1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 244 Oregon Reclamation Regiment
On January 1852, 1, the "California Daily" published an article "Go to Oregon", encouraging Californians to go to the Oregon area for reclamation and the development of high-quality forestry resources in the Oregon area.

The Oregon Reclamation Group organized by the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce will organize this immigration and help immigrants who are interested in going to Oregon to open up settlements in the Oregon area.

Considering that no precious metal minerals have been discovered in the Oregon area, it is not very attractive to immigrants.Led by Liang Yao himself, the Chinese businessmen who organized the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce jointly invested 150 million US dollars to set up a special reclamation fund to fund this immigration operation.

As long as the immigrants who are willing to sign up to go to the Oregon area, within the first three years, the reclamation group will take out funds from the reclamation fund every year, and issue a subsidy of 20 dollars in real money to each immigrant every year.

At the same time, the reclamation group will provide agricultural tools and seeds for the immigrants.

Bank of America will also provide five-year interest-free loans with an amount of less than 200 US dollars to help immigrants survive the most difficult years of land reclamation.

Most importantly, the Oregon Reclamation Corps will set up an armed force of 300 people who will be responsible for protecting the safety of the immigrants from the Oregon Reclamation Corps to address their concerns about security.

Of course, in return, within the next 13 years, members of the Huaxia Chamber of Commerce have the right to give priority to purchasing goods from immigrants.

What California currently lacks the most is not money, but materials, especially food.

Although Liang Yao has made every effort to encourage Californians to farm in the Central Valley, the state government also provides special subsidies for the Department of Agriculture to build water conservancy facilities near the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley to provide irrigation for the surrounding newly reclaimed farmland source of water.

But the land that has just been reclaimed is relatively barren, the soil fertility is relatively low, and the grain production is average. If the grain production wants to increase, it will take a few years until the land fertility increases and the new fields become mature fields.

It is not that there are no cultivated fields in California, but these cultivated fields were reclaimed by early immigrants. In 1848, the non-Indian population in California was only 1.4, and there were not many cultivated fields in the entire state.

There are few ripe fields, but the number of immigrants in California is increasing day by day. In the next few years, the local food production in California will certainly not be able to meet the needs of the local population in California.

According to the data provided by the Department of Agriculture, California’s food self-sufficiency rate was around 65% last year, and the remaining food gap was filled by importing food from surrounding Indian tribes, Central America, Chile, and even from Japan and the Qing Dynasty.

"The armed force of 300 people is too little. I heard that Bernard has three or four hundred outlaws on his hands. They specialize in killing Indians and scalping Indians for a living. Some Indian tribes are about to be killed. He killed it."

In Tingtao Garden, Pan Zhengwei looked at the "Oregon Reclamation Group's Reclamation Plan" that had just been sent to him. When he saw the last item, he shook his head again and again. He felt that the armed forces of 300 people were too small and not enough.

The main force of the reclamation group is Chinese, and the skin color and appearance of the Chinese are not much different from the Indians. It is impossible to guarantee that one day this kid will sneak up on their reclamation stronghold and scalp them to receive a reward.

"I have already said that this guy's time is numbered, so you don't have to worry about it."

Liang Yao ordered Hu Jinchen to unfold the map of the Oregon region, pointing to a village called Eugene at the southern end of the Oregon Valley.

"The fat land in the Oregon region is in the valley of the western coast. Eugene Village is the first stop of the reclamation group. The village head of this village has a good relationship with Mayor Sutter (Mayor of Sacramento). His attitude is also very friendly, as long as he takes root in Eugene Village and establishes a solid settlement base, Xu Tu can go northward in the next step and gain a foothold in Salem Village or even Portland Town."

Immigrants settled in Oregon, and Liang Yao did not do it on a whim. After swallowing one-third of the Nevada area, Liang Yao began to let the Chinese businessmen who went north to trade in Oregon collect information on the Oregon area.

Liang Yao has his own plan for reclaiming Oregon.

Eugene Village is later the third largest city in Oregon, Eugene City. It was founded in 1846. It is a very young village with a population of more than 800 people. It is only because of the California Gold Rush that it has reached a population of more than 800 people.

The current head of Eugene Village is a German named Thomas, who is considered to be from the same village as Sutter, and the two have very close contacts.

When they were still in Sacramento two years ago, Liang Yao and Sutter jointly established a sawmill. Because the quality of wood in Oregon was better, Thomas provided wood for the sawmill in 1850, and he also had business with them. contacts.

When the California Railway Company built the railway, Thomas became one of the sleeper suppliers of the California Railway Company, earning a lot of money.

People are profit-seeking, and they found that it was faster to provide wood for California. The few fields in Eugene Village were abandoned, and the village, which was originally self-sufficient in food rations, also lived a life of imported food.

There have been hundreds of Chinese settled in Eugene Village, most of them are hunters, and a few are small farmers. The Chinese have more or less roots in Eugene Village.

It is also more appropriate to choose Eugene Village as the first stop for reclamation in Oregon.

