho line. The country consists of immense level plains and rolling prairies, relieved by hills and mountains, fertile valleys, deep gorges, and canons. The soil of this division is not so rich as that lying westward of the Cascades; and although cereals are reported as doing well on the table lands and in some of the valleys, Eastern Oregon is certainly best adapted for grazing purposes. The plains are covered with brush grass, celebrated for its nutritious character. But the best lands for general agriculture are found bordering the Columbia and its tributaries; in the valleys of the Umatilla and Walla Walla rivers; in the valleys of Klamath Lake, Lost River, Goose and Harney lakes, Alvord and Jordan creeks, in the southern section of the State; and on the margins of the Grande Ronde, Snake, Powder, Burnt, Malheur, and Owyhee rivers in the eastern belt of Oregon. Des Chutes is the largest feeder of the Columbia River east of the Cascades. Its borders are rich in native grasses, and well intended for stock-raising. The John Day River runs a northerly course into the Columbia some thirty miles east of the Des Chutes. It drains an extensive area of fertile land that may be procured for a trifling sum per acre, or by settlement under the Free Homestead Laws. Powder Valley is the largest and one of the most fertile in Eastern Oregon. The river which flows through it empties into the Snake on the eastern border of the north-eastern section of the State. The discovery of gold at the head waters of Powder River induced immigration to that district before the surround |