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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1882)
'44. . THE WEST SHORE. August, 1 88a TO THE SPOKANE AND BEYOND. A few moments before 9 a. m., on a bright clear day, we left Portland. Step- ping anonra the "Wide West ' we re Went" re-echoed over the hills and far away, and we were e shortly headin(7 ""'e lurtner on wesaw - Kooster Kocr .1 .l- lirMi t . .. nroudlv hftine its head into snace """" uic Tinuimeiie. in an nour tne r ' " West" Rlided into the Columbia amidst fnn&lng firs and loft Pines and soon drew up to the miaint old wh'le near its base were the white cones town of Vancouver with its yellow- .glneers tents-mere specs in com m.t.,i u .i i parison. We had seen the " Hen and nuiiu nun uiuc tuuicu-souiiers 1 , On the wharf we saw General Miles chickens" nestIed on the bosom of the the renowned Indian whinner, affably 1 i --j talking with two young fellows re cently educated at the expense of their IT I m. untie, i ney wore more style and gooa clonics than their commander. One was sucking shellac from the rn! of a switch cane and the other was posing Tor the benefit of any ladies on the boat who might be idiotic enough to take him in their range. The whihtlc blew; the mate with a voice as harsh as fate a voice of guttural thun der, ra.ned out on the quaking air; Aw-w-1 clcaar-r sir-r-r" ! ! ! It was a moving voice. It moved the boat off a length or so, and again she cut her way up me Columbia. Hcfore us loomed Mount Hood; white, silent. irlinin,. To the left arose the dome of St. Helens flimly white, shadowy blue and gloomy. "u '"K" inese mountains are, it is easy to say, but hard to determine. There have been so many tall lies told on the one hand, that the low down modest lies on the other haven't had half chance. Farmers and immigra lion people intent upon settling the country, assert that they are nothing but mounds, and that their two-mile-and-a-half height is a mere optical de lusion and a snare. Poet, and scenery devotees declare they are higher than mhition. A Portland hotel man on the lH)at to whom we presented the MUcMion, lcwildcrcd us by saying " 1 e. younc man. thru -. l: ,. , " - v...v Higu nut luiuier President nf K. r n c must have en," For several miles Pacific, whose dis 1 1 rf avne.,Kouvrrihr nr.... ...... j.., . . u,Sflstrus failure in ,, . , -n.irrs 01 uepioreu by everv cr,i "if UMUml.u .ne .lottd U'liU " I in ll... !,.. ... " man '.viuscs, each ornamented wuh a lone A 4p0ttsl d8 0n th5 left, or ashmgton Territory side, wc pavlWaKhougaLana.,,! ;j half-cooked corn meal. It is one of those fervently iuggM,ive ,lf, whjch th Stnnlfiim Chinook language such a soothing charm of adaptability a name wnich hts a place witn an tne exactness of a Jersey basque. A drum mer on the " v est with a sinister ccucii a vsarm tatherlv we come trom Captain John Wolfe, a man as staunch smile and a five-cent ciar lnformedus as his pretty craft and as true as the laws that "Washogal" 81&nified " wash your tit n c 1 1 1 of mathematics. The whistle of the p81, BCIore we naa recovereu vv'i r..-u-.i ....u. u:n 1 f. breath he had gone to take a nap. our A o r. ittle further on we saw " Rooster Rock" fair Potomac, and a pang of regret shot into our soul to note this wide separa- tion ot family altars, caused by the ruth less inexorable fiat of nature. Almost opposite arose the trraceful scintillating r . " outlines and bared breast of "Cape Horn," sparkling in trickling streams and enlivened by plume-like sprays, uasnea ny Droken rainbows, dizzied by their leap and ending in mists. Nothing on the Hudson The crumbling Palisades fade from re colection upon seeine this and th at. lenaant vagaries of nature that make .1. . 1 1 me Columbia so unrivaled in her seen- ery. Pushing on we come abreast the beautiful falls of Multnomah with tUa.v two grand leaps of nearly a thousand i mho tne nasin below. Above and below we catch glimpses of water angered, wrathful and foam! down like torn white-skinned serpents then dropping from ledge to ledge, and below almost at our feet, guiltely creep into the Columbia. In point of fact c w more beautiful falls in one-half hour on the Columbia than ..... witness on the streets of Portland in a month, during the very best orange peel season. Standi a8.f pushed from the very center of the earth .s- CasUe Rock," a round con' cal shaft nsmg with an awful suddeness, and pleasmc with be.n.tifnt , ' " Castle Rock" !. ,1, J"""ry. fV l r lhe ProPcrty f Jay Cooke, frim.r Presi(lcnt of J pi build aSDlra, rftj....j,r insr am 1 .u. . . V wma " ivocjc, from base dome, and there Wu . c.. 6 and men aft K .u, . mice to and for miles above, the scenery is sub lime,1 and in its loftiness and height in comparable. Here the Columbia in some age long ago, forced asunder the mountains and swept grandly through on its march to the sea. Rising from the waters the mountains stretch up ward at a sharp angle . nearly four thousand feet. Indented here and there worn and gorged for ages are deep fern clad chasms with leaping creeks, mak ing their sinuous pathways to the Col umbia. We halt a moment at the lower end of the old Cascades portage then, proceeding towards Bonneville we see the Cascades Rapids dashingon, whirling, winding, writhing; eddying in and circling out; halting, retreating, then rushing on; attacking in columns all that bars their way, dashed back, then flanking around. Over boulder and rock and ledge the waters swiftly sweep like things of life, to live; of hope, not fulfilled: of toil, not ended; of ambition not satisfied. So it will be until centuries unborn shall come and frnt until iican R A nfVtnnv cliiH Iih.a become old, and her great-great-greatest grand children shall have passed in their chips; so it will be until the almost silent tread of the Mongolian race shall dimly echo o'er our mouldering graves; and so it will be, until the Lord knows but He won't communicate Congress shall have given us dollars enough to complete the Cascades Locks. Therein may be found the key to the whole situation. Up to this point the attention of the passengers, including the humble incoming settlers, had been so thoroughly given over to the erand- eur around them, that we didn't feel like breaking in on their pleasure by an attempt at interviewing. But after leaving the "West" and her genial pains taking officers and boarding the wait ing train at Bonneville we found a few opportunities to exercise our national qualities, in order to get at the true in wardness of the rush of settlers from other parts. Near the water cooler was h tawny-haired father with a little tow headed fellow across his lan. his wife at his side. To the father we put the ucsi'i)n : " Where are you from?" " I'm from Kansas h rpnlied. as a shadow of sad recollection streaked across his face. ' You txnect to settle here?" either side of hrve'atT yver at this pomt, we continued. " I'm goin' to try it up 'bove (Wally Wally, I've a