'94
THE WEST SHORE.
July, 1879
to Irani how thing! alt there managed.
Thr txilirr hrndoimrtM tire n model
of neatnoai -every thing bat its plan-;
each man knows his duly, and attends
to it. At the head of the force stands
Charles Todd, the Supt. of Police,
lie has one sargcant, six patrolmen and
four night-watchmen to aid him. Vk
toria and suliurhs stretch over more
ground than Portland, and yet a rob
bcry or garroting case is something un
heard of thru-. Ever) itranger, if in
the least suspicions looking, is under
xliir Mirveiiance without his even sus
peeling it dining his entire stay in the
city j anil should he give even t he
slightest e.iuse, he is given just so many
hours to leave town.
Those envelope swindlers who
robbed our verdant ones out of hun
dreda of dollars, with the apparent
sanction of oar police force, w ere not
ien allowed to open out in Victoria,
and were COBBpelled to leave on the re
turn itaamer. The Victoria police
force evidently make it their husiness
to prevent crime, instead of putting tax
payers to the expense of convicting
and alter w. o.l feeding criminals.
A trainable discovery of iron ore has
jusl been made on Tcxada Island, one
hundred miles north of Victoria. The
ore contains from eighty-live to ninety
per cent, of pure iron, equal to the best
m the world. Mr. J. Spralt, the enter,
prising foundry proprietor, of Victoria,
is now preparing, to erect extensive
smelting works on (be island.
One of the finest graii.g regions on
the coast is the sttelch of cnunli from
Quetnclle to the Fork of Skccna, a
diatajMa of ;s miles. The countrj is
coverefl with hunch grass and wild
vetch, whilst wstei and timlier are
plentiful. This sect. ih is tpacieJ
induiimrnts to stock raisers.
The toad from Vale, the head f
steamboat navigation OH the 1'i.isei
river, to Cariboo, a distance of shout
400 miles, cost the Provincial Govern
ment of British Columbis $1,00,000 to
construct. To krrp it in irpnii $50,.
000 arc expended annually, and et
onl. one cent jicr mile is chained as a
loll foi import, passing over the road,
whilst the country's pr.Im is are passed
lire of charge.
The first cargo of lisitish Columbia
coal ever taken to Souib America, let)
Victoria on the 1st of ulv in the ship
7trtm,k 7ioaw, Captain N. Ku
by. It consisted of l,tv tons, and w as
taken on ship-owners account as a spec- seems any practical necessity of. The
illation, to Peru. TrV eon! rune from
the Nanaimo mine, which Captain
Kirby informs us furnishes the host
steam dial in the world.
EASTWARD, 110!
IV V. II. I.Y.VMK.
The human tides have touched their
Western limit and have turned hack
The forests of Western Oregon and
Washington are beginning to look in
the river, as toward a future home,
wheie they are to appear in the forms of
dwellings, school-houses and churches
Panning implements also catch the lm
migration fever and deposit their bulk.
forms inside the steamers, and on deck,
demanding every inch of available
space, with a view, doubtless, of re
turning a future tribute of golden
gram.
So, altogether, passengers, merchan
disc and machinery, we slide past the
foggy wharves of Portland, past the
half-submerged shores of the Colum
bia, until we reach the Cascades, with
their tumbling masses of water, with
their clilfs just tipped with clouds and
streaked by little waterfalls. There is
a combination here of beauty and irran-
deur which makes it one of the most
satisfying spots on earth. Though so
many times described, it cannot be
spoiled. Neither can its sublimity be
enhanced, Indeed, the description of
it should very seldom lie attempted.
The fabric of words needed to clothe
these basaltic giants is beyond the ca
pacity of most word-mills. It is wisest
to let them stand in their majestic
nakedness, doing defiance to the el
ements, lint we propose to make this
letter thoroughly practical, not poetical,
Therefore we will not linger among
the pcach-liecs of Hood liver, nor shed
leais of condolence w ith the incinerated
rople of The Dalles, nor even stare
down into the w itches' cauldron which
chafes the adamantine banks of the
"Chute."
When we roach Cclilo we find the
number of passengers so great as to ex
ceed the capacity of the state-rooms.
Our fellow-passengers are of the usual
fliirlv. The bulk is composed of land
and home-seekers from the interior
Statea, 01 me hind ir I ' ' M
v. . jrv,
is the universal cry. There is eert.i.,1..
plenty of lsnd in sight from the deck of
... i.. .. 1 1 .
icw minis acaucTcu along Ule Snake
river seem to indicate a fertile soil and
an abundance of sunshine. Here is
the fruit-region of Eastern Washing,
ton. The young peaches re puffed
out almost to bursting with the rich
materials from beneath, fertilized by the
sunshine from above.
Wallula is still the point at which the
majority of the passengers stop. Of
the various incipient towns scattered
along the Lower Snake, Almota looks
most like a place. But what a site for
a town ! A canyon about one thou
sand feet deep, with a narrow strip of
aluvium along the northern side. Al
mota is the business depot for a large
region of country extending north and
northeast. A majority of the Colfax
and Palouse City business seeks the
river at this point. The hill which
must be climbed to bring the explorer
on a level with the surrounding coun
try is somewhat discouraging to immi
grants from the Mississippi valley, and
some have actually turned back at this
point and not examined the interior at
all. From the rim of the canyon a vast
rolling prairie extends in all directions,
broken in front by the muddy flow of
the river. The Blue mountains can he
dimly seen to the south. Northward
Steptoe Butte forms a conspicuous land
mark.
As we proceed toward Colfax, the
rich, grass-grown hills become more
level and the farms more ftequent.
After a sixteen-mile ride, we descend
another canyon to the Palouse river.
Colfax, the largest and much the most
citified of the new towns of this coun
try, containing the land-office and sev
eral stores which do quite a trade with
the surrounding settlements, a tasty
and commodious church, two very neat
hotels and a number of cosy little dwell
ings, is strung along on both sides of
the Little Palouse. This unites with
the main stream a short distance below.
Like most of the towns of Eastern
Oregon and Washington. Colfax is
situated in a hole in the crround. It
certainly seems as though these hills
would give the people of Eastern
Washington more idea of heaven than
most of them seem to have. An ascent
of four hundred feet carries us above
Colfax to the ordinary level of the
prairie. The best land in this immedi-
r steamer, more in fsrt than there ,te vicinity has been already taken.