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[begin surface 1] The Oregoniese are called "webfoots" from a letter Salem, Oregon Oct. 1870 [begin surface 2]

WEBFOOTS.

"And first and foremost, the people. Webfoots they are called, from a tradition that exists in California and other envious localities, that it rains here sometimes; indeed, that it rains so much that the inhabitants, on the 'natural longing theory,' receive web feet, that they may paddle around comfortably. I believe this to be a slander. But the people, the masses, are out in force. With a population of less than one tenth of that of Wisconsin, with but one little piece of railroad of fifty miles, there are here to day not less than twenty thousand people. From ten, from twenty, from a hundred, from a hundred and fifty miles away, men, women and children are here, in covered wagons, with tents and provisions— they have come up here, some of them having been eight days in making the journey.

[begin surface 3]
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