April 18, 1841

I remember times when I lived in Missouri that at night, I would hear the cries of my parents through the walls in my house. I had only been about nine or ten, and I hadn't understood why my parents would always soak their pillows at night in the dark. The Panic of 1837 hit the Mississippi Valley hard, leaving people hungry and homeless. People by the thousands had lost their jobs and tons of businesses closed down. 

But coming to the Oregon Country was like entering a new world. When my family came, the people of the Willamette Valley welcomed us with open arms along with thousands of other emigrants. I no longer see or hear my parents shed buckets of tears at night. They are happier than ever. Here, in the Willamette Valley, we have our own farm that is running successfully. We just plowed the field and planted the seeds over this past month, and crops should be growing soon. 

There is free farmland everywhere I look, just fields and fields of land, waiting to be taken and grown upon. 

Farmland
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