tllE WEST SHORE.
October; 1800
CP TIIK (OtX'MIIIA HV I. A VI).
W. II, I.VMAN.
To otic having teen the shore of the
Columbia from the steamer only, it
licvcr occur thnt those towering cliff
nre really piece of rock, thiit those
trailing spray clouds arc actually water
or that those passing evergreen are
coiiikik'(I of pilch, bark and fiber a
phantasmagoria of ky, rock and wa
ter! A kalcidocoj)c fifty mile long,
pointed at the morning tun and cur
tained by the mint of the ocean! Such
U the Columbia between Cajc Horn
and Hood River. Can a man walk be
hind the acenck? Can such a puny
thing ct foot on those khining crag or
cjuiiir the froth from the waterfall bub
bling out of those goblet of the god?
Could I, for instance, enter into that
liind of Mono giant and frozen temple
two thousand feet high, ami come forth
alive?
Such were the thought that ngiiuted
my brain one August afternoon, when
after having left the effete and ener
vating civilisation ol Portland in the
early morning J afcr having ridden
through the great dairy farm eastward
then from; after having put behind me
the river Sandy, stained with the dreg
f Ml, Hood' morning cup; after hav
ing crept through ten mile of jungle
klicuhing eastward from the Sanity, I
auddenly emerged and stood mi the
edge of a Jwuuliful plateau, five bun
died feet above the acrcd water.
There it wa. The laud of the un
known. The toft alluvial mil with it
vino-maple jungle, the chccsc-f.u loiics
and cow pasture, the house, bam ami
fi-ncrt, were all bchinti.
Ilcforc u wa the first of those
gigantic pile of basalt which from the
deck of I ho steamer had teemed so
picture-like, o fantastic, o unreal.
We were actually In-hind the Kcnc.
Now we can tee w hat hand hiA tlu
tvencty. Now we can find the pol ol
color w here the changing hour dip
their brushes. Now we can we where
the waterfall get their wondrous w hite
ness and where the rainbow hide.
Now we can enter the dreing.ruom ol
the pine Irect w here they deck them
selves with inuu and sunbeams. The
first scene i Rooster Kock and the
lofty cliff behind it which ha no name,
but might be called Cajc Eternity.
Eternal it look in it shaggy grandeur
I It rrm to (rown down upon the
twenty mile up and down ami the two
mile acros of yellow water. Other
still mightier bustioncd heights up the
river frown back. Hut these rocky
frowns arc softened by clinging ferns
and trailing vines.
Wherever the water comes trickling
over the precipice, there the greenest of
mot and the brightest of Mowers hide
the black bareness of the rock. A
break-neck road down from the plateau
lead u to the river-bank.
It is the flood-time of the mighty
stream. The water comes swashing
through the long row of coltonwoods
and makes great sport of the fences,
barns, mid such other little tokens of
inhabitancy as happen to be in the vi
cinity. There i a polished log fairly pro
truding into the road. That log grew
in Idaho or British Columbia. A cen
tury' growth on the fertile bank of
some mountain creek had carried its
branches high and it roots deep.
lint an evil time came in the history
of that tree. Snow, sunshine, deluge.
These three degree of comparison
washed the stumling-room from beneath
its feet. One frightful plunge, and the
ill-Marred forest-king set out on his
funeral march of a thousand miles. A
wild journey for one accustomed to a
ijuict life, a journey involving rapid
change and admitting of no lay-over
check. Through the torrents to the
quirt lake of the Upper Columbia,
from the lake again to the torrents,
with occasional half-way rests. Through
the Dalles, through the Cascades, and,
stripped of bark and of every branch,
it drift at random on the solemn cur
rent of the lower river. And to w hat
end ha the tree sought such a resting
place f The next day, some salmon
scaring Siwash or some sore-footed
ramj kindles fire against it, and amid
the whirl of mokc and the crackle of
flame, that long-travelled tree vanishes
in the air,
I would remark, at this point, that
the road up the river i a trail. There
are point where it teems hardly even
trail. Nevertheless the pedestrian
limit no great difficulty in parting the
maple copses iml climbing over the
gigantic block, of rock that have rolled
down from their too lofty heights.
Almot constantly we tec the shim-menu-
of live river behind the willow
and cottonwoods. Nevcrthless, it is
only at a very few points that the cliffs
come right down to the water's edge.
Through almost the entire distance from
the Cascades to Rooster Rock, there 18
a most excellent railroad route. At
points where my observation from the
steamer had led me to suppose that
there was hardly level land enough for
a squirrel to stand safely, I found fertile
flats one quarter of a mile wide.
Fourteen miles from Rooster Rock,
and the curtain rises on scene second of
the great scenes. That fourteen miles
has exhibited numberless little scenes
which would be great anywhere else.
Huge clifTs, streaked with snowy
cascades, mountain streams of wondrous
clearness, overgrown by vegetation of
almost tropical luxuriance.
Hut wc forget these varied beauties
as we stand in wonder before, that
marvel of beauty, Multnomah Fall ;
triple-named. Some longing swain
would have that snowy vail albeit
somewhat large, to hide the face of his
beloved, hence it was called the Bridal
Vuil. Some other bold genius, seized
with an equine frenzy, named it tell
it not in Oregon City, publish it not in
the streets of Salem Horse Tail Fall..
What a horse the mind's eye of that
chap must have witnessed, pawing the
crest of the Cascade mountains, nndi
dipping his eight-hundred-foot tail in.
the Columbia ! Hut the Indian name
is most beautiful. There is a sweet
ripple to those liquid sounds, Mult
nomah, and a sonorousness to their
whole effect that well suggest the soft
plash mingled with the wild majesty of
the fall. This musical splash not a
roar is the first intimation to the trav
eler that he is approaching anything
unusual. Then perhaps casting his
eyes upward, he sees a dusky cliff
fringed with trees. Scarce discernible
among the trees, a moving whiteness.
A few steps more and he stands before
a sundered wall, joo feet high on one
side, and 30 on the other, through
which flows a limpid stream. For a
few yards, he follows the alternate pools
and rapids of the creek through this
rocky corridor. Then he suddenly
emerge into a little bit of a valley,
edged with a little bit of a beach, and
covered with the greenest grass.
The little valley tciminates in a wall
of rock seventy feet high, over which
the creek comes tumbling into a deep