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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 1881)
February, 1881. THE WEST SHORE. 33 inspection at the coming World's fair. Of course, Gov. Perkins is working, in the main, for California, leaving other governors anil other legislatures to attend to their own respective concerns as touching this general business. And now, to come straight to the point, the very gist of this article, wc would like to know if anything of a similar nature will be done by our own state authorities? This is a question of , no small importance to the people of this state; and it is high time that the subject be brought to the notice of those authorized and qualified to act officially and effectually in the matter. Let our agricultural societies sec to it at once that Oregon shall be reprc. sentcd at the great exhibition of 1S83 as her best interests demand. Some of our own friends may think we are pre mature in urging this business at so early a day, but we have only to repeat what wc have said, that other parties are already in the field, fully deter mined that their own interests shall be justly subserved. Oregon has thousands of Bcres of good land to sell to the hardy yeomanry that is certain to cross the Atlantic immediately after the great council of nations at New York shall close, and there is no reason why she should not induce a good-sized branch current of the prospective im migration to flow into her borders. The fair commissioners for each state and territory were appointed by the head managers some time ago, and many of them have gone into'activc op erations with the view of justly and profitably representing their respective claims at the great convocation, ami nobly serving their state constituency. As a parting word of caution, we re peat, let our own commissioner and our own people be on the alert. TI1K WIDK vi:st. Ever since the growth of the country east of the Cascade mountain legan to indicate that the people of that section had turned their attention to something more permanent than placer mining, the necessity of better traveling accom modation was made apparent to the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, of which the elder Aiusworth was the moving spirit. He knew that bis coin pany was receiving the highest rate of freights and fares of any steamboat corrutioti in America, and that it would be made the subject of hostile legislation unless first-class accommoda tions in the way of speed and comfort were furnished to the traveling public. lie had a splendid lieutenant at his side, in the person of John Gates, the company's consulting engineer. In fact, he was exceedingly fortunate in hii choice of subordinates, and when he once secured a competent officer, he did not propose to let him go. With Gates to model the hull and machinery, and Holland to construct the vessel, it was no wonder that Oregon now boasts the handsomest fleet of stem-wheel steam boats of any state in the Union. And in 1S77, about the middle of June, on the present site of Aiusworth dock, was laid the keel of the palatial steamer Wide West; a boat of which it may be truthfully said that she was built upon honor. Her hull is 215 feet long and about 236 feet over all, which of course in cludes the " waterfall" enclosing the wheel. She is of 39 feet beam, giving her great carrying capacity. Her hull is divided into 8 water-tight compart ments, each of which is provided with a steam syphon to discharge leakage water. This, of course, requires a great deal of extra timber and necessary made the hull strong enough to bear immense weight upon the decks. She can carry about 550 ton of wheat without swashing her gitards in the water, and would have been ablo to carry 1 20 tons moro had her hold lccn made a foot deeper. In this resxrct and this only, she is inferior to her con sort IkihI, the It. R. Thompson, built one year later, and now plying between the Cascades and Dalles. In all other rccct she is the finest Merit-wheel boat in the world. I ler profiling power. consists of two horizontal high-pressure engines of 28 inch bore of cylinder ami 9I inch stroke of the piston. These engines were built by I'uscy, Jones & Co., at Wil mington, Delaware, from drawing and specifications made by John Gates in person. They are exact duplicates of those in the R. R. Thompson, built by Harlan A Hollingsworth at Wilming ton. They are provided with an inde. pendent cut-ofT, designed by Mr. Gates, which is a great reduction of steam in the cylinders and as a natural conse quence, a great economy of fuel. These engines arc driven y a sec tional boiler of great length, of the fire box model and having an elephant saddle" or combustion chamber about two-fifths of tho distance back from the fire-box which distributes the heat evenly between the upper and lower tubes of the boiler. On the muddy Missouri or Sacramento rivers, such a j boiler would need cleaning every other day, and would be utterly useless for that, reason. But the water of the Columbia river Is so comparatively free from sediment, that these boilers work splendidly if washed out once a weok. In tho breeching of the boiler, Is a spark arrester consisting of a wire screen, against which, tho sparks are thrown by the force of tho exhaust and fall down Into a pit, while a jet of water from the donkey pump plays upon them and washes them out through tho side of tho hull. This saves an Immense amount of paint for tho upper works, and keeps the upper deck always clean. Donkey pumps are used also to feed the withstands and work the hydraulic steering-gear, ol which moro anon. Passim; from the main deck to the boiler deck, first wo enter the "social hull," which has ten state-rooms with two bachelor berths in each. The steam drum comes up Into tho hall and is neatly jacketed as a receptacle for valises, overcoats, etc., while the boat Is under way. The purser's office Is 01 0110 side of tho hall, and the Irclght clerks' on the other. This hall is done in a delicate tint of lilac, and the floors are covered with mosaic oilcloth. We now enter the dining-room which has twenty-two large and commodious state-rooms, each provided with a three quarter bedstead lor two persons, while alwve it is a single lerth. These rooms ami those in the ladies' saloon, are all of uniform size and contrast favorably with the cramped up little dens called state-rooms on the eastern steamlxiat. This room is painted in pale lemon color with gold beads In the door panels, and rarrtrd with rich M russets covered with snowy duck. The dining tublcs and chairs are of Oregon ash, veneered with burl maple, everything betokening home industry, The ladies' saloon is of diflVent tint from tho other sections, and contains six rooms one of which is fitted up a a ladies' toilet. The pumps keep con tinuous jets of water playing, while the boat is in motion, to that no offensive effluvia tiiN llicse sumplucur cabin.