After the gold rush in 1848, California became the center of the west coast of the United States, and the supply of supplies in the Oregon region increasingly relied on California.

But the attitude of local non-Indians towards California, in general, the closer to California, the more friendly towards California.

Eugene Village is a "large" settlement in the Oregon region, relatively close to California.

"The land around this big bay seems to be good, flat, and you can go directly to the waterway, and the traffic is more convenient." Wu Yuanhua pointed to a bay area on the map and said.

"And Eugene Village is only accessible by land."

Liang Yao glanced at the place Wu Yuanhua pointed to. The bay area Wu Yuanhua mentioned was the bay area around Seattle in later generations.

This place is indeed good, but this place is still the territory of Indian tribes, and only sporadic white explorers settled there last year.

Of course, this is not the most important thing.

The most important issue is that the United States has a territorial dispute with the British Canadian colony in the Oregon area. The forces in this place are intertwined and complicated.

(The Oregon region is not equal to the Oregon state. At this time, the Oregon region includes the entire territory of the later Oregon state, the entire Washington state, the entire Iowa state, and a small part of the territory of Wyoming and Montana. This is only the territory of the United States. Oregon Territory, British Columbia in the British Canadian colony also belongs to the Oregon Territory)

If you want to open up wasteland in Seattle, you must not only deal with the Hudson's Bay Company of the British Empire on the west coast of Canada, but also deal with the white Americans who have just settled there, as well as the native Indian tribes.

The situation is not as complicated as usual, and on Liang Yao's side, except for himself, no one has the ability to handle the relationship between the three parties at the same time.

Furthermore, the British Empire was at its peak at this time, with plenty of military virtues at sea, but it was not a soft persimmon like Mexico. He couldn't afford to make trouble with the British and make himself uncomfortable.

The territorial disputes in the Oregon region should be a headache for the federal government. The Oregon region is not only a good place in Seattle.

As long as we first establish a foothold in the Oregon area, we can gradually develop in the Seattle area.

"Youjin Village has a land route, and I will raise funds to build the railway to the north in the future, leading directly to Youjin Village." Liang Yao smiled slightly.

There is a trade trail in Eugene Village, which is said to be a trail, but as the exchanges between Oregon and California have become closer in the past two years, this trail is not actually a trail in the actual sense.

Due to the need to transport timber, this road has become wider and wider, and even large horse-drawn carts can pass.

What Liang Yao said about building the railway to Eugene Village in the Oregon area was not false, he really had this plan.

It’s just that the length of this railway is about the same as that of the California Railway (San Francisco-Los Angeles). From Sacramento to the north, after leaving the Central Valley, there are mountainous areas. The difficulty and cost of construction are even worse than that of the California Railway. It cannot be fixed overnight.

Fortunately, before the construction of the railway was completed, the "trade trail" from Sacramento to the village of Eugene via the two small settlements of Medford and Roseburg was sufficient.

"Now that Eugene Village has a foothold, it will gradually move north until it penetrates to Portland on the Columbia River. The president has thought carefully. The white Americans in the Oregon area mainly live in the area along the Columbia River centered on Portland. Taking Eugene Village as the starting point to open up wasteland and cultivate land can also temporarily avoid its edge and save a lot of trouble."

Pan Zhengwei also agreed with Liang Yao's plan.

"Since you all have no objections, then this matter is settled. After recruiting manpower and preparing supplies, you can go north. The guard of the reclamation group can choose strong and strong immigrants from among the immigrants, and I will also choose from the California infantry. Choose some capable non-commissioned officers to help you train the guards." Liang Yao said.

"What about the foreign gun?" Zeng Jinsong asked.

"I specially allocated 500 Springfield M1842s to the reclamation group, 300 of which were rifled." Liang Yao replied.

"It's so good. I have the military master of the California Infantry Regiment to help me train my troops, and I have good foreign guns. I can sit back and relax, as long as I concentrate on cultivating land." Zeng Jinsong said happily.

In fact, regarding the issue of the guards, Liang Yao could completely send the existing armed forces directly into the Oregon area to protect the reclamation group.

He now has three full regiments in his hands, and his strength is still relatively rich.

Furthermore, although the Oregon region is nominally the territory of the United States, the number of white immigrants from the United States is not dominant in the Oregon region, and the effective territory actually controlled by whites is also very limited.

The vast area of ​​Oregon is still under the control of various Indian tribes, and the local whites are also very insecure. If Liang Yao is willing to send troops to the Oregon area, the local whites will definitely welcome him. After all, Liang Yao belongs to the American Army. able to protect them.

But Liang Yao didn't intend to do this, one is to let these Chinese learn to take up arms to protect themselves, and the other is to avoid falling into the quagmire of war with the Indians.

Many tribes in the Oregon area, especially the Seattle chiefs of the later Seattle area, are objects that can be united and cooperated.

There is no need to create too many enemies for yourself if you can make friends to solve the problems.

(End of this chapter)