Arrival of Gov. Lane—Description of Port Astoria and vicinity—Narrow escape from Shipwreck.

March 8th, 1849.—I am quietly stowd away in a private family in Oregon city, after having roamd up and down the valley, in pursuit of information.

All is commotion here. Gov. Lane, from Indiana, arrivd in town the first of this month, bringing the new government with him in his pocket up the Willamet river in a skiff, over the Clackamas rapids. As to whether he got out and helpd to pull the boat over the rapids or not, I have not been informd. The big men of the place are brushing up their boots and putting on their best clothes, as the Governor passes the streets, hoping as he passes along, that his eye may fall upon them placidly. I do not very well know what such things mean, though I suppose that politicians do.

April 7th.—The first public mail arrivd in Oregon city, from the U. States, by the mail steamer of San Francisco, to-day. This country begins to be alive to maritime business—the first vessel ever built at the Willamet falls in Oregon, is now on the stocks. Her owners say her tunnage will be from 50 to 60 tuns burden.

After having staid in Oregon nearly seven months, I take my departure from Oregon city, the 10th of April, for San Francisco, by way of the ocean.

Port Astoria, 26th.—To-day embarkd on board ship for San Francisco bay, after having staid nearly two weeks at Astoria, waiting for the ship to be in readiness to leave. My stay at this place has given me an opportunity of learning something of this part of the country, the difficulty of navigating the river at this part of it, and the prices of some articles of produce, as sold here in these times of great excitement.

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Port Astoria is situated about 15 miles from the mouth of the Columbia river, on the south side of it. The place has not been improvd since its first establishment. There are only five or six houses in the place that have been built by the whites, excepting a storehouse or two built by the Hudson Bay Company. The country here and around Astoria, is rugged and unpleasant, heavily coverd with fir and hemlock, some of which is of giant size.

About 25 miles of the river from its mouth, is indented with bays by various names, making a width of from 7 to 10 or 12 miles.

At the mouth of the river, on the north, is Cape Disappointment.

Eight miles distant, on the opposite side, is Clatsap point, sometimes calld Point Adams.

Cape Disappointment, by its projection from the main land, forms a little cove, calld Baker’s bay. Here ships may lie in perfect safety.

On the south side, higher up, at the entrance of Young into the Lewis and Clark’s river, is Young’s bay.

At the mouth of the Columbia river, between Cape Disappointment and Clatsap point, is an extensive sand-bar, which renders an entrance to the river difficult, except by experiencd navigators of the river.

The first 15 or 20 miles of the entrance of the river, has a channel so crooked that almost every point of compass is traversd, which makes navigation by sail ships slow and dangerous. At every new point, ships are obligd oftentimes to stop several days and sometimes weeks for a change of wind. The only successful and speedy mode of traversing the river will ultimately be by steam vessels.

Amongst other things that have fallen within my notice whilst at Astoria, was the price of a few articles of produce brought to this place to sell to passengers, whilst waiting for the readiness of the ship. Potatoes were sold at one dollar per bushel, eggs at $1 per dozen, butter at $1 per pound. Flour a little more moderate—its price per barrel was only $10. During my stay at Astoria, a beef was killd at Clatsap and brought here, and sold at 12 cents for the fore, and 15 for the hind quarters, per pound.

27th.—On leaving Astoria, our ship was thrown on the beach, where she remaind during the day, occasiond by the drunkenness of our pilot.

Thursday, May 3d, we left Baker’s bay for the broad ocean, with a fair wind and high hopes of crossing the sand-bar with pleasantness and safety. The number of souls on board was about 130. We proceeded gently along for three-fourths of an hour, when we arrivd near the place where the ships Shark, Vancouver and Maine were wreckd, and the wind nearly ceasd to blow. Our ship became unmanageable, drifting by the strong tide which was then unfavorable, and likely in a few minutes to carry us from the channel and place us upon the sands, where the ship must inevitably have become a wreck.

In this critical situation, with only 18 feet of water for a ship drawing 15, and the tide yet falling—by the energetic movement of our officers and crew, they were enabld to stay the ship by immediately casting anchor. After waiting more than 2 hours in this perilous situation, the wind became of sufficient strength to justify an attempt to make our escape by parting anchor.

During this time of extreme anxiety, soundings were constantly kept up both on ship and at a distance around.

When all things were ready on board for the attempt, orders were given and instantly the anchor with 180 feet of chain were severd from the ship, and she under way in a retrograde course towards Cape Disappointment. We continud our retrograde course till we arrivd as near the cape as practicable, in consequence of a bar which projected a short distance from it, at which point we changd our course to the south-west, and in less than one hour we were in the broad ocean, and over all danger from sand-bars.